The recent embrace of extreme anti-Israel rhetoric by right-wingers like Tucker Carlson, Candace Owens, and Megyn Kelly illustrates a growing pathology of our times. Seemingly rational people can, in the wink of an eye, embrace elements of antisemitism – now wrapped in antizionism – that would have been completely foreign to them a few years ago.

And I have seen this first-hand. Salim Mansur, who used to teach political science at the University of Western Ontario, and formerly one of my closest collaborators, has come down with a nasty case of Jew-hatred.

I first met Salim at a seminar on immigration in Ottawa at the end of October in 2010. He impressed me with his broad knowledge of Islam combined with his cogent critique of multiculturalism. I sent him a Blues-Indian fusion CD produced by my company NorthernBlues Music, and I wrote him an email asking about Islam and Islamism.

Salim kindly wrote back and included this important paragraph:

The enemy today the West confronts, in numbers spread across vast terrain of nation-states, are those Muslims who have turned a faith into a political ideology, Islam into Islamism, and it is Islamism that has to be defeated and crushed so that Muslims themselves can be liberated from its ideological snares to reconcile with the modern world of democracy and science, while still remaining Muslims and having an entirely new understanding of their faith, Islam. In this respect, the struggle Muslims are faced with in their own cultures and political arrangements as states is not unique. The analogy -- though not perfectly fitting since historic time and space are different -- is with the struggle for the reform of Christianity, that spread across nearly a thousand years, with its own gruesome record of blood-letting, in which the hatred for Jews was as damning as it is among Muslims infected with Islamism is today. Lack of historical imagination is behind the arguments of those critics of Muslims today who refuse to see the difference between Islam and Islamism, and by such refusal suggest that in all of history there is only one set of people defined by faith, Muslims, who are immune to evolution. If you understand this, then you understand the absurdity of those who conflate Islam with Islamism.

That was the start of a warm and close friendship. I launched Salim’s book, Delectable Lie: A liberal repudiation of multiculturalism, in Ottawa, on September 10, 2011. His book also mentioned Islamism:

… the worm inside the doctrine of multiculturalism is the lie that all cultures are worthy of equal respect and equally embracing of individual freedom and democracy. The concerted assault by the Islamists on the essential and life-affirming values basked on individual rights and freedoms is proof of this lie.

Salim’s book praised the west, and Israel:

Only in the West – that is countries of Western Europe, the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand – and in Israel, we find people enjoy freedom as individual rights, and any curtailment of these protected rights may only occur in accordance with constitutional requirements.

Salim’s defense of liberal democracy at his Ottawa book launch was stirring, and I invited him as a regular panelist in events planned by my film society. He participated in panel discussions on immigration in Canada, and on Muslim antisemitism. In 2013, I brought in Daniel Pipes to appear with Salim in Ottawa and Toronto, to discuss Islam and Islamism. And in 2014, I flew American commentator Bret Stephens to Ottawa to appear with Salim to commemorate an anniversary of 9/11.

Many other people also understood that Salim was a bridge to understanding the ills plaguing the Islamic world.

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In 2006, Salim was one of the recipients of the American Jewish Congress’s “Profiles in Courage” award. Among the nominees were several anti-Islamist Muslims including Nonie Darwish, Salman Rushdie, Wafa Sultan, and Tashbih Sayyed.

Salim at the 2006 award ceremony in Beverly Hills.

Salim then began writing a column for the Sun chain of newspapers.

In his article, “Here we go again” about a Bush administration peace conference at the end of 2007, Salim understood what was needed:

Until and unless there is a change of mind and heart among Palestinians and Arabs as demonstrated by president Sadat in acknowledging the Jews as equal partners, and reconciling with Israel, public diplomacy as arranged for Annapolis, will remain an illusory exercise, in which Arab states one-sidedly seek American appeasement and Israeli concessions, as vindication of their rightness.

In 2008, President Bush went to the Middle East and Salim provided a history lesson in his article “Middle East indebted to Bush.”

The independence won for the Arabs from the rule of the Ottoman Turks by Britain and France at the end of the First World War eventually became a cruel mockery, with a people – despite the resources and goodwill available – incapable of lifting themselves up from the broken ruins of their tribal culture.

This is the root cause of Arab failure, and instead of embracing the modern world by reforming its culture the Arab political class has indulged in blaming others, most particularly Jews and Israel.

Salim celebrated Israel’s independence in 2008, with an article entitled “Israel Deserves Admiration.”

Israel is a tiny sliver of land in a vast tempest-ridden sea of the Arab-Muslim world, and yet it is here the ancient world’s most enduring story is made fresh again by Jews, to live God’s covenant with Abraham as told in their sacred literature.

In his March 2009, article “Palestinians can learn from Jews,” Salim wrote that “the demonization of Jews and Israelis in the borrowed language of Nazi Germany discloses the extent to which Palestinians and their supporters are the carriers of revived anti-Semitism in our time.” He concluded that “the finger-pointing at Israelis for all of Palestinian suffering is the oldest canard of blaming Jews for the ills of non-Jews.”

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In August 2010, Salim wrote about hypocrisy, in “Israel facing revival of deep-seated hate”:

The story of modern Israel, as many have noted, is a miracle unlike any… It is a robust and inclusive democracy, and is at the leading edge of science and technology… What hypocrites demand of Israelis and the scrutiny Israel is subjected to by them, they would not dare make of any other nation.

In 2010, Salim went to Israel, and wrote about his moving experience of visiting the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem:

The ease with which I moved — alone and without restrictions — from the inner sanctum of the Muslim sanctuary to Judaism’s holiest site, embracing both, is a testimony to the openness of Israel as a Jewish state and democracy.

Palestinian, Arab and Muslim narratives of Jerusalem ‘s recent history, however, is a denial of what my experience affirms, and the larger denial of Jewish rights that is the source of conflict here.

Salim then visited Yad Vashem and was visibly moved:

The resuscitation of anti-Semitism in Europe, and to some extent in North America, comes in the guise of anti-Zionism and support for Palestinian rights. In other words … In such circumstances the remarkable fact is how open, normal and fun-loving Israelis are living under the shadow of an evil that refuses to die … It is the fallen nature of the world that makes of Israel a light unto nations confounding anti-Semites endlessly.

A few days later, Salim was sitting in a café in Tel Aviv, and wrote that “Israel is merely a dot relative to the Arab world, and yet made responsible, in the logic of the anti-Zionist bigots, for the problems of the Middle East and the inability of the Arab-Muslim culture to deal with the challenges of the modern world.”

In November 2010, then Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper gave a speech at a conference on antisemitism and Salim wrote that “The new anti-Semitism — anti-Zionism, and the unending slurs and existential threats against Jews and Israel — is the rage of the Arab-Muslim world.”

In 2011, Salim wrote an op-ed for Sun Media in which he stated: “This year’s UN General Assembly session — or a carnival of lies — will once again rehash lies about Israel and claims about Palestinian rights as Western leaders engage in appeasing the hyenas and jackals of the Arab-Muslim world in our time.”

In 2013, Salim sent an email to Shimon Fogel, who was then head of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA), about working together on a forum about Islam and Islamism. At the end of his email, he wrote: “I do hope that I can count on your friendship and support behind our own effort in the struggle against Islamists, and that this struggle is intimately bound with our profound affection and admiration for Israel.”

In 2015, Salim teamed up with Geoffrey Clarfield to write an op-ed for the National Post about violence against Jews on the Temple Mount:

The solution to the contrived “problem” of Jews praying on the Temple Mount is simple. It is to recall Umar’s precedent, and insist Palestinians abide by it. President Obama could remind Palestinians of this tradition, since he boasts of his knowledge of Islam and Muslim history. He could invite King Abdullah of Jordan to join him in Jerusalem with Prime Minister Netanyahu and demand an end to violence in al-Quds with freedom of worship on the Temple Mount. This would be an act of some audacity, and a fitting end to his presidency that began with the 2009 Nobel Prize for Peace awarded to him.

Salim started writing for the Gatestone Institute in 2013 and here are some of the titles of his articles:

· The Bigotry against Israel in the UN (January 2017)

· The Atrocious Scandal of the UNESCO Vote on Jerusalem (November 2016)

· Europe’s Jihad against Israel (January 2017)

· Hamas’s Absurd War against Israel (July 2014)

· Trump’s Ban on Muslim: The Discussion the Media Won’t Have (February 2016)

· Arab and Muslim Antisemitism: A Muslim Perspective (June 2014)

In 2015, Mansur and Clarfield teamed up again and wrote about the ‘Jordanian option’ to solve the Palestinian issue:

The Jewish state of Israel lies west of the Jordan River and has sovereignty over that territory by historical and legal right. There is no “occupation.” If the Israeli government decides to give back some of this land in a territory-for-peace deal, it will have done so knowing it is sacrificing part of its historic homeland to hostile Islamic expansionists, not to “a people without a land,” for the Arabs of Palestine, that is the Palestinians, are a majority in Eastern Palestine.

Salim was adamant that Jordan was Palestine. In 2019, he copied me on an email which included the following: “If I have a role to play in shaping Conservative foreign policy on this matter, I will do my utmost to persuade Conservatives to accept “Jordan is Palestine” as the party’s policy on the Israeli-Arab (Palestinian) dispute and educate other Canadians in accepting it.”

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At the end of 2015, the think tank POGG (Peace, Order and Good Government), gave Salim its Canadian Values Award, in “recognition of his outstanding contributions and leadership in the furtherance and defense of Canadian values.”

In 2016, Salim and Geoffrey wrote an article for the National Post entitled, “The legal case for Israel.”

Though the concept of an independent Jewish homeland in the ancient land of Israel has been anathema to most Arabs and Muslims since the rise of Islam, their modern-day animus against the Jews and the State of Israel is driven by nationalism and anti-Semitism. While Christian and Muslim theologians have believed that the Jews were punished with statelessness for not accepting Jesus as the Messiah of the Jews and for rejecting the message of Muhammad, neither can deny the historicity of Jewish rights in Palestine on the basis of their own sacred texts.

In October 2017, Salim went back to Israel to present at a conference on the “Jordan Option”:

Jordan is Palestine, Israel is ancient Judea and Samaria re-born, Jerusalem is holy and deservingly the capital of the only Jewish state consistent with the historical record, and Arabs and Jews are people of two-degrees of separation as progenies of Ishmael and Isaac born to Abraham. Peace and justice is only a breath away if those who worship the God of Abraham have the courage to embrace and recognize each other for who they are.

In November 2017, Salim was awarded the Canadian Senate Sesquicentennial Medal for fostering Jewish-Muslim relations by Senator Linda Frum. He wrote about this in 2019:

But the Senate of Canada considered my years of effort in reconciling people of different faiths, especially Jews, Christians and Muslims, and together promote peace, as worthy to award me in 2017 with the Senate Sesquicentennial Medal celebrating the 150th anniversary of the founding of our Dominion.

By this time our paths had started to diverge. He had become a die-hard supporter of Donald. Trump, and I was finding that we had less and less to talk about. Our daily conversations dwindled to near silence. But I knew that I had to go to the Senate to celebrate with Salim.

A view from my seat in the Senate’s visitor’s gallery. Salim is sitting next to the woman in red in the middle.

Salim was then interviewed for the 2017 book, The Challenge of Modernizing Islam by Christine Douglass-Williams, and who asked him about Israel:

From my personal point of view, Israel has a right to exist. It is a wider issue than a Muslim one. The Jews have a moral, historical, and legal right to constitute a state just like any other people. Take for example the Hindus of India. Nepal is a Hindu state. Thailand is a Buddhist and Hindu state, and the OIC is comprised of states that are defined as Islamic countries. The Jews deserve a state and have a right. I would go even further, speaking as a Muslim who takes my faith and tradition seriously, that in the case of the Jews having a place in the Holy Land, it is mandated by my faith and defended by the Koran. So there are Muslims who deliberately pervert those verses of the Koran or say they have been abrogated.

Unfortunately, two events began to influence Salim’s thinking. First, in 2019 he was a candidate for the Conservative Party in London Centre North but was disqualified four months before the election. He claimed that it was either because the party believed he was Islamophobic or because he had criticized ‘globalism’, but it probably had something to do with his increasingly erratic comments. He then became a candidate for the People’s Party of Canada and started hanging out with a far different crowd.

Secondly, in August of 2019, Salim’s son was killed in a tragic car accident. There are no words to describe the pain that Salim must have felt. A few months later, Salim posted this on Facebook about Donald Trump’s speech to the 47^th Annual March for Life in Washington:

I watched President Trump speak with tears in my eyes, having lost my dearest son a few months ago in a car crash. This was not only personal for me and my family, this was a Sign from Heavens above that this man whom so many has called a reprobate, a renegade, a man unfit to lead the United States as the President and Commander-in-Chief, is truly providential and chosen by Our God, the Heavenly Father, to be for all of us an example of courage and of faith when the Dark Forces all around us appear to be jubilant in their ability to trample upon and ruin all that we hold dear and sacred in our lives.

Salim was still supporting Israel as late as June 2021. Here is an excerpt of his speech to a “Stand with the Jewish People” rally:

The Palestinian cause in the West has become the instrument by which the aims of antisemitism is kept alive today, and all the piety and solemn promises of the Western elites to stamp out antisemitism after Jews in Europe were nearly exterminated by Hitler and the Nazis, have proven to be rank hypocrisy. We stand together with our Jewish brothers and sisters, and the State of Israel should mean that we, non-Jews, have taken the beam out of our eyes, scrub clean our hearts, and have zero tolerance for antisemitism, anti-Zionism and anti-Jew bigotry of any sort, that singles out Jews in Israel unfairly for condemnation at the United Nations or any other forum.

At the same time, Salim was extremely anti-Ukraine. Here is a comment he made on Facebook in March of 2022:

And once a war begins and its implications goes far beyond the victims caught in the crossfire, then the “Churchill test” – knowing who is the Devil deserving of a favourable reference – comes into play. This is the hard test for anyone at present witnessing the effects and consequences of the War in Ukraine to decide who is the Devil preferable, Putin of Russia or those who have used Ukraine, Zelensky and others, in provoking this war for interests that affect people worldwide.

And then there was October 7^th, and Salim turned to the dark side…..

End of Part 1

A note from the publisher: I hope you appreciate this article and over 250 others published at Canadian Zionist Forum since July of 2023. Thank you very much for reading. If you value this work, and you have the means, please support us by upgrading to a paid subscription to Canadian Zionist Forum.

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When Germany invaded Poland in September of 1939, the English and French declared war on Germany, as they were bound by treaty to do. However, there were no ground operations, and nothing useful was done to help Poland defend itself by either of the two powers. A naval blockade of Germany was instituted and the Germans began sinking allied ships. A German invasion of Norway led to an unsuccessful allied intervention there, which was abandoned when Germany invaded France in May of 1940. This led observers to deride the period after the September invasion of Poland as a phony war.

Today we see opposite rhetoric used to describe a similar situation. Since the end of major combat operations by the US and Israel against the Islamic Republic, the US has maintained a naval blockade of Iranian ports. Israel is being attacked from Lebanon and staging increasingly aggressive retaliatory strikes there. Iran maintains a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, preventing the Gulf Arab states from delivering their oil, and cutting off vital cargo to many countries. The Islamic Republic periodically attacks the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Qatar. In spite of this we are told that there is a ceasefire in the war between the US and Israel versus Iran.

Moreover, we have been subjected regularly to optimistic reports from the Americans, that the parties are making great progress at the negotiating table and that agreement to resolve the issues that led to the war; especially the Iranian nuclear weapons program, as well as the Iranian closure of the Strait of Hormuz; is nearly at hand. The Iranians have repeatedly denied that agreement is close and that the US must accept that it has lost the war. On Sunday, the latest Iranian response revealed that the Iranian position remains as intransigent as ever. They are demanding that the US make large concessions in return for an arrangement that would be worse than the situation that existed before the bombing campaign began.

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We are learning that Israel drew closer to the United Arab Emirates during the course of the war. The Saudis are said to have attacked Iranian sponsored militias in Iraq during the hostilities. Israel’s Prime Minister said he made a secret trip to the Emirates (the UAE has denied this), and Israeli defensive systems, including Iron Dome, were deployed there to defend against Iranian missiles. Iranian attacks on the UAE and the other gulf monarchies have continued in recent days, as US warships challenged the Iranian blockade.

Image: Saudi F-15. Saudis reportedly struck Iranian militias in Iraq — Source: AP

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Nevertheless, we are told that the ceasefire remains in effect. President Trump says that he “didn’t like” the latest Iranian response and that the ceasefire is on “life support”. Over the past few weeks, he has repeatedly failed to follow through on threats that unless Iran gives the US what it wants, they will be subject to attacks much worse than those inflicted during Operation Epic Fury, which started on February 28 and was declared over by President Trump on May 5. It seems like the reports of diplomatic progress and the official end of Epic Fury are a phony peace.

Mr. Trump Goes to China

The American President has other concerns on his mind, and this week he is traveling to China for a summit whose goals are unclear, to say the least. The Iranian blockade of the Strait of Hormuz has an economic impact on the countries in Asia that depend on oil and fertilizer from the Persian Gulf, not least China. Nevertheless American entanglement in a war there may suit the Chinese, who have made it clear that an invasion of Taiwan is on their agenda. America has historically sold arms to the Taiwanese and promised to backstop de facto Taiwanese independence, but President Trump has repeatedly thrown America’s commitment to its traditional allies into question. It’s unclear whether President Trump is going to Beijing to warn them against attacking Taiwan, or to extract some kind of price from China for throwing the Taiwanese under the bus.

Image: Donald Trump and Chinese Dictator Xi Jin Ping -- Source AP Photo/Andy Wong

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The Strait of Hormuz is Everyone’s Problem

As President Trump has pointed out more than once, the biggest impact from the Iranian closure of the Strait of Hormuz is not on the US, but on Asia and, to a lesser extent, Europe. In spite of this, the rest of the world has been very slow to take action to stand up for freedom of navigation and their vital economic interests, preferring to point the finger at the Americans for supposedly causing the problem. But in finally imposing consequences on the Iranians for their decades of subversion and terror against the entire region and beyond, the Americans must have calculated that the closure of the Strait of Hormuz for a period of time was a tolerable price for finally doing something about Iranian aggression.

President Trump pointed out that other powers, such as South Korea should help to open the strait given that the Iranians have fired on their ships. The western powers do seem to be slowly organizing some sort of action to challenge the Iranian claim to ownership of the strait. However these are to be “purely defensive” operations which will take effect when there is a ceasefire. (Which the US says we already have. When the US sank Iranian boats that approached its warships it characterized these actions as “purely defensive”.)

It should be noted that Iranian claims of sovereignty over international waters in the strait of Hormuz, echo Chinese claims over the South China Sea, which likewise challenge freedom of navigation. In recent years these Chinese claims have been enforced by increasingly aggressive action against many of its neighbours.

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Last week, the US announced Operation Freedom, which was meant to force the opening of the strait. It succeeded in escorting a handful of civilian ships through the Iranian blockade before abruptly abandoning it after 36 hours, in return for the latest useless round of talks. The US did subsequently send three warships through the strait, fending off attacks from small IRGC boats and bombing Iranian installations hosting the ships. Iran retaliated by conducting attacks on economic targets in the Emirates and Kuwait. It remains to be seen if the US will resume escorting ships through the strait now that the latest talks have failed. There are hundreds of ships stranded in the Persian Gulf, unwilling to risk trying to pass through the strait. As a practical matter, the Strait remains closed.

No Peace for Israel

In Israel, unlike the US, the war on Iran is seen as necessary and the truce is unpopular. And there is no phony peace in Israel’s north. Hezbollah has unveiled new fiber optic drones, for which Israel doesn’t have an effective defense. Israeli soldiers have been dying in southern Lebanon and northern Israel.

In the rest of the country, the respite from nightly rocket attacks has permitted a return to a semblance of normal life. The final unraveling of the current government appears to be under way, as the Haredi parties are pulling out after losing patience with the government’s failure to deliver legislation to entrench the exemption of Haredim from the draft.

As this article is being completed, the government has withdrawn all legislation and tabled a bill to dissolve the Knesset, which means that elections are likely to be held in Israel this summer. The government and opposition have been maneuvering for months to prepare for these elections. New parties have emerged and the contest for leadership of the opposition is still unresolved.

I suspect most Israelis will be glad to have the chance to choose a new Knesset after the long war and persistent social unrest which have characterized the current one. The outgoing coalition brought extremists into government for the first time, undermining confidence in the police and the prisons. The government has challenged the role of the judiciary and the Attorney General, creating a standoff with the supreme court and a protest movement which may have an impact on the election.

I will write an article soon about the factions emerging to contest the coming vote and the prospects for a change of government. It remains to be seen if Israelis will be going to the polls during an ongoing truce or if full scale war will return before the election.

We hope you appreciate this article and over 250 others we have published over the past two and a half years. We are grateful to you for reading. If you value the work we do, please consider upgrading to a paid subscription to Canadian Zionist Forum. A paid subscription costs only $10 (Canadian) per month or $100 per year. A founding subscription is $240. (HST will be added if you are in Canada.) Subscriptions from outside Canada are tax exemptThe support of paid and founding subscribers enabled us to report to you last year from the World Zionist Congress in Jerusalem. We look forward to bringing you continuing information and thoughtful commentary, wherever the news affects Canadian Jews and our connection to the State of Israel.

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I am a lifelong member of the movement for Conservative Judaism. I had my Bar Mitzvah in a Conservative synagogue. I was married in a Conservative synagogue and my sons celebrated their Bar Mitzvah’s in a Conservative Synagogue.

I have served twice on the board of my synagogue and I have been chair of Adult Education for ten years. I have been a member of the executive of MERCAZ Canada for six years and proudly attended the 39th World Zionist Congress as part of the MERCAZ delegation. I’ve been on the board of MERCAZ Canada for over 15 years.

