October 21, 2020: Is the Trump era about to end?

By Michael Regenstreif

I’ve just reread my “From the Editor” column written exactly four years ago today, and published in the October 31, 2016 edition of the Ottawa Jewish Bulletin.

The subject of that column was the U.S. presidential election, in particular the candidacy of reality TV show star and real estate mogul Donald Trump.

“It’s been like watching a train wreck these last 16 months. Horrifying for too many reasons but impossible to look away from,” I wrote in a column that assumed Hillary Clinton would be elected president.

Even though my assumption that Trump would lose the election in 2016 turned out to be wrong (Clinton won the popular vote by millions of votes but Trump won the presidency in the Electoral College), there is much in that column that could have been written today.

“It is astounding that the least qualified candidate (at least in modern times) to ever win a major party’s nomination for the U.S. presidency, a man with no experience in public service (and, apparently, little experience in paying federal taxes), still maintains a base of support of about 40 per cent of the American electorate despite all that he has said and done – and all that has been revealed about him,” I continued.

“As it has become obvious to all that he is losing the election, Trump has ramped up his attacks … most appallingly, on democracy itself.

“Trump has been complaining that the American electoral system has been ‘rigged’ against him and that the only way he can lose the election is if it is rigged. And he absurdly claims the American media has entered into a conspiracy against him,” a claim that Trump continues to echo four years later.

“It is a tradition in Western democracies that when the votes are counted and the winner of an election is determined, the defeated candidate(s) concedes the loss and the government proceeds to an orderly transition of power. But Trump is refusing to say he will concede a loss; only that he will accept the result if he wins,” a refusal he has repeated again in 2020.

“And, as a candidate for the most important office in the world, he has shown almost no real understanding of the myriad important issues he would face on both domestic and international fronts,” I concluded four years ago.

And while I was appalled at Trump’s attacks on democracy during his first presidential campaign (and again in this one), his attacks on democratic norms and institutions have been unrelenting during his time in office. Just a few of many examples include his vicious and baseless attacks on the mainstream media, and on people ranging from Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and Dr. Anthony Fauci, the highly respected director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, to his Democratic opponents, former vice-president Joe Biden (who Trump says is the head of a “crime family”) and Senator Kamala Harris (who he calls a “monster”). On the world stage, Trump has repeatedly attacked the leaders of allied democracies while praising some of the world’s most brutal dictators, and he has withdrawn the United States from the Paris Climate Accords during the global climate-change crisis, and from the World Health Organization during COVID-19 pandemic, the worst worldwide health crisis in a century.

Speaking of the COVID-19 pandemic, Trump’s policies have been a major factor in the United States having 20 per cent of the cases and 20 per cent of the deaths around the world despite having just four per cent of the world’s population; and even led to his own COVID case and many cases among his family, staff, inner circle and followers due to his lax masking and distancing behaviour, and his hosting of super-spreader events at the White House and on the campaign trail. Still, despite COVID striking literally in his own home as cases of the disease continue to spike higher and higher, he continues to claim the pandemic is all but over – thanks to him.

According to a new poll released earlier this week by the American Jewish Committee (AJC), the vast majority of American Jews, 75 per cent, are set to vote (or have already voted) for Biden over Trump at 22 per cent – and that is not withstanding the fact that Trump has attempted to make Israel a wedge issue in the campaign stating that Jews who do not vote for him are disloyal to Israel.

“I think any Jewish people that vote for a Democrat – it shows either a total lack of knowledge or great disloyalty,” Trump said in remarks to the press in the Oval Office last year. He has also told American Jews that Benjamin Netanyahu is “your prime minister.”

Despite actions including moving the U.S. embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, recognizing Israeli sovereignty in the Golan Heights and helping to broker diplomatic relations between Israel and two Arab Gulf states, Bahrain and United Arab Emirates, a majority of Jewish voters (54 per cent to 42 per cent) indicated in the AJC poll that Biden would be better than Trump at strengthening U.S.-Israel relations.

As well, according to the AJC poll, the same proportion of Jewish voters (75 per cent to 22 per cent) that would vote for Biden over Trump also said Biden would better handle antisemitism than Trump.

Antisemitic incidents in the United States have increased greatly with perpetrators of hatred emboldened by the atmosphere Trump has, knowingly or unknowingly, seemed to encourage. These have included the Pittsburgh synagogue massacre in 2018 in which 11 Jews were murdered and six more wounded, and the Poway synagogue mass shooting in which one Jew was murdered and three others, including the synagogue’s rabbi, were wounded. Memories of Trump’s initial description of white supremacists marching in Charlottesville in 2017 as “very fine people” after their chilling chants of “Jews will not replace us” remain strong for American Jews; as do his recent refusals to condemn the followers of QAnon, a discredited far-right conspiracy theory movement that incorporates old antisemitic tropes among its beliefs.

