Did prominent Zionist really call for NDP leader’s death?

The assassination threat must be condemned. But we also need Avi Lewis to stand up to the genocidal Jewish supremacist bullies.

In “Jewish law tells us how to deal with Avi Lewis” Yoni Goldstein effectively calls for the leader of the NDP to be killed. In the National Post the former editor of the Canadian Jewish News invokes biblical tales of fire consuming disloyal Jews while calling Lewis “a clear and present danger to the Jewish community” with other Jews “duty-bound to step in.” Goldstein writes:

“The Jews were well into their desert journey when Korach, a member of the privileged Levite clan, openly questioned Moses’ leadership. Two-hundred-and-fifty people, a tiny fraction of the nation that then comprised hundreds of thousands of adults, sided with him. Korach and his leadership group refused Moses’s summons, accusing him of leading the Jews out of Egypt for his own glory. Suddenly, God caused the earth to open up, and Korach and his family were swallowed alive. The 250 admirers were consumed by fire.

“The biblical story of Korach presents a stark lesson in how Jews think about internal dissent, when it escalates to become a threat to the continued viability of the community itself. It is indeed an extreme consequence for eliciting communal harm, but then Jewish law is fairly clear on the subject: when a Jew endangers the Jewish community, the community is obligated to stop them.”

Goldstein is ostensibly responding to Lewis’ (innocuous) Yom Kippur post calling for Jews to atone for the genocide in Gaza. As such, Lewis should be consumed by fire? Or his backers? Anonymous X user Dan noted, “People are saying this is a call to assassinate Avi Lewis. That’s incorrect; it’s a call to assassinate Lewis, his family and all NDP members.”

The National Post should be strongly condemned for publishing the column and the police should be pressed to investigate. Goldstein should, of course, also be denounced. (In 2016 Goldstein published a CJN column bemoaning how “In an essay for the Huffington Post, writer/activist Yves Engler had the temerity to suggest that ‘anti-Semitism may be the most abused term in Canada today.’”)

Goldstein’s column highlights just how unhinged large swaths of the Jewish community have become (not to mention the National Post, which over the past three years has taken its low standards to a shocking level of genocidal mania). The incitement should be taken seriously. Zionists having already targeted anti-genocide activists with a nail gun, chemicals, a snow plough, etc. Several Jewish Zionist vigilante groups are known to train with weapons.

It is understandable if Lewis does not want to directly respond to Goldstein. But it’s imperative the NDP leader stand up — and be seen to do so — to the increasingly unhinged Zionists attacks against him.

Unfortunately, Lewis has already given some ground. In a press conference two days after his Yom Kippur post he (twice) threw a bone to Jewish supremacists who assiduously link Judaism to Israel and then cry murder if an Israel critic links the two. Lewis noted, “Holding Jews collectively responsible for the actions of the state of Israel is antisemitic. I’ve never done it. I think it’s dangerous and that’s absolutely not what I did.” While Lewis’ statement is technically correct, it’s a straw man argument and throwing a bone to genocide promoters isn’t going to stop the attacks.

Amidst the Zionist frenzy, it’s notable that Lewis has been silent on Public Safety Canada explicitly labelling opposition to Jewish supremacist colonialism racism. In a section on Understanding Antisemitism a Public Safety Canada reports released Thursday notes that antisemitism “includes anti-Zionism.” The report is the latest step by the government to demonize and criminalize maybe the most significant anti-racist movement in Canada and the world.

In response to Public Safety Canada several thousand have sent emails to the government through Independent Jewish Voices’ action network account. The Jewish Faculty Network, which Lewis is a member of, and United Jewish People’s Order also endorsed the call.

Lewis is well placed to challenge the Liberals’ bid to label anti-Zionism as antisemitism. He should do so not simply to push back against the government’s creeping criminalization of the left, but also to show the genocide lobby he won’t back down. It’s imperative to stand up to the bully.

Lewis has an opportunity to demonstrate real courage.

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