terrorism – Page 13

Paint away complexity

“Palestinian Roots” by Ahmad Al Abid. (photo from cjnews.com)

Anyone visiting the student centre at York University in Toronto has been confronted since 2013 with a mural that some say incites violence and makes York a less welcoming place for Jewish students. The piece features a young man, pictured from behind, wearing a keffiyah with a map that includes an undivided Israel and Palestine and holding two rocks. Below him is a bulldozer, presumably Israeli and presumably preparing to overturn a farmer’s tree.

Recently, the mural has led one philanthropist to pull his support for the university and it has been taken up as a cause by Jewish and Zionist organizations.

The mural makes a not very subtle point. Israel is an aggressor, wantonly destroying Palestinian livelihoods for no reason. Palestinians are helpless Davids in the face of this Goliath, reduced to that most primitive of weapons, the stone. Beneath the image are the words “Peace” and “Justice” in several languages.

A picture, they say, is worth a thousand words and this is probably why the mural upsets so many people. With one glance, the viewer understands the anti-Israel narrative in all its simplicity. Israel is powerful; Palestinians are weak. Israel is aggressive; Palestinians are defensive. The map on the keffiyah, which erases Israel, is understood as a statement that the Jews stole this land from indigenous Arabs, whereas the same map, if employed for Zionist ends, would elicit cries of racism and genocide. Even the symbol of violence – the stones – can somehow be perceived as tools for “peace” and “justice,” given the nature of the enemy.

Since the mural was painted, the weapon of choice for the Palestinian lone wolf – if we can call someone incited to murder by their government and official media a lone wolf – has morphed from stones to knives. Videos and infographics teach Palestinians how to stab Jews most effectively.

Never mind all that. The world has an idée fixe, an unshakeable certainty, that Jews are powerful and, therefore, the Palestinians must be victims; they cannot be perpetrators or instigators. A new poll of French people says nearly 60% blame Jews to some extent for antisemitism. Antisemitism is uniquely identified as brought about by its victims, not its perpetrators. We wouldn’t have to be antisemitic, it seems, if only you would be less Jewish. Even the secretary-general of the United Nations is standing by his statement that Palestinians stabbing Jews is simple “human nature” in response to “occupation.”

The same poll also affirmed the view of Jews as powerful – and the attitudes of the French in this regard are probably not substantively different from those of other Europeans and some North Americans, varying more by degrees than by kind perhaps. Today, that power is measured in perceived wealth and access to political and cultural elites. When Jews were historically powerless in those conventional senses, they were attributed with supernatural abilities. Antisemitism adapts magnificently as required.

The perception of Jews as powerful is not only at the root of antisemitism but doubles as an impervious shield against challenging it. Consider: if Jews are powerful, then coming to their aid is an act of siding with the powerful against the oppressed. This belief is, at root, the very essence of the anti-Israel narrative now dominating much of the West, especially on the political left.

As always, this incarnation of antisemitism is a form of scapegoating, the projection of sins onto an empty vessel. As we are now almost congenitally conditioned to do, we acknowledge that Israel is not above criticism. No country is. Yet the proportion of global attention, the level of vitriol and the hyperbolic accusations against Israel are clear to anyone with a sense of proportion that this has limited relation to Israeli policies or anything else rational. The nature of the beast is that there have always been “good” reasons to attack Jews. Today’s reason is Israel.

Israel, of course, is a very powerful state, with a massive military for a population its size. If it wasn’t, its population would be dead or dispersed. Yet this still feeds the narrative of Jewish power and Palestinian weakness. If this is a battle between rocks and bulldozers, well, then, who wouldn’t side with the folks holding the rocks? This, in the end, is what the mural at York is telling its viewers. It is, actually, a magnificent synopsis of the mindlessness of the anti-Israel narrative, which strips all context from the conflict and ignores the fact that the perpetuation of violence is mainly a product of Arab maximalism and refusal to live in peace with a Jewish state. That’s a picture that is a little more complicated to paint.

Democracy and choice

The sublime thing about liberal democracies is that they are based on the rights and responsibilities of individuals rather than groups. Unlike the kind of sectarian societies imploding in civil war in the Middle East, in a liberal democracy, it is the individual who chooses to go to the ballot box (or abdicate) or to attend a protest (or go to the movies), and it is the individual who must abide by the law or face punishment.