This article is not meant to disparage the Conservative movement. The vibrant connection between the Conservative movement and the State of Israel has always been very important to me. When this is challenged from within, I feel compelled to speak out. Of course these opinions are my own and do not represent those of any of the organizations for which I volunteer.

Youthful Arrogance from the Ivory Tower

As I arrived in England on Monday, my Facebook feed offered up an eloquent post by Rabbi Menachem Creditor. This post was a reaction to a letter signed by six graduates (not rabbis) and four rabbinical students (not graduates) at the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS). JTS is the leading educator of Conservative Rabbis in North America. The letter expresses the displeasure of the signatories that Israel’s President Isaac Herzog was invited to deliver the commencement address at this year’s JTS convocation.

Image: Jewish Theological Seminary in New York — Source: Alamy.com

According to the protesting students, President Herzog is a “particularly divisive figure” who leaves them “morally conflicted about attending” the graduation ceremony. His selection as speaker serves to “confirm the suspicion that JTS is only for Jewish students who align with a specific political viewpoint.”

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To support their request to cancel President Herzog, the authors of the letter cite some dubious accusations directed at him by Israel’s enemies. They blame President Herzog for showing solidarity with the IDF by signing an artillery shell that was subsequently fired into Gaza. They characterized this as “relying on weapons, many of which target civilians.” They accused him of denying “the existence of the very famine his state engineered in Gaza.” They further claim he is guilty of “direct and public incitement of violence against an entire nation.” Citing Abraham Joshua Heschel’s criticism of the Vietnam war, they claim that by contrast, Herzog expresses “pro-war sentiments”. The final sentence of the letter captures its arrogant tone:

Why the Signatories of this Letter are Wrong

Rabbi Creditor’s response focuses on a particularly insidious lie embedded in the students’ claim (after belonging to the JTS community for four years) that JTS is “only for Jewish students who align with a specific political viewpoint.”

In response, Rabbi Creditor writes:

He rightly calls the students out for giving aid and comfort to our enemies:

Rabbi Creditor correctly identifies the comments of these students as antizionism. Antizionism thrives on false accusations that seek to delegitimize Israeli self-defense as a crime.

Image: Rabbi Menachem Creditor — Source: Jewish Theological Seminary

We can see several examples of this in the letter. Calling Herzog a divisive figure is one of them. As President of Israel, Herzog represents all Israelis. Likewise he speaks for the state to the vast majority of Jews outside Israel who are concerned for the state when it comes under attack. In fact, by trying to characterize Herzog as a divisive figure it is the signatories of the letter who are promoting division, at a time when the Jewish people are under attack, not just in Israel but throughout the world.

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By accusing Herzog of “relying on weapons” which “target civilians”, the writers of the letter disparage the very act of self-defense. Judaism does not teach pacifism. Rather it teaches “when someone plots against you, to kill you, rise and kill them first.” (Sanhedrin 72a) These students may be pacifists, but they shouldn’t pretend that their pacifism arises out of Jewish values.

The claim that shells fired into Gaza “target civilians” is a libel that Israel’s enemies want everyone to treat as an established fact. But as we have been told repeatedly, the IDF is used to being under international scrutiny, and there are legal advisors closely supervising every move they make, to ensure that it is lawful. Those of us who study the history of warfare know that civilians are frequently killed as a result of fighting, but we also know that under international law, it is a war crime to target civilians deliberately. Thus the claim that shells signed by President Herzog are “frequently used to target civilians” is a criminal accusation, widely disseminated by Israel’s enemies, that has not been established in any court of law. Treating it as established fact is lying propaganda.

The letter also treats famine in Gaza as an established fact. This glosses over the fact that the relevant UN authority ignored its own definition of famine in order to claim that Gaza was experiencing famine, and that Israel ended its blockade of food supplies when credible evidence of impending famine was provided. So when they accuse Herzog of denying the existence of famine, they hold him culpable for stating the truth. In fact they are the ones who are guilty of spreading libel.

When they accuse Herzog of inciting violence against an entire nation, they use a quote taken out of context, which was also used in a corrupt and improper process at the International Criminal Court (ICC), as the basis for laying charges of promoting genocide against Herzog. Nothing in Herzog’s history or behaviour supports the idea that he would countenance the mass killing of civilians. Herzog has repeatedly explained that the Palestinians are responsible to the extent that they elected Hamas to power when they had the chance, and that they are supportive of the Gaza regime which perpetrated atrocities against Israel.

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Conflating Herzog’s angry but accurate remarks in the immediate aftermath of the obscene actions of Hamas on October 7, 2023, with inciting criminal behaviour is despicable, but can perhaps be understood when it comes from malicious or ignorant figures. When it comes from people who have been immersed for four years in Jewish education, it is harder to understand or to excuse.

The final paragraph, quoted in full from the letter, accuses Herzog of “condoning the suffering of others”, as though his support for the IDF and Israel’s just war of self-defense is at odds with Jewish values. One might rightly ask the student signatories of the letter whether they are aware that it was Hamas which started the war. We might ask if they “condone” the suffering of the hostages who were held by the enemy in Gaza, of the warriors who have spent months away from their families, and of the families of 1200 Israelis who were murdered by Hamas on October 7 and the dozens more who were murdered in captivity. Above all, we must act what kind of cartoonish version of Jewish values they are bringing to bear on what they themselves call “a world of complexity and hurt.”

A Final Word

I will give the final word in this article to Rabbi Creditor

We hope you appreciate this article and the 251 others we have published over the past two and a half years. If you value the work we do, please consider upgrading to a paid subscription to Canadian Zionist Forum. A paid subscription costs only $10 (Canadian) per month or $100 per year. A founding subscription is $240. (HST will be added if you are in Canada.) Subscriptions from outside Canada are tax exempt.

The support of paid and founding subscribers enabled us to report to you last year from the World Zionist Congress in Jerusalem. We look forward to bringing you continuing information and thoughtful commentary, wherever the news bears on Zionism in Canada.

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“Who By Fire”, published in 2022, is a meticulously researched account of Leonard Cohen’s time in Israel during the Yom Kippur war. Friedman tracked down soldiers who remembered impromptu concerts by flashlight for units positioned close to the battlefront. These testimonies were among the few surviving traces of Cohen’s tour of units in the Sinai. Few pictures were taken and Cohen rarely talked of the trip in the years afterward. Friedman examines the impact Cohen’s wartime tour of the battlefront had on the people who heard him and on the course of Cohen’s subsequent career.

Image: Canadian Israeli author Matti Friedmant: — Source: the Author’s web site, photo by Jonathan Bloom

His latest book, published in March of 2026 is “Out of the Sky”. Matti Friedman revisits a well known story from the history of the Yishuv. This concerns the heroic activities of Hanna Senesh and her three companions who parachuted into Nazi occupied Europe after being recruited by British military intelligence. Their goal, according to the British was to help allied airmen who crashed behind enemy lines and prisoners of war who might escape. The four Jews from mandate Palestine had a second mission given to them by the leaders of the Yishuv, which was to help the Jews of Hungary. Unlike the Jews of Nazi occupied Europe, Hungarian Jews had not been sent to their deaths, until a Nazi sponsored coup in March of 1944 effectively put Hungary under Nazi rule.

Image: Out of the Sky: Cover of the edition published by Penguin Random House Canada

When Hannah Senesh parachuted into Slovakia on March 14, 1944, the plan was to infiltrate into Hungary. However, the Nazi coup had occurred just when the mission began and the infiltration of Hungary was then deemed too dangerous. Hanna insisted on going ahead with the mission, crossing into Hungary in spite of the order not to go in.

Three other Jews from the Yishuv were trained with her and joined the mission. “Out of the Sky” follows the stories of all four of them, including Haim Charmesh, who was the only one to survive. Chaim was from Kibbutz Kfar Glickson which happens to be a place where I spent nine months in 1974-75. When I was there, Chaim was a respected elder of the settlement who spoke to us once about his experiences in the war.

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As in his other books, Matti Friedman brings out poignant and disturbing aspects of the story of the four heroes which are not part of the standard narrative. He reveals that the Nazis were aware of the mission from the start because the network that smuggled the volunteers into occupied Europe had made contact with “partisans” who were actually agents of the Nazi regime.

He acquaints us with the personal qualities of the young agents along with their human weaknesses. In the end we are left to ponder the difference between the real human beings who went willingly to their deaths and the heroic archetypes that were constructed around them by the leaders and writers of the young State of Israel.

We also get to know some of the other people who played a part in the events described in the book, including their commander who dispatches himself into the maelstrom after sending them in, and the British commander who recruited and trained the Jewish volunteers. Likewise, we meet some of the loved ones left behind when the heroes head off on their perilous assignment.

Friedman asks us to ponder the mindset of young men and women willing to give their lives for the Zionist cause, depicting them as jumping from the airplane to serve the state, secure in the belief that the establishment of the Jewish state would solve the Jewish problem once and for all. He contrasts this with a contrary image where the parachutist jumps from the plane, not to glory, but onto another plane whence they must once again jump for the sake of the cause. He imagines an endless series of such jumps, with the contemporary realization that the establishment of the state has not put an end to antisemitism or enabled the Jews to finally live in peace.

Out of the Sky is another engrossing narrative by a gifted chronicler of some of Israel’s notable historical events. I’m happy to recommend it, along with Matti Friedman’s earlier notable books.

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This is what antizionism looks like. Within the space of a week, three Toronto synagogues were shot up. In the same week, antizionist gangsters also shot up the Old Avenue Restaurant in Thornhill, owned by Esther Bakinka, a well-known Jewish activist. Their message couldn’t be clearer: speak against Jew-haters at your peril.

But it’s 2026. Here in Canada, shooting up a Jewish business because it’s a Jewish business, isn’t sensational enough to make the mainstream news. Only the Jewish press reported that the Old Avenue Restaurant and also YEDI, another Jewish business, were both hit the same night as Temple Emanu‑El. (Story here).

Image: Bullet holes at Temple Emanu-el, Old Avenue Restarurant and YEDi in Toronto — Source: Brian Henry

Such outrages aren’t new. Since Hamas started its war against Israel on October 7, 2023, antizionists have shot up a Jewish girl’s elementary school here in Toronto three times (See details here) and a Jewish school in Montreal twice (Read about it here).

Beyond that, numerous synagogues and Jewish businesses have been vandalized or suffered arson attacks. In fact, antizionists vandalized the Old Avenue Restaurant once before in January 2024 at its Toronto location, which is the one I go to sometimes (Read more here).

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As always, what starts with the Jews doesn’t stay with the Jews. A couple weeks ago, gangsters fired 17 shots at the Saliwan Boxing Gym in Thornhill – an Iranian-owned business where Toronto-area Iranians gather to plan anti-regime rallies (Details here).

A pair of antizionist gangsters also recently fired shots at the American Consulate on University Avenue in downtown Toronto. That’s an attack the police are taking seriously. As for the other attacks, not so much. After all, this has been going on now for two and a half years. And what’s been done?

Not much.

Yet day by day, a mass casualty terror attack grows more and more likely. Recently, in Michigan, a man armed with a rifle and a car full of explosives rammed into a synagogue with 100 children inside. Fortunately, synagogue security shot him before he was able to murder anyone.

And no one has forgotten the attack on a Hanukkah celebration this past January at Bondi Beach, with 15 murdered and 40 injured – in Australia, a peaceable country much like Canada.

We’ve also seen ISIS-inspired terrorists sexually assault and attempt to abduct Jewish women in two separate incidents this past May and June in the Toronto area (Story here), and Canada’s Integrated Threat Assessment Centre has been warning for the past year that a terror attack against the Jewish community “remains a realistic possibility” (Read more here).

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Yeah, we didn’t actually need an official government agency to tell us that.

In response, the Carney government has added $10 million to the Canada Community Security Program. Ten million sounds substantial, but Canada has hundreds of synagogues, schools and other Jewish institutions that need protecting. Not to mention the thousands of Iranian, Muslim, and Sikh institutions that also have a claim on this cash.

This small allotment of money will buy a few more security cameras, walls and gates, bollards, steel doors, and reinforced windows. But you know what? The Bais Chaya Mushka Girls School already had all that and it didn’t stop the antizionists from shooting it up three times.

Plus, while security hardware is pricey enough, the real expense is salaries for guards. Beth Tzedek, a synagogue I know well, already spends $400,000 a year on security. With the rise in antizionist gangsterism, it will spend more (Story here).

What about businesses? No grant money has been set aside for the Old Avenue Restaurant nor for our friends at the Saliwan Gym. Nor for the many other Jewish and Iranian businesses at risk.

Image: Saliwan Gym shot up in Toronto — Source: Brian Henry

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And what about my friend who doesn’t wear her Jewish star anymore? Will the feds supply her with an armed escort so she can walk her dogs and go about her life assured that she won’t be harassed, sexually assaulted, or kidnapped?

What about Jewish households with mezuzahs on their doorposts who don’t want to see them stolen, as happened at some 120 apartments in December (More here) or families who have taken their mezuzahs down, not wishing to be so visibly Jewish? Will our government assign a Mountie to every Jewish home in Canada?

If the feds are simply going to play defense, they need to up the budget to $10 billion, not $10 million. Even then, it’s a losing strategy.

I suppose I need to repeat the obvious: The police policy of hands-off antizionist protesters has encouraged them to express their hatred ever more violently. Blame for this lies with our police chiefs who give the orders, but also with our mayors, our premiers and our prime minister.

None of them has said, “Enough! Enforce the law." Arrest people who block streets (here) and highways (here), who block ambulances (here), who block entrances to synagogues, and hospitals (here), who block Jewish community centres and seniors’ homes (here).”

Stop the intimidation. Every week, antizionist protesters dressed up as terrorists and with their faces covered gather at the corner of Bathurst and Sheppard in Toronto. Why there? There’s no Israeli or American consulate at the corner, no MP’s constituency office, no political presence of any kind. But it is the heart of Toronto’s Jewish community, so that’s where antizionists choose to gather – to intimidate and to demonstrate their Jew-hatred.

Image: Antisemitic signs held by demonstrators at Bathurst and Sheppard in Toronto — Source: Brian Henry

The police do make some arrests – 154 of them since Oct 7, 2023. A third of those cases are still pending, but out of the 96 cases that have been resolved, in 94 cases nothing happened! The charges were dropped or stayed, or the accused received absolute discharges (Read about it here).

No wonder the police make so few arrests. Our courts have decided that antizionist thuggery shouldn’t have consequences.

But beyond the obvious and urgent need to advocate for enforcement of the law, we need our leaders to speak out against incitement. Sure, Mark Carney posts a Tweet when someone shoots up a synagogue. But worldwide, we face the largest and the most organized anti-Jewish propaganda program since the Nazi era.

Undoubtedly, this program of vilification against Israel and Jews has succeeded. Just look around – this is the reason thugs are shooting at synagogues.

About this, Mark Carney has said Not. One. Word.

Jews in Canada aren’t leaving yet (mostly), but we’re counting our passports. I’ve got a golden ticket: dual American citizenship. We hear Alaska’s friendly to Jews (and our dogs would love it). Most other states are good candidates, too.

But some people I know just have dual British citizenship, and unfortunately, the anti-Jewish hatred is even worse in the UK. Two days ago, on March 23, antizionists torched four ambulances in north London belonging to Hatzolet, a Jewish volunteer service (Read the story here). In October, two Jews were killed in a terrorist attack on a synagogue in Manchester, capping a record-high year for anti-Jewish incidents in the UK (Details here). And for visible Jews, central London has become a dangerous no-go area.

But there’s also Israel. Yes, the Ayatollahs and all the terrorist organizations they fund, arm and train are doing their best to wipe the Jews off the map, but in Israel (a) the Ayatollahs are losing and (b) the Israeli government is fighting to protect us.

Not so here. Do you see Carney spending any political capital to come to our defense? Nope, me neither.

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We hope you appreciate this article and the hundreds of others we have published over the past two and a half years. If you value the work we do, please consider upgrading to a paid subscription to Canadian Zionist Forum. A paid subscription costs only $10 (Canadian) per month or $100 per year. A founding subscription is $240. (HST will be added if you are in Canada.) Subscriptions from outside Canada are tax exempt.

The support of paid and founding subscribers enabled us to report to you last year from the World Zionist Congress in Jerusalem. We look forward to bringing you continuing information and thoughtful commentary, wherever the news bears on Zionism in Canada.

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On Saturday, March 14 at fifty-one minutes after midnight, my great niece came into the world in a Tel Aviv hospital. At just under three kilos she was a healthy full term baby. Her parents are both doing well. During the first day of her life she was transported to a bomb shelter eight times, as the city of Tel Aviv came under wave after wave of rocket fire from the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Her proud grandmother was there during two of the eight rocket alerts. She described the scene: When a launch is detected in Iran, the maternity ward gets a couple of minutes advance warning. The babies are wheeled into the corridor in their cribs by their parents. When the siren goes off, all the elevators come automatically to the maternity floor. Any passengers on the elevators are escorted off and directed to take the stairs, and the babies are wheeled in, five to an elevator, accompanied by one of their parents.

The elevators descend two floors, and the people in the lower corridor step aside as the parent wheels the precious cargo into the bomb shelter. With this protocol, all of the newborns are transported to safety within 90 seconds from the time the air raid sirens are triggered.

While in the shelter, nurses and volunteers circulate among the new mothers offering aid and coaching for those who are nursing. People are orderly and calm and they follow instructions. Thus, the maternity ward continues to operate in wartime.

Image: Israeli mothers with their newborns — Source: Ynet

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A Nation Stands Strong

After over thirty months of war, a nation traumatized by the horrific massacre and obscene atrocities committed by Hamas at the beginning of the war, and by hundreds of combat deaths and thousands of injuries in the months since, continues to find a way forward. Life goes on. The joys and sorrows of everyday life arrive each day for 10 million Israelis, too busy to notice the world’s effort to turn them into a symbol of evil.

Those who imagine an end to Israel “within our lifetime” seem entirely unaware of who they are trying to erase from the planet. The Israelis of this generation are proud, and they believe in their country and their people. Those who observe Israel’s fractured politics or the venality of its leaders, its social divisions and ideological quarrels may mistakenly believe these are signs of weakness. Even as Israel’s fractious political leaders gear up for an election, the people of Israel stand overwhelmingly behind the government’s decision to go to war.

The Israel defense forces rely on hundreds of thousands of reservists who run toward danger whenever they are called. On October 7, thousands ran even when they were not yet summoned and looked to help in any way they could. Their stories of heroism and sacrifice are already part of Israel’s legendarium.

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Remembering How we got here

Thirty-three years ago in 1993, I celebrated along with many Israelis, and lovers of Israel around the world, when the Oslo accords were signed and Israel embarked on what we thought would be the road to peaceful coexistence with the Palestinians. We believed in the principle of land for peace. For the sake of peace, Israel would give up a portion of the land of Israel, the Jewish patrimony, so that a Palestinian state could come into being. In return, we understood that the Palestinians would end their decades long quest, backed by most of the Arab world, to deny the Jewish people the right to our own state in any part of the land.

As we all know, the Oslo process ended in disaster. One of the most important factors in derailing the peace process was Hamas, which had been formed in the late 1980’s based on the ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood, and dedicated to the uncompromising principle that Palestinians (and indeed all Muslims) had a duty to fight Israel as long as it existed. They believe that no price is too high to pay to achieve that goal and that any attempt to make peace with Israel is an act of treason.

Hamas has had great success in derailing the many efforts to find a compromise that would preserve Israel as a Jewish state, while fulfilling Palestinian aspirations to create their own state next to Israel. In response to that success, Israelis have elected leaders who remembered the failure of Oslo, and were skeptical about territorial compromise. Chief among these skeptics has been Benjamin Netanyahu. Netanyahu’s career has flourished as Hamas has proved again and again that Israeli flexibility will always be exploited and never reciprocated.

Today, the majority of Israelis believe that only superior force and strategy will keep them safe. Efforts to show good will and flexibility will be seen by the other side as signs of weakness, and are therefore worse than useless. Not every Israeli believes this, but Benjamin Netanyahu has been able to form government again and again because that majority keeps seeing behaviour that reinforces that belief. How did the Israel that believed in Oslo become the Israel which distrusts any sort of compromise?

Netanyahu first won power in 1996 when a series of mass killings by Hamas derailed the high flying campaign of Shimon Peres, who had seemed on course to victory following the assassination of Yitzchak Rabin. Peres ran on a promise to complete the Oslo process begun under his predecessor. The Hamas bombings spread fear and skepticism among the electorate, and they turned to Netanyahu, who had opposed the Oslo process from the beginning.

Netanyahu’s first government was followed by that of Ehud Barak, who made another attempt, under the auspices of US President Bill Clinton, to arrive at a settlement with the Palestinians. That effort failed when Yasser Arafat rejected Israel’s offer of 93% of the land captured in 1967, and demanded that millions of Palestinians exercise the right of return, not to the proposed State of Palestine, but to Israel. This was followed by the Second Intifada, in which the PLO joined Hamas in acts of mass violence against Israelis, shattering the undertaking they made at Oslo that remaining differences between the Palestinians and Israelis would be settled at the bargaining table.

In the years before October of 2023, Israelis again began to believe that coexistence was possible. Gaza was a de facto Palestinian state, operating under a Palestinian government. The fact that the government was controlled by Hamas no longer seemed to be as big a threat as it once had. Israel had facilitated the flow of money from Qatar into Gaza to help sustain government services under the Hamas regime. An increasing number of Gaza Palestinians were receiving permits to work in Israel. Israel’s leadership believed that Hamas had turned its attention to economic development and that they were deterred from trying to attack Israel. Ironically this coincided with a long period in which Benjamin Netanyahu was again Prime Minister of Israel.

