September 18, 2017: Antisemitism and BDS

By Michael Regenstreif

On September 5, I attended a sadly compelling event on leftist antisemitism presented by Fred Litwin’s Free Thinking Film Society. The evening began with a screening of “Whitewashed: Antisemitism in the British Labour Party” by London-based David Hirsh, a professor at Goldsmiths University, and continued with a panel discussion featuring Hirsh and Terry Glavin, a columnist with the National Post.

Both Hirsh, a member of the Labour Party, and Glavin come from left-wing backgrounds and spoke sadly and bitterly about the antisemitism, often masked as anti-Zionism, which has been adopted by some leftists – particularly on the far left.

One of those leftists is rock star Roger Waters, the former front man of Pink Floyd, who is coming to Ottawa to perform a concert on October 10 at the Canadian Tire Centre during his cross-Canada tour.

Waters is probably the world’s best known anti-Zionist rock star. A leading proponent of the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel, Waters, has for years been launching campaigns whenever major artists announce a concert date in Israel to bully them into cancelling.

It seems to me that an artist who accepts a concert date in Israel has already taken a stand rejecting BDS. And while a few, most notably Elvis Costello, have cancelled concerts in Israel following pressure from Waters and his followers, the list of artists who have stood up to him and rejected BDS is much longer. Just a few of the major artists who have gone ahead with their concerts in Israel in recent years are the late Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, Paul McCartney, the Rolling Stones, Elton John, Madonna, and Diana Krall (who is married to Elvis Costello), among many others.

BDS proponents like to paint themselves as simply human rights activists standing up on behalf of oppressed Palestinians. In fact, it has been shown time and again that BDS is a movement to delegitimize the very existence of the State of Israel. BDS is not a movement interested in establishing a Palestinian state living in peace with Israel (which goes a long way in explaining why the Palestinian Authority rejects BDS) – it is a movement that wants to eliminate Israel. And this is why antisemitism is at the root of the BDS movement.

As I’ve said before, I don’t believe that all BDS supporters are antisemitic, or antisemitic in their intent. But antisemitism is at the root of the BDS movement because it unilaterally stigmatizes the world’s only Jewish state with all responsibility for the situation of the Palestinians. It absolves the Palestinians themselves of any and all responsibility. Renowned human rights activist Irwin Cotler, a former justice minister of Canada and legendary professor of law at McGill University, refers to this stigmatization as “the new antisemitism” in which Israel is singled out as “the Jew among nations.”

And sometimes the antisemitism of BDS proponents is explicit. Roger Waters, for example, has been known to paint Stars of David on the giant inflatable pig that he floats above the arena during his concerts. There is no escaping the meaning of that symbolism.

In advance of Waters’ Canadian tour, CIJA – the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs – has launched an online campaign calling for Canadians to tell Waters to leave Israel alone. There is a brief video about Waters and BDS (including a surprising revelation) that you can see at www.cija.ca/bdsishate and add your name to the list of Canadians rejecting Waters’ stand.

Filmmaker and author Ian Halperin, who grew up in Montreal, has a new film, “Wish You Weren’t Here,” about contemporary antisemitism with a focus on Waters. B’nai Brith Canada has arranged for the film to be shown in major cities on the same night Waters performs. In Ottawa it will be shown on October 10 at Cineplex Cinemas Ottawa.

I think it’s a mistake, though, to show the film on the same nights as Waters’ concerts because there is then no chance of opening the eyes of some of his fans to what he is about. The film should have been scheduled for a night or two in advance of Waters coming to town so that they would have had a chance to see it.

On behalf of myself and the staff and columnists of the Ottawa Jewish Bulletin, I wish everyone Shana Tova. May you have a Peaceful, Sweet and Happy New Year.

October 3, 2011: York University incident demonstrates need to understand context

By Michael Regenstreif

York University in Toronto, like Carleton University here in Ottawa, and any number of other universities in Canada and around the world, has been at the centre of anti-Israel activism in recent years. Too often, such activism has been seen to degenerate into antisemitism. Jewish students rightly have become sensitive to issues of antisemitism and have learned how to respond when its ugly head is reared on their campuses.

It’s important, though, when responding to an incident that it’s not a matter of jumping too quickly to conclusions – particularly a wrong conclusion. That’s what happened at York last month when a veteran social sciences professor was delivering his introductory lecture to a course called Self, Culture and Society and was misunderstood by one of the nearly 500 students in the class.

While this cautionary tale happened at York, it could just as easily have been at Carleton, the University of Ottawa, or almost any other university campus.

The professor was telling the students that personal opinions were not relevant in this course and went on to challenge the very idea that everyone is entitled to his or her opinion.

And he offered an example of what he deemed an unacceptable opinion.

“All Jews should be sterilized,” he said, is just such an unacceptable opinion.