In robust multicultural societies like Canada’s, individuals are given another opportunity – to identify as an ethnic, religious or cultural group. While these groups are considered a boon to the fabric of society, all rights and responsibilities remain solely with the person. Which is why calls for Muslims in Canada and the United States to publicly denounce acts of terrorism committed by the Islamic State (ISIS) and others inspired by them, is understandable – but ultimately wrong.

Here’s where it’s understandable. Terrorism – defined as the targeting of civilians for political ends – is morally distasteful. When committed by a fellow citizen, the action is especially corrosive, leading to distrust and paranoia. When an act of terrorism is committed by a person or group claiming to act on behalf of a particular religion, it’s tempting to want everyone else from that religion to denounce the action.

Here’s where it’s wrong. As a Jew, I regularly urge my fellow Jews to stand up for injustice as Jews, to stand up against an array of Israeli policies that I find objectionable. I encouraged my Jewish community centre (when I was a board member) to undertake staff training around LGBTQ awareness, thus enabling it to declare itself an “LGBTQ safe zone,” as facilitated by the Jewish LGBTQ organization Keshet. As a Jew, and as a Jewish columnist in the Jewish press, I stand up for religious freedom in Israel, for human rights, for an end to the occupation and for racial and ethnic equality.

But let’s recall an incident last summer with Jewish pop singer Matisyahu. Organizers attempted to ban Matisyahu from performing at a music festival in Spain unless he denounced the Israeli occupation. Matisyahu is an American, not an Israeli. His only association with the Jewish state is that he himself is Jewish.

It was a distasteful act of political theatre on the part of the organizers precisely because they drew a faulty line of logic: Israeli occupation is morally objectionable to them, so all Jews (or at least famous ones) must take a public stand because they are Jews. (After a public outcry, the festival organizers backtracked.)

In a liberal democracy, whatever collective identities we hold – sexual, religious, ethnic and so on – are the domain of the private sphere unless we choose, as individuals, to act otherwise. So, while I hope my fellow Jews will take a stand against an array of social ills, and am aware that some don’t, I would be disgusted and disturbed if, say, a work colleague or a politician or a journalist in a local or national daily were to demand that I, because I happen to be Jewish, denounce one thing or another.

The upshot? Community conversations about dynamics relating to that community are crucial to have. But they are just that: community conversations. We must leave members of synagogues, mosques, churches, JCCs and other organizations to debate among themselves whether and how to publicly denounce actions committed in their name. The pages of the community newspaper may indeed be one useful forum among many for these tough conversations.

And perhaps the Jewish community, being more integrated, prosperous and secure than the Muslim community in North America, may even serve as a model. But demanding that sort of stand taking by others in a civic forum violates the delicate multicultural balance that is intrinsic to a liberal democracy, where the individual is the only meaningful object and subject of political action.

Mira Sucharov is an associate professor of political science at Carleton University. She is a columnist for Canadian Jewish News and contributes to Haaretz and the Jewish Daily Forward, among other publications. This article was originally published in the CJN.

Ludicrous standards

Sweden’s Foreign Minister Margot Wallström has accused Israel of “extrajudicial executions” of Palestinian terrorists. The minister said, in the country’s parliament, that Israel has a right to defend its citizens, but went on to clarify that such defence should not include “extrajudicial execution” and accused Israel of a “disproportionate” response.

It is a familiar refrain from the European community, a place where Israeli products are being labeled as part of a boycott strategy, sometimes by vigilantes in makeshift uniforms patrolling shops and applying stickers to Israeli goods. Israel has a right to defend itself, in the world’s eyes, up to and until it actually begins to defend itself.

The issue is confused by some outside observers. It is true that Israel is a democratic state that respects the rule of law. But it is also a country at war with radical Islamist terrorism. There are, certainly, laws and judicial recourse for crimes, but when a murderous act is in the process of unfolding, the first objective of security forces is to end the situation. Certainly, the next objective should be ensuring that judicial process takes precedence by, for instance, shooting in the leg or otherwise disabling the attacker through non-lethal means. From half a world away, it is hard to judge the actions of frontline security personnel (or, at least, it should be more difficult than it seems to be) but we would hope that response is balanced with preservation of life and the addressing of crime through Israel’s admirable system of judicial oversight.

