Why I Will Probably No Longer Publish in the Charlottetown Guardian

By Henry Srebrnik, [Calgary] Jewish Free Press

Readers of the Jewish Free Press may recall my article of November 20, 2015, “Attacks by an Anti-Zionist Bully.” Well, it recently happened again.

So, unless I receive an apology, I will never write for Prince Edward Island’s main newspaper again. 

Here’s why:

On January 23, the Charlottetown Guardian, which had been the venue for these assaults, published an opinion piece by the same person, Richard Deaton, entitled “Sue Me, You Zionist Goons.” Deaton has written numerous attacks on Israel and Zionism in the Guardian. 

I was one of the “goons” referred to in this inflammatory headline. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines the term “goon” as “a man hired to terrorize or eliminate opponents.”

 

It conjures up images of a street brawler or criminal, not a university professor with a reputation to uphold. It is also a threat, as who knows who might take it upon themselves to “silence” such a nefarious character.

The Deaton piece crossed a line-- the headline, the tasteless Nazi analogy, and the naming of individuals went against all journalistic ethics.

Since virtually every member of the organized PEI Jewish community – and this doesn’t include Deaton, as he has never participated in any of our activities – supports the continued existence of the State of Israel, I guess this makes all of us “Zionist goons.” So the Guardian has insulted all of us.      

It was also beyond disappointing to me that the Guardian allowed such a vicious attack on a regular contributor to the paper, one in which I have published almost 500 columns over the years.

I should have stopped writing for the Guardian in 2015 when Deaton commenced his personal vendetta against me. Instead, I was persuaded by a number of people -- including many Guardian readers who spontaneously contacted me -- that my articles are informative and have a large following.

But now -- well, enough is enough.

I don’t care about the ravings of Richard Deaton – as it happens, the article of mine he referenced in his screed, “The Many Faces of Anti-Semitism,” was a reasonable and judicious analysis of growing anti-Semitism on both the left and right in the United States, and was in fact published, not in the Guardian, but in the Dec. 10 issue of the Summerside Journal Pioneer. 

A few days later, Guardian managing editor Wayne Thibodeau, in response to a concerned member of the PEI Jewish community, addressed the decision in the following letter:

“There is no question that Israeli politics is divisive and it has created a firestorm on our opinion pages, especially between Mr. Deaton and Mr. Fegelman” (the other person attacked by Deaton).

“Mr. Deaton’s letter was carefully vetted. In the letter, he asked to respond to Mike Fegelman, executive director of the group, Honest Reporting Canada.

“That being said, in hindsight, a more tactful headline could have been chosen for the letter.

“We are more than willing to offer you equal space to respond to Mr. Deaton and The Guardian’s decision to publish his letter.

“It’s never an easy decision to decide what to print and what to censor. We want to facilitate discussions which are important to our readers.

This reply actually made things worse. In other words, the article didn’t just slip by through carelessness or inattention. The editors actually approved this vicious attack and deemed it fit to print. 

And if it was meant as a reply to Mike Fegelman, why was Deaton allowed to include me as a “Zionist goon?”

I know for a fact that there were letters to the editor criticizing Deaton’s ridiculous rant; the Guardian refused to publish them. I have, though, received many personal e-mails from people aghast at this.

“These kinds of personal attacks on private citizens are completely out of line and should never be published,” wrote one member of our Jewish community. “It’s so sad and alarming!” said another.

A former consultant to the Halifax-based office of a national Jewish organization said, “I thought that the tone of Deaton’s letter was absolutely shocking and that the Guardian made a gross error in judgement in publishing it. In any event, I am simply writing to express my support for you, and to encourage you to keep up your excellent work.”

Naomi Rosenfeld, executive director of the Atlantic Jewish Council in Halifax, sent this message to the Prince Edward Island Jewish Community’s Facebook page on Feb. 7:

“Hi Everyone - I want to make sure you know that the AJC and CIJA [the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs] are well aware of the recent outrageous article in the PEI Guardian attacking Henry and the history of the publication of these sorts of inappropriate personal attacks and anti-Israel rants. We are taking this matter very seriously and currently doing some research to help plan our next steps. But we need your help.”

I spoke to Rosenfeld a day later and she promised that the Council would take action in this matter. In an article published on March 14 in the Canadian Jewish News, “Columnist Quits After Being Called ‘Zionist Goon’,” she elaborated, saying the Atlantic Jewish Council was “shocked and disappointed to see the types of op-eds that the P.E.I. Guardian has published, especially the inflammatory and misleading piece of Jan. 23, entitled Sue Me, You Zionist Goons. We are in touch with the leadership at the Guardian to ensure that this sort of misinformation is not published in the future.”

Can anyone imagine an op-ed piece with such vulgar and intemperate language, and the singling out of private citizens, ever being published in a newspaper of record like the Globe and Mail or the New York Times? Of course not. Yet the Guardian served as an enabler for someone spewing hate.