Since October 2023, any belief by most Israelis that Hamas could be bribed, cajoled or threatened into submission has evaporated. Most everyone agrees that Hamas must be removed from power. During the war that began 30 months ago, Israel has inflicted much harm against Hamas, but as of this writing they still control half of Gaza and most of the population.

It should be clear to the world that Israel’s skepticism about any possible compromise with Hamas also extends to the Islamic Republic of Iran. Like Hamas, Iran has never wavered from the principle that destroying Israel is the duty of every Muslim. This is not a theoretical belief, but something that Iran has invested billions in trying to accomplish. This is why Israel’s government was horrified by the JCPOA agreement negotiated by US President Obama. This is why Israel has long aspired to bring down the regime in Iran.

Iran’s anti-Israel ideology and growing military power was quite reasonably seen by Israel as an existential threat. To understand Israel’s reasons for undertaking the current war, any observer must understand this fact above all.

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Home from the Hospital

Two days after her birth, my great niece and her parents came home from the hospital to their apartment in Tel Aviv. Since the sixteenth of March, she has lived with them in the safe room of that apartment. Now seven days old, she has known many more sirens and missile attacks. In spite of the best efforts of those who hate Israel, she and her parents, her grandparents (including my sister) and the Israeli people get up each day and carry on with their lives. This morning she made her inaugural appearance on the weekly family Zoom call, which connects North American parents and siblings with my sister’s family in Israel. After another night of hourly rocket attacks from Iran, her parents were tired, while she slept through the event.

Someday (may it be soon) the threat from Iran will be ended, and the war will end as well. With God’s help, my niece will grow and flourish in Israel, she and her parents will know many days of joy, and together with the whole people of Israel they will build a better life for themselves and, God willing, their neighbours as well. Generations to come will look back on these difficult days and marvel at the strength and resilience of Israel’s people, as they stand against every force and nation that seeks their destruction. The people of Israel lives! (Am Yisrael Chai!)

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We hope you appreciate this article and the hundreds of others we have published over the past two and a half years. If you value the work we do please give this article a like, and please consider upgrading to a paid subscription to Canadian Zionist Forum. A paid subscription costs only $10 (Canadian) per month or $100 per year. A founding subscription is $240. (HST will be added if you are in Canada.) Subscriptions from outside Canada are tax exempt.

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On January 20, 2026, in Davos, Switzerland, Mark Carney delivered a widely discussed speech about the decline of the rules-based international order:

“For decades, countries like Canada prospered under what we called the rules-based international order. We joined its institutions, we praised its principles, we benefited from its predictability. And because of that, we could pursue values-based foreign policies under its protection.

We knew the story of the international rules-based order was partially false. That the strongest would exempt themselves when convenient. That trade rules were enforced asymmetrically. And we knew that international law applied with varying rigour depending on the identity of the accused or the victim.” (Carney, 2026)

Image: Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney speaks in Davos — Source Bigpicture.com

Israel’s experience within the so-called “rules-based order” reflects the unfairness that Carney described in Davos. Despite being aligned with Western states in both values and strategic interests, Israel has never truly been granted full membership. At the 2025 G7 Summit in Canada, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz praised Israel for doing the West’s “dirty work” in confronting Iran and its proxies. Although controversial in Germany, Merz’s remark highlighted how Israel serves the West’s strategic interests while remaining politically exposed.

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This relationship between Israel and the West is analogous to the relationship between Remirro de Orco and Cesare Borgia described by Niccolò Machiavelli in The Prince. According to the Florentine, Cesare Borgia used de Orco to impose order in Romagna through the use of necessary violence. Then, when the people of Romagna began to feel uneasy with the cruelty required to bring peace and public order, Borgia had de Orco publicly executed in the town square to distance himself from the cruelty of his minister.

Since the end of World War II (1939–1945), the Jewish state and its citizens have fought a series of wars whose outcomes have had significant geopolitical consequences for the West. Historically, Israel’s victory in the 1967 Six-Day War weakened Soviet-backed Arab regimes and significantly altered the balance of power in the Middle East during the Cold War. Israel’s victory in the 1973 Yom Kippur War led to Egypt’s eventual realignment towards the West. More recently, in the years, since the October 7^th terror attacks, Israel has crippled the Iranian backed Axis of Resistance by defeating Islamist groups in the Palestinian Territories, Syria, Lebanon, and Yemen. And now, in coordination with the United States, Israel is in the process of toppling the Islamic Regime in Tehran.

Despite all of these successes, Israel has been brought to the piazza[1] and excoriated by Western intergovernmental institutions. It has been condemned more than any other nation by the United Nations General Assembly, subjected to calls for boycott, divestment, and sanctions, and criticized by the leaders of key Western nations for its conduct. Although its role is critical to the maintenance of Western hegemony, Israel is consistently offered up as a sacrificial lamb whose condemnation purifies the members of the rules-based international order. In doing so, it allows them to maintain the appearance of moral authority. The condemnations are part of a façade through which Western countries demonstrate their commitment to international law and human rights. In reality, they are simply shifting moral blame onto a nation on the periphery of their world order. Perhaps Merz’s comments were controversial because they acknowledged an uncomfortable truth: That despite feigned condemnations and meaningless U.N. resolutions, the West needs Israel.

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In his Davos speech, Prime Minister Carney referenced Václav Havel’s greengrocer story: “Every morning, this shopkeeper places a sign in his window: “Workers of the world, unite!” He does not believe it. No one believes it. But he places the sign anyway – to avoid trouble, to signal compliance, to get along. And because every shopkeeper on every street does the same, the system persists” (Carney, 2026). He argued that it is time to take down the shopkeeper’s sign and to break through the illusion of neutrality when it comes to international relations. It is long past time to admit that the liberal international order (LIO) is a coalition of states and institutions with a clear normative goal. The goal of institutions like the U.N, ICC, and ICJ has never been to uphold peace, the rule of law or human rights in a neutral manner. It has always been to increase the power of the liberal international world order. In some cases, this meant the subjugation and coercion of countries in the periphery, all the while keeping up the appearance of being a force for justice, right, and equity among nations.

Taking down the greengrocer’s sign means more than just lifting the veil and undoing the illusion. It means changing the way we approach international relations as members of the West. We need to stop pretending that bombs will bring democracy or anything other than destruction to the countries we go to war with. Recent events in Venezuela and now in Iran serve as a critical juncture for Western relations with the rest of the world. If we are going to engage in regime change, we must remember that the responsibility to ensure a democratic transition does not end when the bombs drop. That’s when it begins.

“Arresting” Nicolàs Maduro and permitting his deputies to run the country in his place constitutes a catastrophic strategic blunder. We had a responsibility to install María Corina Machado and the opposition party as the interim government. Instead, President Trump installed Venezuela’s Vice-President who has served as Maduro’s right hand since 2018. In doing so, Trump removed the tyrannical socialist dictator while keeping systems of oppression in place and installing an equally despotic tyrant as his replacement. By failing to support the opposition, Trump allowed the United States to become the very devil it sought to overthrow. To the citizens of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) this is a familiar story. We cannot make the same mistake in Iran.

Finally, we need to re-evaluate our approach regarding these conflicts as diaspora Jews, Zionists, and Israelis. Instead of blasting Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Free Bird” and joining in on the U.S.A chants in response to the war against Iran, we need to recognize the severity and seriousness of the military actions we are supporting. No incident highlights this problem more clearly than the bombing of a girls’ school by the American military. In addition to defending ourselves against the global Islamic terror threat posed by the Iranian regime we should be hoping that the Persian people, who have long been subjected to colonial Islamic rule, can finally be liberated. But we have to remember, bombs don’t liberate people, they kill people. And while this war is necessary to protect Western interests, celebrating violence is antithetical to our goals.

For the citizens of the MENA, they have lived under Islamic tyranny for decades, now they are under attack – going to sleep every night under American and Israeli bombs. For some, their family members are dead, their friends are missing, and when they look to the West, they see that we are celebrating. Continuing down this road will make us the new devil of the MENA not only to the Islamists who already consider us to be such, but also to the very people we claim to be liberating. We have to build bridges. We have to listen to people who don’t look or think like us, and we have to sympathize with their lived experiences. This is the only way to build a long-lasting coalition for peace; it’s the only way that we can bring freedom not only to the people of Iran, but to the people of Lebanon, Syria, Gaza, the Palestinian Territories in Judea and Samaria, Yemen and Israel. Because endless violence is a tyrant that affects us all.

[1] The type of Italian public square where Remirro de Orco’s body was displayed.

We hope you appreciate this article and the hundreds of others we have published over the past two and a half years. If you value the work we do please give this article a like, and please consider upgrading to a paid subscription to Canadian Zionist Forum. A paid subscription costs only $10 (Canadian) per month or $100 per year. A founding subscription is $240. (HST will be added if you are in Canada.) Subscriptions from outside Canada are tax exempt.

The support of paid and founding subscribers enabled us to report to you last year from the World Zionist Congress in Jerusalem. We look forward to bringing you continuing information and thoughtful commentary, wherever the news bears on Zionism in Canada.

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If you would rather make a one time contribution you can buy me a coffee.

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As we encounter the 13th day of the American and Israeli air campaign against Iran, the news may look grim. The Strait of Hormuz is closed to oil traffic and the Arab states of the Persian Gulf have reduced production by 10 million barrels of oil a day as they run out of places to store it. Two oil tankers were struck overnight in the strait, oil prices are over $100 per barrel, and it’s unclear what the US plans to do about it. A statement purporting to be from Iran’s new supreme leader, Moqtada Khameini declares that the strait will remain closed and that all American bases in the region must be removed. Meanwhile illicit Iranian oil exports are said to be passing through without interference from the massive US fleet in the region.

Iranian attacks on their Persian Gulf neighbours, from Oman to Iraq, continue unabated. So far this has not brought those states into the war. Beyond diplomatic protests and partially successful efforts to intercept incoming missiles and drones, the Gulf monarchies have taken no action against Iran, even as the toll of dead and injured climbs. Warnings from the Gulf states of catastrophic consequences if the closure of the Strait of Hormuz continues must be encouraging to the Iranians.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is said to be cackling with delight at the windfall from much higher oil prices. President Trump have spoke on the phone with the Russian dictator early last week, and seems to be contemplating lifting sanctions on Russian oil temporarily.

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Among those who see the war as misguided or illegal, this is all taken as evidence of America’s comeuppance for launching an ill-planned and reckless attack on Iran. Trump’s comments suggesting that the war is nearing its end have created confusion, as he has also said that there is no time limit on the war and that the US will only accept Iran’s unconditional surrender. Pessimistic commentary is not coming only from those who support Iran and hate America. Denys Davidov, who has provided excellent commentary on the Ukraine war for the past four years has turned very negative on the Iran war, insisting that it is already lost. A recent example of what he has been saying can be seen here:

There is Good News we are not Hearing

News reports pay less attention to the steadily decreasing military capabilities of the Iranian forces, as day after day of relentless bombing targets the factories that build their ballistic missiles, and the apparatus of repression that keeps the regime in power. As we saw in Gaza, the news coverage and commentary can paint a highly misleading picture of what is happening and the daily news cycle is not necessarily the right time frame for understanding the unfolding of battle plans that are expected to take weeks or longer to achieve their objectives.

While war is an inherently high risk and unpredictable undertaking, it seems clear that the United States and Israeli armed forces are implementing an operation which has been planned for many months, if not many years. The coordination required for the campaign is something that must have been rehearsed and carefully gamed out. It will have clear objectives, which are not shared with the public in order to keep the enemy in the dark. The details of what is being accomplished are also not being discussed, which leaves us plenty of time to imagine the many ways in which things may end in disaster.

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In the past day, I listened to an excellent podcast which goes into some depth on what is happening and how to think about it, given that there is much that we can’t know yet. This is another thoughtful interview by Haviv Rettig Gur. Gur speaks with John Spencer, an American military strategist with decades of experience in past US military campaigns. Spencer presents an upbeat assessment of what is happening and how to think about what is likely to come next. Spencer says that contrary to much of what you will be hearing the operation has well-defined goals. He encourages us to listen to those who are in charge of the operation to understand those goals, and says that the actions of the American and Israeli forces so far are well tailored to achieving them. You can watch that video here.

Some Patience is Required

So let’s watch carefully, but keep our heads. Most of what matters in the war will not be immediately made public. The Iranian regime understands that this is an existential war and will do whatever it can to demoralize the western public and undermine support for the war which threatens to bring it to an end. As I wrote in the previous article on this site, this is a just and necessary war.

It is just because Iran has consistently attacked and organized violence against both Israel and America for the entire 47 years of its existence, and because the Iranian regime has repeatedly shown itself to be the worst enemy of its own people, murdering thousands and perhaps tens of thousands who dared to call for their freedom, only a few weeks ago. Contrary to those decrying the harm being caused by the Israelis and Americans, independent Iranian journalist Maziar Bahari tells a CBC interviewer that Iranians support the US and Israel, and that regime officials are disappointed that the war has not caused more civilian casualties in Iran.

It is necessary because all diplomatic avenues to put an end to Iranian aggression have long ago been explored and shown to be ineffective. Israel and the US have every right to use force to put a stop to the evil schemes of the Islamic Republic and help the Iranian people to create a new and better government.

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A Trying Time Here Too

While we watch events in the Middle East with anxiety, the war is also having an impact here at home. Multiple shootings have been reported at synagogues in Canada since the beginning of the campaign against Iran. The news coverage in the Canadian broadcast media continues to focus on the impact on civilians, with scant coverage of the rationale for the war except when “experts” come on to explain why the war is wrong or illegal.

As this article is published there is news coming in of a shooting and car ramming at a synagogue in Detroit. We wish all of our readers strength and courage. May we remain safe and may the war against Iran soon end with the collapse of the Islamic Republic and the start of a new era of peace for the whole region. May that peace extend to those of us living in the rest of the world as well.

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We hope you appreciate this article and the hundreds of others we have published over the past two and a half years. If you value the work we do please give this article a like, and please consider upgrading to a paid subscription to Canadian Zionist Forum. A paid subscription costs only $10 (Canadian) per month or $100 per year. A founding subscription is $240. (HST will be added if you are in Canada.) Subscriptions from outside Canada are tax exempt.

The support of paid and founding subscribers enabled us to report to you last year from the World Zionist Congress in Jerusalem. We look forward to bringing you continuing information and thoughtful commentary, wherever the news bears on Zionism in Canada.

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For many of us, the weeks leading up to this new war were filled with a feeling of dread mixed with anticipation. We remembered the hard moments of the Twelve Day War launched by Israel against Iran in 2024, which ended with a devastating American strike on the Iranian underground nuclear enrichment site at Natanz. That war exposed the weakness of Iran’s air defenses, and set back the Iranian nuclear weapons program, but it also showed that Iranian missiles can kill Israelis in their homes, and can reach anywhere in the country. (See Casualties of the Twelve-Day War - Wikipedia).

The negotiations held in the weeks before the war between the US and Iran were perplexing, given Iran’s public position that they would not concede on any of the issues being raised by the US. The American negotiators’ focus, at times, on nuclear weapons alone was concerning. Israelis and their supporters have vivid memories of the JCPOA agreement President Obama signed with Iran, which did nothing to limit Iranian proxies or ballistic missiles. In the end the Iranians seem to have worn out the patience of the American negotiators, as they stuck to a hard line on every issue.

Image: Oman's Foreign Affairs Minister Badr al-Busaidi, right, is shown Thursday with White House special envoys Steve Witkoff, centre, and Jared Kushner, left. Oman is mediating the talks between the U.S. and Iran in Geneva, Switzerland. Source: CBC/Foreign Ministry of Oman/The Associated Press

When the attack on Iran began, many were delighted to learn that the Iranian dictator, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had been killed in the first minutes of the war, along with many other senior leaders of the Islamic Republic. As of this sixth day of war, we mourn the deaths of 11 Israelis, killed by missiles from Iran. News reports today mentioned 1000 wounded. My Israeli sister wrote that they went to the bomb shelter four times on the fourth day of the war, disrupting nap time for both of her young granddaughters.

Image: Satellite view shows destruction caused by the attack in Teheran which killed Iranian Supreme leader Ali Khamenei. Source: ABC/Satellite Image 2025 Vantor

Israel and the United States launched the war on Saturday morning, February 28. The fighting quickly expanded to involve a large number of countries in the region, as Iran lashed out against its neighbours. The exact timing of the initial attack was reportedly determined by precise intelligence on the location of Ayatollah Khamenei and other Iranian leaders. Since then, politicians and commentators have competed to steer the narrative on the war, some in support and some against the decision by the United States and Israel to initiate hostilities.

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A Rorschach Test

The framing of the war often reveals more about the entrenched positions of those offering their opinions, than about the case for or against the war, in my opinion. The media outlets and political commentators who spent the past 30 months condemning Israel for defending itself have generally come out against the new war with Iran. Those who supported Israel generally also support the new war. Especially disturbing for North American Jews is the effort by commentators and politicians to put the blame on Israel for an initially unpopular American war. In some cases these comments have come from unexpected sources, which makes it all the more worrisome.

California governor Gavin Newsom, seen as a potential Democratic presidential nominee in 2028 has been critical of Netanyahu and the way the Gaza war was conducted, but has called himself a strong supporter of Israel in the past. He has avoided the kind of anti-Israel rhetoric favoured by the left wing of the Democratic party. Since the start of the latest war against Iran his tone has changed. He has mused about possibly needing to end American support for Israel. In one viral video he is discusses “Israeli bombs, our bombs, being used to kill children.” See more about Newsom in this article from Times of Israel: California Governor Newsom says Netanyahu taking Israel down path that could lead US to rethink military support

On the third day of the war, Marco Rubio, who has been identified with the internationalist wing of the Trump administration seemed to suggest that Israel had pushed the Americans into the war by initiating an attack, while the administration was still trying to resolve the war diplomatically.

The next day President Trump rejected this version of events, saying that on the contrary, he may have forced Israel’s hand. It was disappointing to see the Secretary of State implying that Israel was to blame for drawing the US into the war.

Some of the isolationists in the Republican camp have taken an overtly antisemitic turn in recent months. Tucker Carlson, who has taken to platforming antisemites, denounced the attack on Iran as “disgusting and evil.” The unease in parts of the MAGA movement is described in this article from NBC: Trump's MAGA base wrestles with Iran strikes launched by an 'America First' president.

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Canadian Government Supports the War

Canada’s Prime Minister put out a statement supporting the attack on Iran, while criticizing the way it was done:

Statement by Prime Minister Carney on the evolving situation in the Middle East

March 3, 2026

Sydney, Australia

“Canada has long seen Iran as the principal source of instability and terror in the Middle East. The regime and its proxies have murdered hundreds of Canadian civilians and caused untold suffering for millions of people in the Middle East and beyond.

Despite more than two decades of negotiations and diplomatic efforts, Iran has not dismantled its nuclear program, nor halted its enrichment activities. Canada has long supported the imperative of neutralising this grave global threat.

Canada stands with the Iranian people in their long and courageous struggle against the regime’s oppressive rule. Which is why we support efforts to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and to prevent its regime from further threatening international peace and security. Because Canada is actively taking on the world as it is, not passively waiting for a world we wish to be.

We take this position with regret, because the current conflict is another example of the failure of the international order. Despite decades of United Nations Security Council resolutions, the tireless work of the International Atomic Energy Agency, and a succession of sanctions and diplomatic frameworks, Iran’s nuclear threat remains. And now the United States and Israel have acted without engaging the United Nations or consulting with allies, including Canada.

So where to from here? With a rapidly spreading conflict and growing threats to civilian life. Canada reaffirms that international law binds all belligerents. We condemn the strikes carried out by Iran on civilians and civilian infrastructure across the Middle East. We implore all parties, including the United States and Israel, to respect the rules of international engagement.

Canada calls for a rapid de-escalation of hostilities and is prepared to assist in achieving this goal. Resolution of this crisis requires commitment to a broader political solution.

Diplomatic engagement is essential to avoid a wider and deeper conflict. Innocent civilians must be protected, and all parties must commit to finding enduring agreements to end both nuclear proliferation and terrorist extremism.

Canada will continue to pursue this approach with like-minded countries and participants in conflict.”

If we examine the statement, we see that Canada’s government agrees with the concerns of the United States and Israel and acknowledges that diplomatic efforts to address them have failed. In spite of this, Carney criticizes the failure to consult with allies and the United Nations. Canada supports the goals of the war, but wants everyone to know that we have nothing to do with it, and thinks it should end as soon as possible. Nonetheless they put the onus squarely on Iran for failing to respond positively to many years of diplomacy.

Carney has paid a political price for taking the position he has. A Liberal MP spoke out against what he called “unilateral and illegal use of military force”: a Liberal MP criticizes Carney support for U.S. attack on Iran. Today Carney refused to rule out Canadian participation in the war if allies ask us for help. Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre said that Parliament should first approve any such participation.

This Canadian Press report includes a video from CTV news which is typical of the way the conflict is being reported in the Canadian mass media over the first few days of the war. The emphasis is on the harm to Iranian civilians and the risk of a wider war and not on the decades of Iranian misbehavior that have at last culminated in action by Israel and the United States to take down the regime. See Iran war: Canada supports U.S. strikes 'with regret': Carney.

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Europe and the Gulf

The British hesitated at first to help the United States with an attack on Iran, delaying access by the Americans to their base in Diego Garcia. British jets are now flying defensive missions intercepting Iranian missiles and drones over Jordan. France has deployed an aircraft carrier to the Mediterranean and is also shooting down drones. There have been two Iranian attacks on the British base in Cyprus, one by missile and one by drone, the first time Iranian Missiles have been used to attack a European country. A missile was launched on Thursday, March 5 against an American base in Turkey, and drones and missiles have caused damage in Azarbaijan.