At the same time, we should be cognizant of double standards.

Remember just over a year ago, in October 2014, a terrorist murdered Cpl. Nathan Cirillo at the National War Memorial and then proceeded to Canada’s Parliament Buildings, where he was taken down, fatally, by the sergeant-at-arms, Kevin Vickers.

Vickers became a national hero. He was not condemned by the government of Sweden or anyone else. The Canadian government was not pilloried for “disproportionate” force or “extrajudicial execution.”

No, there are two sets of rules in this world. One set for Israel which, despite all the threats and existential challenges it faces, is expected to maintain the world’s highest standards – actually, ludicrous standards – of engagement, while everyone else gets a pass, including the tyrants whose governments currently sit on august bodies like the United Nations Human Rights Council.

Predictably and correctly, Israel’s foreign ministry lambasted the Swedish politician’s comments, dismissing them as “scandalous, delusional, rude, and detached from reality.”

“The [Swedish] foreign minister suggests that Israeli citizens simply give their necks to the murderers trying to stab them with knives,” the Israeli foreign ministry said in a statement. “The citizens of Israel and its security forces have the right to defend themselves. In Israel, every person who commits a crime is brought in front of a judge, including terrorists. The citizens of Israel have to deal with terrorism that receives support from irresponsible and false statements like that.”

The Swede’s comments are not unusual, although they are particularly flagrant. They are of a type we have seen repeatedly when Israel faces an upsurge in terrorism. The attitude it depicts reflects more concern for the murderers than it does for their victims. Rare is the word of support or empathy for Israel’s untenable position facing down individual terrorists incited by their government and society to stab, drive over or otherwise murder Jews.

The Swedish foreign minister’s words really speak volumes about where Europe’s sympathies lie these days.

Stories about diversity

Cynthia Fidel was the coordinator of AMIA’s literary contest, which resulted in the publication Primer Concurso de Cuentos Infantiles. (photo by Rebeca Kuropatwa)

When the AMIA (Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina) bombing occurred in Buenos Aires on July 18, 1994, there was already tension in Argentina between different religious and other groups. The bombing was a sad reminder of the need for diligence – and creativity – in mitigating hatred and fear.

After the bombing, it was very difficult for people to feel comfortable enough to return to the AMIA building, especially parents with small children. Hence, the Jewish education advisor for AMIA, Gabriela Wilensky, developed a program called AMIA for Kids. On two Sundays a month, she brought in top performers to engage children and their parents in forming fresh connections between families and AMIA.

In 2014, Wilensky came up with the first literary contest for kids that would have them explore the concepts of culture and identity. The idea was to involve the greater Buenos Aires community by partnering with 40 public and private schools, with children of all religions. Recently, the literary contest coordinator, Cynthia Fidel, moved to Winnipeg with her family.

“This contest was part of the 20-year anniversary of AMIA, which happened in 2014,” said Fidel. It was open to children from 8 to 12 years old.

When all was said and done, Fidel and Wilensky received 200 story submissions. With the help of a couple of local children’s book authors, 10 winning stories were selected to be published in a book called Primer Concurso de Cuentos Infantiles (First Contest of Fairy Tales) that was published by MILA for Kids, a division of MILA publishing house.

“They talked about different problems, ideas and questions regarding cultural diversity and identity,” said Fidel. “The first prize went to a girl who wrote about cultural diversity. It’s a collection of certain ideas and questions but, above all, it’s a collection of all the incredible imaginations of the kids.”

Now there is talk of launching a second literary contest, because of the success of the first. “They were really happy about what happened with the kids,” said Fidel.

The contest, which was open to children of all origins and faiths, has sparked dialogue between the kids. The main talking point has been respecting each other’s ideas and understanding that agreement is not needed to achieve mutual respect. Fidel loosely translated one of the first lines in the book’s preface: “Nobody is the same, nor worse or better, just different.”

Primer Concurso de Cuentos Infantiles is 84 pages long and includes the 10 winning stories, as well as an extra story written by several children together.

