The hypocrisy is stunning. Those who link Judaism to Zionism are outraged a politician said Jews have “failed to do our part to stop an ongoing genocide committed in our name.”
On Sunday NDP leader Avi Lewis posted, “Tonight Yom Kippur begins, the most sombre moment of the Jewish calendar. It’s a time of atonement — a time to grieve those who have been lost, a time to acknowledge and take responsibility for harms we have caused, individually and collectively. For Jewish people, the personal has always been political and the political always personal. This year I’m reflecting on the fact that we failed to do our part to stop an ongoing genocide committed in our name. There are many other fronts where I have to do the work of repair. But nothing on this scale.”
Genocidal Jewish supremacists were livid. Globe and Mail columnist Robyn Urback complained Lewis was “implying that Canadian Jews should be held responsible for what’s happening in Gaza” while Liberal MP Anthony Housefather wrote, “Holding Canadian Jews and Jews across the world collectively responsible for events over which they have no control is despicable.”
Apparently, Jewish politicians in Israel “have no control” over killing Palestinians and Housefather had “no control” over his threatening to flee the Liberal caucus if Trudeau lessened Canadian complicity in genocide.
Taking the hyperbole a step further, Canadaland founder Jesse Brown proclaimed, “Avi Lewis is targeting Canadian Jews, as a collective, for blame, hate, and violence, and he is exploiting the holiest day of the Jewish year to do so.”
Picking up some of the criticism, the Canadian Press published “NDP leader Lewis criticized for saying Jews ‘failed to do our part’ to stop Gaza war.” Urback subsequently published a Globe column headlined “Avi Lewis’s foolish statement on ‘Jewish people’ should be disqualifying” that claimed the NDP leader’s statement was “textbook antisemitism”.
The supremacists targeting Lewis were boosted in their manufactured outrage campaign by a shooting that began near a synagogue in Belleville. According to Global News, “several homes and vehicles were damaged in the shootout” and CBC reported “it’s still not clear if the synagogue was the target of the shooting.” While the motive of former Canadian soldier Sean Ward remains unclear, the police officer he shot, Jeffrey Smith, was found guilty of assaulting a Tyendinaga man and is facing an upcoming disciplinary case. Smith may have been the target of the entire affair.
Brown, Urback and Housefather’s chutzpah in attacking Lewis is breathtaking. These hard-line supporters of Israeli crimes have all previously argued that Israel is central to Judaism or that most Jews identify with that country. So, they can equate Jews with Israel but complain vociferously if anyone suggests any Jewish responsibility for Israel’s genocide and lawlessness.
Even a maximalist interpretation of Lewis’ statement — that those who identify as Jewish should collectively atone for Israeli genocide — is reasonable. Half of world Jewry is in Israel and most Jewish Israelis seek more blood of Palestinians, Lebanese and Iranians. Supporting Israeli violence is less meaningful among 7.5 million US Jews but it’s still a majoritarian position. Canada’s Jewish community is far smaller than its US counterpart but more Zionist. Pro-Zionist sociologist Robert Brym says his research shows that 84 percent of Canadian Jews feel “very” or “somewhat” attached to Israel while 94 percent support its right to exist as a (supremacist) Jewish state. While these numbers seem somewhat exaggerated to me, the upwards of 60,000 people who participated in the Toronto Jewish Federation’s Walk for Israel in June demonstrate significant backing for genocide.
Up to 99% of Canada’s Jewish institutions back Israel no matter how much violence it commits. Only a handful of Jewish organizations (Independent Jewish Voices, Jews say no to Genocide, Jewish Faculty Network, Neturei Karta, Morris Winchevsky Centre, etc.) have publicly opposed genocide. A thousand or more Canadian Jewish institutions — from schools to synagogues, food banks to summer camps — continue to actively promote Israel. (Outrageously, most of them are subsidized by all taxpayers through direct grants and tax-deductible charitable status.)
Anyone identifying as Jewish opposed to Israeli lawlessness should be perfectly comfortable with a call suggesting collective atonement for genocide.
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