Are Canadian Jews Savvy?

Henry Srebrnik, [Toronto] Jewish-Tribune

We Canadian Jews consider ourselves pretty savvy. Sometimes I wonder.

The philanthropists in our community have poured millions of dollars into funding facilities at universities across the country. Such institutions have, of course, happily taken our money – but what good has it done us?

These schools are rapidly being taken over by radical ‘anti-imperialists’ and ‘anti-Zionists.’ At one particularly notorious example, York University in Toronto, Jewish students have actually come to fear for their physical safety.

Israeli Apartheid Week is now a featured event at many campuses across the country. This tells us volumes about the cowardice of university administrators, who seem unable or unwilling to challenge such demonization of the Jewish state.

Maybe our donations should go only to Israel, or in this country, only to Jewish-controlled institutions such as Hebrew schools, synagogues and social organizations. Let the allies of Hamas and Hezbollah financially support York and any other institutions that condone such anti-Jewish behaviour.

Before the 1960s, Canada was basically a union of French Canadians and of people from the British Isles. Many were xenophobes, nativists and, yes, antisemites. The governments of the day made it next to impossible for Jews even to get into the country. Those who managed to immigrate faced economic and social barriers.

So in the 1960s, starting with our overwhelming support of Pierre Trudeau – elected in Canada’s then most Jewish riding, Mount Royal in Montreal – we were in the forefront, ideologically and politically, of creating a new, more liberal Canada.

We helped dismantle the old system, which was replaced by multiculturalism and by virtually open immigration from all over the world. The result?

There are now hundreds of thousands of people in the country, especially in the largest cities, who come from places where Jew-hatred is endemic and sometimes even official policy.

A goodly number of these immigrants apparently see no reason to change their opinions about us. Many of their children, now studying at York and other colleges and universities, are turning these institutions into political bases for antisemitism.

At least the earlier generations of Judaophobes didn’t run around calling us dogs and pigs, waving the flags of genocidal Middle Eastern groups who vow to exterminate us.

Be careful what you wish for. It may come back to bite you.