“Some of the stories talk about some kind of conflict situation and how they solved that situation,” said Fidel. “A recurring theme revolves around how they solved it and prevailed using dialogue.”

An excerpt from the book, as translated by Fidel, reads: “There was a society where some people had curly hair, so they thought they had the right to have more time in front of the mirror, to comb their hair. But, others who had different kinds of hair thought they deserved more time. There were others who were taller and they thought they deserved to cut their hair, while short people didn’t deserve that right.

“Until, one day, a girl wished in her heart that everybody would become equal and have the same characteristics. The wish came true and the entire world became grey – colorless and boring. She wished again to have colors and differences in her world, and everybody got their characteristics back. But, now, everyone loved their uniqueness and celebrated others’ uniqueness, too.”

Fidel is a strong believer that adults can learn a great deal from children. “From my experience,” she said, “it is amazing what you can learn from kids and their reflections if you give them the opportunity to express themselves.”

Fidel said the literary contest is a great representation of AMIA as a whole, as their main principles revolve around democracy and pluralism, and creating spaces for all through communal living and coexistence. “They promote those values,” said Fidel. “I’m very proud to have worked there.”

Rebeca Kuropatwa is a Winnipeg freelance writer.

The Chanukah lights

The nights were getting longer already, but when we changed the clocks a few weeks ago, it seemed to change very suddenly into a new season. For our cousins in

Israel, the days might be a bit brighter – a video of shirt-sleeved Tel Avivians dancing last week as an antidote to the terrorist mayhem was an inspiring and somewhat envy-inducing scene – but the spectre of violence there is real and immediate.

It was 68 years ago last Sunday that the United Nations voted for an independent Jewish state and an independent Arab state in Palestine. That was a day of jubilation, of momentous light, for Jews worldwide. Yet there is never total victory, never a moment when our enemies have permanently laid down sword, or stone or missile or knife.

In Jewish life, we light candles both to mark times of joy, as well as of grief. In Jewish rituals, the happy moments are tempered by the recollection of not-so happy moments.

At Chanukah, we light candles and curse the darkness. Hatred will not prevail. This is the message of Chanukah.

We see the darkness, but we do not succumb. We dance, as we saw in Tel Aviv. We give thanks for what we have, for the self-determination that is Israel and for the freedoms we enjoy in Canada. We rally ourselves and our neighbors to sponsor refugees and to raise funds for the Joint Distribution Committee to aid those who need it. Because we remember, or our parents do, what it is like to be refugees and to be in need. We advocate against climate change. We teach our children the values of tzedakah. We gather blankets and jackets for those in our own city who need warmth.

We will make our own light. We will celebrate not only our historical and contemporary victories, but life itself. We will love, laugh, dance, eat. L’chaim.

Take Action campaign

A screenshot of the CIJA video What Would We Do?

The continuing terrorist attacks in Israel against Jewish Israelis are becoming more frequent and more deadly. Palestinian political leaders, religious officials and media have applauded the attackers as “martyrs,” spread anti-Jewish conspiracy theories and called for more attacks against Jews. In response, the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) has launched a campaign to mobilize community members to take action.

The objective of the campaign is to raise awareness among Canadians about the ongoing threat of Palestinian terrorism and the incitement that fuels it. CIJA is asking the community to take a number of actions, including sharing content in social media, signing a petition that will be presented to Canada’s leaders when Parliament returns and writing Foreign Affairs Minister Stéphane Dion asking him to speak out against Palestinian terrorism.

“Like many around the world, we are extremely concerned about the rising tide of violence against Jews in Israel, perpetrated by terrorists who are incited to violence by the Palestinian leadership,” said Shimon Koffler Fogel, CIJA chief executive officer. “We want to provide our community with a meaningful way to stand up for our extended Jewish family in Israel who are living under constant threat.

“The Take Action campaign is designed to raise awareness about the violence and what drives it,” continued Fogel. “Questions we are asking Canadians to consider include ‘What would we do if this were happening in Canada?’ and ‘What would we expect our allies to do if Canadians were being run down, stabbed and shot in the streets?”

Campaign components include the video at youtube.com/watch?v=cMYS1qSKQTs called What Would We Do? The video is a series of news clips that take real events that have happened in Israel, such as stabbings and car bombs, and put them into a Canadian context, as having happened in Montreal, Toronto and Winnipeg.

