Thank you for this article although you highlighted so much of the hate, that I feel queasy. And I hadn't been paying a lot of attention to the use of the words "antizionism" and "antisemitism" and what they represent. Very helpful indeed.
Indeed anti-Zionism is anti-semitism. There is no distinction. Nor is it disguised. To oppose the right of the Jewish people to return to their indigenous homeland, to deny the existence of that indigenous homeland is to engage in Jew hatred. Full stop. To make up lies that the Iews are murdering Palestinians when it is Palestinians who are murdering Jews is to raise one' Jew hate to the level of Naziism.
Not all Jews are Zionists and not all Zionists are dickheads ... but look.
The fact that traditional antisemitism always shows up alongside antizionism is entirely to be expected and in no way "makes nonsense" of the claim that antizionism is merely criticism of Israel. Some "antizionists" are indeed just using that as a cover for antisemitism but the claim that all are is basically a dickhead move.
Thanks, Alan for joining the conversation. Yes, you can find people who call themselves antizionists, who aren’t antisemites. So reading your statement narrowly, you have a point.
But it is a historical fact that wherever antizionism has become state policy, Jews have no future. This was true in Muslim and Arab lands in 1950’s. After the six day war, antizionism became official policy in the Soviet Ubion and Poland, and other Soviet dominated countries. All the Jews left Poland. 90% of Jews are gone from the former Soviet Union. Morocco had hundreds of thousands of Jews. Today it’s a few thousand. Iraq had a large Jewish community dating back to biblical times. Today, there are none.
All the historical evidence suggests that this will also be true in Canada. That’s what is happening right now. Canadians have been bombarded for almost 18 months by claims that Israel is committing genocide. There is no factual basis for this claim, but it doesn’t matter because everyone now “knows” that it’s true. I’ve been told by angry people on line that “Israel killed 40,000 children”. This is untrue. This is blood libel. This is antisemitism.
Kids are being attacked in schools. Jewish studies programs are being defunded. Artists who are Israeli have been boycotted, regardless of where they stand on Zionism. Weekly marches through Jewish neighborhoods in Toronto call on people to globalize the intifada and chant that “resistance is justified”. The resistance they are supporting is the Hamas atrocities of October 7, 2023.
So, with respect, calling out people who protest the documentation of a wave of antisemitism in Toronto schools, who say it’s just antizionism or “just criticizing Israel” is not a dickhead move. The recent experience of Canadian Jews is not something we are making up. I, for one will continue to report on it. And I will continue to point out that many who say they are “just criticizing Israel” are in fact promoting Jew hatred.
Thank you David for taking my concerns seriously enough to give a considered response.
I agree that "many who say they are 'just criticizing Israel' are in fact promoting Jew hatred". But "many" is probably not even most, and it certainly is not all. And Brian Henry starts right out with various snidely phrased versions of the implication, later made as an explicit claim, that "Antizionism is antisemitism" which of course is not just false; it is completely ridiculous unless you identify the Haredim as antisemitic(*). And his claim that "Antizionists claim to 'only' hate Zionists" and thereby "admit to hating almost every Jew" is also nonsense - not so much because of any quibble about the extent to which Israelism has taken over the observant North American diaspora but because of the histrionic identification of disagreement with hatred. Is the guy really not capable of understanding that it is possible to disagree with someone without actually hating them?
There is a case to be made that objections to the actions of the current Israeli government are being used as cover for actual antisemitism to an extent that needs exposure and response, but this piece just undermines that case by overstating it - and doing so in an obnoxious tone that increases its counterproductive effect.
(*)PS I didn't include IJV here as I know that some of the nut jobs on your side of the table have no hesitation in claiming that as "self-hating Jews" they really are antisemitic.
Thank you for this article although you highlighted so much of the hate, that I feel queasy. And I hadn't been paying a lot of attention to the use of the words "antizionism" and "antisemitism" and what they represent. Very helpful indeed.
Indeed anti-Zionism is anti-semitism. There is no distinction. Nor is it disguised. To oppose the right of the Jewish people to return to their indigenous homeland, to deny the existence of that indigenous homeland is to engage in Jew hatred. Full stop. To make up lies that the Iews are murdering Palestinians when it is Palestinians who are murdering Jews is to raise one' Jew hate to the level of Naziism.
Not all Jews are Zionists and not all Zionists are dickheads ... but look.
The fact that traditional antisemitism always shows up alongside antizionism is entirely to be expected and in no way "makes nonsense" of the claim that antizionism is merely criticism of Israel. Some "antizionists" are indeed just using that as a cover for antisemitism but the claim that all are is basically a dickhead move.
Thanks, Alan for joining the conversation. Yes, you can find people who call themselves antizionists, who aren’t antisemites. So reading your statement narrowly, you have a point.
But it is a historical fact that wherever antizionism has become state policy, Jews have no future. This was true in Muslim and Arab lands in 1950’s. After the six day war, antizionism became official policy in the Soviet Ubion and Poland, and other Soviet dominated countries. All the Jews left Poland. 90% of Jews are gone from the former Soviet Union. Morocco had hundreds of thousands of Jews. Today it’s a few thousand. Iraq had a large Jewish community dating back to biblical times. Today, there are none.
All the historical evidence suggests that this will also be true in Canada. That’s what is happening right now. Canadians have been bombarded for almost 18 months by claims that Israel is committing genocide. There is no factual basis for this claim, but it doesn’t matter because everyone now “knows” that it’s true. I’ve been told by angry people on line that “Israel killed 40,000 children”. This is untrue. This is blood libel. This is antisemitism.
Kids are being attacked in schools. Jewish studies programs are being defunded. Artists who are Israeli have been boycotted, regardless of where they stand on Zionism. Weekly marches through Jewish neighborhoods in Toronto call on people to globalize the intifada and chant that “resistance is justified”. The resistance they are supporting is the Hamas atrocities of October 7, 2023.
So, with respect, calling out people who protest the documentation of a wave of antisemitism in Toronto schools, who say it’s just antizionism or “just criticizing Israel” is not a dickhead move. The recent experience of Canadian Jews is not something we are making up. I, for one will continue to report on it. And I will continue to point out that many who say they are “just criticizing Israel” are in fact promoting Jew hatred.
Thank you David for taking my concerns seriously enough to give a considered response.
I agree that "many who say they are 'just criticizing Israel' are in fact promoting Jew hatred". But "many" is probably not even most, and it certainly is not all. And Brian Henry starts right out with various snidely phrased versions of the implication, later made as an explicit claim, that "Antizionism is antisemitism" which of course is not just false; it is completely ridiculous unless you identify the Haredim as antisemitic(*). And his claim that "Antizionists claim to 'only' hate Zionists" and thereby "admit to hating almost every Jew" is also nonsense - not so much because of any quibble about the extent to which Israelism has taken over the observant North American diaspora but because of the histrionic identification of disagreement with hatred. Is the guy really not capable of understanding that it is possible to disagree with someone without actually hating them?
There is a case to be made that objections to the actions of the current Israeli government are being used as cover for actual antisemitism to an extent that needs exposure and response, but this piece just undermines that case by overstating it - and doing so in an obnoxious tone that increases its counterproductive effect.
(*)PS I didn't include IJV here as I know that some of the nut jobs on your side of the table have no hesitation in claiming that as "self-hating Jews" they really are antisemitic.