May 22, 2009

by Laura Rosen Cohen

The 'organized' Jewish community of Canada...has once again demonstrated it has little understanding of average Canadians. In the past week, its two leading, undemocratically elected advocacy organizations have demonstrated yet again an appalling zeal for censorship and a familiar, and emasculated response to issues with real public policy implications for both Jews and non-Jews in Canada alike. ...
 
The same week, the CJC did have time to perpetrate the myth that the Jews of Canada are a community at risk from the now thoroughly debunked "hate crimes". The federal government just allocated $1 million to fight "hate crimes", and amazingly, the Canadian Jewish Congress used its $100,000 share for more security at -- wait for it -- the Canadian Jewish Congress headquarters. Canadian Jews must be very relieved to know that potential haters must pass three levels of security before getting to CEO Bernie Farber's office. My children's Jewish day schools have no such luck.
 
B'nai B'rith fared just as dismally, with its call for a banning of the wretched piece of theatre known as "Seven Jewish Children."
 
In their call for the banning of the play, Anita Bromberg, B'nai B'rith's director of legal affairs said: "It's not necessarily up to us to demand that such things never see the light of day ... but there has to be some understanding and some appreciation of the complexity of the issues". Excuse me? That's exactly what you are demanding, ...

 
Coincidentally this week, and apparently unbeknownst to the Canadian Jewish Congress and B'nai B'rith, a Statistic Canada release showed that police services in Canada reported 785 crimes that were motivated by hate in 2007, down from 892 in 2006. That's an awfully small amount of "hate" in a country as large as Canada. Moreover, most of the "hate crimes" were teenaged graffiti and involved no physical violence. How much funding is required to fend off such "hate"? How many levels of Jewish bureaucracy are needed to save Canadian Jews from hateful teenage graffiti? The reality is that the number of "hate crimes" in Canada cannot possibly justify a 24-hour anti-Semitism hotline. Perhaps B'nai B'rith should switch to pay as you go?
 
If anyone in Toronto, or anywhere else in the world wants to go to the theatre and subject themselves to skin-crawling, Jew-hating, anti-Israel tripe and listen to 10 minutes or five hours of how Jews are the new, real, true Nazis let them do so. It's their choice -- and their right to do so.
 
Of course it's 'hateful' stuff. It's downright nauseating garbage. But if the B'nai B'rith doesn't like it, they should do it better. Why not counter 'hate speech' with better speech, more persuasive speech, or more compelling speech? Why not sponsor a play-writing or songwriting contest on Israel and send the winner to Israel for an all-expenses paid trip?
 
In April, when a bunch of rag-tag lefty activists tried to get the LCBO to stop buying Israel "apartheid" wines, all it took was a few e-mails for Toronto Jews to organize themselves and, along with their non-Jewish friends, purchase the entire stock of Israeli wines from GTA liquor stores. We beat them at their own game.
 
Jewish free speech advocates such as myself and Ezra Levant are constantly maligned for questioning the liberal, leftist orthodoxy of the organized community. But perhaps it is the time for a gentle retreat from embarrassing, failed policies, and a return the Jewish tradition of spirited debate. Whatever happened to 'two Jews, three opinions', and 'three Jews, four synagogues'?
 
The organized Jewish community needs to recognize the true threats facing Jews (not Internet Nazis) and give voice to more conservative political voices. This Canadian Jew is begging you to stop being bullish on censorship and give up the 'persecuted minority' shtick.
 
National Post
laurarosencohen@gmail.com

http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fullcomment/archive/2009/05/19/laura-rosen-cohen-the-100-000-anti-jewish-teenage-graffiti-hate-crusade-or-not.aspx
 
Laura Rosen Cohen is a Toronto freelance writer

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