More Conversations With Our Adversaries (Part I)

Examining the righteous rage of a fanatical antizionist

An Upsurge in Antisemitism in Canada

Canadian Jews know that we are living in a less hospitable environment than we have been used to in this country. Those of us who have been around for many decades may have seen things getting better over the course of our lives before they started getting worse in more recent years. There are some, generally not our friends who claim that the rise in antisemitism is exaggerated or that it is being “weaponized” to silence solidarity with Palestinians. This claim is itself one of the manifestations of increasing hostility to Jews in our society. This recent CBC Report documents that Canadian Jews are aware of what is happening and how some are coping.

One of the insights I’ve gleaned from studying the history of antisemitism is that the worst antisemites are driven by a strong sense that they are standing up against demonic Jews who wish to destroy everything that’s good in the world. This gives these adherents of antisemitism a maniacal zeal which can turn ordinary people into mass murderers. We saw it at the time of the crusades, when farmers, turned soldiers, massacred Jews in Germany on the way to fight the infidel in the holy land. We saw it again with the Spanish inquisition which focused on Jews who had converted but were suspected of backsliding.

Image: Massacre of the Jews of Metz (1096). A painting by Auguste Migette (1802-1884) ———-Source: Wikimedia Commons

We saw it in nineteenth and twentieth century Russia, where Jews were massacred in the name of the Russian Orthodox faith, and the Russian state forged the “Protocols of the Elders of Zion” to support the claim that Jews were plotting to take over the world. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries Jews were blamed by some traditionalists for the perceived ills of Liberalism and by socialist revolutionaries for being the personification of capitalism.

In the year since the outbreak of war between Israel in Gaza, Canadian Jews have encountered numerous examples of hatred and violence which seems to be driven by a sense of righteous anger at the plight of the Palestinians. People may know almost nothing about the history or roots of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, but increasingly they “know” for sure that the fault lies with Zionists. Given that bit of “knowledge” and a sense of urgency driven by daily reports of carnage and death in Gaza, there has been an upsurge of action targeting “Zionists” in Canada. “Pro-Palestinian” advocates are happy to identify the appropriate targets for this anger.

Image: A Jewish Girl’s School in Toronto targeted by gunfire in May of 2024 ——————Source: Brian Henry

In practice, Canadian Zionists and Canadian Jews are difficult to distinguish, but the enraged advocates for the Palestinians insist there is nothing antisemitic about their actions or rhetoric. This does not prevent them from speaking and acting in ways that are indistinguishable from antisemitism. The cause of the moment is a campaign to boycott “Chapters/Indigo” because the founder Heather Reisman runs a charity which helps “Lone Soldiers”, immigrants who come to Israel to serve in the Israel Defense Forces.

Those who want to support Chapters/Indigo against this boycott can do so by shopping at the book seller, either at their bricks and mortar locations or on line. You can find more information here: #BUYcottIndigoChapters Campaign - CIJA

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Conversation with a “Pro-Palestinian” Academic

I recently found myself in conversation with someone who seems to see Israel in demonic terms, and supporters of Israel as people who have “lost their humanity”. This looks to me like an example of the “righteous anger” which is driving increasing animus against Jews, and anyone who supports Israel, in the current moment. The interlocutor is a woman who is very sure that she is not a Jew hater, as she will assert herself in the course of the conversation. I will present the conversation here and let the reader decide.

This exchange took place on the Facebook page of Mira Sucharov, who has appeared before in our writing here. Our first encounter with her occurred when she presented the film “Israelism” in a lecture hall at Carleton University, the summer before the war. You can click on the link to read the article from last September.

On September 18, Mira posted the following on Facebook:

“It's time for another Israel/Palestine "ask me anything" post. I'll try my best to answer.”

This drew a number of questions, including one from this author, but today’s discussion will focus on a comment posted by Rita Lucarelli. Mira’s post inviting questions is public and Ms. Lucarelli has a link on her Facebook profile to this page which identifies her as a member of the faculty at University of California at Berkeley. A Google search for her reveals her bio at Rita Lucarelli | Center for Middle Eastern Studies (berkeley.edu). She is identified there as “Associate Professor of Egyptology, Class of 1939 Chair in Undergraduate Education; CMES Senior Research Scholar”. I include this so that we understand that this is not an angry graduate student, but an established academic with a position at a prestigious American University.

The question posed by Ms. Lucarelli was the following:

What do you think people with some humanity left should advocate for right now, in the light of Israel's terroristic cyberattacks in Lebanon? It is clear that Netanyahu does not want a ceasefire but rather to enlarge the conflict, and he is being successful to do so.

Since the question called Israel’s highly targeted exploding pager attacks on Hezbollah an act of terrorism, I was moved to wonder just what Israel would have to do to engage in a legitimate act of self defense in the eyes of this person. So I responded to her question with another question:

David Roytenberg responding to Rita Lucarelli:

Is there any act of Israeli self-defense that you would support?

She replied:

Rita Lucarelli responding to David Roytenberg:

yes, ending the genocide and the illegal occupation. That would be the only acts of self defense they should work for, and you too!

