Not only does the focus on antisemitic incidents draw Canadians’ attention away from the death toll in Gaza and the muzzling of Canadian voices condemning it, it also amplifies calls by representatives of CIJA, B’nai Brith Canada and other mainstream Jewish leaders for more severe repressive measures against peaceful opposition to Israel’s genocide.

Israel and many of its supporters insist that a wide range of international organizations and bodies are antisemitic. And then Israel doubles down and the outrage against it grows and the outraged are denounced as antisemites. And on and on it goes. Where it stops, nobody knows. Perhaps until the “new” antisemitism turns into the “old” antisemitism?

Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories, just wrapped up a speaking tour of eastern Canada. But pro-Israel lobby organizations tried every trick in their well-thumbed playbook to bar the renowned human rights jurist and scholar from doing the job she was assigned by the UN for a three-year term in 2022.

Somewhere in Western newsrooms and political backrooms, there must be an instruction manual or playbook entitled “How to make accusations of antisemitism with hardly any facts.” I imagine that Steve Paikin got hold of it and employed it to write his latest column. I am afraid that the piece is seriously lacking in intellectual honesty.

The concept of a mitzvah goes well beyond good deeds and, given current circumstances, has come to encompass some very ugly deeds. How and whether Jews observe these obligations are intricately bound up in one’s sense of what it means to be a Jew. And in fact, as the tragedy in Gaza and the West Bank intensifies, no less than the soul of Judaism is at stake.

In the wake of the recent events in Israel-Palestine, conservative and even centrist politicians all over the West have denounced rallies organized in support of the Palestinians and many have suggested prohibiting them and some have done so. Does the political will exist to support relevant governments banning pro-Palestinian gatherings?

As in Vietnam in 1968, the lessons are there to learn, if people are prepared to learn them. When history presents us with parallels, albeit imperfect ones, we need to pay heed. One thing is for sure: Israelis and their allies can no longer ignore Palestine, pretending that the brutal occupation can continue with impunity.

We often hear the refrain that Israeli politics is very complicated. It’s usually used as an excuse to stop conversation dead. But given the current turmoil among Israel’s Jewish population, it’s imperative to try to step back and simplify. The crisis now roiling the country is a dramatic moment in an ongoing and epoch-making demographic and political shift.

What do Faisal Bhaba, Desmond Cole, Linda Sarsour, Idris Elbakri and Fadi Ennab and countless others have in common? They are racialized people who have been special targets of pro-Israel lobby organizations in Canada because they spoke out on Palestinian rights. And these examples suggest how the defend-Israel-at-all-costs industry has a racism and Islamophobia problem.

It is likely that antisemitism is rising everywhere commensurate with other forms of white supremacism, like anti-Black racism and Islamophobia. While any hate activity on campus is disturbing, are Jews (and Jewish students) more subject to bigotry than those in other groups, like Blacks and Muslims? This is not an easy question to answer.