Canada’s Jewish community is split up the middle. Spurred by a mistaken belief in Israel’s vulnerability, a growing number of Jews in Canada are becoming single-issue voters.
As a Jew myself, I find this puzzling and more than a little disturbing. It’s rare enough for Canadians to vote exclusively based on foreign policy, let alone an issue so peripheral to Canadian grand strategy as Canada-Israel relations. The division in the Jewish-Canadian community is far from irreparable, but if left unaddressed it could pose a significant threat to the community’s long-term interests and values.
Much has been written about the rightward political movement of parts of Canada’s Jewish community. A majority of Canadian Jews voted Conservative last year for the first time ever. Many of the community’s institutions are also now more Israel-centric and less focused on social justice than they once were.
That rightward drift is old news: what gets mentioned less often is its effect on the community itself. As an increasing proportion of the Jewish community and its leadership moves away from the traditional political consensus the community has held for a century — one that placed issues such as racism, human rights and genocide as high on the list as Israel’s security — small-l liberal Jews feel more and more alienated. Subconsciously, I believe, this is leading to a creeping loss of Jewish identity among members of the community’s left flank, with significant consequences for the next generation.
Liberal MP Irwin Cotler claims that the issue he hears most about from his constituents in Mount Royal — a riding where half of all those who cast a ballot on election day are Jewish — is health care. At a breakfast with Justin Trudeau that I attended, organized by various Jewish Canadian fundraisers at Montreal’s Shaar Hashomayim synagogue two years ago, most of the questions asked involved the environment. Large parts of the Jewish community still vote based on social issues.
Yet other liberal-leaning friends of mine — some of them life-long New Democrats, people without a conservative bone in their bodies — have been voting for Stephen Harper in recent years. The reasons are twofold: fear over the safety of Jews around the world, and the Conservative party’s effective communications outreach here at home.
Global antisemitism rates are at their highest since 1945, leading many Jews to focus on the safety of the Jewish refuge. And there’s no question that Israel faces challenges — with Iran racing toward nuclear capability, Hamas and Hezbollah possessing improved rocket arsenals, Turkey moving away from its 1990s-era alliance with Israel under an Islamist government, the Palestinian Authority’s recent diplomatic push at the UN and President Barack Obama ramping up pressure on Jerusalem.
But these are challenges — not mortal threats. With the exception of Turkey, Israel remains atop the power pyramid in the Levant, if not the Middle East. Its offensive and defensive capabilities exceed that of any enemy state — so much so that the Jewish state has yet to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities despite Israel’s lack of a secure second strike capability due to its small size.
In fact, a false belief in Israeli vulnerability did far more damage to Israel’s enemies than to Israel itself. Those states that have fought wars against Israel ended up losing countless lives, wasting vast amounts of resources and suffering embarrassment on the world stage; many remain mired in dictatorship and social stagnation.
Stephen Harper’s support for Israel remains unquestioned by many Jewish Canadians. But it took his government nearly seven years to include the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, which funds Hamas and Hezbollah, under Special Economic Measures Act sanctions — and it still hasn’t listed it as a terrorist group, despite repeated Liberal pleas to do so. He has personally approved the takeover of part of Canada’s oilsands by a state-owned enterprise that does billions of dollars of trade with Iran every year. On more than one occasion, he has publicly rebuked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over announced settlement plans.
In challenging times, people are inclined to accept simple, dogmatic solutions to their problems. In this case, the unconditional embrace of Stephen Harper against all logic is the preferred route of many Jewish Canadians.
A divided Jewish community is self-inflicted misery. Polarization is a risk: Israel-related issues could divide Canadian politicians further, leading to the increasingly-likely possibility of a government being formed one day that is antithetical to the interests of the Jewish community. Over the long run, some Jews will lose much of their Jewish identity, while others will forgo much of their Canadian sense of self. The traditional Jewish values of social justice for all will be minimized in emphasis, possibly causing yet another identity crisis down the road.
Canada is at its best when its communities are strong. The schism facing Canadian Jewry presents alienated left-leaning Jewish Canadians with an important challenge. Progressive Jewish Canadians need to make their voices heard once again.
