Stand up, be proud(er)

Editorial

Our community was scheduled to come together Thursday night in a rally of solidarity with our family and friends in Israel. These events are always well attended and provide vital and heartening mutual support which, after sending the message to Israel that we stand with them, serves an equally important purpose for Diaspora Jews, who can feel deeply isolated when crises hit Israel.

We have said here before that attitudes toward Israel expressed by the broader Canadian population can be perceived, correctly or not, as informal barometers of attitudes toward Jews more generally. For this reason, when criticism of Israel reaches the peak it does when Israel is forced into defensive actions like those taking place in Gaza right now, coming together with those who innately understand our anxieties is both necessary and comforting. In this respect, it really doesn't matter where this takes place, as long as fraternity and comfort are shared. But if our message is to send a message to the broader Canadian body politic about Israel's right to exist in peace, it matters very much where such events take place.

Again, as is so often the case with events like these, Thursday's solidarity event was scheduled to take place in a synagogue. In terms of providing a safe, welcoming and comfortable environment for our community to come together and commiserate over the continuing threats and terror under which Israelis live, this is as good a place as any. However, to send a message that Canadian Jews are stalwart, reliable and proud defenders of Israel's right to defend its civilians from terror and death, a Jewish communal institution may not be the best place to gather. To remind other Canadians and our elected officials that there is a proud, determined and valid Zionist stream within Canada's political culture, we need to be more visible.

There are justifiable and historic reasons for our community's apparent shyness about publicity. Traditionally, it has been characteristic to keep our heads down. This is understandable and, in some ways valid. But in these times when Israel-bashing zealots are chanting lies about "apartheid," "massacres" and "genocide" on the streets of Vancouver, it is not enough to show our solidarity from the seats of a synagogue. By forfeiting the battle of the street to the enemies of Israel, we leave the public impression far too often that there is only one side to this case.

^TOP