Vancouver mayor, Jewish group accuse newly elected councillor of antisemitic posts [Video]

Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim and some Jewish community groups are condemning comments made on social media dating back to 2021 by newly elected city councillor Sean Orr. 

In a Wednesday morning news conference, Sim and Ezra Shanken, CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver— which describes itself as the community’s centre for Jewish philanthropy — asked Orr to address his statements and publicly apologize. 

Specifically, the foundation called on Orr to retract a comment posted in August 2021 on X, formerly known as Twitter, that stated, “Everyone knows Vancouver City planners are controlled by a secret cabal of Jews who have a bunker in the earth’s core fml.” 

In a statement Monday, Orr said his tweet was taken out of context, and was meant to be condemning “an antisemitic dogwhistle” used by the poster he was responding to.