Iran’s response to the Israeli and American attack has been to launch missiles at American assets throughout the region, striking Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, and Iraq. In addition, oil assets were targeted in Saudi Arabia. The Gulf states have responded forcefully, with Qatar reportedly attacking targets in Iran. Most of the Gulf States have denounced Iranian attacks on their territory. The UAE was reportedly threatening to freeze Iranian assets held in the country.

Some commentators expressed concern that the UAE and Qatar might soon run out of interceptors for their air defense missile systems.. Iran apparently calculated that attacks on neighbouring countries would prompt them to put pressure on the United States to stop the war. This strategy isn’t working, so far, and Qatar denied that there is any shortage of interceptors.

Israel

In Israel the impact has been severe, with the economy shut down and people spending hours a day in bomb shelters. Most of the parliamentary opposition came out in support of the war. See: Israeli opposition leaders rally behind government as Israel and US strike Iran in The Times of Israel. An exception was the Communist party which called the government “a full partner in American Imperialism”.

Image: Clockwise from bottom left; Israeli opposition leaders Benny Gantz, Avigdor Liberman, Yair Golan, and Yair Lapid supported the government’s decision to go to war against Iran

Israelis generally understand the threat posed by Iran’s nuclear program, and they have recent experience of the danger of Iranian ballistic missiles. The harmful impact of Iranian proxies has blighted the lives of Israelis for decades, culminating in the Iron Swords war. As of this writing in the evening of March 5, the number of drone and missile attacks on Israel has greatly diminished compared to the first day of the war. Nevertheless a cluster munition caused damage in the center of the country this afternoon.

On Monday, March 3, Israeli commentator Haviv Rettig Gur published a forceful refutation of the claim that the United States was fighting an Israeli war, arguing instead that the United States has compelling reasons of its own for attacking Iran now. You can listen to his explanation of his viewpoint here:

A Necessary War

For Israel, the necessity of bringing down the Iranian regime has been evident for many years. The Iranian proxy forces surrounded Israel, in Lebanon, Syria and Gaza, disrupting the political order in each of those places. Other elements brought violence and support for religious dictatorship to Yemen and Iraq.

As we know all too well, Hamas, an Iranian proxy, invaded Israel 30 months ago, committing crimes against humanity, kidnapping 251 and murdering 1200. This attack was immediately supported by Hezbollah, another Iranian proxy, driving tens of thousands of Israelis from their homes. Ballistic missiles also began flying at Israel from yet another Iranian proxy, the Houthis in Yemen.

None of this should be surprising, as the Islamic Republic has made plain throughout its history that the destruction of Israel was a core policy. For decades its actions matched its words. Despite this open enmity, when Israel retaliated against Iran, the UN, other international organizations, and so-called human rights groups were quick to accuse Israel of violating international law. If you watch Canadian news, you will hear many commentators spouting the same kind of rhetoric in response to the current campaign against the Iranian regime. Until the Iron Swords war, western governments generally acknowledged an Israeli right to defend itself from the Iranian sponsored forces arrayed against it. But Iran has played an important role in undermining recognition of Israel’s legitimacy in the west.

Subversion of Human Rights Groups by an Enemy of Human Rights

For a quarter century, the campaign within the western human rights movement to isolate and demonize Israel has advanced steadily, capturing the support of the leadership of many left of center parties in North America and Europe. This campaign was launched at the Durban Human rights conference in 2001, where the Iranian role was crucial. The subversion of the global human rights movement by a regime which was itself guilty of massive human rights violations has led us to our present paradoxical situation in which antizionism has become the sine qua non for anyone who wants to be accepted within human rights circles.

A few weeks after the Iranian regime massacred thousands of its own people for daring to demonstrate for change, the issue occupying left wing politicians and media is whether the American and Israeli attack on Iran is legal under international law. As we saw above there is a Liberal MP in Canada stating publicly that the attack on Iran is illegal. The doctrine that there is a responsibility to protect people who are being attacked by their own government, articulated during the war against Serbia in the 1990’s seems to have fallen out of fashion. The notion that a regime that has repeatedly attacked Americans might have exposed itself to justified retaliation is likewise not much discussed. The idea that Israel, attacked from all sides for decades by Iranian proxies, might have legitimate grounds to strike back is not addressed by those who denounce the war.

For many of us watching the coverage of the war in Israel over the past two years, the Israeli case for war may seem obvious and the world’s indifference infuriating. That same world has recently witnessed the massive uprising of Iranians demanding freedom from their oppressors and the murderous retaliation committed against them by the regime which torments them. This movement seemed to catch the imagination of some who stayed silent when Israelis were the target. The mass killing of demonstrators drew widespread condemnation and demonstrators took to the streets, albeit in much smaller numbers that those who came out to support Hamas.

But the North American left can’t bring itself to support a decisive blow against those very same tormenters. Former Vice Presidential candidate Kamala Harris was scathing in her condemnation of the war: See Kamala Harris urges Congress to act to stop attacks on Iran. Human rights NGOs are conspicuous in their failure to support a campaign to unseat the Islamic Republic, a regime founded on the denial of women’s rights, gay rights and the civil and political rights of every Iranian.

America is also Justified in Attacking Iran

The Islamic Republic has been hostile to America from its foundation. The mission of the Iranian revolution from the very start has been formulated in terms of opposing America as “the Great Satan”. America was identified with cosmic evil by the founders of the Islamic Republic and that ideology has never changed.

This has not been limited to rhetoric. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) began its existence by holding hostages at the American embassy in Tehran in 1979. Iran’s Lebanese proxy, Hezbollah killed 241 American troops in Beirut, in October of 1983. In the first decade of this century, IRGC affiliates organized deadly assaults on US forces during the American occupation of Iraq.

Iran’s Houthi agents in Yemen have repeatedly attacked international shipping, including American warships. These are acts of war which justify an American response. Taken as a whole, the claim that the Israeli and American attack on Iran is in violation of international law seems ridiculous. If, by chance international law as it is currently constituted really does stand in the way of the present war against Iran, then the problem that needs fixing is with international law.

It should not be the function of international law to protect murderous and oppressive regimes from the just consequences of their own aggressive behaviour at home and abroad. This only serves to bring international law into disrepute.

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Many Hard Days Lie Ahead

War should not be undertaken lightly and even when undertaken for a good purpose, it still causes untold misery and heartbreak. The days ahead will contain a full measure of both.

There are many ways in which matters could go wrong. The Iranian regime is still capable of doing immense harm to its own people and to the other peoples in the region. The war seems to be unpopular in the US and there’s a risk that the effort may be derailed before the Iranian regime is brought down. It’s also possible that the war may empower others with evil intent to take over in Iran, especially if Israel and the United States grow impatient with how long the war is taking and step back, leaving a power vacuum.

Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are flawed leaders who have promoted division and unrest in their respective homelands. There are plenty of reasons to suspect their motives for going to war. In both countries there are many who can’t bring themselves to support anything that they do, for fear that it will strengthen them politically.

Nevertheless, the destruction of the Iranian regime is the just and logical consequence of the obscene actions committed in Israel beginning on October 7, 2023. The definitive removal of the Islamic regime in Iran would represent victory for Israel and the broader west against an enemy that has worked tirelessly to harm them. It would leave the world a better place, and a safer place for Israelis and Americans. It would also be an immense kindness to the long-suffering people of Iran.

For all these reasons I strongly support the present war against Iran and call on readers to do the same. Let us pray for the brave soldiers of the United States and Israel. Let us make our best efforts to support this just and necessary war and to challenge its critics here at home. May the Israeli and American warriors be crowned with victory and may they return to their families whole in body and spirit.

Please let me know your thoughts in the comments.

We hope you appreciate this article and the hundreds of others we have published over the past two and a half years. If you value the work we do, please consider upgrading to a paid subscription to Canadian Zionist Forum. A paid subscription costs only $10 (Canadian) per month or $100 per year. A founding subscription is $240. (HST will be added if you are in Canada.) Subscriptions from outside Canada are tax exempt.

The support of paid and founding subscribers enabled us to report to you last year from the World Zionist Congress in Jerusalem. We look forward to bringing you continuing information and thoughtful commentary, wherever the news bears on Zionism in Canada.

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Canadian Zionist Forum sends best wishes and thanks to all our readers. We are very grateful for your interest and support. Please share this article with someone who might appreciate it.

I recently finished reading “Herzl”, the 1975 biography by Amos Elon. Elon covers his subject in detail, drawing on diaries that Herzl wrote prolifically, as well as his many letters to his parents and his wife. The author did extensive research in the Zionist Archives. We discover a Herzl full of enthusiasm and romantic passion, who grows up in an assimilated German-speaking household in Hungary, then a province of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, before moving to Vienna in 1878 to study.

Herzl was the product of a society influenced by liberal ideas, which formally emancipated the Jews in 1867. Many Jews in Austria-Hungary, like Jews in North America, embraced the opportunities opened up by emancipation and identified strongly with the European societies they belonged to. Jews rose to prominence in politics, science, literature, and many other fields.

Herzl started out identifying enthusiastically with German culture and the German speaking people of which he considered himself a part. He graduated from law school in Vienna. In college he joined a nationalist fraternity, which expected its members to to duel with swords and required a scar on the face as a rite of initiation. Herzl later left the fraternity when it adopted antisemitic views.

Image: Cover of Amos Elon’s 400 page biography of Herzl, published in 1975

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Herzl aspired to be a play-wright, but for a long time his plays had limited success. Elon depicts the plays as rather shallow and frivolous, reflecting Herzl’s romantic view of life. Unable to make a living in the theatre, Herzl turned to journalism, where he soon revealed a talent for vivid and engaging prose. After a period of free-lance work, he secured a full-time position as Paris correspondent with the the Neue Freie Presse, a leading Vienna newspaper.

Many of us are familiar with the story of Herzl’s shock and dismay at seeing the mobs screaming “Death to the Jews”, as he covered the trial of Alfred Dreyfus in Paris in 1895. As Elon describes it, Herzl had been pre-occupied for a number of years before the famous Paris incident, with how the Jews of Europe could secure their future. While many had prospered, certain doors remained closed to them and antisemitism began to emerge in the societies where the Jews had been set free. Contrary to the hopes of the Jews who eagerly assimilated into European culture, the liberal societies that had initially welcomed them began to exhibit suspicion and hostility.

In this era, the “Jewish Question” was a subject of public debate and division. The Jewish question was how (or whether) Jews could be full members of European societies while retaining their identity as Jews. Theorists of antisemitism published books explaining why Jews could never be truly Austrian or German or French. (For an examination of some of these writers see, “The Politics of Cultural Despair”, by Fritz Stern). Antisemitic political movements emerged in Austria and elsewhere, and began to draw significant public support.

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The Jewish Struggle to Reconcile Tradition and Modernity

In their own way, the newly emancipated nineteenth century Jews also wrestled with this problem. Some chose to convert to Christianity, an option briefly considered by Herzl, but rejected by him as an intolerable humiliation for a proud people. Famously, the Russian Jewish poet Yehudah Leib Gordon, wrote in his monumental 1878 poem, “Kotzo Shel Yod” (“The Tip of the Yud”), of being a “Man on the Street and a Jew in the Home.” This phrase became something of a credo among some modernizing Jews of the era. The early innovators who founded the Jewish Reform movement tried to integrate modern non-Jewish elements into religious services to make them more appealing to culturally assimilated Jews.

Herzl’s devastating insight during his 1895 coverage of the Dreyfus trial was that whatever choices Jews might make in reconciling traditional and modern ideas, the host societies would ultimately reject them. This was the bolt of lightning that led him to found the Zionist movement. In the months after his moment of insight in Paris, Herzl wrote “The Jewish State”, the book which vaulted him to prominence and galvanized the founders of the Zionist movement who would meet in Basel in 1897. By all accounts, Herzl was in a driven and highly emotional state during the time that he wrote the book.

Herzl’s wrote:

Covering the years after 1895, Elon’s biography introduces us to a range of contemporary Jewish figures, some who became Herzl’s supporters, and others who tried to undermine what he was doing. The Chief Rabbi of Vienna refused for a long time to meet with him, but after the publication of “The Jewish State” he spoke encouragingly to Herzl. In the end, likely due to opposition from prominent members of the Jewish community, he did nothing to help.

Herzl’s employers, the editors of the New Freie Press were assimilated Jews who were staunchly opposed to Zionism and refused to allow anything related to the movement to appear in their pages. They wanted the newspaper to be seen as purely Austrian, with the Jewish identity of the owners irrelevant to the material that appeared in its pages. Like many established Jews of the day, they saw Zionism as a threat to their standing in non-Jewish society.

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Shifting Social Atmosphere for Jews in Austria

When Theodor Herzl was born in Budapest in 1860, the Austrian Empire was caught up in a whirlwind of social and political change, which had spread across Europe. In 1848, the continent was swept by popular uprisings fueled by liberal ideas. Following an uprising in Hungary, the Emperor of Austria abdicated, and a new Emperor Franz Joseph I took the throne. Vienna was granted an elected city council. Legal restrictions on Jews were relaxed.

While Franz Joseph was no Liberal, liberal ideas were popular in Austria and Hungary at the time. In the decades after 1848, the Viennese city counsel was dominated by liberals. When Herzl moved to Vienna in 1878, the Mayor was Cajetan von Felder, a Liberal who had served in the role for ten years. Opposing them were German nationalists, who advocated for closer ties with Germany which had been unified as the German Empire by 1871.

Ten years later, the atmosphere was changing. The “Jewish Question” was everywhere debated and emancipated Jews with a memory of the ghetto felt under pressure to justify their equal status. Myths of Jewish power spread among the population, tied to misconceptions about the influence of the Rothschilds. Elon states that the lower and middle classes in Austria and Germany became antisemitic in the 1880’s. In 1895, with Europe up in arms over the Dreyfus affair, Carl Lueger, an antisemitic German nationalist won the election to be Mayor of Vienna. His followers took two thirds of the seats on the counsel, ending the long dominance of the Liberals.

According to Elon

In hindsight, Lueger’s political success is seen as a foreshadowing of Hitler’s political career in Weimar Germany.

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Lessons for our Time

Amos Elon notes that the Jews of Austria in the 1890’s were inclined to keep their heads down, worried that they would lose the rights that they had gained in the preceding decades. Jews were busy navigating the boundary between the traditions of their ancestors and the appeal of modern German culture. There was disagreement inside the Jewish community between traditionalists and modernizers. Jews were not publicly outspoken or organized against the rise of antisemitic politics. At the same time they were bewildered that the role and status of the Jews, a relatively small minority of the European population could so dominate the politics of the age.

This is in contrast to the Jews of our own time living with the memory of the Holocaust. Jewish organizations in North America are constantly on the lookout for resurgent antisemitism, and do not hesitate to criticize anything that evokes the anti-Jewish ideas and politics of the pre-World War II era.

In spite of this, the Jews in Canada and the United States today appear to be under similar political and cultural pressure to that which was described in Elon’s biography of Herzl. Our institutions are at odds over how to confront this new social pressure. Meanwhile, new movements arise within the Jewish community. Some try to adjust to the new pressure, while others call for militant Jewish resistance.

In 2021, I took note of the attack on the IHRA working definition of antisemitism by the Jewish Faculty Network. This group of Jewish professors spoke out against the IHRA definition, claiming that it was an attempt to silence the voices of Palestinian critics of Israel. Through the Adult Education Committee at my synagogue we brought in David Hirsh to discuss this. Hirsh identified such claims as an example of what he calls the Livingston Formulation. The Livingston formulation tries to influence antisemitic rhetoric and actions from scrutiny by claiming it is merely “criticism of Israel”.

At the very beginning of the publication of Canadian Zionist Forum in 2023, Fred Litwin and I called attention in two separate articles to the Film “Israelism”, which purported to expose the complicity of mainstream Jewish institutions in the oppression of Palestinians. The institutions targeted included Conservative synagogues and Jewish summer camps.

Since the Hamas invasion of Israel in October of 2023, much of what I have published on this platform has addressed issues of how the coverage of the war in our media, the reaction of prominent people in academia and the arts, and the behaviour of human rights NGOs, has been overtaken by a kind of moral panic, which requires that Israel should be unreservedly condemned; and that conversely any defense of Israel, and any attempt to show that Israeli conduct of the war is justified under the circumstances does not deserve a hearing, and that people trying to make such arguments are depraved.

These developments have had a deep impact on Jews living now in North America. Like the Jews of the late 19th century, we are bewildered that contemporary events in Israel, which followed the worst attack on the Jews since the Holocaust, occupy such a large fraction of the world’s attention, and that the world’s take on those events is so profoundly unsympathetic to the Israeli position.

In the nineteenth century and the first half of the 20th, the status of the Jews became a central issue in European politics, leading finally to the murder of a large part of the Jewish population of Europe. In our own day, the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians is similarly formulated in existential terms. This past week, the UN Special Rapporteur for Palestine, Francesca Albanese, about whom I’ve written here before, was denounced by a number of European leaders, who called for her resignation. In a panel discussion in Davos, Albanese said “We now see that humanity has a common enemy.”

Those who call for her resignation accuse her of suggesting that Israel is that common enemy. She denies this saying:

Whatever one may think of Albanese’s comments, it is certainly bewildering that such language is applied to the Israel Palestinian conflict, with its 70,000 dead, when it is not used to describe far more deadly conflicts, such as the brutal civil war in Syria, which killed 600,000, or the devastating four year Russian aggression against Ukraine with has left a million dead.

Looking back on events in Europe over a century ago, it is hard not to conclude that the fact that the state of Israel is connected with the “Jewish Problem” continues to magnify the world’s attention and to fuel the world’s hatred.

Message from Canadian Zionist Forum

We hope you enjoy this article and the hundreds of others we have published over the past two and a half years. If you value the work we do, please consider upgrading to a paid subscription to Canadian Zionist Forum. A paid subscription costs only $10 (Canadian) per month or $100 per year. A founding subscription is $240. (HST will be added if you are in Canada.) Subscriptions from outside Canada are tax exempt.

The support of paid and founding subscribers enabled us to report to you last year from the World Zionist Congress in Jerusalem. We look forward to bringing you continuing information and thoughtful commentary, wherever the news bears on Zionism in Canada.

Paid subscribers can also post comments. Why not become one and join the conversation?

Leave a comment

If you would rather make a one time contribution you can buy me a coffee.

Canadian Zionist Forum sends best wishes and thanks to all our readers. We are very grateful for your interest and support. Please share this article with someone who might appreciate it.

Image: Poster for NDP Palestine Debate showing leadership candidates Tony McQuail, Tanille Johnston, Avi Lewis, and Heather McPherson

(A fifth candidate, Rob Ashton did not participate)

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Where is the Boundary?

The NDP leadership debate on Palestine, hosted by Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME), raised important questions about the boundary between antisemitism and anti-Zionism. Notably, candidates’ use of economic metaphors echoed classic antisemitic tropes, such as narratives of Jewish greed and conspiratorial claims of Jewish global control.

One key lesson from the debate is that anti-Zionism often functions not merely as political critique but as a hate movement. Although conceptually distinct from antisemitism, it is frequently entangled with it in practice. Zionism itself is a political ideology that is internally diverse and contested, yet many candidates, and the anti-Israel movement more broadly, consistently personify and moralize this abstract tradition. This move, I argue, shifts discourse from the critique of ideas to the demonization of people, thereby crossing the boundary between political opposition and bigotry. It is obviously not a coincidence that the vast majority of Zionists are Jews, and anti-Israel discourse frequently slides from “Zionists,” to “Israel,” to “Israelis,” and finally to Jews globally. The personification of abstract concepts is a good indicator that a speaker is no longer engaging in critique, but is instead shifting toward bigotry.

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Marxist Roots?

What I found most interesting from that debate was the economic language used by the candidates when debating the issue of Palestine. Why would Canada’s socialist party be using economic metaphors when discussing the conflict in the Middle East? Perhaps it is because antisemitism is a part of traditional, Orthodox Marxism. In order to support this argument, I would like to draw on Marx’s writings from “On the Jewish Question”. In that essay, written in 1843 Marx is replying to Bruno Bauer who wrote on the same question with a focus on the political emancipation of German Jews. For Bauer, if the Jew sought emancipation than he must conform to the German way of life and fight for the German people as a collective not just the Jewish people. Marx’s critique is that Bauer failed to capture the true essence of the Jew. He wrote the following:

“Let us consider the real Jew: not the sabbath Jew whom Bauer considers but the everyday Jew. Let us not seek the secret of the Jew in his religion, but let us seek the secret of the religion of the real Jew. What is the profane basis of Judaism? Practical need, self-interest. What is the worldly cult of the Jew? Huckstering. What is his worldly god? Money. Very well: then in emancipating itself from huckstering and money, and thus from the real and practical Judaism, our age would emancipate itself?”

Through this quote we can see that Marx clearly equated Jews with capitalism and the bourgeois, and since he spent his life advocating the abolition of both, it is clear that antisemitism is a part of Marxism as articulated by Marx himself. During the debate the candidates used similar economic language. They consistently used phrases such as “money talks”, “profit over people”, “we need to stop thinking about money”. Further, there was a pretty detailed discussion about economically isolating the state of Israel through a 2-way arms embargo and an end to the Canada-Israel Free Trade Agreement (CIFTA).

Another common comment was for the candidates to lament about Canada’s so-called “Israel Lobby”. This particular line was of interest to me since, due to our strict campaign finance laws in Canada, there is no such thing as an Israel lobby that can directly financially contribute to political campaigns. In fact, no organization of any kind can financially contribute to a political campaign of any sort. Only people can make political donations, and even then, there is a contribution limit of $1,750 per person.

So, if there is not an Israel lobby donating millions of dollars to politicians in Canada, then who were the candidates referring to? I believe that they were referring to Zionists using the same coded language that we have become accustomed to hearing as Jews, since it is no longer palatable to be as direct as Marx was in perpetuating this type of conspiracy theory, even when the target is Zionism.

