Legal Update

Ontario Court Declares „Khazar Theory” False and Hateful

The „Khazar Theory” is the hypothesis that Ashkenazic Jews are not biologically descended from the ancient Israelite tribes, but are instead the direct descendants of a set Turkic tribes that established a khanate called Khazaria in what is currently Ukraine and the Caucasus region between 650-850 CE, and were converted to Judaism at the time.  The theory is that as the Khazar empire collapsed, a migration took place into what is now Russia, Poland, the Baltic states etc., and that these migrants are the ancestors of the Ashkenazic population.

This theory, now universally discredited by modern DNA evidence, originated in the 19th century, and was promoted in the 1970s by Hungarian writer Arthur Koestler in his book The Thirteenth Tribe.  Koestler’s motivation in advancing this theory was to destroy the intellectual foundations  of racially based antisemitism by proving that European Jews are not semitic but Turkic/Caucasian.

The Khazar theory was immediately seized upon by anti-Zionists who claimed that the alleged Khazar descent of eastern European Jews proved that they had no anthropologically or ethnically based claim to the land of Israel, and therefore that Jewish claims of indigeneity to the land of Israel were illegitimate.

This is exactly what Razaali Bahadur yelled at Toronto’s Jews as they assembled at Nathan Phillips Square on April 7, 2024, to commemorate six months of captivity of the hostages and the 6-month anniversary of the October 7 massacres. According to the trial transcripts, recently obtained by CAEF Bahadur said:  „You guys all originated from Khazar.  This little area, you have no religion, you’re not Judaism, you’re not Israeli.  Hey, you guys are from Khazar.  You guys crawled out of there.  Tell them to crawl back in.  That is where you belong,”

In her reasons for judgment in R. v Bahadur, Chapin J. of the Ontario Court of Justice accepted the expert testimony of Prof. Jan Grabowski of the University of Ottawa that this theory is debunked and meritless, characterizing it as „the Khazar lie”.  This portion of Justice Chapin’s reasons for judgment is highly significant because it is the first time in Canadian judicial history that a court has directly addressed the „Khazar Theory” and accepted expert evidence of its falsity.

Justice Chapin concluded that in the circumstances of the rally, Bahadur’s actions constituted the incitement of hatred against Jews in public place, where such incitement was likely to lead to a breach of the peace, contrary to Section 319(1) of the Criminal Code.

The reasons of Chapin J. therefore stand as res judicata/judicial notice of the falsity of the „Khazar Theory” in potential future criminal and/or professional misconduct proceedings against individuals arguing it for antisemitic purposes.  A copy of the relevant excerpts of the Bahadur decision is below.

For more background on the Bahadur case, please see Mark Sandler’s excellent case summary Antisemitic Protest Conviction, Holocaust Denial Charges, and Desecration of the National Holocaust Monument in Ottawa.

Read more details of the case here.

CAEF Calls for Deplatforming of Yves Engler from Venues in Burnaby BC, Sarnia ON and Toronto ON

Municipal officials in Burnaby BC and Sarnia ON disregarded warnings from CAEF that declared NDP candidate Yves Engler has a well-documented history of making antisemitic statements and is therefore unfit to receive the benefit of booking municipally-owned meeting rooms to hold political rallies in support of his candidacy.  In October 2025, CAEF was successful in persuading St. Paul’s Anglican Church in Toronto to deny him the use of their meeting hall on those grounds.

Engler’s application to become an official candidate for the New Democratic Party of Canada leadership is currently before the party’s vetting committee. CAEF has written to the NDP’s chief electoral officer with an extensive brief of Engler’s antisemitic comments, and hopes that the NDP will act swiftly to deny Engler status as a leadership candidate.

CAEF has filed a freedom of information request with the City of Burnaby and will be filing one with the City of Sarnia to investigate the processes by which Engler’s applications to use these meeting spaces were approved.

CAEF wants to acknowledge and thank Sarnia Councillor Bill Dennis for his immediate and passionate denunciation of the Sarnia’s accommodation of Engler on its property.