Is the news media waking up to what many Canadians have already known over the last three years, namely that anti-Zionism – the denial of the Jewish People’s right to self-determination in their own historic homeland – is at the heart of contemporary anti-Jewish terrorism in Canada?
First, on August 5, The Globe and Mail plainly acknowledged that “the rejection of Israel, of its very right to exist, has become the growth medium for the contagion of antisemitism.”
And then, two days later, The Edmonton Journal published an editorial cartoon by artist Malcolm Mayes which portrayed the reality with rare clarity: portraying a wolf (“antisemitism”) hiding under the sheep of “anti-Zionism.”
The meaning is clear: contemporary Jew-haters (albeit ever so slightly) mask their hatred under the guise of anti-Zionism, which has become more politically acceptable in the news media, academia, and even society in general.
As the organization CIJA noted in a social media post, that clarity comes amidst a shameless failure of leadership in Edmonton specifically.
Edmonton Mayor Andrew Knack publicly condemned the city’s police chief for daring to visit Israel on a policing fact-finding mission, not because he was not going to learn anything there, but because it could “cause real hurt” among locals.
Meanwhile, local city councillor Michael Janz – whose constituency is thousands of kilometres away from Israel – has taken to social media, in our view, to demonize the Jewish State, and spread claims that critics have said is reminiscent of medieval tropes of bloodthirsty Jews.
In mid-July, Janz publicly called for Israel’s pavilion to be banned from the city’s upcoming heritage festival, though he offered no public call for noted violators of human rights like China, Somalia, the non-existent country of “Palestine,” or Turkey to be banned.
Such rhetoric seeking to demonize Israel rarely exists in a vacuum, and sure enough, at the heritage event, a small but loud group of anti-Israel activists unsuccessfully attempted to disrupt the festivities. The event was then marred by what appears to be an attempted stabbing attack by a man, who was then arrested by police.
Anti-Zionism is not legitimate criticism of Israel, but a hate movement in its own right, seeking to rob the Jewish People alone of their right to self-determination, and the sooner that more news media outlets – to say nothing of political and academic leadership – come to recognize this inarguable fact, the sooner that they will be able to meaningfully stand up to the scourge of Islamist terrorism that has swept Canada over the last three years.
The threat from such terrorism are not only Jews, but Canadians in general, whose taxes are now paying for increased policing and enforcement as a result of ineffectual municipal, provincial and federal legislation to stop such attacks, and the pernicious anti-Zionist ideology that underpins them.
Taxpayers are footing the bill for increased policing, security measures and enforcement. But the cost is not merely financial. Any ideology such as anti-Zionism that invariably leads to violence and terrorism should be recognized as a hate movement by any civilized Canadian.