So, is the Trump era about to end? Two weeks before the American election in 2016, the polls indicated a Clinton victory over Trump and now, two weeks before the 2020 election, polls indicate a Biden victory. Looking deeper at the polling, particularly in the swing states that Trump won by tiny margins four years ago, I suspect the ultimate result this time will be different than it was last time.

April 6, 2020: Ottawa Jewish Bulletin to temporarily suspend print edition

By Michael Regenstreif

Paraphrasing the beginning of the Four Questions in the Haggadah, we all might be asking, “Ma nishtanah ha-Pesach ha-zeh, mi-kol ha-Pesachim – Why is this Passover different from all other Passovers?”

The answer, as everyone knows, is the COVID-19 pandemic which has gripped the entire planet sending virtually all of us into social-distancing mode and, for many of us, some degree of self-isolation, for weeks now.

The Ottawa Jewish Bulletin, of course, has been affected. With our office at the Soloway Jewish Community Centre (SJCC) closed since March 13, this Passover edition of the paper was produced under difficult circumstances with everyone working from our homes – sharing files electronically as we received submissions, wrote and edited the paper, collected the ads, did the layout and proofreading, made corrections, had online meetings, etc., all without any direct in-person contact. Much of that would have been impossible not that many years ago before we had highspeed internet connections with sufficient bandwidth to handle the load.

You will, no doubt, also notice that this Passover edition of the Bulletin is much smaller than in years past. The size of the paper always reflects the number of ads that are generated and this spring so many of the events that would normally be advertised are just not taking place, and most of the retail businesses that might have advertised are temporarily closed. As well, many of the organizations that would have normally used the opportunity of the Passover edition to submit articles about their spring activities did not submit such articles, or asked us to withdraw them, because their plans have been put on hold or cancelled.

All of this leads me to announce that we are regretfully suspending the scheduled print editions of the Bulletin until we are back in our office at the SJCC and the community begins to return to normal activity. All subscriptions will be extended for however many issues we are unable to publish.

However, while the print edition is suspended, we will continue to post articles and columns on the Bulletin website and will continue to report on important community initiatives. Many of our columnists will continue to submit their columns on a regular – perhaps even more than regular – basis.

We also welcome your letters, guest columns and articles to share with the community. We particularly welcome articles that will tell the community about how organizations, groups, families and individuals, friends and neighbours, are rising to the occasion of these circumstances. Already, in this edition of the Bulletin, we’ve published some of those stories about how we and our agencies – although practicing safe social-distancing – have been coming together as a community to help each other, and, especially the vulnerable among us, during the COVID-19 pandemic; and of how classes and discussions, and even some prayer services, are taking place online. I’ve no doubt there will be more stories to tell in the weeks ahead.

It’s ironic, I suppose, that this year as we observe Passover, a holiday that celebrates freedom, we are adhering to needed measures that restrict our freedom to gather and celebrate as we are used to doing, and as we would like to be doing. Congregations cannot hold their usual communal seders. Friends and extended families cannot gather together for seders as they normally would. For the first time since we moved to Ottawa, my wife Sylvie and I are unable to return to gather around my mother’s table in Montreal on the seder nights. Most of us will spend the seder nights with just those in our immediate households. This will be difficult for all of us – but especially difficult for the many among us who live alone.

While we might talk with physically distant family and friends on the phone, and using apps like Zoom, Skype, Messenger or FaceTime, or keep in touch over Facebook, the holiday this year, just won’t be the same.

But while me must keep our physical distance from each other right now, we also know that great challenges can also bring us closer together in our communal solidarity – and we’ve already seen so much evidence of that.

Israel

Meanwhile, some commentators in Israel are pointing to needed stability during the COVID-19 crisis for Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu and Blue and White leader Benny Gantz finally – after three inconclusive elections in less than a year – seeming to agree to form a unity government in Israel.

As I write, on March 27, the negotiations are still ongoing but reports are that Netanyahu will remain Israeli prime minister for the next 18 months and then hand the office over to Gantz. (Of course, anyone following Israeli politics knows that no deal is done until it’s really done – and even then, you can’t always be sure it will hold from one day to the next.)

It appears, though, that Gantz is paying a price for his pact with Netanyahu as the Blue and White factions led by his now-former allies Yair Lapid and Moshe Ya’alon will sit in the opposition benches in the Knesset.

Bear in mind, nothing is simple in Israeli politics and a big what-if are the three corruption indictments facing Netanyahu. The prime minister had done all that he could to avoid going to trial on the charges and was scheduled to be in court last month to finally face them. However, his trial had to be postponed due to COVID-19.

March 9, 2020: Updates – Israeli election, IHRA definition of antisemitism

By Michael Regenstreif

Israeli election

As this issue went to press on February 28, I can’t comment yet on the results of the March 2 election in Israel – its third in less than a year after governing coalitions were not formed after the first two.

The latest opinion polls still showed Likud and Blue and White running neck-and-neck, with each winning 33 to 35 of the Knesset’s 120 seats – although it appears that Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu may be closer to finding enough coalition partners needed to form a government than he was after the last two elections.