At takeactionisrael.ca, there is the petition to sign, which condemns Palestinian terrorism and incitement. As well, there is a link to a template email that can be personalized and sent to Dion that reflects the person’s concerns and asks Dion to speak out against Palestinian terrorism.

As well, people can donate to help spread the word: 100% of donations will be used to educate Canadians about the reality of the situation in Israel, the dangers posed by Palestinian terrorism and incitement, and the real obstacles to peace.

The fourth component of the campaign is a request that people forward the call to action to a friend, share it on Facebook, Twitter or other social media, and encourage friends and family to visit the website takeactionisrael.ca, as well as to learn more about the situation in Israel at learnmoreisrael.ca.

The campaign will run as long as the current wave of terror continues.

יהודים בקנדה עושים מעשים חיוביים

מחנה הפליטים הסורים זעתרי בירדן. (צילום: U.S. Department of State via commons.wikimedia.org)

יהודים בקנדה עושים מעשים חיוביים: עוזרים בשיפוץ מסגד שנשרף ומסייעים להביא פליטים מסוריה

בדרך כלל שוררים יחסים טובים בין קהילות היהודים והמוסלמים בקנדה בניגוד למקומות אחרים בעולם. לאור הימים הקשים, המאורעות במזרח התיכון ואירועי הטרור שמשפיעים גם על קנדה, נתרמים בהקהילה היהודית באזורים שונים ברחבי המדינה לעזור לאחרים, ובמקרה זה מדובר במוסלמים.

חברים בקהילה היהודית וראשי בית הכנסת ‘בית ישראל’ שבעיר פטרבורו במחוז אונטריו נרתמים בימים האחרונים לעזור קהילה המוסלמית המקומית, שהמסגד היחיד שלה נפגע בשריפה בשבוע שעבר. מדובר בפעילות פלילית שמוגדרת על ידי המשטרה כפשעי שנאה, לאור פעולות הטרור של דאע”ש בפריז. עלות השיפוץ של המסגד נאמדת בשמונים אלף דולר ובקהילה יהודית עוזרים בהשגת מימון לפרוייקט, שיימשך מספר שבועות. כן הוצע למוסלמים להשתמש במתקן בית הכנסת לקיום תפעילותיהם עד שהמסגד יהיה כשיר לפעילות מלאה.

במקביל וללא קשר מספר קהילות יהודיות בקנדה נערכות לעזור לקליטת פליטי המלחמה בסוריה. זאת לאור החלטת הממשלה הליברלית החדשה ברשות ראש הממשלה, ג’סטין טרודו, להביא לקנדה עשרים וחמישה אלף פליטים עד לסוף שנה זו. בימים הקרובים הממשלה תפרט את תוכנית העבודה לקליטת הפליטים שעלותה מוערכת בכמיליארד דולר. עלות הבאת וקליטת משפחה בת ארבע נפשות מוערכת בין שלושים עד ארבעים אלף דולר בשנה. ארגונים כמו הג’ואיש פמלי סרוויס משתפים פעולה עם הכנסיה המאוחדת של קנדה להקצאת משאבים ומתקנים לקליטת הפליטים. קהילת היהודים של קמפלוס ברשות הג’ואיש קומיונטי סנטר המקומי החלה במגבית לגיוס כספים לעזור לפליטים מסוריה, בשיתוף ארגונים מקומיים אחרים. ואילו בית הכנסת ‘טמפל שולום’ בוונקובר קיים מגבית לגיוס כספים לפליטים. במגבית גוייסו תוך מספר ימים כארבעים אלף דולר.

