The figure that jumps out is the nearly 70% of Israelis who oppose humanitarian aid going to Gaza. This is reported in a recent article in The Globe and Mailhere.
Aida Refugee Camp, West Bank. I’ve visited this camp.
2.
On 27 May, more than 5,000 read Should I Wear a Keffiyeh in My Own Living Room? This blog was funny– but painfully true. A woman in my online exercise class had a melt down (like a toddler) because I had a keffiyeh draped on my shoulders. It was a stand off – I realized my instructor would lose the other woman as a paying participant unless I backed down and removed the scarf. So I did. Grrrr.
Item: There is the not so little issue of 22% of current MPs—73 Members of Parliament—in the 44th parliament that ended in June —who have gone on free trips to Israel, courtesy of CIJA (the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs). In fact, according to The Globe and Mail in the last 50 years, more than 800 MPs have taken free trips to Israel. Donations to CIJA are tax deductible, so Canadian taxpayers are helping to pay for the MPs’ free trips. The value of each trip is more than $12,000 and MPs are allowed to bring their partners (for free also). To read more about the “Junkets to Genocide” see my blog here.
As I wrote, “today the “historical prejudice” referred to above rarely affects Canada’s Jews. Their newfound interest in EDI aims to promote the use of the Holocaust and the IHRA as a way to draw attention to alleged antisemitism and pressure for EDI to include Jews. But, as we know, the “official” Jews refuse to oppose Israel’s genocide in Gaza. EDI tries to undo colonialism and racism, and promote the oppressor/oppressed dichotomy by protecting the disadvantaged. Since EDI is not helpful to the “official” Jews, many Jews are calling for its abolition. As Jillian Lederman, of Boston’s Jewish Journal wrote in this article “Why Jews must dismantle Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)”:
“We must take advantage of this moment to dismantle DEI, and with it the oppressor/oppressed dichotomy. Success should be celebrated rather than maligned. Group identity should be a source of pride and comfort, not a crude determinant of whether one should receive hostility or pity. Individuals deserve equality not because of the color of their skin, but because they were “created equal.”
Bomb Love by Banksy (2003) “It takes a lot of guts to stand up anonymously in a western democracy and call for things no one else believes in like peace and justice and freedom.”
5.
And finally on 3 Dec. more than 5,000 people read Palestinians Are My Equals. This was an idea first developed by formerly Canadian –and now New Zealand writer and activist– Marilyn Garson in her new book, Jewish Not Zionist. I was shocked by its simplicity and its truth. The whole reason that Israel has been able to kill 45,000 (at least) Gazans, with just about total impunity, is because to Israel and to Jewish Israelis, politicians and the powerful –Palestinians are not human beings. To diasporic Jews who still support Israel and born-again Christians who insist they love Israel — Palestinians are not human beings. Not really.
Clearly to the pro-Israel lobby, to many Canadian synagogue members who avert their gaze, to anyone who is affiliated to the “Jewish federation”, who are the “official Jews,” none of the above has happened in Gaza. Israel is merely rooting out the Hamas operatives; 43,000 have not died, nor have more than 10 children a day lost one or both legs to amputation.
The response of Canada’s “official Jews” is to deny, to insist on their privilege, to raise the spectre of antisemitism, to dissemble, to get Israel’s critics disciplined or fired at work, and to undermine their careers. To name just a handful, read about Birju Dattani here, Dr Yipeng Ge here, and Nova Scotia’s NDP who removed candidate Tammy Jakeman for sympathizing with Palestine here. All had their careers upended by the “official Jews” who are trying to muzzle anything negative said or written about Israel. They initiate legal cases against people, and behind closed doors, the “official Jews” convince universities and even governments to simply not hire people– like Birju Dattani — who had already been offered the job, when it was yanked away.
Another ruined dinner party... 