There's a lot of bizarre hype surrounding the Canadian Parliamentary Coalition to Combat Antisemitism, especially considering this ad-hoc group of MPs has yet to release a report to government. (It's expected any day now, or so we hear.)

The coalition hasn't really said much, apart from some alarming but questionable website statements that "anti-Semitism is widely regarded as at its worst level since the end of the Second World War," and that "while accusations of blood libel are still being made against the Jewish people, instead they are being directed against the State of Israel, such that anti-Zionism is being used as a cover for anti-semitism."

Meanwhile, we have Stephen Harper posturing on the sidelines saying Canada will support Israel "whatever the cost."

Some leftists, Jewish groups and free speech advocates are already sounding the alarm, saying the coalition of MPs is trying to pressure the government to criminalize criticism of Israel as hate speech.

But even if this were true, the B.C. Civil Liberties Association has pointed out that it would be difficult for the Conservatives to pull off, considering freedom of political speech is highly protected by the charter. Canadians enjoy the right to criticize other nation states. And last we checked, Israel was a nation state subject to international humanitarian law - like everyone else - and it's subject to criticism for violating international humanitarian law, like everyone else. Conflating criticism of Israel with attacks on Jewish people does nothing but spread a chilling effect through legitimate public debate on the issue.

But if people are left scared to speak out next time Israel bombs civilians, for fear of being labelled anti-Semitic, then the rhetoric has served its purpose, and there's no need to violate the charter because we'll be censoring ourselves.