A fourth-year student attending the first-year class apparently missed or misunderstood the context of the professor’s statement and concluded he was an antisemite saying all Jews should be sterilized.

Rather than challenge the statement, or ask for clarification on the professor’s intent in making it, the student immediately left the class and enlisted Hasbara at York – a Zionist organization on campus – in contacting the media, the blogosphere and Jewish community groups to attack what she perceived to be an antisemitic opinion expressed by an antisemitic professor.

The class in question took place on the afternoon of Monday, September 12. The student’s report of the ‘antisemitic incident’ quickly went viral on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter and B’nai Brith Canada took up her case.

However, by the time the story made the Wednesday edition of the Toronto Star and two columns in Thursday’s National Post, the context of the professor’s remark was clear.

In a statement circulated by the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA), he said it was an example “of the fact that opinions can be dangerous and that none of us really do believe that all opinions are acceptable.

“For the record, I am also Jewish, which undoubtedly influenced my choice of this example of a reprehensible opinion.”

CIJA released a statement describing the incident as “a very unfortunate misunderstanding.” The professor’s “use of an abhorrent statement was intended to demonstrate that some opinions are simply not legitimate. This point was, without ill intentions, taken out of context and circulated in the Jewish community. … This event is an appropriate reminder that great caution must be exercised before concluding a statement or action is antisemitic.”

Indeed, context is important. Too often, we see words taken out of context, misinterpreted and twisted from their intent. This, of course, does not mean we should stop being vigilant or stop standing up when antisemitism and other expressions of prejudice or hatred do rear their ugly heads.

October 11, 2010: Controversy over cartoon is a tempest in a teapot

By Michael Regenstreif

I’ve always found Parliament Hill and its buildings to be an inspiring place. Not because of the politics that play out there, but because of the democratic ideals Parliament represents.

One of the most inspiring sights on Parliament Hill is the Peace Tower. Built in the 1920s as a memorial to Canada’s fallen soldiers in the First World War, the Peace Tower looms high over Parliament Hill and, until the 1970s, was the tallest structure in Ottawa.

When I see the Peace Tower, whether up close on a visit to Parliament Hill or just catching a fleeting, distant glimpse from the 417, I am reminded of how privileged we are, as Canadians, to be living in a free and democratic country. Canada – however flawed our democracy may be – is one of the world’s most democratic countries.

Aside from its great height, one of the most instantly recognizable features of the Peace Tower is the clock with its four faces looking to the north, south, east and west.

The clock was a gift from the government of the United Kingdom in honour of the 60th anniversary of Confederation in 1927.

In the centre of the Peace Tower clock’s face is a geometric figure consisting of a series of triangles made of molded glass that make up a 12-pointed starlike design. And within that 12-pointed star-like figure, the dominant six points look like the six-pointed Star of David, a symbol of the Jewish people for the past 2,000 years.

Although the Star of David does appear to be within the clock face design, I doubt the designer had any kind of a Jewish message in mind more than 80 years ago.

I also don’t think Le Droit editorial cartoonist Guy Badeaux – who draws under the name ‘Bado’ – had any kind of a Jewish message in mind when he drew his September 20 cartoon marking the opening of the fall Parliamentary session. The cartoon is dominated by a traffic sign in front of Parliament Hill indicating a slippery road ahead.

As you can read in a news report on page 2, a controversy has erupted over whether the cartoon, which we show in the report, is antisemitic.

Officials of B’nai Brith Canada say that it is, that it represents the idea that Jews control the Canadian government, and that the cartoon will be used by anti-Jewish and Islamist websites to spread antisemitism.

According to Badeaux, the cartoon had nothing to do with Jews; that’s just how he draws a simplified version of the clock face design.

The Canadian Jewish Congress and the Quebec Jewish Congress are standing behind Badeaux, who, they say, has been a good friend to the Jewish community over the years. Badeaux recently participated in a panel discussion of cartoonists organized by the Quebec Jewish Congress in Montreal.

It’s all quite the tempest in a teapot. There are battles to be fought against antisemitism, but the Le Droit cartoon does not seem to be one of them. Without any evidence to suggest any antisemitic intent on Badeaux’s part, I would agree with the Canadian Jewish Congress position that we should accept his explanation and put this issue in the forget-about-it file.

B’nai Brith Canada, though, wouldn’t let go of the issue.

“The cartoon’s message is clear to those who understand the history of antisemitic imagery,” said B’nai Brith Canada CEO Frank Dimant in the September 30 issue of B’nai Brith’s Jewish Tribune newspaper.

Ironically, the page in the Tribune with Dimant’s comments was dominated by a large advertisement for a film called Jews and Baseball: An American Love Story. The graphic in the ad is a baseball whose seam stitching pattern is of Stars of David. Every stitch is another Star of David.

So, just who is it that controls baseball?