Original Article
Source: ipolitics
Author: Zach Paikin
As a Jew myself, I find this puzzling and more than a little disturbing. It’s rare enough for Canadians to vote exclusively based on foreign policy, let alone an issue so peripheral to Canadian grand strategy as Canada-Israel relations. The division in the Jewish-Canadian community is far from irreparable, but if left unaddressed it could pose a significant threat to the community’s long-term interests and values.
Much has been written about the rightward political movement of parts of Canada’s Jewish community. A majority of Canadian Jews voted Conservative last year for the first time ever. Many of the community’s institutions are also now more Israel-centric and less focused on social justice than they once were.
That rightward drift is old news: what gets mentioned less often is its effect on the community itself. As an increasing proportion of the Jewish community and its leadership moves away from the traditional political consensus the community has held for a century — one that placed issues such as racism, human rights and genocide as high on the list as Israel’s security — small-l liberal Jews feel more and more alienated. Subconsciously, I believe, this is leading to a creeping loss of Jewish identity among members of the community’s left flank, with significant consequences for the next generation.
Liberal MP Irwin Cotler claims that the issue he hears most about from his constituents in Mount Royal — a riding where half of all those who cast a ballot on election day are Jewish — is health care. At a breakfast with Justin Trudeau that I attended, organized by various Jewish Canadian fundraisers at Montreal’s Shaar Hashomayim synagogue two years ago, most of the questions asked involved the environment. Large parts of the Jewish community still vote based on social issues.
Yet other liberal-leaning friends of mine — some of them life-long New Democrats, people without a conservative bone in their bodies — have been voting for Stephen Harper in recent years. The reasons are twofold: fear over the safety of Jews around the world, and the Conservative party’s effective communications outreach here at home.
Global antisemitism rates are at their highest since 1945, leading many Jews to focus on the safety of the Jewish refuge. And there’s no question that Israel faces challenges — with Iran racing toward nuclear capability, Hamas and Hezbollah possessing improved rocket arsenals, Turkey moving away from its 1990s-era alliance with Israel under an Islamist government, the Palestinian Authority’s recent diplomatic push at the UN and President Barack Obama ramping up pressure on Jerusalem.
But these are challenges — not mortal threats. With the exception of Turkey, Israel remains atop the power pyramid in the Levant, if not the Middle East. Its offensive and defensive capabilities exceed that of any enemy state — so much so that the Jewish state has yet to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities despite Israel’s lack of a secure second strike capability due to its small size.
In fact, a false belief in Israeli vulnerability did far more damage to Israel’s enemies than to Israel itself. Those states that have fought wars against Israel ended up losing countless lives, wasting vast amounts of resources and suffering embarrassment on the world stage; many remain mired in dictatorship and social stagnation.
Stephen Harper’s support for Israel remains unquestioned by many Jewish Canadians. But it took his government nearly seven years to include the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, which funds Hamas and Hezbollah, under Special Economic Measures Act sanctions — and it still hasn’t listed it as a terrorist group, despite repeated Liberal pleas to do so. He has personally approved the takeover of part of Canada’s oilsands by a state-owned enterprise that does billions of dollars of trade with Iran every year. On more than one occasion, he has publicly rebuked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over announced settlement plans.
In challenging times, people are inclined to accept simple, dogmatic solutions to their problems. In this case, the unconditional embrace of Stephen Harper against all logic is the preferred route of many Jewish Canadians.
A divided Jewish community is self-inflicted misery. Polarization is a risk: Israel-related issues could divide Canadian politicians further, leading to the increasingly-likely possibility of a government being formed one day that is antithetical to the interests of the Jewish community. Over the long run, some Jews will lose much of their Jewish identity, while others will forgo much of their Canadian sense of self. The traditional Jewish values of social justice for all will be minimized in emphasis, possibly causing yet another identity crisis down the road.
Canada is at its best when its communities are strong. The schism facing Canadian Jewry presents alienated left-leaning Jewish Canadians with an important challenge. Progressive Jewish Canadians need to make their voices heard once again.
Original Article
Source: ipolitics
Author: Zach Paikin
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