{"id":54699,"date":"2025-08-21T05:21:11","date_gmt":"2025-08-21T13:21:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/?p=54699"},"modified":"2025-08-21T05:21:11","modified_gmt":"2025-08-21T13:21:11","slug":"amidst-horrors-in-gaza-some-prefer-to-focus-on-antisemitism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/2025\/08\/21\/amidst-horrors-in-gaza-some-prefer-to-focus-on-antisemitism\/","title":{"rendered":"Amidst Horrors in Gaza Some Prefer To Focus on Antisemitism"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reprinted from Yves Engler\u2019s website<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Canadian officials and commentators continue to justify the unspeakable horrors inflicted on people who have endured 22 months of a live-streamed holocaust in Gaza. After Israel assassinated six Palestinian journalists last week, CBC commentator and former Stephen Harper communications director Dimitri Soudas openly applauded the \u201celimination\u201d of what he claimed was a \u201cmember of a terrorist organization.\u201d There was no mention that 200 Palestinian journalists have been killed simply for practicing journalism in a place where Israel has banned outside reporters.<\/p>\n

Alongside a political culture awash in genocidal statements, Canadian officials continue to provide unique, often illegal, support for Israel\u2019s crimes. Canada arms Israel, charities raise up to a half a billion dollars a year on its behalf and groups induce Canadians to join the Israeli military in contravention of Canadian law. In addition, Canada effectively bans most Palestinian political parties and has helped build a Palestinian security force to oversee the occupation of the West Bank.<\/p>\n

Canadian taxpayers also fund a special envoy who promotes Israel\u2019s genocide. Deborah Lyons, who recently stepped down as Special Envoy on Preserving Holocaust Remembrance and Combating Antisemitism, previously led Canadian diplomacy in Israel. During that time, she organized a pizza party for Canadians serving in Israel\u2019s occupation forces. Lyons was echoing the stance of Canada\u2019s foreign minister: when Chrystia Freeland visited Israel in November 2018, she declared that if Canada won a seat on the United Nations Security Council, it would serve as an \u201casset for Israel\u201d on the council.<\/p>\n

These are only two examples of Canada\u2019s unique support for Israel. I can state this with confidence, having published 11 books on Canadian foreign policy \u2013 including Canada in Africa: 300 Years of Aid and Exploitation<\/em>,\u00a0Canada in Haiti: Waging War on the Poor Majority<\/em>, and\u00a0Canada\u2019s Long Fight Against Democracy<\/em>, among others.<\/p>\n

In\u00a0Canada and Israel: Building Apartheid<\/em>\u00a0and numerous articles, I have detailed the many forces driving support for Zionism. Over the past century, Canada\u2019s ties to the US and British empires, its interest in geopolitical control of the region, Protestant Zionism, anti-Muslim sentiment, and settler-colonial solidarity have all shaped Canadian policy to varying degrees.<\/p>\n

On top of this, there is a well-organized, wealthy and highly motivated Jewish Canadian Israel lobby, which has been increasingly powerful in recent decades. No other internationally focused Canadian ethnic\/religious lobby is nearly as well-resourced or organized. And CIJA, B\u2019nai Brith and Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Centre, etc. wield a uniquely powerful tool to silence critics: accusations of antisemitism.<\/p>\n

I have likely written more about Canada\u2019s assistance to Israel than any other Canadian over the past 15 years. Yet, as a sign of the lobby\u2019s reach, even some leftists resort to vicious smears of antisemitism against me \u2013 rather than focusing on the suffering of Palestinians \u2013 even as the Jewish supremacist state commits the most horrendous crimes imaginable.<\/p>\n

Recently, Ben Merenlensky, Sarah Buehler, Jordy Cummings, Judy Rebick, Cormac McCann and others have joined these efforts, labeling me \u2013 explicitly or implicitly \u2013 as an antisemite and suggesting I should be disqualified from participating in the NDP leadership race.<\/p>\n

I stand firm in my belief that institutions financing, cheering on, or otherwise promoting a live-streamed genocide must be \u201cweakened<\/a>\u201d. Ditto with my\u00a0response<\/a> to an absurd claim there\u2019s no ethnic\/religious contribution to anti-Palestinian media bias in Canada. These realities must be named. This is not about attacking any faith or ethnicity \u2013 it is about holding accountable the institutions and individuals, of any background, that promote apartheid and genocide. We must be able to identify and call out all forces that contribute to, or provide cover for, Canada\u2019s support of genocide.<\/p>\n

I reassert my belief that it is racist<\/a> to invoke the word \u201cantisemitism\u201d more often than the phrase \u201cJewish supremacy\u201d during a two year genocide \u2013 one carried out to advance apartheid and enforce the supremacy of Jewish people over non-Jews in Palestine.<\/p>\n

Because of this, some self-described \u201csupporters of Palestine\u201d have labeled me an \u201cantisemite.\u201d<\/p>\n

I reject the notion that such criticism is antisemitic.<\/p>\n

It is obvious to me that this amounts to little more than a deliberate misconstrual and willful distortion of my intent, made in bad faith.<\/p>\n

I have condemned antisemitism dozens of times \u2013 just as I have condemned Islamophobia, anti-Palestinian racism, anti-Black racism, and all forms of bigotry. My critique is always directed at institutions and individuals, never at Jews as Jews. I will continue to oppose all forms of racism.<\/p>\n

It stings to be accused of bigotry, as it runs counter to my values and life\u2019s work. But that pain is insignificant compared to the suffering in Gaza. Each image of starving children, of people with limbs blown off, is unbearable. I can only imagine the trauma and rage Palestinians feel when \u201cprogressive\u201d Canadians, rather than centering their survival, choose to smear critics of Israel as antisemitic.<\/p>\n

Centering Western sensitivities while Gaza burns is not compassion \u2013 it is racism and colonialism.<\/p>\n

For my part, I will not be deterred. I will keep challenging imperialism, racism, and bigotry at every turn \u2013 because silence in the face of genocide is complicity.<\/p>\n

Support Yves\u2019 work. Donate Now.<\/a><\/p>\n

Yves Engler is the author of <\/em>Stand on Guard for Whom? <\/em>A People\u2019s History of the Canadian Military<\/a> and twelve other books<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reprinted from Yves Engler\u2019s website. Canadian officials and commentators continue to justify the unspeakable horrors inflicted on people who have endured 22 months of a live-streamed holocaust in Gaza. After Israel assassinated six Palestinian journalists last week, CBC commentator and former Stephen Harper communications director Dimitri Soudas openly applauded the \u201celimination\u201d of what he claimed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":244,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"coauthors":[1315],"class_list":["post-54699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"meta_box":{"disable_donate_message":"","custom_donate_message":"","subtitle":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/244"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54699"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54699\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54705,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54699\/revisions\/54705"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54699"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=54699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}