KINSELLA: Anti-Semitism fuelled by envy and hate

Article content

“Jewish power.”

Article content

At the dark centre of all anti-Semitism – with all of its conspiracy-theorized manifestations, like “Zionist Occupation Government,” and “international bankers,” and “globalists” – is envy. Envy about imagined Jewish wealth, Jewish media, Jewish Hollywood. Envy about illusions of Jewish achievement and power.

With envy always comes its more-murderous twin, resentment. Every political hack knows resentment is the most powerful force in any campaign. For that, Jews have been hated – and even targeted with pogroms – for millennia. Simply because of that: envy, then resentment.

If the unspooling of sanity since Oct. 7 has shown anything, however, it’s that Jews have less power, not more. If Jews were truly as powerful as the anti-Semites claim, they wouldn’t be seeing their schools shot up, their synagogues firebombed and their voices serially disregarded by police, prosecutors, politicians and the public.

Article content

Article content

But Jews are fighting back. They are scoring some wins.

The historic Toronto St. Paul’s byelection, for example. That Midtown Toronto riding has been one of the safest Liberal seats in Canada for decades. No longer.

Outraged that Justin Trudeau has disregarded and disrespected them, St. Paul’s Jewish voters came together in sufficient numbers to drive the Grits’ hapless candidate to defeat. They changed the outcome. That is power – the democratic kind.

So, too, the Trudeau government’s recent appointment of the Chief Commissioner of its Human Rights Commission. Their choice, Birju Dattani, has said things like: “Palestinians are Warsaw ghetto prisoners of today.” And: “Workers should boycott Israel.” And: “Israel (has an) ideology of racial supremacy” and is “a colonial project.”

Article content

Dattani has also shared platforms with Islamic extremist groups; attended rallies with chants that “Zionism is terrorism” – and is reported to have compared Zionism to Naziism. Jews saw all that, came together to object, and have stalled – and likely stopped – Dattani’s appointment. That’s political power, expressed democratically.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

Play Video

Another example from the past week was seen in the small town of Cobourg, Ont. There, a self-described “regenerative farm” called Evermeadow provides accommodation for what it calls “home stays.” When a person who wishes to remain anonymous contacted Evermeadow co-owner Joshua Noiseau to stay there, Noiseau wrote back.

“We have a policy regarding requests of people from Israel,” Noiseau wrote. “If you are against the current genocide and in favour of Palestinian liberation we would be happy to entertain your request to stay … if you are in support of militarist Zionism we will be unable to host you.”

Article content

Refusing accommodation because of someone’s religion or beliefs is against human rights codes, across Canada. When asked by this writer about that, Noiseau said, “We have an absolute right to determine who we invite.”

He went on to claim that objections to his policy are “harassment,” and said, “We are seeking legal counsel.”

When asked for the name of his lawyer, to determine if his “policy” was legal, Noiseau did not respond.

How did the no-Zionists policy of Evermeadow get discovered? By Jews, by publicizing it on social media. That, too, is power – people power.

Another example of people power coming from the Jewish community was the recent Walk for Israel that was held in Toronto. That extraordinary and peaceful event attracted more than 50,000 Jews and Jewish allies. They celebrated, they sang and danced, they waved Canadian flags. It was the biggest event of its type in Toronto’s history. No anti-Semitic, anti-Israel protest has come even close.

Article content

The Walk for Israel was an example of people power simply because it attracted so many people. It happened because nearly 15% of Canada’s entire Jewish population showed up to celebrate Israel and Canada – and democracy and tolerance.

RECOMMENDED VIDEO

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

Play Video

The final example, from the international stage: the historic debate between Democratic President Joe Biden, and presumptive Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.

The debate was truly awful, with Trump reminding many Americans why they defeated him in 2020 – and many more Americans learning how much Biden has declined since then. But one positive thing emerged: both men did not really disagree on Israel. Biden said America and the West need to “save Israel.” Trump deplored the behavior of Palestine’s most-extreme supporters. Both are right.

The TV debate was possibly the worst in American history – but for Jews and the Jewish state, neither the Democratic nor the Republican presidential candidate disagreed on the fundamental need to rally around the Jewish community.

The resentment persists. The envy persists. But for Jews, there were some real wins, in the last week.

And, in these dark days, that’s about all we can hope for.

Article content