Familiar Tropes

I believe that this case-study demonstrates that anti-Zionism and antisemitism are different, because we can’t know for sure that the NDP leadership candidates were referring to the Jews when they were speaking. But we can say with a high degree of confidence that they were referring to Zionists. And just because it was not antisemitism does not mean that it was not hatred or bigotry. Anti-Zionism is just as hateful and just as evil as antisemitism. The two forms of bigotry are very closely related because they are targeting the same people (broadly), using the same tactics, and the same tropes (this is of course a variation of the wealthy Jews manipulating the world trope) — just in a different way.

As Jews, Zionists, and allies, we should avoid getting bogged down in definitional debates and opening ourselves up to the common retort that we are “conflating criticism of the state of Israel with hatred of the Jewish people” we should stand firm in our beliefs and not allow our enemies to put us on the defense. Whether they hate us because we are Zionists or because we are Jewish, they hate us. And by highlighting their bigotry, hopefully we will be able to convince more people to stand in solidarity with us on the issues that are closest to our hearts.

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Last week the body of Ran Gvili was found by Israeli forces in a cemetery in northern Gaza. Ran Gvili was a Staff Sergeant with the Israeli police. On October 7, 2023, he was on medical leave awaiting surgery for a broken shoulder. Despite this, he left his home join his unit and went out to fight terrorists near Kibbutz Alumim. This report from Jewish News Syndicate tells how he rescued 100 people and killed 14 terrorists before being killed and taken to Gaza.

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On Tuesday, January 27, International Holocaust Memorial Day, his body was returned to Israel and on January 28 he was buried in his home town of Meitar. For the first time in 12 years, no Israelis are being held captive by Hamas in Gaza. On January 28, the clock in Hostage square which had counted out the days of captivity was stopped after 843 days, 12 hours and 6 minutes.

Image: Glock stops in Hostage Square — Source: Frame capture from video at Times of Israel

That same day, Times of Israel which had been counting the days of the war which began on October 7, 2023 also stopped the count. While the future of Gaza remains uncertain, Iron Swords, the war that began with the Hamas invasion of the Gaza envelope over two years ago, seems to be officially over.

A few days earlier American Middle East peace envoy Steve Witkoff announced the beginning of the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire. The second phase is meant to usher in a permanent end to the war, the disarmament of Hamas, the installation of a technocratic Palestinian government in Gaza and the phased withdrawal of Israeli troops. Many of the details of phase II are still to be worked out, and Hamas continues to insist that it will not give up its arms.

The Board of Peace, which is supposed to oversee the Gaza ceasefire now includes Turkey and Qatar, Cambodia and Belarus, as well as Israel, Egypt, Morocco and the United Arab Emirates. Western governments, including Canada, have generally declined to join. The security council resolution 2803 put US President Donald Trump in charge of the Board of Peace.

According to this report in Politico, published Monday, an American spokesman reiterated that Hamas must disarm:

Israel joined the board of peace in spite of their public expressions of dissatisfaction with the prominent role being given to Turkey and Qatar. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu insisted that no Turkish troops would deploy to Gaza as part of the International Stabilization Force (ISF), but an American official stated that Gaza was now “an American show”.

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In other news, the Israeli government staved off a threat of early elections last week by passing the first reading of the annual budget. The budget must pass by the end of March in order to avoid automatic dissolution of the Knesset and a summer election. The passage of the budget remains in doubt as the government has failed to pass a law to exempt most young Haredi Jews from military service. Such a law was promised to the Haredi parties in return for their support of the current coalition, but the measure being advanced is unpopular with the majority of Israelis and the government has so far been unable to get it passed.

Tachlis or TACO?

Meanwhile there were signs that a new war with Iran is imminent. The Iranian regime has cracked down brutally on Iranian protesters who controlled the streets for the first few weeks of 2026. News of the number of protesters killed varied widely, with many reports running into the tens of thousands. This CBC report cited Iranian government reports of over 3000 killed, but said that human rights groups feared the number is far higher.

Exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi and US President Trump had encouraged demonstrators to remain in the streets, with Trump announcing that “Help is on the way". The US has sent military forces to the region and appears to be lining up support from regional allies, but so far there has been no overt American action against the Iranian regime.

Image: Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi — source: (Mark Schiefelbein/The Associated Press)

Other signs that conflict may be imminent include the evacuation of Russian personnel and other foreigners from Iran. Israel and Saudi Arabia had reportedly asked the US to hold off, due to fears of Iranian attacks on their homeland in response to a US intervention. Saudi Arabia, which seemed to have been moving away from its posture of cooperation with the US has now come out in favour of regime change after completing a large arms deal with the US Administration.

Earlier in January, President Trump threatened action against Iran if demonstrators were killed but later seemed to back away, saying that Iran cancelled planned executions of protesters. More recently he said that he had given Iran a “deadline to make a deal.”

All of this is happening while the US is threatening new trade measures against Canada. There is uncertainty of what will come next following American intervention in Venezuela. There was also growing unease at home, after two Americans were killed by Federal immigration enforcement in Minneapolis.

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An atmosphere of uncertainty pervades the world, following American demands for sovereignty over Greenland. Global financial markets responded by bidding up the price of precious metals to unprecedented levels. These prices remain high, even after a sharp selloff on Friday.

Here at Canadian Zionist Forum, we will monitor events and continue to bring you our insights into how these events affect Israel and the rest of the Jewish world.

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Canadian Zionist Forum sends all our readers best wishes as Tu B’Shvat approaches, even as our home base in Ottawa remains in a deep freeze. We are very grateful for your interest and support.

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Over the first few weeks of 2026, the news has been full of speculation and rumor, upheaval and violence. Trying to make sense of it and to understand what is happening, and what will happen next, always a challenge, has been particularly difficult. There’s no lack of dramatic and heartbreaking developments, but it has been hard to understand where matters are headed. During this period, we have been following events and sharing articles by people who seem to know what they are talking about, but we haven’t written here since our New Years eve survey of the dramatic events of 2025.

Today we will touch on a few of those events, but understanding where things are headed remains challenging. Our aim is to weigh in here whenever we think we can make ourselves useful, but the world is in a period of rapid change and much of what we have taken for granted in the decades past may well be in the process of changing beyond recognition. We will continue to try to understand when it becomes necessary to discard old assumptions and reckon with a the reality of a changed world.

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Iran

The year ended with the rise of nation-wide protests in Iran. During 2025, we have seen that the proxy forces created by Iran, in their decades of trying to destroy Israel, have suffered catastrophic losses, leaving them greatly weakened. Hamas has been devastated, although the survivors remain in control of half of Gaza. Hezbollah has been routed and Israel has kept up the pressure in southern Lebanon to ensure that they are unable to rebuild. Their vast arsenal of missiles and battle-hardened units that were long thought of as a sword of Damocles hanging over Israel, have been largely destroyed.

The collapse of the Assad regime in Syria has deprived Hezbollah of their customary supply routes and the pro-Iranian militia in Iraq and Yemen have been quiet since Iran itself was battered by Israel and the United States in the Twelve Day War.

With all these setbacks for the Iranian regime, the outbreak of unrest in Iran itself seemed like a hopeful signal that the Islamic Republic might be tottering. The world’s media seemed at first to ignore the Iranian protests, but as the demonstrations grew larger, and spread everywhere, and as the country came to a standstill, the story was reported widely. The regime seemed to hesitate at first in resorting to its customary violent repression of any dissent.

Some looked to Israel and the United States to intervene in support of what they called a revolution. Reza Pahlavi, son of the former Iranian Shah, demonstrated that the people would answer his call and come into the streets in greater numbers at a time designated by him. This was followed by US President Trump, who called on the people to take over the institutions controlled by the regime, and promised that “Help is on the way”.

When the regime began to crack down it reportedly came with unprecedented brutality. Trump warned the regime that violence would bring a US intervention, but as of this writing no US military action against Iran has occurred. The US continues to assemble forces in the region, and foreign personnel have been evacuated, but American intentions remain unclear, as reports of tens of thousands of deaths and hundreds of thousands of injuries have emerged from behind the internet blackout imposed by the Ayatollahs.

Image: Mass Demonstration in Iran on January 19 — source Sky News

As this is being written, the streets, which were controlled for several weeks by Iranian demonstrators are back in the hands of government forces which committed mass violence against the Iranian people. The Iranian economy remains at a standstill and a way out of the crisis remains unclear.

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Gaza

The start of 2026 has also brought an American announcement of the launch of phase II of the Gaza peace plan. This is happening in spite of the fact that the body of Ran Gvili, the last Israeli hostage, has not yet been returned. Under the plan his body was to have been returned within 72 hours of the end of hostilities in October.

Nevertheless, the US has proceeded with announcements about forming a number of organizational bodies meant to take over governance of Gaza during phase II. The second phase is also supposed to bring the disarmament of Hamas and a “permanent” end to the war, including eventual Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.

The Gaza Technocratic Administration (GTA) was unveiled, along with the Gaza Executive Board (GEB) which is meant to oversee it. The GTA is made up of Palestinians with no affiliation to Hamas or the Palestinian Authority (PA), but many of them have played a role in PA governance in the past. The GEB is led by former Bulgarian Foreign Minister Nikolay Mladenov.

Image: Gaza Executive Board Chair Nikolay Mladenov source: Wikipedia

The GTA is meant to control a new Palestinian police force that will be responsible for order in Gaza and is slated to take over that role from Hamas. The force has already begun to train in Egypt, awaits deployment to Gaza. Hamas has sent mixed messages about their willingness to cede power, and they have been defiant on giving up their arms. The question of who will compel Hamas to give up power and who will enforce disarmament of the terrorist forces in Gaza, remains a central obstacle to the implementation of the Gaza peace plan, one on which many observers expect it to founder.

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Israel

Israel has been shaken by the death of a young Haredi demonstrator, run over by a bus that was caught up in the protests. Haredim have taken to the streets to protest army efforts to enforce draft notices.

A spike in violent crime in Arab towns has prompted unrest demanding government action to curtail it. The issue drove the four principal Israeli Arab parties to announce today that they will form a single block to run in the Israeli elections, which are scheduled to be held this year.

Political maneuvering ahead of the elections took place against a backdrop of unpopular government actions, aimed at shoring up the coalition. Attempts to advance a draft law which would exempt most Haredim from military service, have proceeded in the face of resistance from within the coalition, and from some members of the ultra-orthodox parties who consider the measure insufficient.

The government has created a commission of inquiry into the failures of October 7. This commission is under government control, in spite of the norm from past wars that such a commission should be independent of the government.

The coalition also advanced a law to repeal the provisions in the criminal code under which Benjamin Netanyahu has been on trial for a number of years.

The government continues to clash with the Attorney General and the High Court over actions that the AG and the court claim are beyond its power. The government has also advanced measures to fire the AG, measures that have been blocked by the High Court. The Justice Minister refuses to fill vacancies on the court until the court accepts changes to the appointment process, which the court has also deemed unlawful.

Polling shows that if an election were held now, the present governing coalition would not be able to form a majority. The most likely leader of the opposition side is Naftali Bennett, who is returning to politics at the head of a new party. Negotiations are ongoing between Bennett and other opposition leaders, Lapid, Gantz, and Eisenkott to unite the centrist opposition to Netanyahu in time for the election.

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Europe

Donald Trump also unveiled the leadership of the Board of Peace which is meant to oversee the Gaza Executive Board and bear ultimate responsibility for the success of the Gaza peace plan. Under the provisions of the Security Council Resolution passed in the fall, Trump is personally in charge of the Board of Peace which has a mandate to implement the Gaza Peace Plan for two years beginning last fall.

Trump’s efforts to recruit world leaders to join the Board of Peace were disrupted by a crisis that boiled up when he again raised a demand for US sovereignty over Greenland. European leaders who criticized Trump’s move as unjustified and a threat to NATO, have declined to join the Board of Peace. Canada which also once again faced suggestions from the President that it should become part of the United States, was disinvited from the board, after Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney gave a tough speech stating that the old global order has gone away and sharply criticizing the US demand for sovereignty over Greenland.

Image: Canadian PM Mark Carney at Davos: The Old World Order is not Coming Back — Source: Yahoo News

This leaves the Board of Peace with leadership tilted toward authoritarian and undemocratic states, including Russia and Belarus. Powers aligned with the Muslim brotherhood, including Turkey and Qatar also joined. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu expressed dissatisfaction with the presence of representatives of Turkey and Qatar on the Gaza Executive Board, but continued to defend the peace plan, and accepted the invitation to join the Board of Peace.

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Looking Forward

As the Americans press for further progress on the Gaza Peace Plan, Israel continues to skirmish with Hamas along the line of control in Gaza as well as using air strikes to target their leadership. Trump has warned that if Hamas does not fulfill its promise to disarm they will be “blown away”. Meanwhile Israel is under pressure to open the Rafah crossing which would come under the control of the new Palestinian Technocratic Administration.

Still to be announced is the composition of the International Stabilization Force (ISF), as well as its mandate. It has been difficult for the US to secure promises of troops for the ISF and there has been resistance by potential contributors to any role for the ISF in disarming Hamas.

Phase II of the peace plan also calls for phased Israeli withdrawals from Gaza, but these are conditioned on Hamas disarmament. Whether this will ultimately derail the implementation of phase II remains to be seen.

Israel has moved to cut off cooperation with organizations in Gaza implicated in helping Hamas with the October 7 attacks, as well as during the war. At the top of the list is UNRWA, whose headquarters in Jerusalem has been demolished in recent days. A number of other organizations have also been banned from Israel and from areas in Gaza controlled by Israel, including Doctors without Borders.

The possibility that the US may yet intervene in Iran and the pitfalls threatening the fragile truce in Gaza continue to fuel uncertainty about whether there is more war ahead in 2026. At Canadian Zionist forum we will work hard to keep you up date on developments as they occur.

If you value our work, why not consider upgrading to a paid subscription to Canadian Zionist Forum to mark the new year. A paid subscription costs only $10 (Canadian) per month or $100 per year. A founding subscription is $240. (HST will be added if you are in Canada.)

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Canadian Zionist Forum would again like to wish all of our readers health and prosperity in 2026. We are very grateful for your interest and support. A happy and prosperous New Year!

Trump and Netanyahu

January Ceasefire

The most important development in the world in 2025 was the inauguration of Donald Trump for his second term as the US President. Trump’s impact was felt everywhere, as the norms both of American domestic policy and of international relations were upended. I wrote in my previous article about some of the consequences of the end of the American led international order.

In January the impending inauguration of Donald Trump seems to have played a role in clinching an American sponsored ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, which came into force on January 19. 33 living hostages were released during this period in return for the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli custody. Fighting resumed on March 18, when Hamas refused to release any more hostages without Israeli agreement to a permanent truce.

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12 Day War

On June 13, Israel began a long-planned and long-anticipated strike against the Iranian nuclear program, and other military assets of the Iranian regime. The previous year, Israeli action was constrained by the Biden Administration after an attack on Israel by Iranian ballistic missiles in April of 2024. A subsequent Iranian attack on Israel in October of 2024 was answered, on October 26, with a limited Israeli strike on Iranian air defenses and missile production facilities.

During the twelve day conflict with Iran in June 2025, the Israeli Airforce enjoyed undisputed control of the air over western Iran, damaging Iranian facilities dedicated to their nuclear program as well as their ballistic missile production facilities and launchers. Israel also targeted Iranian nuclear scientists and senior military leaders. Iran responded with wave after wave of ballistic missile attacks on Israeli cities and military bases. Israeli air defense intercepted the majority of the missiles, with help from the US and other regional powers, but the 60 missiles that got through damaged some Israeli military assets and killed Israelis in their homes. Twenty eight Israelis were killed by Iranian missiles during the 12 days of war.

On the final day of the war, the United States joined the conflict and dropped its largest bombs on a deeply buried Iranian nuclear development site which was beyond the reach of any munitions possessed by Israel. Announcing that the Iranian nuclear program had been “totally obliterated”, President Trump called for an end to the fighting and within a few hours Israel and Iran complied.

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October Ceasefire and Hostage Release

Fighting in Gaza resumed in March, as Israel tried to pressure Hamas to agree to a new ceasefire on its terms. Global outcry increased as Israel maintained a blockade on food for 7 weeks after the resumption of the fighting. While Hamas hoarded food, some people in Gaza went hungry. There was international outrage and unsubstantiated claims of famine in Gaza. In May Israel allowed the resumption of food aid, but the global pressure on Israel continued.

Canada, the United Kingdom, and France announced their intention to recognize the “State of Palestine” at the United Nations General Assembly session in September. Hamas responded by hardening its position at the negotiating table and ceasefire negotiations mediated by the United States, Egypt and Qatar fell apart as a result. In August, Israel announced that if Hamas did not agree to a new ceasefire and the release of the remaining hostages, the IDF would conquer and destroy Gaza City, to which residents had returned during the winter ceasefire.

In September, as the three western powers recognized Palestine, Israel began preparations for its operation in Gaza. Hamas returned to the table and with an enormous amount of American pressure, a new ceasefire was agreed. Under its terms, all remaining Israeli hostages, living and dead were to be returned within 72 hours. On October 10, the ceasefire came into effect, followed by the release of all living hostages. The bodies of the dead were slower to come out and there is still one murdered hostage, Ran Gvili, whose body has not been returned as of the last day of 2025.

Image: Murdered Israeli, Ran Gvili, last Oct 7 hostage still held in Gaza — Src: Jwire.com.au

As the year ended, Netanyahu met Trump in Mar a Lago. After the meeting, the two seemed to be in close alignment on next steps in Gaza, including the necessity to disarm Hamas, preferably voluntarily, but by force if necessary. The two leaders also seemed to agree that any attempt by Iran to rebuild its military capabilities should be prevented by force. As this is being written, several days of political unrest in Iran have raised questions about the stability of the regime there.

Image: Benjamin Netanyahu meets Donald Trump on December 29 — src: fox26houston.com

I wrote at greater length about the October ceasefire agreement and the accompanying UN Security Council resolution in this article linked just below.

Political Developments in Israel

Judicial Reform

During the past year, the Israel government has proceeded with many controversial measures, driven by the political considerations related to holding the ruling coalition together. The Knesset is in the last year of its current term, with new elections due no later than October of 2026.

The government again advanced measures to remove constraints put on its actions by the Israeli judicial system. This included attempting to fire the Attorney General, a measure which has been blocked by the Supreme Court. The Justice minister engaged in a battle with the Supreme Court over the choice of the next Chief Justice. To put pressure on the court, the minister has refused to convene the judicial appointments committee, leaving retiring judges unreplaced.

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Drafting Charedim

The enormous burden carried by Israel’s reservists over the course of over two years of war has made it difficult for the government to pass a law exempting members of the Charedi community from military service. This measure was promised to Shas and United Torah Judaism, the parties representing Israeli ultra-orthodox communities, in return for joining the government in 2021. With the government approaching the end of its term and the promise unfulfilled, these parties have threatened repeatedly to withdraw their support and bring on early elections.

To prevent this, the government is advancing a law, but it has been difficult for the Likud party to ensure support from their own members for this very unpopular measure. Religious Zionism, a community which has borne the brunt of the casualties in the present war, are also unhappy about it. With no law in place, the Supreme Court ruled almost a year ago that the army must begin drafting ultra-orthodox youth. Thousands of draft notices have been issued, but few of those notified have reported. Demonstrations against the draft by Charedim have been frequent and sometimes violent. The World Zionist Congress ended early because of the disruption expected from a large Charedi anti-draft demonstration held in Jerusalem on October 30.

Readers may remember that a resolution passed by the World Zionist Congress called for a system of military service that shared the burden fairly among Israeli communities.

Charedi anti-draft protesters block Israel’s Highway 4 on Dec 28 — Src: Times of Israel

State Commission of Inquiry

Another measure supported by the Congress was the creation of a state commission of inquiry into the failures that led to the catastrophe of October 7, 2023. This is a demand that has been expressed frequently over the months since the beginning of the war, but the government refused to establish such a commission, arguing that the war would first have to be won.

With a Gaza ceasefire in place since October, the government has proceeded to create a commission that will be under its supervision, rather than a State Commission that would be lead by a judge and be independent of the government. In response the opposition has denounced the government’s panel. With elections only a few months off, this is likely to be a factor in the upcoming campaign.

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Qatargate

In February of 2025, allegations were made that senior members of the Prime Minster’s staff and a Lieutenant Colonel in the reserves were in the pay of Qatar, tasked with promoting the interests of Qatar in Israel. The investigation was conducted by the Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security agency. Shin Bet head Ronen Bar confirmed that the matter was being investigated.

In early March the names of the two Prime Ministerial aides became public and on March 30 they were arrested.

On March 5, the Shin Bet released a report on its internal investigation of the failures of October 7. The investigation found that the agency had failed in its mission in preventing the attack. The government seized on this and announced that Ronen Bar would be dismissed from his role. Israel’s Attorney General said that the government was in a conflict of interest because the Shin Bet was investigating Qatargate. The Supreme Court Ruled that the dismissal of Bar could not go ahead.

On April 28, Bar announced his resignation as of June 15, citing his failures over October 7. He also made a number of allegations of pressure by the Prime Minister on him for the Shin Bet to serve the government’s political interests.

As the year ended, new allegations linking the Qatargate affair directly to Netanyahu led Naftali Bennett and other opposition leaders to denounce the matter as a betrayal of the State of Israel. With Bennett running high in the polls, it seems likely that this issue will also be a factor in the upcoming election campaign.

Ceasefires

In Lebanon, an American deadline for the disarmament of Hezbollah arrives on December 31. The Lebanese government claims that that Hezbollah has been disarmed south of the Litani, but Israel points to heavy weapons, including missiles which remain further north. Since the ceasefire in Lebanon came into effect just over a year ago, Israel has repeatedly struck Hezbollah in response to efforts to rebuild their presence in the south. Meanwhile, the head of Hezbollah has stated publicly that they will not disarm. With the expiry of the American deadline, the US may give Israel the green light for a new operation against Hezbollah in Lebanon.