This seemed like an odd response to me, since she had condemned an Israeli attack on Hezbollah in Lebanon. I challenged the premise of her response:

David Roytenberg responding to Rita Lucarelli:

there’s no Israeli occupation of Lebanon. Only 11 months of war crimes by rocket fire. But when Israel strikes back at the perpetrators, you call it terrorism.

Have you ever considered the possibility you hold Israel to rules that you don’t apply to anyone else?

For example, when Azarbaijan expelled 150,000 Armenians earlier this year and stole their land, did you denounce the government of Azerbaijan for terrorism, ethnic cleansing and genocide? Did you denounce them for using hunger as a weapon of war?

How about Russia? What have you done about three years of genocidal attacks on Ukrainians? Have you marched to demand their withdrawal from illegally occupied Ukrainian territory?

Are you involved in any groups that lobby for the end of Turkey’s illegal occupation in Cyprus? Or is it only Israel that causes you indignation?

This was her reply:

Rita Lucarelli replying to David Roytenberg

I condemn all of that, but are you implying that Israel should not be held responsible because other countries are perpetrating ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity too? At least now you are implicitly admitting that Israel is at the same level of those countries you mention though, bravo

Also: review your history textbook about Israeli invasions of Lebanon (1982 in particular) and ask yourself a simple question: why is Hezbollah firing rockets? Jeez, I feel like talking to an elementary school kid . Stop being so delusional please, it’s pathetic.

So she put words in my mouth and then followed up with derision.

I pushed back:

David Roytenberg responding to Rita Lucarelli

to be clear, it’s you and not I accusing Israel of crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing. I just wondered if you care about such things when the alleged perpetrators are not Jews.

Israel withdrew its troops and people from Gaza in 2006. It’s Jews and not Arabs who have been ethnically cleansed from Gaza, where Jews lived for centuries before 1948.

And Israel ended its occupation of Gaza in 2006 as well. So occupation can’t be the justification for Hamas starting this war. All Israel wants in return for ending the occupation in 2006 and removing all Jewish residents from Gaza, is that people in Gaza should stop trying to kill them.

In spite of 17 years of violence emanating from Gaza since Israel pulled out, it took the obscenities of October 7 to get Israel to go back into Gaza, not to occupy it, but to destroy the enemy which has tormented them all these years.

In the face of this, you and many like you have been screaming about Israeli genocide from the first moment of Israel’s righteous and absolutely essential campaign against Hamas which began in response to the invasion of southern Israel on October 7.

It’s impossible to take you seriously when you ignore the basic facts and insist that Israel is to blame for defending itself against the genocidal aims of Hamas.

In response, she seemed ready to end the conversation

Rita Lucarelli responding to David Roytenberg:

omg so many lies and distortions of reality and falsification of history in one short message, you are amazing. Not wasting my time answering to you anymore, you are hopeless. Watch this doc when you have a minute, this is the colonial fascist racist fanatic ideology you are supporting, not the Jews.

I include the link she provided for those that may be interested, though I must warn readers that I haven’t looked at it.

My friend Steffy Schwartz, who is well versed on the subject of international law and the laws of war, continued the discussion by expressing an opinion about the video:

“Steffy Schwartz responding to Rita Lucarelli

TRT ?

Really?

What a joke.

At this point Mira Sucharov weighed in. (Remember that this discussion takes place on her Facebook Page in response to a question that she solicited.)

Mira Sucharov responding to David Roytenberg and Rita Lucarelli.

David is correct that Israel is not occupying Lebanon. It pulled out in 2000. Rita is right however that Israel is the formal occupying power of Gaza, despite pulling out its soldiers and settlers in 2005. This is because Israel controls (since 2007) the airspace, water access, population registry, electricity grid, naval access, and, along with Egypt, ground crossings. Israel has no such control over Lebanon. https://www.icrc.org/.../ihl-occupying-power...

I thought it was interesting that while Mira cites the opinion used by the UN to justify its continued oversight of Israel’s supposed occupation of Gaza, she dates that occupation to 2007, when Hamas seized power in Gaza and Israel imposed a blockade to try to stop Hamas from arming itself. This suggests that perhaps, even those who claim that Israel still occupies Gaza might concede that there was no Israeli occupation of Gaza between 2005 and 2007. But I digress.

Rita Lucarelli responded to Mira with a comment that didn’t really address Mira’s point:

Rita Lucarelli responding to Mira Sucharov:

I know history and I know that Lebanon is not occupied by Israel, but that was not my point on why Hezbollah fires rockets to Israel. The point is that Israel illegally keeps occupying Palestine, and the only thing they should do is to end the occupation, instead of carrying terroristic attacks in Lebanon.

Mira pointed out what Rita was ignoring about the situation:

Mira Sucharov responding to Rita Lucarelli

that provides political and strategic context yes, but it does not make hezbollah’s attacks on Israel lawful.

End of Part I

Because of size limitations on eMail, today’s article is being split into two parts. This marks the end of Part I. The second part will follow shortly and will resume where this one leaves off.

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for Part II!

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