I sent a piece to the National Post. Here was the comment:

“Thank you for your submission. Unfortunately, we don’t see a place for it in the newspaper.”

So I decided to ask why.

I am curious. Why does a concern about the spread of hatred for Jews in this country not have a place in the National Post? Concern about Islamophobia has a place. But not antisemitism? How is that? Concern about neo-Nazis has a place, but not concern about Jew hatred from the left-which is louder and more vicious than ever in my lifetime. How is it that these concerns don’t have a place in the National Post?

I’m not waiting for a response.

As a Jewish grandmother with nine grandchildren, I fear for their future. Not from the right:the group that Prime Minister Trudeau called out:

The small minority, angry, frustrated group of racists don’t get to define who we are as a country, don’t get to tell others who we are and don’t get to change the nature of the open, accepting values that make us who we are.

One thing I know is the position of the KKK and the Nazis. They carry themselves proudly, with signs that speak to their beliefs and even sing “Jews will not replace us.” I have no fear of these people. I recognize them right away.

But the left is different. The left is spreading hate under a veil of respectability that has been provided by pundits, professors and politicians. The many organizations on the left talk about free speech but prevent it. And the media says nothing.

The left is filled with people who will not condone the free exchange of ideas, and young people demanding “safe spaces.” Think about that. Demands for a safe space in Canada. The whole country is supposed to be free. The name “free spaces” is an oxymoron. They are not free to all. They are segregated spaces, free of free speech. 

In June 2017 the UBC Free Speech Club held a Blasphemathon, to protest Parliament’s anti-Islamophobia Motion 103. At the top of his lungs, Louis Jung, a second-year visual-arts student, urged passers-by to come over and draw the most offensive picture possible.  

Amel Aldehaib heard about this and said “Speech must be free but it must be challenged, and the other side must also be protected,” the PhD student from Sudan responds. Toxic language can lead to toxic acts. Words can incite violence. “You cannot say it’s not there. It’s there.”How would she feel if people yelled “Death to the Muslims”?

I can tell you how it feels to hear “Death to the Jews.” Today, the most frightening attacks against the Jews come from the Muslim world. But we are told to say nothing. To speak is to be Islamophobic. Talking about the calls to kill Jews is to be an Islamophobe.

Ian Buruma  recently wrote an article in which he seemed to be dismissive of “grievances against Muslims.” I think it fair to say there is a logical reason for harbouring grievances against some Muslims.  The Hate Crimes Unit in Montreal charged Sheikh Muhammmad Musa As Nasr with wilful promotion of hate against Jews. In the video, posted and shared widely on YouTube, he calls the Jews the “worst of mankind” and hopes for their slaughter at the hands of Muslims.

And at the Masjid Mosque Downtown Toronto  two Imams were caught on video giving hateful speeches about Jews, including the statement “O Allah! Purify the Al Aqsa Mosque from the filth of Jews.”

On Feb. 8, 2017, B’nai Brith Canada filed a complaint with Montreal police and the RCMP regarding sermons made by Quebec Imam Sayed AlGhitawi (سيد الغتاوي) at the al-Andalous Islamic Center in Montreal. He has  recited prayers that include the following supplications. “O Allah, destroy the accursed Jews.”These are not isolated calls. They are heard around the world. One could assume that the Jewish people might share a grievance as these calls are similar to the calls for “Death to the Jews” before the Shoah.

The complaint was filed “too late.” Statute of limitations!

As a Jewish woman I am fearful when I see Muslims attending a festive event that calls for the eradication of the Jewish state which has within half of world Jewry.  Yet I hear no backlash from any members of our government; from civil to provincial to Federal. It’s as if calling for the death of Jews anywhere is acceptable; part of accommodation and tolerance and inclusion rather than called for what it is: hate speech that is inciting murder. Is that not against the law in Canada? In any civil society?

Yes, the attacks from the right need to be stopped. But the attacks from the left must be exposed for what they really are. Attacks on freedom itself.

We keep repeating “Never Again”

And then repeat history again and again.

I will not go gently into that good night. Nor will my children or grandchildren. The days of being silent are over.

Silence is collusion.

 

From the Ethics of the Fathers: “Rabbi Tarfon used to say, it is not incumbent upon you to complete the task, but you are not exempt from undertaking it.”