אבדה ונמצאה: טבעת אירוסים שנעלמה בחוף הושבה לבעליה

את טקס האירוסים שלהם דרין ריימר ואשתו לעתיד קתלין מקולי לא ישכחו. האירוע שהתחיל יפה וכמעט הסתיים בעוגמת נפש גדולה, נגמר בסוף טוב. רמייר (34) הזמין את בת זוגתו בחמש השנים האחרונות מקולי (27), לארוחת ערב חגיגית בעיר החוף טופינו שבוונקובר איילנד. אחרי הארוחה השניים ירדו לחוף הסמוך כשגשם ירד כמעט ללא הפסקה. הם החלו ללכת על החול הרטוב ופתאם ריימר נעצר, ירד על ברכיו, הוציא טבעת מכיסו ואמר למקולי: “הינשאי לי”. מקולי ששמחה מאוד אמרה “כן” ומייד הוסיפה: “אוי לא”. ומדוע, כי הטבעת שריימר ענדה על אצבעה הרטובה החליקה ונעלמה בחול כשבחוץ שלטה החשכה. לאחר שהתעשתו, השניים החלו לגשש בעזרת ידיהם על החול הרטוב בסמוך אליהם ולא מצאו דבר. הם המשיכו בחיפוש אחר הטבעת האבודה כמעט לאורך כל הלילה, עד שהתייאשו וחזרו לבית המלון, כשהם רטובים, עייפים ואצבעות ידיהם קפואות. למחרת בבוקר המשיכו השניים בחיפוש ולא מצאו את הטבעת. תושבי טופינו ואפילו השוטרים ששמעו על דבר הטבעת שנעלמה, פתחו במבצע חיפוש נרחב בחוף. לאחר מספר שעות הצליח אחד מהתושבים בעזרת מגלה מתכות למצוא את החפץ היקר. ריימר ומקולי הנרגשים שמחו עד דמעות. ריימר ניקה את את הטבעת מהחול ושוב ענד אותה על אצבעה של מקולי, אך הפעם בזהירות רבה, תוך שהוא בודק היטב שאין סיכוי שתיפול.

ריימר סירב להגיד מה עלות הטבעת שלא הייתה מבוטחת, אך ציין כי מדובר בטבעת הזהב לבן עשויה בהזמנה אישית, ועליה ציור של שושנה ולהבות מזהב צהוב, וכן מוטבעים מסביב מספר יהלומים. הוא הוסיף שסיפור הטבעת שאבדה חיזק את הקשר בין השניים, לאחר שהתמודדו בהצלחה עם מצב לחץ קשה.

We stand …. together

There has been an outpouring of grief and solidarity since the terror attacks in Paris a week ago. At some point, though, people began to ask why there was not a parallel response to the terror attack the previous day in Beirut, or the sadly frequent but remarkably similar incidents in various flashpoints in Asia and Africa recently. And what about the ongoing knifings and vehicular attacks against Israelis? Are some victims more important than others? Are some acts of violence more justifiable?

For comfortable people in Western societies, the Paris attacks remind us that violence can come to where we live – even though we don’t live in a place normally associated with such mass killings. Yet losing a loved one is no less painful because you live in a war zone. We should not allow ourselves to become numb to murder simply because of where the victims live, the color of their skin, their religion or nationality.

But current events have become far more fraught because of the perpetrators in Paris. Early reports suggest at least one of the murderers entered Europe amid the throngs of legitimate refugees streaming in recently. This will have damning consequences for the millions of persons displaced by war in Syria, Iraq and elsewhere in the region.

And the violence has reverberated to Canada. A mosque in Peterborough, Ont., was set ablaze, almost certainly an act motivated by a disordered response to events in Paris.

We should stand with victims of violence everywhere, whether in Peterborough, Paris, Lebanon or Jerusalem.

Spreading pain, not peace

A member of Israel’s Knesset spoke at a Kristallnacht commemoration event this week and equated Israel’s actions to the events of Nov. 9-10, 1938.

Hanin Zoabi, an Arab-Israeli member of the Knesset, spoke at a Kristallnacht “memorial” in Amsterdam that was organized by a group known for its antipathy to Israel and its sympathies for Hamas. It appears the event was not meant to sincerely mark the solemn anniversary but rather, as is so often a tactic among the most extreme anti-Israel hate groups, to rub salt in the wounds of Jewish history.

“Kristallnacht didn’t suddenly fall from the sky, come out of nowhere,” Zoabi said Sunday. “It was the result of a development over time. We can see a similar development happening in Israel over the last several years.”

She acknowledged that, during Kristallnacht, thousands of businesses and hundreds of synagogues were attacked and destroyed.

