Leftist Antisemitism: All About Yves's

Photo: Steve Russell/Toronto Star

The guy in this picture isn't, as might be thought,
baying at the moon.

To quote the online caption relating to this photo in the Toronto Star (27 July 2014) he's shouting '"Keep killing Palestinian children" towards the Pro-Israel Torontians gathered at Queen's Park to hold a peaceful, positive rally and pray for peace, truth and co-existence'.

His name's Yves Engler and he's a Canadian leftie whose subjects for denouncement regularly include Israel.

In the Huffington Post last week Engler wrote a grubby little piece describing antisemitism as "the most abused term in Canada".

It in fact provides an ugly insight into the antisemitism that motivates leftist anti-Zionism, with what has been termed "rich man antisemitism" (the perception of, and consequent hostility to, Jews as plutocrats) not far from the surface.

His nonsense exemplifies that very curious camaraderie with Islam that leftist "anti-Zionists" exhibit despite Islam's attitude towards all the things which the Left is supposed to hold dear.  Despite all the antisemitism inherent in Islam and the antisemitism emanating from sections of the Muslim umma  today (vide the situation in Europe and videos of Islamist preachers), he implies that Jews are making victims out of Muslims.

He implies that Jews (who of course live in particular neighbourhoods so as to be close to synagogues and other communal institutions, and who integrate seamlessly with the general population, and live by the principle "the Law of the Land is the Law") self-segregate in order to keep aloof from mainstream society.

His odious piece, with its spotlight on intermarriage statistics, seems to resent, and (seemingly devoid of any empathy with a people left deciminated by the Holocaust) regard as nefarious, Jewish survival. 

See what I mean?: 

'"Anti-Semitism" may be the most abused term in Canada today. Almost entirely divorced from its dictionary definition -- "discrimination against or prejudice or hostility toward Jews" -- it is now primarily invoked to uphold Jewish/white privilege.....

Rather than calming the tantrum, Canadian political leaders often contribute to the hysteria of certain Jewish groups. During the recent debate to condemn the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign MPs repeatedly accused a movement demanding Israel comply with international law of being "anti-Semitic". The terms "anti-Semitic" and "anti-Semitism" were invoked over 80 times in a debate to justify Jewish/white supremacy in the Middle East....

 Despite widespread discussion of "anti-Semitism", there is little discussion of Canadian Jewry's actual place in Canadian society. Among elite business, political and professional circles Jewish representation far surpasses their slim 1.3% of the Canadian population. Studies demonstrate that Canadian Jews are more likely than the general population to hold a bachelors degree, earn above $75,000, or be part of the billionaire class. 

While Canadian Jews faced discriminatory property, university and immigration restrictions into the 1950s, even the history of structural anti-Jewish prejudice should be put into proper context. Blacks, Japanese and other People of Colour (not to mention indigenous peoples) have been subjected to far worse structural racism and abuse. Even compared to some other "white" groups Canadian Jews have fared well....

While howls of "anti-Semitism" are usually an effort to deter Palestinian solidarity, the shrill claims may also represent what a Freudian psychologist would call a "projection". Prejudice against Arabs and Muslims appears rampant in the Jewish community. Then there are the remarkable efforts to keep the Jewish community separate and apart from others....

After Israel, no subject garners more attention in the Canadian Jewish News than the importance of cloistering children by ethnicity/religion. Half of Jewish children in Montréal attend Jewish schools, which is startling for a community that represented 7% of the city's population a century ago. (In the 1920s Yiddish was Montréal's third most spoken language.)

Montréal's Jewish community has segregated itself geographically as well. Without retail shops in its boundaries, Hampstead is an affluent Montréal suburb that is three quarters Jewish. Four times larger than the adjacent Hampstead, Côte Saint-Luc is a 32,000-person municipality that is two thirds Jewish.

According to Federation CJA, only 15%-17% of Jewish Montrealers live in intermarried (or common-law) households. For those under-30 it's still only a quarter. (In Toronto, where Canada's largest Jewish community resides, the self-segregation is slightly less extreme.)

Inward looking and affluent, the Jewish community is quick to claim victimhood. But, like an out of control child, the major Jewish organizations need a timeout. Without an intervention of some sort, the Jewish community risks having future dictionaries defining "anti-Semitism" as "a movement for justice and equality."' [Emphasis added here and below]

The Canadian Jewish News has condemned this squalid piece thus:

'... Engler opens by attempting to explain away pro-Hamas demonstrations at l’Université du Québec à Montréal and anti-Semitism at Concordia University, as well as York University’s mural controversy and its student government’s divestment campaign. This is, by the way, the same Yves Engler who was dismissed from his role as vice-president of the Concordia student union for his part in the infamous 2002 riot that forced the cancellation of a speech by Benjamin Netanyahu. In what could be a nod to his university days, Engler contends that the term anti-Semitism “is now primarily invoked to uphold Jewish/white privilege.”

Then he really goes off the rails....

Is the implication that anti-Semitism must not be a problem since Canadian Jews are rich? If so, he might be interested to learn that poverty is on the rise in the Canadian Jewish community....

There’s more. “Prejudice against Arabs and Muslims appears rampant in the Jewish community,” he claims, though he cites no statistical evidence to back it up, and the many contributions of the Jewish community toward Syrian refugees contradict his argument. Engler also disapproves of Jewish day schools and Jewish-majority neighbourhoods – “cloistering children by ethnicity/religion,” he calls it....

Inconveniently for Engler, the facts belie his position. Last month, Toronto Police released a report on hate crimes in the city during 2015, and for the 10th year in a row, Jews topped the list of most targeted communities. Meanwhile, in Montreal, there has been a spate of swastika and neo-Nazi graffiti recently. And in Vancouver, a man was found guilty of promoting Jew-hatred online less than six months ago.

Perhaps Engler might have come to a different conclusion had he accurately researched the Jewish community before publishing his essay. At this point, it’s probably too late for that, but it would behoove Engler to take a close look at something else – himself, in a mirror. The facts suggest he has seriously misjudged the state of anti-Semitism in Canada today.'

 [Bottom two images from here]