Toronto NDP Candidate Apologizes for Unsubstantiated Tweets Tying Israel to Missing COVID-19 Vaccines

An NDP candidate on a key Toronto walk is under fire after appearing to invent and then spread a conspiracy theory about Israel and COVID-19 vaccines.

Sidney Coles, an equity consultant running for the party in Toronto-St. Paul’s repeatedly claimed on Twitter that Israel was in some way responsible for the underdose of the COVID-19 vaccine in the United States last winter.

On Sunday, Coles apologized for publishing what she called “unsubstantiated theories about Israel-linked vaccine supply.” He admitted that the tweets were not based on any evidence and that he had indulged a “common anti-Semitic trope”, although he claimed that “that was never (his) intention.”

“I should not have made this link and apologized and retract those statements,” he wrote in a separate tweet. “I will continue to defend myself firmly against anti-Semitism, racism and discrimination in all its forms.”

Coles’ apology came after a prominent Jewish human rights organization, Friends of the Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies, highlighted your posts online Sunday morning.

In at least four separate tweets, Coles appeared to blame Israel for the vaccine doses that had apparently gone missing in the United States. All of the tweets came in a four-day flurry last winter, in response to stories or tweets about vaccine management under the Trump administration.

On January 29, a user named @FoxyLustyGrover tweeted: “There are millions of COVID vaccines that have yet to be accounted for, Trump’s team was pretty incompetent so that could be it … but those vaccines are worth their weight in gold. right now, so what? What are the possibilities for an additional concert? “To which Coles replied,” Uh, I think Israel could help you solve that mystery. “

On January 31, Coles responded to another thread about Jared Kushner, who is Jewish, and the missing vaccines with: “They (the vaccines) went to Israel. I keep saying this. “

When user @Irenesousa tweeted: “Given that Trump and Putin ‘gave away’ PPE to Putin and others, what would make people think they wouldn’t do the same with vaccine doses?” Coles replied, “They went to Israel.”

When Democratic activist Jon Cooper tweeted: “I wonder how much vaccine Jared Kushner ripped off.” Coles replied again: “They went to Israel.”

Jaime Kirzner-Roberts, director of policy at the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center, called Coles’s tweets an “anti-Semitic dog whistle.” In an interview, he said they were particularly alarming given the rise in the number of hate crimes in Canada in recent years, especially those directed against Jews.

“We are living in a moment right now where we are seeing massive and dangerous misinformation being shared on social media about the pandemic and about Jews,” Kirzner-Roberts said. “And we are living in a time of fear, uncertainty and increasing levels of hatred, not only directed against Jews, but also against many other communities. So this was the problem here. “

Kirzner-Roberts said that, as far as she knows, Coles “appeared to have concocted this conspiracy on his own.” Regarding his apology, “I think it’s fair to say that we still have some questions. He said anti-Semitism was not his intention. But one wonders what could be one intention in spreading such vile and terrifying lies about Israel. “

NDP leader Jagmeet Singh had not addressed Coles’ comments until early Monday morning, something Kirzner-Roberts called disappointing. “We are looking for him to show what he means when he says that hatred will not be tolerated in our country,” he said.

In a statement Monday, an NDP spokesman said what Coles wrote “was wrong and hurtful. She understands and has apologized. “She also posted a link to a declaration from the Canadian Center for Israeli and Jewish Affairs which called Coles’ tweets “false”, “divisive”, “baseless” and “tainted with anti-Semitism” but said his apology was recognized and appreciated.

Coles’ campaign did not respond to interview requests Monday. However, on Sunday, Coles herself was walking past the home of a Star reporter when she stopped to speak about the allegations.

Coles was visibly nervous as she spoke and said it had been a difficult day for her campaign. He called his tweets “cheeky” and referred to a “contract that had been signed” regarding vaccines.

He said it was no coincidence that these tweets were resurfacing just before the election. The reporter, who was caring for her son, offered to continue the conversation on Monday, and Coles seemed interested in doing so, although she added that she wished she could speak more for herself on the subject, but that that was impossible during a campaign.

She did not respond to messages sent on various platforms on Monday.

Coles runs in what has long been considered a safe liberal seat. However, the former Carolyn Bennett was recently deemed vulnerable in this campaign after sending a text message to former Cabinet colleague Jody Wilson-Raybould earlier this year that Wilson-Raybould deemed “racist” and “misogynistic.”

Horsemanship, Toronto-St. Paul’s encompasses a strip of neighborhoods near the geographic center of the city. It has one of the largest Jewish populations in Canada.