In Gaza, the first phase of the ceasefire, which was supposed to end weeks ago is not yet over, as long as the body of Ran Gvili has not been returned. There is much pressure to proceed to phase II, but many elements necessary for that are not yet in place. This includes the formation of an international stabilization force (ISF) and the clarification of its mandate, which has not yet been finalized. In addition, there are differences between Israel and the US over which nations should be part of the ISF including a possible Turkish role.

As with Hezbollah in Lebanon, the peace plan in Gaza calls for the disarmament of Hamas, and Hamas’ new leadership has not indicated a willingness to do this under the conditions called for in the twenty point peace plan. The question of who will disarm Hamas is thus at the heart of any progress to phase II.

With Iran as well, the Israeli government is concerned that the Iranian missile program still poses an existential threat to Israel and wants to be free to take action against Iran to eliminate this threat.

For all that, the ceasefires are holding on all three fronts, and Israel’s reservists are getting some needed time to reclaim their civilian lives.

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If you value our work, why not consider upgrading to a paid subscription to Canadian Zionist Forum to mark the new year. A paid subscription costs only $10 (Canadian) per month or $100 per year. A founding subscription is $240. (HST will be added if you are in Canada.)

Paid and founding subscribers provided the resources which allowed us to report to you this year from the World Zionist Congress in Jerusalem. Paid subscribers can also post comments. We hope you will become one and join the conversation.

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If you would rather make a one time contribution you can buy me a coffee.

Canadian Zionist Forum would like to wish all of our readers health and prosperity in 2026. We are very grateful for your interest and support. Happy New Year!

In the year to come, this writer will complete his seventieth year on the planet. Since developing an intense interest in politics and world affairs at an early age, I’ve spent my life trying to support causes and ideas I thought most likely to lead to a better world. As a teenager, I was drawn into protesting the Vietnam war and supporting the movement to ban testing of nuclear weapons. I was also an avid supporter of the campaign to free Jews trapped in the Soviet Union.

Underlying all of this was an unexamined belief in an orderly world governed by law. Like many young people growing up in the 1960’s and 1970’s, I took this law-based world for granted. I didn’t appreciate how unusual the post World War II era was. The United Nations seemed to provide a framework for orderly governance of world affairs. The Six Day War directed the attention of my 11 year old self to the idea that a country invading its neighbour is in violation of international law, and that self-defense is the only-legal justification for war.

The outcome of the Vietnam war, and the catastrophe of Khmer Rouge rule in Cambodia, changed my ideas about who the good guys were in that conflict. By the time I was 20 years old, I came to view the United States foreign policy as a force for good in the world. I realized that Eastern Europe was under foreign occupation and that a mutual defense pact like NATO was necessary to prevent further Russian expansion.

As Soviet Jews began to emerge from captivity, their stories reinforced my understanding that the Soviet claim to be working for a better world was a lie, and that their influence in the world was generally for the worse. I learned during my second trip to Israel in 1975 about the role the Soviets had played in arming the Egyptians and Syrians, and creating the conditions that led to the Six Day War. I understood that Soviet driven rhetoric depicting Israel as the aggressor in 1967 was lying propaganda.

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Decolonization and Antizionism

In the wake of the second world war, the United States threw its weight behind independence movements in the vast stretches of the world that had been conquered by the western European powers in the 19th Century. Exhausted by war, Britain and France retreated, and their former colonies emerged as newly independent states. As one of the first new states to emerge after the war, Israel looked to these new nations as natural allies. Diplomacy and foreign aid helped to build relationships.

As over 100 newly independent nations joined the UN, the Soviet Union was taking advantage of the retreat of Western European power to try to extend its influence. The United States found itself backing forces around the world that resisted the spread of Communism and Soviet power. Vietnam was a case where the Soviets succeeded in replacing Western European influence and defeating American intervention. Their proxies established regimes modeled on their own violent and repressive model, all in the name of national liberation.

Around the world, Soviet-US rivalry was a driving force for conflict. In some places this would manifest itself in civil war between pro-Soviet and pro-Western factions. Some newly independent states tried to avoid this by claiming to be non-aligned, rejecting an alliance with either power. Some so-called non-aligned states were pro-Soviet and tried to tilt the non-aligned movement in that direction.

In the Middle East, American power mostly prevailed and the Israeli American alliance emerged. Soviet allies in Syria and South Yemen remained to cause trouble, but Egypt, the leading Arab power of the day, switched sides and made peace with Israel after the Yom Kippur war, cementing its ties to the US which sponsored the peace.

The Soviets responded to military defeat of their Egyptian and Syrian proxies in 1967 by launching a global propaganda campaign against “Zionism”. At home, this campaign became a movement to marginalize Soviet Jews. In the rest of the world, the Soviets endlessly repeated the lie the that Israel was responsible for the Six Day War (which the Soviets had engineered themselves, expecting that Israel would be defeated). The Soviets promoted ideas that are still widely repeated by antizionists today: that Israelis were white settlers, that Israel is an Apartheid state and that Israelis were committing genocide against the Palestinians.

In addition to lying propaganda about the six day war, the Soviets translated the Protocols of the Elders of Zion into Arabic and promoted old fashioned Jew hatred throughout the Arab world. They armed and supported Palestinian terrorist groups. The PLO charter had been signed in Moscow in 1964, preparing the ground for the pro-Soviet regime that they expected would emerge, once Israel had been defeated on the battlefield.

While the Soviet efforts to destroy Israel by military force were unsuccessful, their propaganda campaign against the Jewish state bore fruit. Many of the newly independent nations of Africa broke off diplomatic relations with Israel after 1967. The Arab sponsored boycott of Israel was peddled as a progressive movement and states that relied on Soviet support and members of the non-aligned movement parroted the Soviet anti-Israel line. The UN General Assembly voted in 1975 that Zionism is Racism.

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The Undoing of International Law

In the 1970’s the western powers generally rejected the campaign to weaponize international law against Israel. The hypocrisy of the Soviets, holding eastern Europe captive while lecturing Israel and NATO states about respecting the sovereignty of their neighbours, was evident to western leadership in that era, even as the Soviet narrative was embraced by elements of the western left.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union and the liberation of the captive nations of eastern Europe, the establishment in the west began taking the strictures of international law more seriously. American Presidents began to entertain the idea that they should get a UN mandate before intervening abroad. This coincided with intensified efforts to hold Israel responsible for events in the territories captured in 1967.

Elements within Israel’s leadership started to believe that the removal of Soviet influence had created an opportunity to settle the conflict with their neighbours. With American encouragement, Israeli leaders entered into negotiations with the Palestine Liberation Organization, leading eventually to signing of the Oslo accords. As with the increasing importance ascribed in the minds of western leaders to the UN, the Oslo Accords rested on the belief, by some Israelis, that an enduring peace could be established by international agreement, backstopped by guarantees from the United States, the sole remaining superpower.

Unfortunately, Israel’s trust in the PLO turned out to be misplaced, and the Islamic Republic of Iran stepped in to sabotage any efforts to establish peace between Israel and its neighbours. Thousands of Israelis died as a result. Iran’s malign influence was manifested through the growing power of Hamas and Hezbollah. The Iranians also played an important role in launching of an intensified campaign of anti-Israel propaganda, at a large convention on Human Rights held in Durban in 2001. At Durban, the global institutions established to promote human rights in the dying days of the Soviet Union, were hijacked and weaponized against Israel.

Over the past 25 years, this has brought both international law and international human rights NGOs into disrepute. The western left has continued to embrace the politics of global human rights, even as the global human rights NGOs have been increasingly diverted from their core mission, replaced by a singular focus on demonizing Israel and the west generally. In reaction to the growing anti-western tone of the global left, right wing populist parties have grown rapidly. They have been elected to power in more and more western nations.

These populist parties are skeptical of the American-led global order, which they see as having been hijacked by an anti-western, illiberal left. This has culminated with the election of Donald Trump for the second time as the President of the United States. With the United States itself now led by people who reject the American-led global order, the foundation that underpins that order is rapidly evaporating. As a result the rationale that supported increasing Western respect for international law in the 1990’s and into the current century, has unraveled before our eyes.

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A New World Disorder

What does it mean when the United States no longer even pays lip service to international law? We have seen in Ukraine, that the US administration’s position is not that Ukraine is right or that Russia is wrong, but that Ukraine “doesn’t have the cards”. The fact that the Americans under President Biden were providing Ukraine with some of those cards is rejected by the Trump Administration as a stupid waste of resources, rather than as an attempt to defend the American led international order. They are indifferent or oblivious to the ways that order gave America advantages, both in soft power and in commercial opportunities.

If large countries like Ukraine are not safe in this new world, what are the chances for smaller powers? If we look around the world, we see war and disorder in more and more places. The Chinese are behaving in a menacing way towards Taiwan, which benefitted in the past from American military support. In Africa, some countries are falling under Chinese influence or being torn apart by civil wars fueled from abroad. The United States itself is challenging the sovereignty of Denmark, a NATO member, over Greenland, and has repeatedly expressed the opinion that Canada should become “the 51st state”.

Ironically, when it comes to Israel the entire world is being flooded with international law rhetoric. Genocide is a concept in international law. Israel was taken to the International Court of Justice by South Africa, on a charge of genocide, within a few weeks of the Hamas invasion of Israel. Canadian media have been saturated with accusations of Israeli genocide for the past 26 months. Yet the institutions that exist to give relevance to international law have demonstrated their decadence as the war has unfolded.

International Women’s organizations failed to acknowledge sexual violence against Israeli women in the wake of the October 7 massacre. Organizations nominally devoted to Gay rights mobilized in support of Hamas which is known for murdering Gay people. UNRWA, an arm of the United Nations was exposed as having been complicit in the October 7 atrocities. The UN special rapporteur on Palestine has spent the war spreading antisemitic libels. New information is coming out to show that Hamas controlled the NGOs in Gaza which ran hospitals and distributed food aid. The International Criminal Court (ICC) ignored its own rules in indicting Israeli leaders for war crimes.

In a world where the institutions backing international law have lost legitimacy and the powers which formerly gave international law some credibility are treating it with contempt, all that is left is the empty rhetoric that has been deployed against Israel, and the feeling of righteous anger against Israel and Jews that has been fueled by endless repetition of Hamas propaganda in the world’s media. But the media and the hopelessly biased UN operatives haven’t noticed yet that the foundation that gave them an aura of legitimacy is disappearing.

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How Will Small States Survive?

Israel’s present government is itself right wing and populist, and skeptical of the institutions of international law. In Israel’s case, the disillusionment started with the collapse of Oslo and the world’s failure to ascribe any fault to the Palestinians for that failure. Israelis remember the risks they took and the price they paid for Oslo, even if the rest of the world has forgotten. While Israel has many significant internal challenges, Israeli voters have chosen their present leadership repeatedly because they want leaders who will stand up to pressure from an international system that they recognize has been rigged against them.

Israel has known for longer than many in the West, that its survival and the safety of its people depend on its ability to defend itself, and not on the fairness of international institutions or the force of international law. While small states are vulnerable to larger ones, and Israel will always need powerful allies, they have maintained a freedom of action that has enabled them to stand up to international pressure where necessary. This has allowed them to turn around from the October 7 disaster and create a situation where the many enemies that had massed against them in recent years are now wounded and in disarray.

The states that vote against Israel at the United Nations might want to look to Israel for an example of what it will take to survive in an openly lawless world where the advantage will go to those who “have the cards.”

Recommended Reading

Students heading back to College after the holidays will enjoy reading Izabella Tabarovsky’s new book about antizionism in the Soviet Union where she grew up and its current manifestation in North American universities. See image below.

Wishing a belated Happy Chanukah, a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to our readers around the world. We look forward to new articles soon on the many political issues roiling Israeli politics at the moment, and on the prospects for maintaining the ceasefires on various fonts.

We are grateful for the interest of all our readers and are excited to be reaching over 1000 subscribers. We are especially grateful to our dedicated cadre of paid subscribers who pay $10 (Canadian) per month or $100 per year and to our founding subscribers who pay $240/year. (HST will be added if you are in Canada.) Paid subscribers can post comments. We hope you will become one and join the conversation.

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When not writing here, this editor wears other hats. One of those hats is Chair of Adult Education at the main Conservative Synagogue here in Ottawa. This article is about a program organized by that committee. As is always the case with articles at the Canadian Zionist Forum, the opinions expressed are solely those of the author(s). They are not written on behalf of the synagogue, the committee, or any other organization. To emphasize this, the article below dispenses with the usual practice of using the “editorial we.”

An Era of Heightened Polarization

Which Jewish voices should be heard in Jewish spaces? There have always been lines synagogues won’t cross. Many do interfaith work with non-Jews, but wouldn’t invite a non-Jew into the synagogue to proselytize. They debate politics, but typically do not endorse political parties at election time.

On questions relating to Israel and antisemitism, defining the lines is emotional and more difficult. The very act of defining antisemitism in order to help non-Jewish authorities identify it has become enmeshed in controversy. As the international climate related to Israel has become more hostile, the intersection between Israel programming and antisemitism programming has grown.

Four years ago our Ottawa synagogue held an evening of discussion with Artur Wilczynski, who represented Canada at the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA). Artur was there to talk about the IHRA working definition of antisemitism, which he played a role in writing and to compare it to other proposed definitions. Around the same time, the committee invited David Hirsh (author of Contemporary Left Antisemitism), to discuss the campaign to discredit the IHRA working definition, by claiming that it is a tool to silence critics of Israel. Most disappointing to this author was that the charge against IHRA here in Canada was being led by Jews who identified as pro-Palestinian.

Sadly, as the Canadian Senate held hearings this week on antisemitism, which has greatly worsened in the past two years, the witnesses (including Artur, still making the case for the IHRA definition) were still preoccupied with this misguided and distracting debate on definitions, rather than on how to address the crisis of insecurity and violence affecting Canadian Jews.

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Broadening the Conversation

When it comes to Israel’s wars, the choice of speakers can be similarly fraught. At my synagogue, the speakers who came during the war tended to focus on building solidarity and pushing back against the biased stories presented in the media. For example, the synagogue twice invited Professor Brian W. Cox, an expert on the laws of war, who refuted claims that Israel is committing war crimes or genocide. David Hirsh appeared again to address the way reaction to the war was fueling antisemitism in western society.

This past week the synagogue hosted a more critical voice: former Canadian ambassador to Israel, Jon Allen. Allen has appeared regularly as a commentator on Canadian news coverage of the war, invariably as a harsh critic of the way Israel has conducted itself. He has a highly skeptical view of the motives of Israel’s government. While denouncing Hamas, and acknowledging an Israeli right of self-defense, he says that Israel has committed crimes in Gaza.

Image: Former Canadian Ambassador to Israel, Jon Allen — source: stratfordtoday.ca

Those who are regular readers will know that I have been critical of Israeli actions from time to time, but by and large my writing has focused on the atrocious behaviour of the enemy, and on trying to make the case for Israel’s conduct in the face of relentless and unreasonable international condemnation.

Nevertheless, I am open to broadening the conversation. Here is why I support welcoming Jon Allen and others like him into our Jewish spaces:

1. He expresses the views of a significant minority within the Jewish community, both in Canada and in Israel. While I was in Israel in October I encountered Israelis who believe, as he does, that the government has prolonged the war for political reasons. Likewise there are members of my congregation who believe Israel has lost its way in the conduct of the war. While I don’t agree with these people I recognize that these views come from a place of love for the state and people of Israel. As such they are legitimate Zionist voices and shouldn’t be silenced because others in the community think they are wrong.

2. Both before and after the war, our enemies have tried to divide us. The rhetoric, both from the Israeli government and its far left critics, and from extreme right wingers here in Canada as well as the extreme left, treats the opposing side, not just as wrong, but as evil. This division serves the aims of the enemies of the Jewish people by weakening our solidarity, even as forces who desire our destruction are empowered both here in Canada and globally. Therefore respectful conversation between lovers of Israel, on the left and on the right, is an act of Zionist resistance against those who would rather see Jews and those who support them hating each other.

I believe simultaneously that much of what Jon Allen says is misguided, and that he should not be denied the right to speak in Jewish spaces. Rather he should speak, and those who disagree should answer. Those who disagree should speak respectfully with members of the community whose views are closer to his. Within the community, vigorous debate embodies an important Jewish value, as long as the arguments stem from a love of Israel (Ahavat Yisrael).

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What Jon Allen Said

In the rest of this article I will summarize Jon Allen’s remarks and identify points of agreement and the many points where I believe he gets it wrong. I am grateful to friends who have written to me in response to the Jon Allen event to address particular points. This article has benefitted from their input. What I attribute to Jon Allen here is based on the notes we took during the talk as well as during the Q&A, input from others who attended, and a few items from memory. It does not represent a complete transcript of what was said.

Jon Allen opened his talk by recognizing that he had been invited to speak in spite of objections from within the community. He acknowledged that those who opposed his coming had genuine concerns and he trusted that everyone present came to the conversation in good faith.

He began by talking about himself, stating that he is a Jew, and that he has a sister and a niece and nephew who live in an Israeli kibbutz. His wife, Clara is a Jewish woman with three cousins living in Israel, “one of them in a settlement”. He said that his father was a fervent Zionist who had witnessed the fate of the European Jews as a soldier in the second world war.

He stated that he too is a Zionist, but that he is “opposed to the Israeli occupation”, which he described as brutal (1). He acknowledged that as a Canadian Jew he does not send his children to fight in Israel’s wars.

Next he turned to the subject of empathy. He said that in light of the atrocities of October 7, it is hard for Jews to feel empathy for Palestinians, and he acknowledged that most Palestinians don’t feel empathy for Israelis. Both sides see the other as getting what they deserve.

He said that he is dismayed that Jewish clergy are silent in the face of what he called “Israeli atrocities” (2). He said he is distressed and concerned by the rise of antisemitism, but also concerned by the increase in “anti-Palestinian racism.” (3) He also said that antisemitism shelters behind “legitimate protest”. As examples of legitimate protest he mentioned “anti-war” (4) protests.

He stated that blame belongs on both sides. To support this, he said that, “Jews see all Palestinians as terrorists” (5), and accuse Jews like himself who criticize this, as being anti-Israel or self-hating. On the other side, people wrongly see Jews as having “outsized power”, an antisemitic idea.

He asserted that Progressive Jews want a liberal democratic Israel (6), and view the current government as the biggest obstacle to that goal and to peace. (7)

Allen acknowledged that achieving peace and defending liberal democracy is a challenge, due to polarization in Israel. He stated that Israelis are in deep trauma. Before the war, large numbers of Israelis were protesting the “judicial coup”. After October 7 the whole country faced rocket fire from Gaza, from Lebanon, and from the Houthis in Yemen. In addition to the massacre and mass displacement in the south, 60,000 Israelis were displaced in the north. One thousand members of the IDF have been killed and thousands injured, and a number have been lost to suicide. Everyone in Israel knows someone who was a victim of the October 7 attack.

On the other side he referred to Israel’s “indiscriminate murder of children”, (8) and that Gaza endured an 11 week siege after “Israel broke the ceasefire” (9) in March. He referred to the total demolition of cities and the destruction of hospitals. (2) Although he acknowledged that Hamas used hospitals for military purposes, he said it didn’t justify “destroying all of them”. He also stated that only 26% of Palestinians supported Hamas before the war. (10)

On the broader conflict, he said that both sides “operate only in their own lanes”, that is, that they are unaware of the other side’s perspective. Both Israelis and Palestinians see themselves as victims and both have legitimate historical reasons for these beliefs. Both peoples have experienced trauma. (11)

In spite of this bleak picture, Allen said that he has hope. He claims that the recognition of a Palestinian state by western countries like Canada can lead to progress towards a two state solution. (12) He asserted that Canada’s move does not reward terrorism, but rather empowers moderates on both sides. He said that when you ask the right questions you find reasons for optimism.

He cited a poll which says that 70% of Israelis support an agreement that would pair “full Israeli integration into the Middle East” with a Palestinian state. He states that the six final status issues discussed when Barak met Arafat in 2000 are “still on the table.” Neither side wants endless insecurity and war.

He then made the case that sometimes horrific events can lead to change. As an example he cited the fact that Anwar Sadat addressed the Knesset only four years after he launched the Yom Kippur War, and that Israel and Egypt signed a peace treaty two years after that. (13)

In response to a question suggesting that there was no Palestinian peace partner, Allen suggested that Israel under the present government is not a peace partner either, as PM Netanyahu is outspoken in his opposition to a Palestinian State. He claimed that Israel could prove to the world that it was in good faith by again offering Palestinians independence. If the Palestinians were to say “no” again, he claimed that the world would then see that, and support Israel. (14)

In concluding the evening Jon Allen called attention to Rozana, his charity dedicated to health diplomacy, which supports medical projects that are jointly run by Israelis and Palestinians to benefit both communities. In Canada, he works with Palestinians who support the two state solution and serve on the board. He proudly told us that none of the ongoing projects had been derailed by the war.

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My Comments on Jon Allen’s Remarks

To reiterate, the summary above does not include all of Jon Allen’s remarks, and is based on my notes and best recollections as well as the comments of others. Those who have read this publication throughout the war will know that I disagree with much of what I’ve just described. Here are the main points of disagreement, with paragraph numbers referencing each argument inserted in the section above:

1. Being opposed to “the occupation” is not a coherent position on its own. One also has to articulate a viable alternative. Israel has attempted to end the occupation numerous times, beginning with the Oslo agreement, and continuing with the offer presented by Prime Minister Ehud Barak to Yasser Arafat in 2000. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert also made an offer to Mahmoud Abbas in 2008. Neither offer was accepted. The Olmert offer was not even acknowledged. Israel also pulled out of Gaza unilaterally in 2005, creating a de facto Palestinian state. None of these past Israeli initiatives to “end the occupation” have led to results that suggest Palestinian leaders are interested in peace. None have led to outcomes that suggest Israel should do something similar, expecting a different result. So, how can Israel end the occupation in a way that lets Israelis live in peace?

