www.politiquebec.com

[Delenda]

October 5, 2006
13 Tishrei, 5767



A wake-up call for Quebec Jews



Montreal has long fancied itself the “Paris of North America,” but this is ridiculous. Many Quebecers reacted harshly to Israel’s justified war against Hezbollah this past summer. Leading Quebec politicians marched against Israel while some protesters waved Hezbollah’s flag. Shame on those who waved that flag ignorant of Hezbollah’s terrorism. Shame, too, on those who waved the flag conscious of Hezbollah’s genocidal desire to destroy Israel.

Alas, these people were shameless. I and others who defended Israel, including that great Canadian, MP Irwin Cotler, endured anti-Semitic – not “just” anti-Zionist – attacks. Many were of the “you don’t belong here anyway” variety. Even after the Mideast ceasefire, anti-Jewish violence erupted in Montreal. The Friday night before Labour Day, shortly after a dozen yeshiva students exited, a masked man firebombed the Skver-Toldos Jewish Boys School, scorching the entrance. Clearly, the mask reflects premeditation. Yet officials refused to pronounce it a “hate crime,” because they found no anti-Jewish note or graffiti.

That same week, a flight attendant threw a chassidic man off a Montreal-to-New York flight, apparently for praying. Air Canada has not adequately explained what occurred or apologized properly to the Jewish community.

More broadly, a survey commissioned by the Association for Canadian Studies found many that Quebecers are soft on Jihadists. In Quebec, 77 per cent of respondents deemed 9/11 “a response to U.S. policy,” and 38 per cent blamed Israel, at least partly. As well, fifty-three per cent wanted Canada to “be more sensitive to the concerns of terrorist organizations in the Middle East.”

Can we connect these dots? Did something change this summer, or did longstanding realities become more obvious? Let’s not exaggerate. Jews live freely and peacefully in Montreal. But are we discovering pockets of Jew-hatred fomenting in Quebec? At best, do most Quebecers echo Count de Clermont-Tonnerre’s French Revolutionary sentiments: “We must refuse everything to the Jews as a nation and accord everything to Jews as individuals?” The community must debate this situation candidly.

The community also needs an honest, self-critical debate about how to respond to this new, or perhaps renewed, anti-Semitism. Cowering behind security guards and security cameras is not the answer. This summer, to my embarrassment, Montreal was one of the first and only communities to rush back participants from Israeli summer programs when the war with Hezbollah began. Rather than rallying behind Israel in the tens of thousands outside and downtown, Montreal held an indoor “town hall” meeting. People became so skittish that when one school cleaned its outdoor sign, some parents suggested removing such a big sign that says “Jewish” from the school’s building. And when the National Post’s Barbara Kay courageously wrote a column that “the reflexive anti-Americanism and a fat streak of anti-Semitism that has marbled the intellectual discourse of Quebec throughout its history” risks creating a new, ugly “Quebecistan,” few Jews defended her when the Francophone press vilified her.

We do not risk recreating 1930s Germany, but 1970s Montreal, when thousands of Jews fled down the 401, fearing the separatists. We may not be “pur laine,” pure “old stock” Quebec wool, but we cannot be the local lambs. We must not be North America’s “Jews of silence,” nor the latest generation to “cut and run.” Nor should we become angry crusaders who overreact to the smallest slight, real or imagined.

Judaism should not be a fighting faith. It must be an enriching way of life. Yes, we should defend our community, but we must also do a better job of explaining “why bother” to ourselves and our children.

While standing up strongly for our rights, the time has come for a communal renaissance, a “re-Jew-venation.” Now more than ever, we need a unity based on commitment, intelligence, literacy and vision. Now more than ever, we need to teach our children about Jewish pride, Jewish values, Jewish texts, Jewish holidays and Jewish life. Now more than ever, we need to adapt to modern needs, reinvigorate our Jewish institutions and stretch our Jewish souls.

Bigotry should be fought politically and spiritually, by reacting and affirming. To paraphrase Hillel, if we don’t react and protect our rights, who are we? But if we don’t affirm who we are and why we do what we do, what are we? And if not now, when?

[JMS]

D'où vient ce texte Delenda ???

JMS

[Delenda]

Ah excusez. Je n'avais pas mis le lien.

http://www.cjnews.com/viewarticle.asp?id=10258

[KLM]

it's time to make Aliyah. Israel is waiting

[skidooman]

Criticizing Israel is *NOT* anti-semitic.

And criticizing Israel is not necessarily against the "Jews".

An automatic association between Israel and "Jews" is racism, though, just as associating Catholics with whatever the Vatican says and does.