Dear President of Jewish Vancouver Island et al

Dear President of Jewish Vancouver Island et al...

 

I’m responding to the letter you sent to the community dated May 18^th, 2021.

 

I do not know with what credentials you advise the community or even how you ended up in a leadership position, but the letter you addressed to community Jewry could have easily been written by a Hamas sympathizer. The words, “We mourn for all who suffer, be they few Israelis or the multitude of Palestinians” underscores where you stand on this barrage of terrorism. 

Apparently, your moral fibre requires a much higher Israeli dead count.  To write and highlight inequity of body bags suggests that you, like most anti-Semites, require equal suffering and equal death toll for both, perpetrators of terror and those who can successfully defend themselves.  Shame on you.

 

To further suggest “There are some supposed Jewish agitators that seek to destroy the harmony that the rest of the Jewish Community of this Island have worked to develop. Please DO NOT ASSOCIATE yourself with these RADICAL influencers as they do not represent the values of Tikkun Olam and our solidarity with the Palestinian people”….

 

Your solidarity with the Palestinian people? The ones who spit on New York Jews? The ones who throw explosives into the Jewish Diamond District in Manhattan? The ones who march with swastikas on Israeli flags and chant “Death to Jews”? The ones who elect Hamas in over 75% electoral vote? The ones who just assaulted Jews in Toronto, Montreal, New York, Los Angeles? The ones who drove into an Edmonton neighborhood, two doors down from my extended family, and asked “Are there any Jews here?” This is who you are in solidarity with?  And not the Jew “radicals” who simply show up peacefully to counter the fascist narrative?

 

How dare you paint courageous few Jews as radicals! And in the same breath preach to us the Judaic tenet of Tikkun Olam! Tikkun Olam you know nothing about but feel you can highjack for your capitulating agenda! How dare you suggest a need to cancel individuals (who we all know and admire for their accomplishments, intelligence, their unapologetic Zionist stance and much needed courage) in your community? How dare you utilize cancel culture to demonize and libel these valiant, peaceful and moral individuals?

 

How dare you, you – a Jew with trembling knees, assume to represent us?

 

How dare you use the words “Never Again!” ever again, unless you mean to never again support Israel in her time of need? And worse yet, never again stand by your community members who have the courage and moral fibre to do the work YOU should be doing and encouraging!  How dare you not understand that your only obligation as a community leader is to foster solidarity with Israel with an organized and loud bullhorn at antisemitic rallies and gatherings? How dare you stand with those who call Israel an apartheid and against your own who defend Israel with nothing but words and flags?

 

I’m ashamed of Jews like you. In a sea of morally-clear gentiles who unconditionally support Israel when Israel is under siege, the same question gets asked: How can Jews like yourself lead the community? How can Jews like yourself perpetuate the leadership trend established by German Jewry of the 1940s?  They, too, asked their community for “calm” and “harmony” and even suggested what they should pack for their journey on cattle cars.

 

In a moment of need, of complete and perfect clarity, Jews like you turn to cowardice and penmanship of defamation of fellow Jews.  It behooves you to remember why Israel exists today. It’s certainly not because of trembling-knees-risk-averse Jews like you or your prayers.  It exists because of Jews who carried assault weapons and used them to defend themselves and their land against those who wanted them harm. It exists because of Haganah, the foundation and founder of modern day IDF. It exists because boys and girls of Israel defend Israel physically, with their bodies, weapons and courage.  It exists because of tanks and airplanes and military might. 

 

The least we, the diaspora, can do is show our unequivocal, loud, public support for the country that stands between us and the next set of gas chambers. Especially when your pals, the Palestinians, are marching up and down Canadian streets to drum up even more support for their Hamas and more public sympathy for themselves as victims of Israel.  That sympathy is what leads to unprecedented antisemitic assaults on Jews we see today. Shame on you for not connecting the dots.

 

Shame on you and your view of right and wrong.  And what a shame that you, in your position of power and influence, are allowed to write letters of offensive weakness requiring community subjugation to your anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian stance.  What a shame that those who have learned nothing from the lesson of the Holocaust or the creation of Israel but the superficial…are in leadership positions.  

 

I join Lewis and Gelmon and others who have expressed their disgust.

 

Valerie Sobel