2. Israel’s campaign in Gaza has been very destructive to the infrastructure there, and according to Hamas it has led to the deaths of 70,000 people. Neither of these claims, even if true, show that Israel has committed “atrocities”. Treating the claim of Israeli atrocities as self-evident, is certainly the way the story has been told in the Canadian news media, and it is the message you will get if you listen to New Democrat MPs and some Liberals. It is also the message aggressively delivered by the demonstrators who have appeared constantly in Canadian streets, including in Jewish neighbourhoods, throughout the war.
   When a Jew or Zionist speaks as though “Israeli atrocities” are an established fact, it seems to us that they are lending aid and comfort to our enemies. If a lover of Israel believes in good faith that Israel is committing atrocities, they should offer evidence.
   Jon Allen presents the razing of cities and the destruction of hospitals (follow the link for an article about hospitals in Gaza) as evidence, but we know that there is a reasonable counter-argument, which is that the hospitals and homes were all being used for military purposes, and were therefore legitimate targets. A member of my family who has spent many months fighting in Gaza told me recently that, “there are weapons in every house.” In my opinion, this counter-argument must be treated seriously if we are to discuss this claim in good faith.
   Israel’s well publicized efforts to avoid civilian casualties, the low ratio of civilian to military casualties, and the Hamas strategy which is entirely based on sacrificing civilians to protect fighters, must be addressed, in order to have a reasonable conversation about claims of Israeli atrocities.

3. Anti-Palestinian Racism is a relatively new idea that has been promoted aggressively as a weapon against Zionist discourse, and a way of redefining Zionist speech as racist speech. We have written about this a number of times. In March of 2024, Brian Henry contributed this article, which documented claims that anybody who objected to the targeting of Jews by “pro-Palestine” demonstrators was an anti-Palestinian racist. In June of 2024, we wrote about the adoption by the Toronto District School Board of a policy on anti-Palestinian racism The same board had earlier accused a Jewish member of anti-Palestinian racism for saying that Israelis made the desert bloom. Anti-Palestinian racism is a highly problematic idea and bringing it up requires engagement with the way the term is being used to anathematize the Israeli narrative.

4. Calling yourself anti-war is like being “opposed to the occupation”. It isn’t a coherent position unless you explain what you think is the alternative. For example, lots of people who claimed to be “anti-war” in Syria were actually supporters of Bashar Assad’s genocidal campaign against his own people. What they actually opposed was Western intervention in support of the Syrian people. Similarly, some who oppose western support for Ukraine also call themselves anti-war. We are not a fan of this example.

5. Some Jews do make this argument. But it’s not the logical basis for opposing further concessions to the Palestinians. The second intifada represents the failure of the gamble taken at Oslo. The electoral support in Israel for the peace camp collapsed as a result. It clearly doesn’t require that all Palestinians be terrorists in order to discredit the decision by Israel to invite the PLO to become the government in territory under Israeli control since 1967.

6. I am in favour of a liberal democratic Israel. I have opposed the legal reform program advanced by the current government. Being against the legal reform doesn’t make you a self-hating Jew.

7. The claim that the Netanyahu government is the biggest obstacle to peace begs the question of why Israelis keep voting for a PM who opposes the two state solution. As I said to Jon Allen after the talk, I believe that Israelis keep voting for Bibi because the Palestinian leadership hasn’t behaved over the past 25 years in a way that convinces the Israeli electorate that peace is on offer. Indeed, since before Oslo, any time there was a sign of progress, Hamas would take an action to derail it, and the PA would never convincingly distance itself from the atrocities for fear of losing popularity to Hamas.

8. “Murder” implies intent. In other contexts he used the word killed, which does not assign blame by default. The claim that Israel is deliberately killing Palestinian children is consistently denied by the IDF, but that is mentioned as an afterthought, if at all, in many news reports, while people who are interviewed in Gaza always claim that Israel is guilty of murder. I have never seen any evidence that Israel is deliberately killing children and would be horrified and angry if I did. Like the endlessly repeated claim that Israel is committing genocide, this is a blood libel.

9. When I saw the phrase “broke the ceasefire” in a wikipedia article about the Gaza war, I edited it to say that Israel “ended the ceasefire”. This change was reverted by another editor on the grounds that I didn’t have enough experience to edit controversial articles, but then restored by a third on the grounds that I was in the right. When Hamas stopped delivering hostages, Israel went back to war. Whether that constituted “breaking the ceasefire” is debatable.

10. This is a much lower number than I have seen elsewhere

11. There is some truth to this. It doesn’t change the fact that since 2000, Palestinian leaders have not shown willingness to make the compromises necessary for a viable peace.

12. I strongly disagree. I wrote about it here:

13. This is a fair point. I would add that Anwar Sadat made a decision to change course, and then did what he had to do to persuade Israelis that he was serious. Menachem Begin did not want to give up all of the Sinai, or evacuate the Israelis who were living there, but in return for a credible offer of peace he did both of these things.
    Perhaps if a new Palestinian leader announced that their renunciation of the right of return, and a desire to live next to Israelis in peace, and began advocating for that position with their own people that person could achieve something similar in a few years.

14. The history of the past quarter century suggests to us that Palestinians rejection of an Israeli peace offer is unlikely to make the world more sympathetic to Israel. In our observation, the exact opposite has been the case. The world’s view of Israel has gotten steadily worse, in spite of numerous attempts to bring the sides together in which the Palestinians have consistently avoided serious engagement. To think that the next time would be different seems extraordinarily naive in my opinion.

In addition to the points discussed here, important issues and obstacles to peace were overlooked or not included. One such is the maintenance of an enormous population in Gaza with the status of refugees, even after living there for four generations. UNRWA, whose mandate has just been renewed for another three years helps to perpetuate the problem, along with educating young Palestinians to believe that Israel’s existence is illegitimate. These are important obstacles to the two state solution.

Another issue that was not addressed was corruption and bias at the UN and UNRWA in particular. The UN mission is to promote peace. During the war, it was shown that members of Hamas have infiltrated UNRWA and that UNRWA employees participated in the atrocities of October 2023. Hostages were transported in UNRWA vehicles and held in UNRWA facilities. UN officials including the special rapporteur for Palestine made false and inflammatory statements about Israel’s actions in Gaza.

In response to a question about UNRWA schools promoting hatred of Israel and perpetuating the conflict, Jon Allen said that Israeli schools have maps that do not distinguish between Israel and the occupied territories. However Israelis do learn in their history classes about the borders after 1948, and that everyone who serves in the army must understand which areas are under Israeli governance and which are off limits.

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Next Steps

Jon Allen does good work promoting cooperation between Israelis and Palestinians on medical projects. His charity brings Palestinians who support the two state solution together with Israelis in initiatives that provide benefits to both Israelis and Palestinians. I am pleased that he wants a better future for both Israelis and Palestinians, even as I find his analysis of the conflict between them mostly unconvincing.

I look forward to writing articles about future speakers whose opinions differ from those of Jon Allen. While I found Jon Allen’s remarks eye-opening mostly because his arguments are unpersuasive, I remain convinced that bringing him to speak in the synagogue is the right thing to do. I look forward to ongoing conversations about the issues raised as a result of his visit and believe that respectful debate enriches our community and all participants, whether or not anyone’s opinion is changed in the process.

We are grateful for the interest of all our readers and are excited to be reaching over 1000 subscribers. We are especially grateful to our dedicated cadre of paid subscribers who pay $10 (Canadian) per month or $100 per year and to our founding subscribers who pay $240/year. (HST will be added if you are in Canada.) Paid subscribers can post comments. We hope you will become one and join the conversation.

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Yesterday evening (Israel time), Israeli jets struck targets across Gaza in response to a shooting incident in which Hamas fired on Israeli troops in Gaza, violating the ceasefire that has been in place since the beginning of October. According to the IDF, today’s attack is just the latest in a series of violations which have occurred daily. In an earlier incident, Hamas forces, which are allowed to cross the “yellow line” which runs down the middle of Gaza, separating Israeli controlled territory from Hamas controlled territory, used such a crossing as a pretext to cache weapons in a house on the Israeli side of the line. You can hear more about it here: Daily Briefing Nov. 19: Day 775 - MBS meeting with Trump elevates Saudi Arabia’s ally status | The Times of Israel.

Image: Map of Gaza showing Israeli controlled Zone in dark red (Source: Interactive map by Institute of National Security Studies, Tel Aviv University

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New Security Council Resolution

Yesterday, the UN Security Council passed resolution 2803 (2025), which is intended to implement the Trump twenty point peace plan. This is the plan which led to the current ceasefire in Gaza. The passage of the resolution is a remarkable diplomatic achievement for the US, in that it won the endorsement of thirteen of the fifteen members of the council, including Algeria and Pakistan. In order to pass, it required that neither Russia nor China veto it, and neither of these regimes did, in spite of their many disputes with the US in various parts of the world.

Those who wonder why Russia gave the Americans this diplomatic victory might wonder if their is a connection to the rumored US endorsement of Russia’s demands for a settlement of the war in Ukraine. Requiring both surrender of additional Ukrainian territory, and Ukrainian disarmament, if true they amount to an American endorsement of capitulation by Ukraine to Russian aggression. Ukraine has apparently already rejected the proposal. It is not yet clear what the US and other erstwhile Ukrainian allies will do in response.

Examining the Text of the Resolution

The full text of resolution 2803 is available here: UNSC-Resolution-2803.pdf

The preamble to the resolution references Trump’s 20 point peace plan for Gaza and praises the contributions of the US, Qatar, Egypt and Turkiye, referencing the resultant ceasefire in Gaza:

The Security Council,

Welcoming the Comprehensive Plan to End the Gaza Conflict of 29 September 2025 (“Comprehensive Plan”), and applauding the states that have signed, accepted, or endorsed it, and further welcoming the historic Trump Declaration for Enduring Peace and Prosperity of 13 October 2025 and the constructive role played by the United States of America, the State of Qatar, the Arab Republic of Egypt, and the Republic of Türkiye, in having facilitated the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip,

…

The first clause of the resolution endorses the Comprehensive Plan (20 point plan), affirms that the parties have accepted it, and calls for its implementation:

1. Endorses the Comprehensive Plan, acknowledges the parties have accepted it, and calls on all parties to implement it in its entirety, including maintenance of the ceasefire, in good faith and without delay;

The Twenty Point Peace Plan (Comprehensive Plan)

At this point we will digress from our examination of the Security Council resolution and look at the twenty point peace plan, which the resolution incorporates by reference in its first clause quoted just above. When we examine the details of the plan, it will become plain that the claim that the parties (Israel and Hamas) have accepted it is a polite fiction, and that any hope for implementing the plan will depend on the expectation that Hamas will be compelled to comply, by persuasion if possible and by force if necessary.

The twenty point plan (Comprehensive Plan to End the Gaza Conflict of 29 September 2025) is included as “Annex I” to the UNSC resolution in the linked at the top of the previous section. It contains a lot of measures that accommodate Israel’s war aims, including

Claiming that Hamas accepted this seems to us to be untrue, but the Security Council has voted 13 to 0 with two abstentions that this is so.

The twenty point plan also states that

and Israel has indeed endorsed the plan, including this point. The third clause states:

Whether the war has actually ended was a frequent topic of discussion among the Israelis we met during our visit for the World Zionist Congress. Some told us that they were skeptical that the war is really over, but that for the sake of the hostages it was right to accept the ceasefire.

Israel has withdrawn to the agreed upon line referenced in paragraph 3. This boundary is known as the yellow line. However, as we mentioned at the beginning of the article, hostilities have not completely ended.

Paragraphs 4 and 5 cover the release of hostages, both those who survived and those murdered by Palestinian terrorists.

The agreement by Hamas to free the hostages was an achievement that seemed miraculous to people we spoke to while visiting Israel in October. Before our arrival, the living hostages were back. They were indeed returned within 72 hours. In return 250 Palestinians serving life sentences in Israel for violent crimes were set free. 1700 Gazans who had been detained during the war were also released. For many of the families of the victims of the crimes committed by the 250 convicted terrorists, the release of these people is a bitter development. Perhaps this is why the Knesset is currently considering a bill that would provide for the death penalty for such people in the future.

The return of the deceased has been a much more difficult matter and is still not complete at the time this is being written. Of the twenty eight murdered hostages held in Gaza twenty five have been returned to Israel and three remain. The process has taken just under six weeks so far. As long as the return of the murdered hostages is not complete, the plan cannot proceed to the second phase.

While Hamas has dragged out the release of murdered captives, they have been busy reimposing control over the part of Gaza that is west of the yellow line. In the early days of the ceasefire, accused collaborators were publicly murdered in the streets. Hamas has also continued sporadic attacks on Israelis. Tunnels in the Israeli controlled zone are said to contain up to 200 Hamas fighters who are stranded there. Hamas has asked that they be given safe passage and Israel has insisted that they should surrender.

Second Phase of the Twenty Point Plan

The sixth point of the twenty point plan envisions voluntary disarmament by members of Hamas.

Under paragraph 6, the disarmament of Hamas is assumed, but the decision to do so is left up to “Hamas members”. Hamas itself is not mentioned. The question of what happens to those Hamas members who do not “commit to peaceful co-existence and to decommission their weapons” is not addressed here.

Paragraph 7 calls for the restoration of aid flows. With Hamas still in control of half of Gaza, much of this aid will continue to be controlled by Hamas.

While it continues to paint a dire picture of living conditions in Gaza, this New York Times article quotes the Israeli authorities as saying that they are complying with the terms of the ceasefire and allowing hundreds of truckloads of aid into Gaza every day.

In spite of the language of paragraph 8 (below), this article from Reuters shows that Hamas is exercising a great deal of control over the supply of food and other necessities. A Hamas official claims that this is “only until the transition” of power, but others claim that Hamas is exploiting the delay in the implementation of phase 1 to entrench itself in power.

The Rafah crossing remains closed pending the completion of phase I, but the crossing at Gitin in the North, which was closed at the beginning of the Gaza City operation in September, was reopened this week.

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Back to the UN Resolution

Turning back to the UN resolution we look now at the second clause, which endorses the creation of a Board of Peace and talks about the redevelopment of Gaza and the reform of the Palestinian Authority.

(The Security council)

2. Welcomes the establishment of the Board of Peace (BoP) as a transitional administration with international legal personality that will set the framework, and coordinate funding for, the redevelopment of Gaza pursuant to the Comprehensive Plan, and in a manner consistent with relevant international legal principles, until such time as the Palestinian Authority (PA) has satisfactorily completed its reform program, as outlined in various proposals, including President Trump’s peace plan in 2020 and the Saudi-French Proposal, and can securely and effectively take back control of Gaza. After the PA reform program is faithfully carried out and Gaza redevelopment has advanced, the conditions may finally be in place for a credible pathway to Palestinian self-determination and statehood. The United States will establish a dialogue between Israel and the Palestinians to agree on a political horizon for peaceful and prosperous coexistence;

The skeptical language in Clause 2 of resolution 2803, concerning the readiness of the Palestinians for self-government represents a sharp break from the position taken over many years, by many UN agencies and officials on the Palestine question. This is also in sharp contrast to the position taken by the Canadian, British and French governments, which recognized a “State of Palestine” before the onset of the ceasefire in September.

Conditioning Palestinian statehood on reform of the Palestinian Authority and peaceful coexistence with Israel is the missing piece. Without it UN pronouncements on the conflict have lived mostly in the realm of fantasy for the past quarter century.

Clause 2 of the resolution is based on the ninth paragraph of the Comprehensive plan:

Paragraph 9 references President Trump by name and states that he will be the head and the chair of the Board of Peace. This will give him the final say on what will happen in Gaza, and the Security Council resolution grants him this authority.

Clause 3 of the Security Council Resolution addresses humanitarian aid, emphasizing that aid should not be diverted by armed groups.

(The Security Council)

3. Underscores the importance of the full resumption of humanitarian aid in cooperation with the BoP into the Gaza Strip in a manner consistent with relevant international legal principles and through cooperating organizations, including the United Nations, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the Red Crescent, and ensuring such aid is used solely for peaceful uses and not diverted by armed groups;

Clause 4 delegates power to the member states to take measures to implement the twenty point plan, specifically

• the establishment of the transitional government,

• the Gaza reconstruction project,

• delivery of public services and humanitarian aid,

• movement of people into and out of Gaza, and

• anything else that is necessary.

(The Security Council)

4. Authorizes Member States participating in the BoP and the BoP to:

• (A) enter into such arrangements as may be necessary to achieve the objectives of the Comprehensive Plan, including those addressing privileges and immunities of personnel of the force established in paragraph 7 below; and

• (B) establish operational entities with, as necessary, international legal personality and transactional authorities for the performance of its functions, including:

  • (1) the implementation of a transitional governance administration, including the supervising and supporting of a Palestinian technocratic, apolitical committee of competent Palestinians from the Strip, as championed by the Arab League, which shall be responsible for day-to-day operations of Gaza’s civil service and administration;

  • (2) the reconstruction of Gaza and of economic recovery programs;

  • (3) the coordination and supporting of and delivery of public services and humanitarian assistance in Gaza;

  • (4) any measures to facilitate the movement of persons in and out of Gaza, in a manner consistent with the Comprehensive Plan; and

  • (5) any such additional tasks as may be necessary to support and implement the Comprehensive Plan;

Clause 5 of the UNSC resolution places entities created under clause 4 under the control of the Board of Peace and assumes that they will be funded by various donors

(The Security Council)

5. Understands that the operational entities referred to in paragraph 4 above will operate under the transitional authority and oversight of the BoP and are to be funded through voluntary contributions from donors and BoP funding vehicles and governments;

Clause 6 calls on the World Bank and other financial institutions to help fund Gaza reconstruction

(The Security Council)

6. Calls upon the World Bank and other financial institutions to facilitate and provide financial resources to support the reconstruction and development of Gaza, including through the establishment of a dedicated trust fund for this purpose and governed by donors;

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Clause 7: Demilitarization and Disarmament

Clause 7 of the Security Council resolution contains language that offers some hope for an end to Hamas rule in Gaza. There are many unanswered questions on how this is to be accomplished, but this clause makes it plain that the Security Council intends that “non-state actors” are to be disarmed and that “demilitarizing the Gaza Strip” is to be accomplished.

We have seen multiple times in Lebanon that a declaration of intent by the UN Security Council is not sufficient to make something happen, and that an international force cannot be relied on to enforce a UN mandate. Therefore we must acknowledge that there is a lot that can go wrong in the attempt to implement the peace pan in Gaza, and that the disarmament of Hamas is a task that may yet fall to the IDF.

The proposed International Security Force is to coordinate with Israel and Egypt, while training “vetted Palestinian Police”. Crucially, Israeli withdrawal is conditional on the demilitarization of the Gaza strip and the decommissioning of weapons from non-state armed groups. This means that if the ISF is not successful in demilitarizing Gaza and disarming Hamas, the IDF will stay where it is.

(The Security Council)

7. Authorizes Member States working with the BoP and the BoP to establish a temporary International Stabilization Force (ISF) in Gaza to deploy under unified command acceptable to the BoP, with forces contributed by participating States, in close consultation and cooperation with the Arab Republic of Egypt and the State of Israel, and to use all necessary measures to carry out its mandate consistent with international law, including international humanitarian law. The ISF shall work with Israel and Egypt, without prejudice to their existing agreements, along with the newly trained and vetted Palestinian police force, to help secure border areas; stabilize the security environment in Gaza by ensuring the process of demilitarizing the Gaza Strip, including the destruction and prevention of rebuilding of the military, terror, and offensive infrastructure, as well as the permanent decommissioning of weapons from non-state armed groups; protect civilians, including humanitarian operations; train and provide support to the vetted Palestinian police forces; coordinate with relevant States to secure humanitarian corridors; and undertake such additional tasks as may be necessary in support of the Comprehensive Plan. As the ISF establishes control and stability, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) will withdraw from the Gaza Strip based on standards, milestones, and timeframes linked to demilitarization that will be agreed between the IDF, ISF, the guarantors, and the United States, save for a security perimeter presence that will remain until Gaza is properly secure from any resurgent terror threat. The ISF shall,

• (A) assist the BoP in monitoring the implementation of the ceasefire in Gaza, and enter into such arrangements as may be necessary to achieve the objectives of the Comprehensive Plan; and

• (B) operate under the strategic guidance of the BoP and will be funded through voluntary contributions from donors and BoP funding vehicles and governments;

Clause 7 of resolution 2803 is based on the paragraph 13 in the twenty point peace plan, which provides for the demilitarization of Gaza, the disarmament of Hamas and the creation of a new Gaza which will be at peace with its neighbours. The text of paragraph 13 is:

In addition, paragraph 14 of the twenty point peace plan relies on regional partners (presumably Turkiye and Qatar) to make sure that Hamas complies with paragraph 13. This is especially important, as Hamas has already responded to the UNSC resolution 2803 by stating that it will not disarm and that resistance is a fundamental right.

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Time Limit on the ISF Mandate

Clause 8 of resolution 2803 sets the initial mandate of the ISF at 2 years. This means that the US will have to come back to the Security Council for renewal if, as seems likely, the goals of the interim government have not been accomplished by then. Russia and China may then extract new concessions in return for their abstentions. Without the security council endorsement, the ISF would lose it’s international mandate, perhaps leading to withdrawal by participating nations.

(The Security Council)

8. Decides the BoP and international civil and security presences authorized by this resolution shall remain authorized until Dec. 31, 2027, subject to further action by the Council, and any further reauthorization of the ISF be in full cooperation and coordination with Egypt and Israel and other Member States continuing to work with the ISF;

The remainder of the resolution is housekeeping. Member states are urged to help. The Board of Peace is to report every six months on progress.

