The Jewish National Fund of Canada has canceled a scheduled speech by U.S. presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee.
Huckabee, who is vying for the Republican bid in 2016, had his Oct. 15 speaking engagement in Ottawa canceled on June 10 following objections from the Canadian LGBTQ community, the Canadian Jewish News reported.
An online petition at Change.org calling for Huckabee to be pulled from speaking at the JNF Negev Dinner noted that comments from the former Arkansas governor “spread degrading hatefulness towards and about transgender people.”
Josh Cooper, JNF Canada’s CEO, told the Canadian Jewish News that the petition, which had 31 signatories as of June 15, “had absolutely no impact whatsoever” on the decision to cancel Huckabee’s speech at the dinner, which this year will support autism research in Israel. — jta