A vigil in solidarity with Israel took place on the Dayton Street pedestrian overpass in Kelowna on Nov. 19. <\/i>(photo from vigil organizers)<\/i><\/p>\n
About 100 people held a vigil in solidarity with Israel in Kelowna on Nov. 19, which proceeded without incident.<\/p>\n
The two-hour gathering on the Dayton Street pedestrian overpass, which straddles Highway 97, was organized by members of the Jewish community, following a series of peaceful pro-Palestinian demonstrations since Hamas\u2019s Oct. 7 attack on Israel.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The organizer (who asked that their name be withheld because of security concerns) said that, in addition to community members, the participants included representatives of at least two churches, as well as Kelowna city councilor Ron Cannan, a former Conservative member of Parliament for Kelowna-Lake Country.<\/p>\n The vigil was encouraged by Rabbi Shmuly Hecht, director of the Okanagan Chabad Centre, who led men present in the putting on of tefillin in a display of Jewish confidence.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The organizer said the pro-Israel public demonstration was the first of its kind in the area. The main purpose was twofold: to give the area\u2019s small Jewish population an opportunity to unite and have its voice heard and to show other citizens that there is \u201canother side\u201d to the Israel-Hamas conflict not reflected by the public activities of Palestinian supporters.<\/p>\n One week earlier, around 300 people held a pro-Palestinian demonstration that started on the steps of the courthouse and concluded with a march. That event, which received local media coverage, was organized by the Okanagan chapter of Canadians for Peace and Justice in the Middle East, a Montreal-based anti-Israel lobby group.<\/p>\n The organizer said they and the other organizers decided not to alert the media to their event in order to avoid attracting any conflict with the other camp. There were no tensions, and the only show of disagreement came from a motorist driving under the overpass displaying a Palestinian flag and honking, they said.<\/p>\n There were a few honks of apparent approval and passersby did engage with those in the crowd, asking questions, they added.<\/p>\n The demonstrators carried Israeli and Canadian flags, and placards mostly reading \u201cWe stand with Israel\u201d and \u201cBring them home now,\u201d referring to the hostages taken by Hamas,\u00a0 <\/span>but also \u201cHamas (equals) ISIS\u201d and \u201cRape is not resistance.\u201d<\/p>\n The organizer said those supporting the Palestinians and condemning Israel are getting attention in the Okanagan because of the frequency of their protests and the media coverage. The result is people \u201conly hear one side of the story.\u201d<\/p>\n The Palestinian demonstration outside the Kelowna courthouse Nov. 12 was especially visual: an individual identifying themselves only as Haneen, a Palestinian studying locally, unfurled down the steps a computer printout listing what was said to be the names of every Palestinian civilian casualty between Oct. 7 and 26.<\/p>\n Kelowna is home to about 1,000 Jews, and an equal number are scattered throughout the Okanagan.\u00a0At the time this article was written, the organizer said they did not feel any antisemitism in Kelowna or hostility as a result of the war and, in fact, finds a fair degree of sympathy for Israel\u2019s position. \u201cWe haven\u2019t removed the mezuzah from our door or things like that, like in other places. We feel quite comfortable.\u201d<\/p>\n They said of the Chabad Centre, with which they are also involved: \u201cThere has been nothing there so far, but we need to be vigilant. It\u2019s an easy place to find.\u201d<\/p>\n Unlike elsewhere in British Columbia, Okanagan elected officials have generally remained neutral or understanding of Israel\u2019s position. The area\u2019s MPs, Tracy Gray for Kelowna-Lake Country and Dan Albas for Central Okanagan-Similkameen-Nicola are Conservatives, and have not strayed from that party\u2019s stance supporting Israel\u2019s right to defend itself. Right after the Hamas attack, Albas issued a clear statement \u201cI stand with Israel\u201d and condemned those in Canada who \u201ccelebrated these terrorist actions.\u201d<\/p>\n In contrast, some 60 British Columbia politicians, at three levels of government, have signed a parliamentary e-petition sponsored by Quebec New Democrat Alexandre Boulerice calling on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to demand an immediate ceasefire (before one happened), as well as an end to Israel\u2019s blockade of the Gaza Strip. Over 286,000 signatures appeared on the petition by the Nov. 23 deadline. The only Okanagan official among the signatories is Penticton city councilor Isaac Gilbert.