Who stands to gain from attack on synagogue?

If you feel personally impacted when a Jewish institution is targeted you have a responsibility to criticize that institution for promoting genocide, no? At least if you oppose genocide.

A Facebook post by Joseph Rosen got me considering the question of leftist Canadian Jews responsibilities in the face of Ottawa enabling a holocaust in part by focusing on antisemitism. “Another Synagogue attacked in Montreal”, wrote the Dawson college professor last week. “Yet again, no one I know posts about it. Jewish friends all sending it to each other privately.”

But the late-night destruction of windows and a door at Congregation Beth Tikvah Synagogue and an adjacent Combined Jewish Appeal office was covered by every major media outlet (the Montreal Gazette devoted most of its front page to the incident). It was also condemned by Canadian politicians across the spectrum. In response Israeli President Isaac Herzog called Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and afterwards released a statement about the “intolerablewave of antisemitic attacks against the Canadian Jewish community. I stressed that words would not suffice, and that firm and decisive action must be taken to bring the perpetrators to justice, to stamp out antisemitism, and to educate and legislate in order to ensure the safety and well-being of the Jewish community.” After a similar incident in Toronto the next day Israeli diaspora minister Amichai Chikli claimed, “Canada is no longer safe for Jews.”

B’nai Brith cited the Montreal incident to push for greater state repression of anti-genocide forces. (While there have been a dozen incidents in which windows were smashed or bullets fired at empty synagogues or other Jewish institutions over the past 14 months, anti-genocide protesters have faced far more physical harm at the hands of the police. In fact, Canadian Jews have probably faced greater physical harm while protesting genocide than in anti-Jewish attacks. And on social media Zionists regularly call for more violence to be meted out.) Complaining that leftist friends are not centring an odious incident at a time when antisemitism is aggressively mobilized to legitimize repression against the left and a holocaust is also odious.

In response to Rosen I wrote, “How many times have you posted about the weaponization of antisemitism to promote Israel’s holocaust in Gaza?” My point was that Rosen has little moral standing to complain about leftists not posting about windows being smashed at a synagogue if he hasn’t publicly denounced the far more damaging politicization of antisemitism. But, upon reflection there’s a more fundamental issue at hand.

If you ‘feel Jewish’ when a synagogue is targeted but don’t feel responsibility to denounce a place of worship that prominently declares “we stand with Israel” and sends cards to Israeli soldiers you are enabling genocide.

I don’t mean that literally. There are too many Jewish institutions in Montreal promoting genocide for any individual to criticize every one of them. But has Rosen posted about synagogues holding Israel land theft sales? Or private Jewish schools teaching six- and seven-year-olds to worship the Israeli military? How about summer camps that employ Israeli counselors to promote apartheid and genocide? Or community centres hosting war criminals? Or Combined Jewish Appeal sending millions of dollars to Israel every year?

If you feel personally targeted when a Jewish institution is attacked then don’t you also have a personal responsibility to criticize that institution’s genocide promotion? At least if you oppose genocide.

One’s reaction to the late-night attacks against synagogues and schools partly reflects who you think is responsible for these crimes. With few arrests or court cases it’s difficult to know. But there are several cases in which Jews have been apprehended for committing these types of crimes and little evidence of Palestinians or solidarity activists’ involvement despite these institutions usually promoting violence against Palestinians.

In May the police arrested 67-year-old Avrom Bobrowski for starting a fire at his Toronto synagogue. A CTV headline explained, “Congregant accused of deliberately setting North York synagogue on fire”. Two months later 33-year-old Jonathan Szeftel was arrested for throwing a rock through a synagogue window in Toronto. After a high-profile antisemitic incident at a Winnipeg coffee shop in 2019, a Jerusalem Post headline explained “Antisemitic attack on kosher cafe in Canada was staged by owners, police say”. Initially described as the “most brazen” antisemitic attack the city had seen, three owners were arrested for staging an assault and spray-painting hateful graffiti. Two years earlier 19-year-old Israeli Michael Kadar was arrested for making bomb threats to a slew of Jewish institutions in Canada, the US and elsewhere. The Guardian noted, “Israeli teen accused of 2,000 bomb hoax calls and blackmail”. Kadar received a ten year sentence from an Israeli youth court.

It is certainly possible Palestinian sympathizers have committed some of these strategically and morally objectionable acts against Jewish institutions over the past 14 months. It’s also possible that some white supremacists have taken advantage of rising tensions to perpetrate some of these acts.

I would be surprised if Canadian Zionist organizations are involved in any organized way. They have too much to lose by organizing crimes that could blow up in their face. But that doesn’t mean pro-Israel forces aren’t involved in an organized way.

And I wouldn’t exclude Mossad involvement. For an Israeli intelligence agency, which blew up thousands of pagers in Lebanon, it would be easy to smash windows and fire some bullets late at night. Additionally, the Israeli state has an interest in doing so. These acts justify anti-Palestinian measures in Canada. More important for Tel Aviv, they scare Israelis considering migrating, which is a significant concern for Zionism.

In any crime one must always ask cui bono?

Support Yves’ work. Donate Now.