(The Security Council)

9. Calls upon Member States and international organizations to work with the BoP to identify opportunities to contribute personnel, equipment, and financial resources to its operating entities and the ISF, to provide technical assistance to its operating entities and the ISF, and to give full recognition to its acts and documents;

10. Requests the BoP provide a written report on progress related to the above to the UN Security Council every six months;

11. Decides to remain seized of the matter.

What Next?

While the Security Council seems to have adopted a more realistic view of what is necessary to settle the war between Israel and the Palestinians, there are many remaining questions on how the shiny words of the Trump peace plan can be turned into reality. The question of which countries will contribute troops to the ISF, and whether they will agree to be involved in enforcing the disarmament of Hamas, remains unresolved.

The US military has been busy for weeks already setting up a base in southern Israel in preparation for the implementation of the peace agreement, which will entail the transition of power to the interim government under the direction of the Board of Peace and the deployment of the International Stabilization Force (ISF).

Israel’s Prime Minister has reiterated his own position that a Palestinian State will not be created. Meanwhile, the Saudis have insisted that a Palestinian state is a condition for normalization with Israel. The US seems to have given up on a normalization agreement between the Saudis and Israel and is going ahead with its own new arrangement with the Saudis. The Saudis are to receive the F-35, which will eventually give them air power similar to Israel’s. This may violate a US law which requires the US to maintain Israel’s qualitative military advantage in the region.

In response to Hamas statement that they will not disarm, the US has warned that it may give Israel the green light to resume the war. Perhaps this is intended to encourage those regional partners to try to change the Hamas position. This afternoon President Trump met with freed hostages and told them that they were now heroes, not hostages.

Peace in Gaza would be a transformational event for the State of Israel, which should put an end to the cloud of international opprobrium which has gathered over the state during the recent war. Already we have seen the end of the German arms embargo and a resumption of direct air links between Canada and Israel. Whether the rapid increase in antisemitism here in Canada and around the world, will also begin to subside, remains to be seen.

We will be watching with interest and hope as the peace plan for Gaza unfolds in the coming days and weeks, and we will be back to update our readers on all important developments.

We are grateful for the interest of all our readers, including over 1000 subscribers. We are especially grateful to our dedicated group of paid subscribers who pay $10 (Canadian) per month or $100 per year and founding subscribers who pay $240. (HST will be added if you are in Canada.)

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Paid and founding subscribers have provided the resources which allow us to report to you from the World Zionist Congress. Paid subscribers can also post comments. We hope you will become one and join the conversation.

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If you would rather make a one time contribution you can buy me a coffee.

Thank you to everyone for reading Canadian Zionist Forum!

The voting at the Congress reflected an efficient and unified center-left coalition and a disorganized and divided right. The resolutions that were approved by the Congress reflected the priorities of the liberal and left wing factions. The resolutions backed by the right were defeated.

The Congress called for a State commission of inquiry, opposed resettlement of Gaza and construction in the E3 zone east of Maale Adumin. Measures calling for annexation of territory were defeated in committee. A measure calling for a more equitable system of military service passed with a strong majority.

Hereunder is a continuation of the notes we recorded as the voting is in progress, together with details on the results of the voting.

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Israeli Governance: State Commission of Inquiry

The fourth committee dealt with resolutions pertaining to governance in Israel. The first resolution was a call for the establishment of a State Commission of Inquiry into the events of October 7. This is a demand that has been advanced by many in the two years since the Hamas invasion, but the government has refused to do it so far. The Zionist movement put itself on record calling for such a commission.

The second resolution called for annual reports on progress in promoting women and under-represented groups in the national institutions The third resolution called for action to protect synagogues and schools operated by liberal Jewish groups in Israel that have been subjected to vandalism.

During the voting on resolution 4.2, there was a protest and demonstration on the floor by members of the right, who claimed that the vote was being conducted unfairly. The disruption to the voting lasted several minutes, but after that proceedings resumed and the measure was passed.

The third resolution addressed incidents of vandalism that have been directed at the buildings belonging to the Reform and Masorti movements in Israel. It called for measures to increase security for those establishments.

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4.1 Call for the Establishment of a State Commission of Inquiry to Investigate the Events of October 7

For - 321
Against - 216
Abstain - 30

Resolution was Accepted

4.2 Transparency in Equal Opportunity Budgeting for the National Institutions

For - 368
Against - 241
Abstain - 4

Resolution was Accepted

4.3 Security for Liberal Jewish Communities in Israel

For - 323
Against - 219
Abstain - 40

Resolution was Accepted

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Fifth Committee: Zionist Policy

There is a law proposed by the current Israeli government that would place an 80% tax on money sent to Israeli NGOs from outside the country. Resolution 5.1 opposes the implementation of the law, and was approved by the Congress.

Resolution 5.2 put the Zionist movement on record as opposing the use of funds from the Zionist organizations to support any resettlement of the Gaza strip.

Image: Congress votes not to fund resettlement of Gaza

A third measure which made it to the floor as a votum separatum called for funding from the Zionist movement for the education of Christian Zionists abroad. This measure was defeated by the plenum.

5.1 Strengthening Civil Society in Israel

For - 302
Against - 235
Abstain - 53

Resolution was Accepted

5.2 Prevention of Participation by the World Zionist Organization in Financing or Implementation of Settlement in the Gaza Strip (Votum Separatum)

For - 300
Against - 242
Abstain - 46

Resolution was Accepted

5.3 Strengthening Relations with Christian Zionist Allies (Votum Separatum)

For - 155
Against - 391
Abstain - 16

Resolution was not Accepted

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Sixth Committee: Israeli Society

The Congress votes for increasing support to Israelis suffering from trauma.

The sixth committee considered measures to strengthen Israeli society. A measure in support of research into trauma as a result of the current war passed easily. The second resolution called for protection focused on liberal communities and was opposed by those calling for protection of institutions of all communities. It passed narrowly. A third resolution calling for more support for holocaust survivors passed with only a handful of votes against.

6.1 Creation of a National Mental Health Taskforce for Victims of Terrorism and Soldiers Suffering from Trauma

For - 526
Against - 18
Abstain - 2

Resolution was Accepted

6.2 Strengthening Community Resilience and Combating Violence (Votum Separatum)

For - 297
Against - 263
Abstain - 4

Resolution was Accepted

6.3 Support for Holocaust Survivors

For - 527
Against - 10
Abstain - 3

Resolution was Accepted

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Committee 3: Equity and Diversity

The third committee advanced a resolution banning hate speech within the Zionist institutions. This was adopted by a large majority.

The second resolution concerns the platform near Robinson’s arch, which was built in 2013 to provide an alternative site for those who want to worship without a separation between men and women (mechitza). The platform, known as the egalitarian kotel, is set back two meters from the wall, but it has a narrow ramp that would allow worshippers to make contact with the wall. That ramp was damaged by a falling stone seven years ago, and has not been repaired. Resolution 3.2 calls for the completion of those repairs.

Image: The Canadian MERCAZ faction at the egalitarian kotel

During the debate, a speaker opposed to the resolution suggested that the people praying at the egalitarian kotel are not real Jews, which drew loud boos from much of the hall. The resolution was passed with over two thirds voting in favour.

Resolution 3.3 called for an equitable draft system in Israel. This was concerning the fact that a swathe of Israeli Jewish men from the Haredi community have been largely exempted from army service. This issue has caused sharp controversy during the past two years of war, as the burden on those who do serve has been very heavy. The resolution passed with over 80% voting in favour.

3.1 Embracing the Diversity of Zionist Expression in the Diaspora and Israel, Banning Hate Speech within Jewish and Zionist Communities

For - 384
Against - 173
Abstain - 7

Resolution was Accepted

3.2 Opening access to the Egalitarian Kotel to the General Public

For - 371
Against - 175
Abstain - 6

Resolution was Accepted

3.3 Support for an Equitable Draft System in the State of Israel

For - 427
Against - 109
Abstain - 12

Resolution was Accepted

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Committee on Antisemitism

Opposition to antisemitism is a cause that almost everyone at the Congress can get behind. A resolution advanced by the Maccabi movement to oppose discrimination against Jews in sport was amended to broaden it to include arts and culture. It was passed unanimously by the plenum.

Another broader resolution calling on the Zionist movement to support increased efforts to combat antisemitism globally was likewise passed overwhelmingly.

The third resolution addressed discrimination on college campuses. It was passed unanimously in committee. During the debate on the floor, a delegate representing American students on campus stood up in opposition to the resolution, saying that the Congress should be doing far more to support students facing a hostile environment on campus. Perhaps due to this, the resolution passed with about a third voting against.

7.1 Addressing Antisemitism and Discrimination in Sports and Arts and Culture

For - 512
Against - 0
Abstain - 4

Resolution was Accepted

7.2 Strengthening Local Efforts to Combat Antisemitism globally

For - 494
Against - 28
Abstain - 5

Resolution was Accepted

7.3 Making Clear Demands on Diaspora Universities to Combat Campus Antisemitism

For - 347
Against - 166
Abstain - 8

Resolution was Accepted

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Committee 1: Resolution against construction in E3 Zone

The most contentious vote of the day was saved for the end. This resolution called on the government not to build settlements in the E3 zone in Judaea. Some argue that constructing Jewish towns and villages in this area will make a future contiguous Palestinian state impossible to establish in Judaea and Samaria. (We have argued that settlement does not actually close off options for establishment of a Palestinian state and that it is Palestinian violence and rejectionism that is the real obstacle. The disengagement from Gaza shows that settlement need not be permanent.)

This resolution passed, but a parliamentary tactic was used by those against it in an attempt to deprive the Congress of a quorum. Nevertheless, the World Zionist Organization web site lists the measure as having been passed.

1.3 Halting the Establishment of E1 Settlement- Votum Separatum

For - 219
Against - 39
Abstain - 67

Resolution was Accepted

The resolutions passed by the Congress were uniformly liberal, inclusive and humane. Looking at all the measures, we see revealed a Zionist movement that remains optimistic and inclusive. We are resilient in spite of the attacks of our enemies on the ground and the propaganda defaming us in the world’s media.

The actual Zionism manifested at the Congress bears no resemblance to the demonic straw man repeatedly denounced by our critics in the global left. In spite of a world wide campaign of vilification and defamation, of unprecedented intensity over the past two years of war, the Zionist movement itself remain what it has always been. We are the builders and supporters of the land and people of Israel. We advocate unity, democracy, equality and progress. We harbor hatred for no-one. This conference made us prouder than ever to be a Zionist.

We are grateful for the interest of all our readers, including over 1000 subscribers. We are especially grateful to our dedicated group of paid subscribers who pay $10 (Canadian) per month or $100 per year, and founding subscribers who pay $240. (HST will be added if you are in Canada.)

Paid and founding subscribers have provided the resources which allow us to report to you from the World Zionist Congress. Paid subscribers can also post comments. We hope you will become one and join the conversation.

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If you would rather make a one time contribution you can buy me a coffee.

Thank you to everyone for reading Canadian Zionist Forum!

We are back from Israel and working on articles about the proceedings of the World Zionist Congress. While we have been working, there have been a series of dramatic developments regarding the election by the Congress of new leadership for the Zionist national institutions. As the Congress prepared to wrap up on October 29, an agreement among the parties on the leadership fell apart when it was revealed that Likud would insist on the appointment of Yair Netanyahu, son of the Prime Minister, to an important role at the World Zionist Organization.

Image: Official portrait as a guest of the Congress with the MERCAZ delegation.

A few days later, a revised agreement was in the process of being approved by an electronic vote, when Yair Lapid, the leader of Yesh Atid, abruptly announced that his party was pulling out of the agreement. Furthermore he announced that he would propose legislation to nationalize the JNF/KKL, which is the source of most of the funding for projects supported by the Zionist movement. Yesh Atid was slated in the emerging agreement to rotate in the leadership of the WZO and the JNF/KKL with representatives of Likud, and this move left the plans for Zionist leadership over the next five years in disarray.

Negotiations to resolve this crisis are ongoing. We will update our readers as further developments become clear.

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Resolutions at the 39th World Zionist Congress

The second day of the World Zionist Congress was devoted to examining resolutions proposed by the various factions. Approval of a resolution requires a majority vote of the Congress plenum. Before resolutions are presented to the plenum, they are considered by a subject matter committee. Committees discuss the resolutions and may amend them. In order to be presented to the plenum, a resolution must be approved by a majority of the members of the committee. An exception is when a resolution is amended. In that case the original proposer of the resolution can demand a Votum Separatum. In that case the original text will be presented at the plenum, and only if the original text is rejected will the amended version be considered.

In general, the resolutions passed by the Congress reflected a humane and liberal approach to Zionism and maintained a vision of a Jewish and Democratic Israel with equal rights for all.

As the plenum proceeded on the evening of October 29, we recorded our impressions of the voting in real time.

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Committee 2: Hebrew Language

Unanimous support at the Congress for increasing access to Hebrew language learning for all Jews.

Here are the results of the votes from the WZO web site:

2.1 Promotion of Modern Hebrew Studies in Diaspora Jewish Communities

For - 556
Against - 0
Abstain - 1

Resolution was Accepted

2.2 Expansion of Hebrew Language Study and Accessibility

For - 534
Against - 0
Abstain - 0

Resolution was Accepted

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Committee 8: Youth Education

Congress supports youth education.

Here is the summary of results on resolutions from the Education Committee. The resolution results depicted in the image are for 8.1, which received nearly unanimous support, as did a resolution (8.2) to improve the central Zionist archives. The third resolution drew some opposition due to what was considered by some to be divisive language, but was endorsed by the congress nevertheless.

8.1 Strengthening the Youth Movements, the Magshimim Movements and Informal Education in the Diaspora

For - 569
Against - 2
Abstain - 2

Resolution was Accepted

8.2 Draft Resolution Proposal in the Matter of the Central Zionist Archives in Jerusalem

For - 464
Against - 6
Abstain - 1

Resolution was Accepted

8.3 Expanding Successful Efforts to Educate About Israel and Fight Antisemitism in Primary, Secondary, and Higher Education

For - 287
Against - 169
Abstain - 30

Resolution was Accepted

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Proposed Constitutional Amendments

This constitutional amendment, ensures that everyone working for the the World Zionist Organization, the Jewish National Fund (Keren Kayement L’Yisrael), the Jewish Agency, and the Keren Hayesod adheres to the Jerusalem program, which is the fundamental statement of ideology for the Zionist movement. The result of the vote is shown just below.

2. Establishment of Regulation 1A (New) for the Regulations for the Implementation of the Constitution (Articles 2 and 2A of the Constitution).

For - 355
Against - 161
Abstain - 6

Resolution was Accepted

Change to Voting Eligibility

An proposal to lower the voting age in Zionist elections to 17, while restricting the vote to members of Zionist organizations was defeated. The current rules which leave the vote open to any Jew, 18 or over, who accepts the Jerusalem platform will be maintained.

7. Lowering the eligibility age to vote and be elected to the congress (Votum Separatum)

For - 186
Against - 350
Abstain - 14

Resolution was not Accepted

This is the end of the first part of our report on the second day of the World Zionist Congress. The remainder will be sent out soon as Part 2.

We are grateful for the interest of all our readers, including over 1000 subscribers. We are especially grateful to our dedicated group of paid subscribers who pay $10 (Canadian) per month or $100 per year and founding subscribers who pay $240. (HST will be added if you are in Canada.)

Paid and founding subscribers have provided the resources which allow us to report to you from the World Zionist Congress. Paid subscribers can also post comments. We hope you will become one and join the conversation.

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If you would rather make a one time contribution you can buy me a coffee.

Thank you to everyone for reading Canadian Zionist Forum!

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The 39th World Zionist Congress officially started Tuesday morning with greetings from the Chairman of the World Zionist Organization, Yaakov Hagoel, and the chair of the Congress, Rabbi Lea Mulstein. The message was one of unity. While the factions differ on many issues, and the upcoming debates may be heated, we were reminded that everyone at the Zionist Congress shares a love of Israel and the Jewish people.

Image: Yaakov Hagoel: President of the WZO since 2020

A lunch of street food was followed by breakout sessions. We attended a panel discussion with progressive Jewish participants, addressing the line between criticism of Israel and antisemitism on the left. The panel members were Jews from academia, social action and the arts, who had experienced incidents since the war where it became clear that they were not encountering a reasoned critique of Israel or Zionism, but rather manifestations of irrational hatred. As progressives, they were discussing where the line is between antisemitism and legitimate criticism of Israel, what is the is a future for progressive Jews, and how to deal with former allies who have turned on them.

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The panel included Dr. Shuly Rubin Schwarz, the Chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS), the school, in New York City, which trains many Masorti/Conservative rabbis. She told us that they run an undergraduate program jointly with Colombia University(1), and all of their students were experiencing the hostile atmosphere prevailing on American university campuses. She also said that other university presidents came to her for advice on what to do about the upheaval happening on their campuses, and its impact on Jewish faculty and students. (We couldn’t help noting that this advice did not seem to have been helpful, whether for protecting Jews on their campuses from harassment and abuse, or in helping them to manage the crisis well enough to keep their jobs).

Note 1: An earlier version of this article referred to the JTS as collaborating with a different university. Canadian Zionist Forum regrets the error.

Another panelist was Michal Bar-Asher, VP for international affairs at Ben Gurion University of the Negev. For her the blindfold came off when the international women’s NGO’s took months to acknowledge that the October 7 invaders had engaged in sexual crimes during their attacks. She recognized then that this was not a stance critical of Israel but rather a form of hatred. She did assign some blame to the Israeli government, for the success of the anti-Israel left in advancing their anti-Israel agenda, citing statements by Police Minister Ben Gvir.

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The third panel member was Jeremy Liebler, President of the Zionist Federation of Australia. He said that the line between antisemitism and criticism of Israel could be clearly delineated using Sharansky’s “three D’s”. (Double standards, demonization and delegitimization). In response to Michal Bar-Asher’s remarks about Ben-Gvir, he cautioned that it is possible to be critical of the Israeli government without crossing the line into victim blaming.

Evening Program: Address from the President of Israel

In the evening we were privileged to hear a fiery address by State President Herzog in which he celebrated the achievements of Zionism, and said several times that the Zionist movement is not a historical phenomenon, but a vital part of contemporary Jewish life. The job of upbuilding the land is not complete he said, and the presence of numerous young people at the conference from all over the world underscored his point about the ongoing vitality of the Zionist movement and its importance for the continuing development of the state.

Image: President Isaac Herzog addresses the 39th World Zionist Congress

He spoke about the new antisemitism, for which the word “Zios” is the new epithet of derision. We are those “Zios” who are smeared on university campuses and street demonstrations throughout the world. He recounted the many accomplishments for which the Zionist movement should be proud, ironically using the word “Zios” to describe the pioneers who built up the land, defended it, and continue to contribute to science and the arts, making Israel a blessing to the whole world.

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President Herzog’s remarks were followed by an address from Gusti Yehoshua-Braverman. Gusti has worked for decades in the Office for Diaspora Affairs at the World Zionist Organization. Part of her role was organizing the present World Zionist Congress. She spoke passionately about the need for the Zionist movement to step up in support of Israel in a new climate of international opprobrium and the corresponding increase in violence and hostility to Jews around the world.

Image: Gusti Yehoshua-Braverman, Outgoing Head of the Department for Organization and Connection with Israelis Abroad

While we were listening, the leadership of the Zionist movement, including the Israeli parties and the factions from the diaspora were meeting to work out the balance of power at the national institutions over the next five years. The Congress is responsible for appointing the leadership of the World Zionist Organization (WZO), the Jewish National Fund (JNF-KKL) and the Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI), as well as the Keren Hayesod-United Israel Appeal. We wrote in our previous article about the WZO, the JNF-KKL and the JAFI.

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Keren Haysod is the fundraising arm of the Zionist movement. Here is how Keren Hayesod describes their mission on their website:

Keren Hayesod-United Israel Appeal is the preeminent worldwide fundraising arm for the people of Israel. Since its establishment in 1920, Keren Hayesod has been at the forefront of strengthening Israeli society, promoting Aliyah, and enriching the Jewish Diaspora.

We have over a century’s track record cementing the bond between the people of Israel, Diaspora Jewry, and friends of Israel worldwide. Already in our early days, we funded the establishment of over 900 urban and rural communities in Israel and helped develop the country’s economic, educational, and industrial infrastructure. We have financed national and public organizations such as the national airline El Al, the Israeli Philharmonic, and the Hebrew University. Today, we operate 57 campaigns across 45 countries, speaking nine languages and serving in close partnership with numerous Jewish and non-Jewish partners alike.

We, as a national institution and our counterparts, the World Zionist Organization, The Jewish Agency for Israel, and the Jewish National Fund (KKL-JNF), comprise the four pillar national institutions of the State of Israel, all of which enjoy a special protected legal status.

Negotiation toward this agreement continued throughout the congress. It was necessary for the parties to agree so that they could bring a slate for approval by the delegates before the Congress adjourned.

Preparing for Day 2

During the first day, factions prepared for work on resolutions to be decided on day 2. The various groups propose resolutions which are reviewed by committees representing all parties. Committee membership reflects the proportion of each faction in the Congress The committees can amend the resolutions as they see fit, and then vote on whether to advance each of them for consideration by the Congress as a whole. Those resolutions that are passed by the committees are then presented to the Congress plenum for approval. We will write in our next article about the resolutions that were presented to the congress and how they were received.

In addition to the formal proceedings, much of the time at the Congress is spent meeting Zionists from all over the world. Forty countries were represented at this year’s congress. Listening to the stories of these leaders from far flung places reminds us that we are one people, with a common goal, wherever we may live in the world, and whatever our views on the particular issues in contention at the Congress.

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