“Perhaps the majority of Germans did not approve, but they kept quiet,” she said. “When in Israel two churches and tens of mosques are burned; and hundreds of Israeli supporters of Beitar shout ‘death to the Arabs’ after each soccer match; when a family is burned to death; when a 15-year-old boy is burned to death, the majority keeps quiet, although they are perhaps shocked.”

Of course, Zoabi is wrong. When these tragic and despicable incidents have happened, they have been condemned from the highest offices, by the most respected voices and across the political spectrum of Israeli society. When the far more frequent incitements to kill Jews occur, and when terrorists stab or drive over Israelis, these acts are lauded by Palestinian political and religious leaders and are cause for celebration among Palestinian civilians. That’s a big difference.

Zoabi is a member of the Arab Israeli party Balad, which calls for a binational state between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean – in other words, the effective end of the world’s only Jewish-majority nation. She is an elected official in the parliament of a country she does not believe should exist. Fine. That’s a fact of democracy. We have such a phenomenon in our own federal parliament.

Zoabi is not only a citizen of a democratic state, but one who was democratically elected by other citizens to represent them in the Knesset, which, in itself, goes some distance in undermining her hyperbolic claims.

Zoabi, because she is a citizen of a free country, has the right to say what she wants, short of the sort of incitement banned by law in every democratic society. (Although she has crossed that line, with minimal repercussions, in calls for “popular resistance” and justifying the kidnapping of three Israeli teens last year who were later found murdered.)

How ironic that a person in her position could invoke such vicious, ahistorical imagery and do it at a time and place that should call for the barest sense of human compassion and decency – and get away with it. Because, despite a few outraged comments from politicians and media, she will get away with it. There will be no legal or parliamentary repercussions for her words. She is a free person – one of the freest and most powerful Arab individuals in the Middle East, when you come down to it. Were her political agenda to be realized and the land in which she lives to come under the governance of Hamas or Fatah or any other political entity currently on the scene or even on the horizon, and she were to use her words to attack her country in this manner, the outcome would almost certainly be far more grievous for her.

Beyond this individual case, though, this kind of language is a treasured tactic of the anti-Israel movement. Clearly it is a strategy of the Amsterdam group that invited her to speak and we have seen it even on campuses and at rallies here in Vancouver: anything that can be done to cause pain to Jewish people is not only acceptable, it is a legitimate tactic.

Whether it is literally a knife in the neck of a Jew in Jerusalem or the inhuman exploitation of Jewish history against the Jewish people themselves in Amsterdam or the exploitation of Holocaust imagery and language against the state of Israel at rallies worldwide, including here in Vancouver, there is a streak in the anti-Israel movement that is more concerned with inflicting pain than finding solutions.

Kohelet and Kristallnacht

“Vanity of vanities. All is vanity.” The day of remembrance for Kristallnacht was this week. Looking at what’s happening in Israel and globally, I’m reminded of the Preacher. By the Preacher, I mean Kohelet, traditionally thought to be King Solomon, whose writings in the Tanakh are known in English as Ecclesiastes. The first line, in Hebrew, reads: “Havel havalim. Hakol Havel.”

Everything is havel, which, better than vanity, is translated “vaporous, breathlike, fleeting.” Everything is vapor. Like Abel, whose Hebrew name is Havel, and whose life was like vapor, blown apart by Cain. Like what we thought we had gained in Israel, once upon a time: a state of our own that had mostly won the world’s respect and affirmation through blood, sweat and tears. A refuge. We thought we had pushed back the red sea of ancient, irrational hatred. The world had, to an amazing degree, recognized our right to a homeland in our homeland. The horrors of the Holocaust were understood and widely contemplated.

Yet, in the past months, much of what has happened has the character of a bad dream. The New York Times writes that the Temple Mount may not have been where the Jewish Temple was after all (later retracted under pressure). The United Nations declares ancient Jewish holy sites to be under the rightful control of a future Palestinian state, even as Palestinian Arab terrorists torch Jewish holy sites. In Europe, organizers of a Kristallnacht commemoration declare their plans to turn it into a commemoration of the Palestinian suffering for which Israel bears responsibility.

