GENEVA, August 11, 2021 — On behalf of the non-governmental human rights group United Nations Watch, Executive Director Hillel Neuer issued the following statement on the announcement by Senator Linda Frum that she will be resigning later this month from the Senate of Canada at the conclusion of 12 years:
“UN Watch is deeply grateful to Senator Linda Frum for her outstanding 12 years of public service as a parliamentarian devoted to championing not only the interests of the people of Ontario and Canada but also the universal causes of freedom, human rights and democracy; for her moral clarity, conviction and integrity; for her leadership in combating antisemitism and anti-Israeli bigotry; and for her dedicated friendship and support for UN Watch’s mission to hold the United Nations accountable to the principles of its Charter.
Throughout her Senate career, Senator Frum has been an outspoken defender of human rights victims worldwide, standing up against dictatorial regimes from China to Cuba to Iran.
Regarding the oppressive Islamic Republic of Iran, Senator Frum was a leading force in Canada’s Parliament in support of Iranian human rights defenders such as Masih Alinejad, the dissident now living in New York who was nearly kidnapped by Iranian agents in a recent plot foiled by the FBI.
Likewise, Senator Frum has been a strong advocate of the need for Magnitsky Laws to sanction Iranian human rights abusers sheltering in Canada, and to list the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in its entirety as a terrorist entity.
At a time of ominous threats and attacks against Jews in North America and abroad, and as the aggressive Iranian regime escalates its targeting of Israelis through its terrorist proxies Hamas and Hezbollah, Senator Frum has been a courageous and essential voice in calling out both the new and old forms of antisemitism. We are glad to know that Senator Frum will continue this important work, and her life of public service, through her role as Chair of the Board of the Jewish Federation of Greater Toronto.
Senator Frum has made her mark in the Senate, and should be very proud of her legacy. UN Watch looks forward to many more years of continued cooperation with Senator Frum in defending our common causes.”
