Toronto… Montreal… now Kitchener:
Officials with a Jewish cemetery in Kitchener, Ont., are trying to determine whether 12 headstones were knocked over this weekend as an act of vandalism, or a hate crime.
A dozen headstones were toppled sometime Saturday night or early Sunday morning at the Beth Jacob Cemetery, as Jews prepared to mark the high holidays of Passover.
Trying to determine if it’s a hate crime??? Is that like trying to determine if rain is wet? A friggin’ cemetery was attacked – what do you call that, a hockey game?
The pattern is disturbing. The Ottawa Citizen had an editorial last week that was right on-point:
Still, the firebombing in Montreal represents a new level of depravity. The attack, though, is in one sense instructive: It demonstrates the nexus of anti-Zionism (hatred of Israel, the Jewish state) and anti-Semitism (hatred of Jews). Only a mind clouded with hate could think that burning a children’s school in Canada is a legitimate way to protest Israeli government policies.
Antisemitism is on the rise because of so-called “anti-Zionism”. The two are one and the same. Legitimate criticism of Israel’s policies is one thing, but there’s no excuse for the firebombing of schools, vandalizing of property, or the threatening of Jewish MPs. And it’s exactly why the de-legitimatizing of the Jewish state is a direct attack on the notion of Jewish nationalism, or the Jewish people in general. Call it anti-Zionism or call it antisemitism, it’s just plain disgusting.
And it’s exactly why the de-legitimatizing of the Jewish state is a direct attack on the notion of Jewish nationalism, or the Jewish people in general
Sari, as you know, there are many Israelis who deligitmize the idea of Israel as a EJwsih state, and attack Jewish nationalism in favour of Israeli nationalism. Meretz is not an anti-semitic party, but it is (I beleive) an anti-zionist, or post-zionist, party.
What shits me is people who think that the way to help the Palestinians is by intimidating Canadian jews.
Ikram,
Meretz is a leftist Zionist party. They do not espouse anti-Zionist views. They are critical of certain Israeli policies, though.
Meretz is a leftist Zionist party. They do not espouse anti-Zionist views. Indeed: there are many Israelis who deligitmize the idea of Israel as a EJwsih state, and attack Jewish nationalism in favour of Israeli nationalism — no; they realise that like, say, democratic Greek nationalism, democratic Jewish nationalism requires a common Israeli project.
In other words, it’s not either/or, but both/and. That’s certainly Meretz’s platform: Meretz is fully committed to human rights, equality, social justice, Israel’s security, and to the values of humane Zionism. The discussion of Israel: A Democratic Jewish State is an important portion of their platform.
Sorry, that was me.
8opus, I think you’re having trouble distinguishing between two pretty simple concepts:
One (Meretz) says they have a different vision of Israel as a society, changing to be more progressive and implement more social programs, etc. A political party, in other words.
The other says they want Israel destroyed and all the Jews killed.
Why is it so hard for you to distinguish between anti-Zionism (i.e. antisemitism, or no more Israel) and a mere different interpretation of Zionism?
Agreed Jonny, but I don’t think that’s what happened at all, either in this incident or the one at the school.