And the stabbings. The Palestinian leadership put the word out that Jews planned to change the “status quo” on the Temple Mount, where Al-Aqsa Mosque also stands. Currently, only Muslims have free access to the site, with everyone else having very limited or no access to this sacred space, revered by Jews especially but also Christians and Baha’is. “Changing the status quo,” according to Palestinian fears, would entail increasing access for non-Muslims (at least) or tearing down al-Aqsa and replacing it with a synagogue (at most). Israel has no intention of either: not of expanding access (although surely that would be a step forward for human rights and decency were that to happen) and certainly not of razing Islam’s third holiest site. Yet the claim enflames the Palestinian street, as it did at the start of the 2000 Intifada. Mothers begin celebrating the deaths of their children who died to “defend Al-Aqsa,” even giving out candy on TV. A Palestinian Arab mother names her newborn baby “Knife of Jerusalem” after the attacks. Mahmoud Abbas, who Western media falsely portray as a moderate, calls for the shedding of Jewish blood and declares that the “filthy feet” of Jews will not besmirch Al-Aqsa.

Mainstream Israel wants to negotiate an independent state for Palestinian Arabs yet a majority of Palestinian Arabs believes Israel wants to take their land and evict them. Tellingly, this is in fact what the Palestinian Arab leadership wants – to take back all Israeli land and eliminate Israeli Jews, as the Hamas charter and popular Palestinian songs, media and school textbooks demonstrate. In a classic psychological move, the Palestinian Arab imagination projects onto Israel its own desires: what is within is used to interpret what is without. This narrative has spread beyond the borders of Israel and the disputed territories to capture the imaginations of people all around the world. So, our refuge has begun to feel, increasingly, like a new ghetto, where we can be once again easily separated out and demonized.

Havel havalim. Hakol havel.

After experiencing years of checkpoints, poverty, “collateral damage,” the Gaza wars and more, it is certainly understandable that Palestinian Arabs feel sorrow and rage. It is even understandable that they hate the Israeli government. But to blame Israel and all Jews for their suffering, and not the racist, Israel-negating, violence-inciting, kleptocratic Palestinian leadership?

Israeli self-defence is viewed as aggression; the most enlightened state in the Middle East is slandered as an “apartheid state”; Zionism is viewed as racism by people whose denial of Zionism is in fact rooted in racism. Havel havalim.

Where do we look for something solid to hang on to? The opinions of the world, the justice of its courts and institutions, are failing us. And we ourselves are not immune to being blown apart by this hurricane wind on the inside and losing anything worth fighting for. In Israel, Jewish mobs have formed to attack “enemies” internal and external. Hatred and anger against the Palestinian Arabs grows. We are in danger of forgetting their humanity and their pain. We are in danger of losing our ability to think rationally, to think long term. We cannot and will not find security in the courts of the world. We must make our own reality, one that reflects what we know to be true. And we must hold to that reality with strength and with love. That is what we are already doing in our best moments:

A Jewish restaurant gives a 50% discount to Jews and Arabs who eat together.
There are peace rallies in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.
Israelis find a variety of ways to laugh through what is happening and share them online.
Doctors in Israeli hospitals treat Palestinian terrorists alongside their victims.

We know that Israelis want peace, and that Jewish values in no way mandate injustice or aggression towards Palestinians or anyone else. We must make our own peace and our own future, through clinging to our own highest values like a rudder in the storm. And, as we find a way to a just divorce with the Palestinian Arabs, as Amos Oz so rightly said we need to do, both for their sake and for our own, we must at no time forget the humanity of each Palestinian Arab. We must not demonize them, must not forget that every Palestinian Arab is made in the image of God. Our own spiritual tradition, the beating heart of our highest values, mandates that we do not return hatred for hatred. At no time may we forget to fear the loss of our own humanity under the impact of their knife blades and bombs and stones. That is the way to commemorate Kristallnacht.

Matthew Gindin is a writer, lecturer and holistic therapist. As well as teaching holistic medicine, Gindin regularly lectures on topics in Jewish and world spirituality, and has a particular passion for making ancient wisdom traditions relevant in the modern world. His work has been featured on Elephant Journal, the Zen Site and Wisdom Pills, and he blogs at Talis in Wonderland (mgindin.wordpress.com) and Voices (hashkata.com).