Item 1

A friend of mine is in the hospital in Ottawa.  She has told all her friends who visit that no one is to breathe a word about her being Jewish. Why? I ask her.  She says, “what if there is a Gazan nurse who treats me worse because I’m a Jew.”  

“Oh, they wouldn’t,” I answer, “They are professionals; people who work in hospitals want to help people.”  A few beats go by.  Then she says, “Well they already know I’m Jewish.  I saw my patient binder left open, and on the first page it said the word ‘Hebrew’”.  Hebrew sounded a little old fashioned, but accurate. I said that for pastoral care, or end of life rites, hospitals ask for patient’s religion and it’s listed in the binder for reference.

“I’m sure I didn’t tell them my religion when I was admitted,” my friend frets.  

Still where is her fear coming from? 

I say, “Why don’t you tell them, you are Jewish ANDyou are sympathetic to the Palestinian cause?”

“What if they ask me how sympathetic? Look I’m in the hospital, cut me some slack.  There’s real antisemitism out there and in the hospital I’m a sitting duck.”

“How are you a sitting duck?” 

She says, “I don’t want to have to discuss it, to apologize for what Israel’s doing, to explain myself. So don’t say anything.  I could get singled out.”

Why is this Jewish woman so afraid that she can’t even trust health practitioners to follow the Hippocratic Oath? And why is she so afraid of even discussing the issue? I’ll answer those questions anon, but first another story.

Item 2

It happened in April 2024 to a couple in another Canadian city.  A couple wanted to do something to support Gaza.  They bought a Palestinian flag and before attaching it to the flagpole out their second floor window, they went to see their neighbour, Anna. 

With her husband and two kids, Anna had lived beside the couple for fifteen years.  In conversation, Anna had told the couple she was Jewish. The man of the couple went to see Anna.  He said, “I don’t know about your family history. I suspect you have survivors of the holocaust in the family and I want to hang a Palestinian flag from my upstairs room. Do you have any thoughts on that?”

Anna stiffly told him it was his house and he could do what he liked.

So it seemed reasonable, after consultation with Anna, to fly the Palestinian flag.

But after the flag was flying, Anna and the family abruptly stopped chatting with the couple.  The teens who used to say hi no longer did. And Anna or her family filled in the spaces in latticework fence between the houses as if to say she didn’t even want to see them (memories of the academy award winning film The Zone of Interest)

In the hardware store, the couple ran into Anna’s husband; he looked at the floor and walked away. Now they won’t even look at us, the couple told me.   

Why are Jews in Canada so afraid?

After all, we are still waiting for news of a single professor or teacher being fired for being Jewish and supporting Israel.  We are listening for any Jewish law school grads being denied articling positions if they support Israel.  We are still looking for any Jewish doctor or nurse who has been refused a position in a hospital because of their Jewish religion or ethnicity or which nation-state they support.    

It simply doesn’t happen to Jews in this day and age.

Nor should it.  

But it does happen. It has happened…to scores of professionals from doctors, to professors, to nursing and law students.  – Plenty of those people have been targeted, disciplined, fired, doxxed, called out, and harassed, some for speaking out for Palestine, some for merely signing a petition, some for simply “liking” a social media post. 

Despite what Israel –supported by the pro-Israel, and pro-Zionist lobbies — is doing to Gaza, Canada’s government, nor many academics and fewer legacy journalists are  calling out Israel for punishment, and criticism.  

So how can it be that my hospital friend and that Anna both refuse to acknowledge and refuse to discuss Gaza. Rather than being open to the truth of Israel’s war crimes, these two Jewish people want to feign ignorance.  They prefer to deny what Israel is doing and refuse to believe that Israel’s ongoing genocide against Palestinians could land Jews even in this country in a lot of hot water.  

The reactions of the Jews in these two anecdotes showed 

1. They refuse to engage on the topic of Palestinians in Gaza.  They feel they have nothing to do with it; why is the world blaming Israel and some of the Jews?
2. Both women see those who question what Israel is doing as “the enemy”
3. They want to be treated respectfully, but when Anna is asked if flying the flag would be ok, she won’t say.  Only now does she ignore and ostracize the neighbours for being antisemitic, in her eyes, the mere flying of the flag is antisemitic. 
4. Even questioning Israel’s role in the genocide, according to the woman in the hospital, could invite a backlash against her. 

Yet, far from the galloping antisemitism alleged by CIJA, B’nai Brith and other “official” Jewish organizations, the opposite is largely the case. Many Canadians are trying to spare the feelings of their Jewish neighbours, friends, patients, clients and acquaintances, .  In my experience (and it is broad) Canadians want to avoid confronting Jews with what might be uncomfortable for them, especially concerning Israel. 

Yes, Canadians are looking for ways to discuss Gaza, and ways to understand what Israel is doing, the genocide and the ethnic cleansing of Palestine—but it involves condemning Israel. 

Until Jews in this country realise they are not the centre of attention; they are less at risk, less of a target than any racialized Canadian walking down a city street.  And poll after poll reveals that Canada’s Jews are split between those who boost Israel and those who support the Palestinians; between those who believe (with no credible evidence) that antisemitism is the most  serious problem facing Canadian Jews, and those who think it’s time  time for us to get on the right side of history — the side of justice in the Middle East. 

image at the top: by Khalil Bendib / OtherWords.org