Unreservedly Zionist

"It's become a pejorative word in the mass media and on the street and in places of work, in the university system, in public schools and so on."

"This does not mean that Canadian Jews who refuse to say they are Zionists are unconditionally opposed to Zionism as English-language dictionaries and general encyclopedias define the term [support for Jews  having self-determination in a country of their own]."

"Even among Canadian Jews  who refuse to say they are Zionists, 88 percent agree that Israel has the right to exist as a Jewish state."

"I think this is a way of informing the general public that Jews are hurting. They're scared, not all -- but many, if not most -- are scared about what might transpire. Some awful things happened this year in Manchester, U.K., and in Sydney, Australia. They can happen here." 

Robert Brym, professor of sociology, S.D. Clark chair in sociology University of Toronto 

 

"[The term has been] deliberately distorted and weaponized to the point where identifying with the word now carries social, professional and even physical risk."

"In that environment, it's not surprising that people distance themselves from the label, even as they continue to support Israel and affirm its right to exist."

"That's why the finding that 88 percent of Jews who avoid calling themselves Zionists still believe Israel has the right to exist as a Jewish state is so telling. This isn't a rejection of Jewish self-determination. It's a response to stigma."

Aviva Klompas, writer, pro-Israel advocate 

Toronto's 61st weekly Rally for Israel, at Bathurst and Sheppard, on Dec. 1, 2024 tried to ignore anti-Israel protesters who turn up at the long-running solidarity event. (Jonathan Rothman/The CJN photo)

 

For over two years Jews in Canada have faced a punishing environment. One that has developed as an expression of Jew-hatred brought to a fine pitch of accusation and slander with no basis in reality but which has led to a voracious type of violent condemnation and isolation from mainstream Canadian society. A society that finds it more comfortable to sit back and ignore the fact that a core element among a growing Muslim population that has settled in Canada in impressively large numbers has instituted a well organized program of aggressive persecution aimed at the much smaller Jewish population.

 

This persecution and death-wish has been imported as baggage accompanying immigrants, refugees and migrants that have entered Canada in past decades and ongoing, from Muslim-majority countries where Jew-hate and violence perpetrated against Israel is part of the social fabric, the culture, the history and the religious-inspired beliefs underlying that all-consuming hatred. The quieter antisemitism that simmers below the surface in many societies in the West has been awakened by the fervour of the imported one, where an alliance has resulted between left-progressives and supporters of 'Palestine'.

 

The very solid numbers of Muslims now part of the Canadian voting fabric has politicized the situation to the extent that when mobs of keffiyeh-clad 'protesters' roam the streets of Canadian cities spewing the bile of their Jew-hate, recommending a 'global intifada', a 'Final Solution', or chorusing 'From the river to the Sea, Palestine will be free', implicitly expressing the extinguishing of Israel and its ancestral territory claimed by 'Palestinians' as their very own, come to fruition.

 

Preying on Jewish communities through harassing marches shouting anti-Jewish, anti-Israel, pro-Hamas slogans at their Jewish targets, sees no response from policing authorities, taking their cue from governments at all levels, municipal, provincial and federal. The kind of persecution and threats targeting Jews would never be permitted to take place were they directed toward other minority groups within society. Defacing Jewish property, firebombing synagogues, firing at Jewish elementary schools and  community centers, elicits few responses in support of Jewish safety and security.

 

Now a newly published study concludes that Canadian Jews have been so demoralized and isolated, they shrink from being identified with a once-proud term: Zionism. A Jewish state for a Jewish people who have throughout history been hounded and disenfranchised, victimized by pogroms and accused of being devious, different, exclusionist and a threat to other communities through purported designs of world domination. An all-embracing program to delegitimize both Israel and the presence of Jews anywhere has been unfolding since the Palestinian terrorism atrocities in southern Israel on 7 October 2023.

 

 

Published in the academic journal Canadian Jewish Studies, the study follows on a previous one commissioned in 2024 by three Jewish  groups, Robert Brym on board as a consultant, concluding that 48 percent of Canadian Jews polled not identifying as Zionists, even as 94 percent stated their support of the existence of a Jewish state in Israel. What Professor Brym determined was a "semantic drift" having occurred with meaning altered from positive to negative for Zionism. Jews, however, understand quite well that they are vulnerable, that their security cannot depend on the care and solicitation extended to most citizens; they are a 'special' category.

 

They understand quite well, that without the existence of Israel, Jewish life anywhere in the world is susceptible to a regime's governing decision-making with respect to how well or how little a diaspora Jewish community's welfare is regarded; whether equal treatment will be their lot or whether a strained relationship will develop that sets them aside from all others. Jews, who have lived proudly as Canadian Jews for centuries now see their status demeaned and unprotected; they alone of all others treated as dispensable. 

 

Suddenly, Zionism is being linked with racism. A Jewish state, after all, implies to those who wish to interpret that condition as a state confined to the presence of Jews and Jews alone, belies the reality that Israel has given equal citizenship to Arabs, Christians, Muslims, Bedouin, Druze, Kurds, Baha'i, Circassians, Africans, and other non-Jewish groups. Israel's society, in fact, represents a kaleidoscope of humanity, as a state not only dedicated to Jews, but to democracy and equality. Arab Muslims occupy seats in the Knesset, positions in academia, law, medicine.  

"[Factors such as] mass media, social media and colleges and universities seem to have undermined the willingness of many Canadian Jews to refer to themselves as Zionists, although they remain highly likely to say they are emotionally attached to Israel and are almost certain to support the existence of a Jewish state in Israel."

Leger poll follow-up study conclusion