IHRA definition of antisemitism

In my column last issue, I wrote about the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism and noted that Canada – which adopted the definition in 2017 – was among the growing list of countries (now 33) to recognize the definition.

I also mentioned that Bill 168, An Act to Combat Antisemitism – a private member’s bill introduced by MPP Will Bouma – would, if passed, make Ontario the first province to adopt the definition. I’m pleased to report that Bill 168 passed second reading unanimously at Queen’s Park on February 27.

Bill 168 has now been sent to the standing committee on justice policy for review – including public input – before it returns to the legislature for third and final reading before final passage.

You can be sure that there will be briefs and/or testimonies at the committee opposed to Bill 168. Despite the fact that the IHRA explicitly states that “criticism of Israel similar to that leveled against any other country cannot be regarded as antisemitic,” groups and individuals seeking to delegitimize the very existence of the State of Israel push a nonsensical narrative that the IHRA definition “criminalizes” any and all criticism of Israel.

As I pointed out last issue, the IHRA definition does provide parameters pointing out how criticism of Israel can cross the line into antisemitism by “applying double standards by requiring of [Israel] a behaviour not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation,” or “using the symbols and images associated with classic antisemitism (e.g., claims of Jews killing Jesus or blood libel) to characterize Israel or Israelis,” or “drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis,” or “holding Jews collectively responsible for actions of the state of Israel.” But such antisemitic criticism in and of itself will not result in criminal charges. However, when such criticism motivates criminal acts, police and the courts could be guided in determining when criminal acts are also hate crimes.

So, when Ontario’s standing committee on justice policy does ask for public input on Bill 168, it is important that we make our voices heard in support. In an era when antisemitism and antisemitic hate crimes are on the rise, a commonly accepted definition of what constitutes antisemitism is important.

February 10, 2020: Israel’s election and Trump’s peace plan

By Michael Regenstreif

It’s been three months since I last wrote about the political situation in Israel. In my November 11 column, I noted that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Likud leader, had failed to form a governing coalition in the weeks after the September 17 election – Israel’s second inconclusive election of 2019. The mandate to attempt to form a government had passed to Blue and White Party leader Benny Gantz.

“It is unlikely that Gantz will be any more successful than Netanyahu in putting together a coalition that commands at least 61 of the Knesset’s 120 seats,” I predicted, noting two possibilities: a unity government alternating the premiership or a third Israeli election in less than a year.

Attempts to form a unity government failed. Blue and White insisted that it would not form a unity government with Likud under Netanyahu as long as Netanyahu faced the possibility of criminal charges in several corruption cases. They would have been open to an agreement with Likud if the prime minister stepped aside, at least until he was cleared of criminal wrongdoing. Netanyahu, for his part, refused to accommodate the demand.

So Israelis will go to the polls on March 2 for the third time in less than a year – and the country remains under a Netanyahu caretaker government with a limited mandate to act in many areas.

Polls taken in late January once again suggest a stalemate similar to the previous two elections (assuming that Yisrael Beiteinu leader Avigdor Liberman once again refuses to support anything but a unity government).

The situation with Netanyahu’s indictments came to a head last month. The prime minister had been trying to engineer a vote in the Knesset that would have given him immunity from prosecution while still in office. On January 28, with it obvious that a majority of the Knesset would not support him, Netanyahu withdrew the immunity request and Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit immediately filed charges of fraud, breach of trust and bribery against Netanyahu.

The charges were filed as Netanyahu was in Washington for U.S. President Donald Trump’s unveiling of what he’d promoted for three years as the “Deal of the Century” for peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

Although embraced enthusiastically by Netanyahu, the Palestinians, who did not participate in its drafting, have rejected the plan.

Here in Canada, Foreign Affairs Minister François-Philippe Champagne released a statement that Canada “will carefully examine the details of the U.S. initiative for the Middle East peace process,” but reiterated, “Canada has long maintained that peace can only be achieved through direct negotiations between the parties. We urge the parties to create the conditions for such negotiations to take place.”

However, it is very interesting to note that ambassadors from three small Arab countries – Bahrain, United Arab Emirates and Oman – attended the White House event unveiling that plan. I would agree with analysts who suggest their attendance signals that the Palestinian issue has become less important to them than threats from Iran. Opposition to Iranian hegemony in the Middle East has opened the door to improved relations between Israel and parts of the Arab world.

The timing of the plan’s release was telling. It came on a day when Trump was on trial in the U.S. Senate for impeachment from office for abuse of power, and Netanyahu, due to face voters five weeks later, was charged with criminal offences that, if he is convicted, could lead to a prison term. It’s hard not to see the timing as an attempt to change the conversations in both the United States and Israel – and, to some extent, it did, at least briefly.

I don’t expect anything to change very soon based on the Trump plan. First, there needs to be an Israeli government with a real mandate to govern. And while it’s a foregone conclusion that Trump won’t be removed from office after his Senate trial, he may or may not be in office a year from now following the U.S. election in November.