The Global Rise in Anti-Semitism and the Canadian Jewish Community

 

Earlier this year, Professor Irwin Cotler, participated in a historic UN General Assembly forum on anti-Semitism, which was timed to coincide with the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp. He later observed that “While the horrors of the Holocaust are seven decades old, let there be no mistake about it: Jews died at Auschwitz because of anti-Semitism, but anti-Semitism did not die. This has been made tragically clear by recent attacks in France… and more recently by a shooting at a Bat Mitzvah celebration in Copenhagen. Yet these incidents are only the latest manifestations of a more generalized upsurge of anti-Semitism in Europe and around the world.”


Even in Canada, we are not immune.   In 2013, Statistics Canada reported that 58% of the reported hate crimes committed on the basis of religion were directed toward Jewish communal institutions. And, as various potential terrorist threats have been exposed by Canadian law enforcement this past year we have seen that the Jewish community is frequently identified as one of the possible targets. Cotler believes that today’s threat is a serious one: “Globally, we are witnessing a new, sophisticated, virulent, and even lethal anti-Semitism, reminiscent of the atmospherics of the 1930s, and without parallel or precedent since the end of the Second World War.”


Cotler, who is retiring from parliament this year, divides current anti-Semitism into four categories: genocidal anti-Semitism; the indictment of Israel and the Jewish people as racist and evil; political anti-Semitism, meaning the denial of fundamental rights to the Jewish people, and only to the Jewish people; and what Cotler calls “the laundering of Jew-hatred under the protective cover of universal values, including the UN, international law, the culture of human rights, and the struggle against racism.”


An example of this “laundering” occurred last December “when the contracting parties to the Geneva accused Israel  of violations of international humanitarian law. Only three times in 50 has any state been cited for these violations, and all three times, that state was Israel.”


He adds that “the laundering of anti-Semitism through the culture of human rights occurs each time the UN Human Rights Council singles out Israel for discriminatory treatment. This singling-out is starkly illustrated by the juxtaposition of the Council’s permanent agenda item 7 —‘violations by Israel of human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories’ — and permanent agenda item 8: ‘human rights violations in the rest of the world.’”
Cotler makes it clear that he does not believe that any and all criticism of Israel is anti-Semitic. He feels that while Israel should not be given special treatment, it should also not be singled out for discrimination and be denied its legitimacy as a Jewish state.


He also feels that Canada has an important role to play in fighting this rising tide of hatred not just at home, but on the world stage: “…Canada can and must be a world leader in heeding the call of the recent UN forum to renew, reaffirm, and reinvigorate efforts to combat anti-Semitism, and to promote mutual respect, tolerance and understanding.”

 

Cotler will be speaking on Global Trends and the Impact on the Jewish Community at the Annual Campaign Opening Event: FEDtalks, September 17th.