Oct 17, 2023

Responses to Terror and Disguised Jew hatred | CAEF Bulletin, Oct 17, 2023

The Enemy Cannot be Disguised

“At this perilous moment in history, we must remember that words matter. If the world had taken Adolf Hitler seriously when he laid out his diabolical vision in Mein Kampf in 1925, he could have been stopped. Yet the world instead turned a blind eye, doing nothing to hinder Hitler’s rise to power in Germany, allowing him to turn his wicked plans into a terrible reality.

Similarly, Hamas’ 1988 charter leaves no room for equivocation -- it is rife with antisemitic rhetoric and explicitly sets the violent and complete destruction of Israel, the world’s only Jewish state, as its primary goal.”

from Combat Antisemitism Movement

CAEF Rallied with Students United for Israel

With only 24 hours notice, the SSI (Students Supporting Israel) chapter at TMU (Toronto Metropolitan University, organized a downtown rally on October 10, 2023. CAEF was a key partner in helping to organize the rally, recruit speakers from various ethnic and faith communities as well as identify key NGO sponsors. Yasher Koach to Mariana Fox, SSI chapter President for initiating the rally and making it happen. Thanks to Michael Mandel for graphic design of a poster, adding all the sponsor logos and acting as emcee at the rally.

Many thanks to those who attended and to all speakers.

Andria Spindel, Executive Director, CAEF, Address to Rally of Students United with Israel

Oct. 10, 2023

We are called here today in horror and sadness, and while our sympathies, prayers, good intentions, and donations are all welcome and needed, they are not enough. I will read a few messages sent to me by representatives of communities that could not attend today.

For decades Jewish organizations have pointed out that hate crimes begin with hate words, lies, deceit, fake narratives, and false equivalencies. It is time to demand that all the so-called Pro-Palestinian propaganda be halted, condemned, banned. The support for Hamas on the streets of Toronto and other cities is an abomination. That universities have clubs that sponsor terror supporters and even terrorists, must be condemned and stopped by every university administration and government body with funding or regulatory responsibilities. The BDS committee at U of T has fostered bigotry; the Students for Palestinian Human Rights speaks evil of Israel and actually does not promote human rights because the aim of these groups, plus Palestine Youth Movement and others, is to demonize and denigrate Israel. The worst might be the Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East which actively campaigns to stop funding of Israel, boycott products from Judea and Samaria, and end various important and strategic relations with the Jewish state. Call them all out. Jew haters! AntiZionism is a mask for antisemitism and is itself an ideology built on lies, fueled by hatred, and an absurd claim that Jews don’t have rights in their ancient homeland.

I call on everyone here to write to your MP, MPP, and University Presidents at each university with which you have contact or an interest in, demand they take action that is essential to quell the tide of Jew hatred, protect our students, stand with our ally Israel, deny the haters a platform, and cut their funding. Samidoun is a listed terrorist group in Israel that has gained prominence in Canada; they are affiliated with the PFLP, a listed terrorist group in Canada. They need to be investigated and outed and then out of Canada.

Lastly, write the federal government, demand they withhold all funds to UNRWA which is the incubator for terrorism. The Arab schools only deliver Palestinian Authority approved curriculum which teaches that Israel doesn’t exist or is an illegal entity, that Jews were never in Israel before the so-called Palestinians ie Arabs, and that they will go to heaven if they kill a Jew and then their families will be rewarded, and if they are fortunate enough to just end up in an Israeli jail, they will get a salary for life. The amount is adjusted for how many they kill and they get annual cost of living increases. This is all true and has never been condemned in parliament that I know of. Summer camp for Arab children is a training camp for terrorism.

There is no justifiable equivalency. Supporting Israel is not a left wing or right wing position, it is the Right thing to do, the moral thing to do. Hamas must pay for its inhumanity, war crimes and atrocious murderous behaviour. Israel will win and we will see a better day but for now, speak up, demand justice for Jews, end Jew hatred here and now.

Recent Antisemitic Incidents in Toronto

Even before the full weight of the news about the malevolent, savage incursion of Hamas/ISIS terrorists into Israel, on the morning of October 3rd, was fully perceived, organizers of pro-Palestinian protests, sympathetic to the terrorism, carrying messages of support under the guise of “liberating” Palestine, were on display. While these have been tolerated in the past, under the banner of Nakba Day, Al Quds Day, Free Palestine campaigns, this can be no more!

The Jewish community has suffered enough and words matter! The display of hate for Israel, the extensive lying, misappropriation of history, creation of false equivalencies and characterizing of Zionism as evil, racist or as “settler colonialism,” must end. Enough! Maspik!

Justice for Jews will not be achieved by acquiescence to these libels, and silence, as Eli Weisel oft pointed out, is complicity. We must demand an End to Jew Hatred and that includes an end to Anti-Zionism on display on our streets and campuses, in media and in the mouths of politicians.

Some of the fallout has been felt by verbal attacks against Jewish students, vulgar racist defacing of public property, vandalism at Jewish institutions, and threats of serious physical attacks. Below is one instance of Jew hatred reported in Toronto after the terrorism in Israel.

Suggested List of Actions You Can Take

The Combat Antisemitism Movement has listed two things we can all do:

Sign the global petition calling on world leaders to stand with Israel and demand the unconditional release of all hostages — more than 100 — seized by Hamas.
Raise awareness of Hamas's crimes by sharing images of the Israeli children abducted by Hamas. Visit kidnappedfromisrael.com to download and print these posters, and display them in public spaces.

In Canada:

Donate to the charity of your choice that has an immediate focus on helping Israelis.

Suggestions include: Magen David Adom, Mizrachi, Shurat Hadin (the Israel Law Center), UJA Emergency Fund, Israel Defense and Security Forum (IDSF), Bedein Center for Near East Policy Research (has documented the terror training in UNRWA schools and summer camps).

CAEF has produced a short list of specific issues that Canadians can address by writing a strong letter to register a complaint or call for an investigation. This list includes the contact person, title and email. These are letters to condemn support for the Hamas terror regime which is not resistance or liberation movement, but rather a fanatic Islamist, supremacist movement that, like the Nazis, is fixated on killing Jews and eradicating Israel.

CAEF Action Recommendations

Ottawa Rally for Israel

Did Gazans Want this War?

This research report from the Washington Institute suggests the majority of Palestinian Arabs did not want a war to break the ceasefire but they did support the messages from Hamas and Hezbollah, and other jihadists. Consider this: “… there is widespread popular appeal for competing armed Palestinian factions, including those involved in the attack. Overall, 57% of Gazans express at least a somewhat positive opinion of Hamas—along with similar percentages of Palestinians in the West Bank (52%) and East Jerusalem (64%)—though Gazans who express this opinion of Hamas are fewer than the number of Gazans who have a positive view of Fatah (64%).”

Read report