<\/p>\n At home, Rabbi Hecht is appreciative of the \u201ccare and assistance\u201d the Kelowna RCMP detachment has shown to the Jewish community from the start, increasing its presence around the Chabad Centre and the Okanagan Jewish Community Centre, which houses Beth Shalom Synagogue.<\/p>\n Overall, he said, the Jewish community has \u201cdisplayed incredible resilience and pride\u201d as the conflict goes on.<\/p>\n Hecht has been urging greater public expressions of Jewishness during this time, such as putting up mezuzot and wearing kippot on the street.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have to shine our Jewish light right now; retreating is not an option,\u201d he said. \u201cWe all need to be more outwardly Jewish, not less.\u201d<\/p>\n The OJC did not play any role in the vigil but, in its latest newsletter, states \u201cmany members of our community\u201d took part, that it was peaceful and received \u201ca great response from drivers and passersby.\u201d There is an accompanying photo.<\/p>\n \u201cEveryone is praying for a swift conclusion to the war, an end to the violence in the region, and for the safe return of the hostages,\u201d the newsletter states, continuing with the proviso: \u201cPlease note that the OJC is a social and religious community. We stand for Judaism and peace. Political events and activities of individual members are at their own discretion and are not organized by the OJC.\u201d<\/p>\n OJC past president Steven Finkleman, who currently chairs several synagogue committees, told the the Jewish Independent, \u201cWe are all Jews here, and we do not want to be divisive amongst ourselves.\u201d He emphasized that he was speaking personally and his comments do not necessarily reflect OJC policy.<\/p>\n \u201cI am not on the board, so I can\u2019t answer officially from the board\u2019s point-of-view but only as an individual member of OJC,\u201d Finkleman said via email. \u201cI do know that there were several members of OJC at the event, but I\u2019m not certain how they were made aware of the event, perhaps they are on Chabad\u2019s emailing list.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is a fairly strong and active pro-Palestinian group whom I monitor, far outnumbering the group of Jews that were at the vigil. I personally think that flag-waving and asking members of the community to participate only contributes to possible division in the greater Kelowna community.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have had a lot of supportive emails (about 50), mainly from Christians, and have received zero negative communications. I think we have to be cautious about lowering ourselves to the level of flag waving and demonstrations that the opposition has done on a few occasions here in Kelowna.\u201d<\/p>\n Finkleman, a retired pediatrician originally from Winnipeg who has lived in Kelowna 40 years, said he has had \u201csome very gratifying contacts with Muslim students\u201d and engaged confidentially with Palestinian supporters at the University of British Columbia campus in Kelowna and in the community,\u201d private dialogue that he believes is more productive than public demonstrations.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Janice Arnold<\/b> is a freelance writer living in Summerland, BC.<\/i><\/p>\n Editor’s Note: This article was edited after publication in print and online, in response to a request for anonymity because of security concerns.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A vigil in solidarity with Israel took place on the Dayton Street pedestrian overpass in Kelowna on Nov. 19. (photo from vigil organizers) About 100 people held a vigil in solidarity with Israel in Kelowna on Nov. 19, which proceeded without incident. The two-hour gathering on the Dayton Street pedestrian overpass, which straddles Highway 97, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":42836,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[22783,4330,22729,2995,5919,9240,859,7814],"class_list":["post-42834","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local","tag-chabad-centre","tag-israel","tag-israel-hamas-war","tag-kelowna","tag-ojc","tag-okanagan-jewish-community","tag-shmuly-hecht","tag-steven-finkleman"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42834","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42834"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42834\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42836"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42834"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42834"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42834"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}