Bondi Beach: What it means for Canadian Jews

Bondi Beach

This was always inevitable to those of us paying attention. And mark my words, It is only a matter of time before it happens here in Canada. I recently had a discussion with someone about moving to Israel, and they mentioned - they look at the math and never feel compelled to move to Israel given the fatalities there are much greater than they are here. I wonder if they still feel the same way.

The details are still coming into focus, but earlier today, in Sydney Australia, 2 terrorists killed 11 Jews, including a rabbi at a Channukah candle lighting on a public beach. In broad daylight.

My heart is broken, but I am in no way surprised. I knew something like this was inevitable in some shape or form. I have been telling my friends and family for months that the threat is high. I am not typically a chicken little, so I hoped they would take heed. We had a discussion at a family dinner about this very topic in late August. I indicated it was only a matter of time before things boiled over in the west. We left the discussion with my non Jewish step father mentioning that I was overreacting.

On Yom Kippur, after the attack in London - to his credit, he called me and apologized. “I just can’t believe it. I’m so sorry, I didn’t understand” he said.

The signs have been everywhere, bullets fired at Jewish schools. Graffiti and vandalism on Jewish businesses. Protests against Jews on the streets veiled as being anti Israel.

Our mayor, Olivia Chow posits that Israel is committing Genocide, this is unforgivable. The Prime Minister unilaterally felt that it was his prerogative to pander to the growing population of Judeophobes, and reward violence by recognizing the state of Palestine. Laughable for a person who wrote a book called “values”. I don't think Mark Carney is judaiophobic, he simply just saw what his voter base cared about, and failed to take a moral stance against it.

Jews are aware that things are getting worse. We try and bide our time, and trust that institutions will intervene, but nothing ever changes. There are soft assurances that antisemitism needs to be addressed, but the action is never there. There are no changes coming, because why would there be? As I mentioned in my article on municipal politics, there is an apathy and a trust that the powers that be, those in positions of authority have our best interests and safety in mind. But it is nowhere close to being a top priority for them. If they aren’t Jews or don’t know any Jews, why would it be?

Maybe the conditions will arise that we are forced to consider making a change here. Will it take a mass casualty event in a Montreal synagogue? Will it be an atrocity at a school in Toronto, or maybe a beach in Vancouver?

I sit on the board at the biggest synagogue in the city and we have to go through training before the high holidays on what to do if God forbid there is an active shooter in the building. We are told in no uncertain terms that you must follow the protocols no matter what. That means, even if your own child is on the other side of that door, crying out for salvation, you must keep the door closed. Can you imagine having to consider that possibility before going to Church on Christmas or at a new years party?

We sit, and we wait, and we trust - but the truth is, no one is coming to help us. Not in Canada at least. We either stand our ground, allow ourselves to be erased, or flee.

Waiting for it to blow over is not an option. So what will it be?

For me, my aims are to repair our society. This issue is emblematic of systemic problems. Of rot and apathy. We are not responsible for the problems that exist. But if we do nothing, we are responsible for the consequences when the atrocity happens here.

Now, I will present several practical solutions here, but they all begin with the same fundamentals. Caring enough and being motivated enough to organize. What can we actually do? Care enough to Organize.

If this stirs you, get in touch with me. Get involved at your synagogue. Wake up. Stop believing the myth that we are not masters of our destiny.

Once we organize, we can act in three interconnected ways, on three interconnected axis:

1. Politics.

2. Institutions.

3. News organizations & Social Media.

Politics

Canadian politics are not that sophisticated. A little bit of effort can go a long way. As such, we do not need the entire population on board. Just a critical mass. Are you willing to be uncomfortable? Are you willing to make sacrifices, and stand up? Or will you continue to do what we've been doing - nothing, and let us be erased?

A quick google search can find the information for your political representatives. Your city councillor, MP, and MPP. You only need to write a couple of sentences - the squeaky wheel gets the grease.

We need to turn the tides of the politics in this country and effect change. We need alliances with law enforcement and to continue to reach out to the powers that be.

The first tangible action is to write a letter to your elected official. Make them know you care, and that enough is enough already. MP, MPP, and City councillors all need to hear it. It is simple to organize a letter writing campaign. I wrote my city councillor a strongly worded email recently, and to his credit, he responded We need to make ignorance on these issues disappear. There can be no more deflection of duties. If we make it clear that we want change, and none comes - then we can identify which politicians are interested in protecting us. If they aren’t committed to that simple idea, we need to get them out of office.

The second action is harder, but to actually get involved politically. There is a municipal election next year in Ontario. Here in Toronto, there are approximately 200,000 Jews. If just a small fraction of people volunteered their time, the results would be incredible. Elections, especially at the municipal level, are won by collecting data with boots on the ground. You can be the person that effects change. We can win council seats and use them to eliminate the hate that has been allowed to fester. There are many Judeophobic City Councillors, we can take them down.

Institutions

We must recapture our institutions. Jews and allies need to put pressure on Universities, courts, School Boards, Hospitals, Immigration, Refugee, & Citizenship Canada, all levels of police and military. They need to know that we’re paying attention. The people at the heads of these organizations are just that: people. They can be influenced, and they don’t want to deal with the headache - they will capitulate under pressure. It is Human nature to find the path of least resistance. We can do this in several ways, most notably with our wallets. When organizations take Judeophobic stances, we must withdraw our participation, and socialize their failings. When we see evil being done, we cannot take the high road. We must overreact. The squeaky wheel gets the grease.

News Organizations:

When atrocities against Jews happen, and they are not front page news at major news outlets, or minimized and run in parallel with obscure articles from the Judeophobic lobby, we must act. It is 11 AM Toronto time as I write this, and the CBC doesn’t have any articles on it about the attack in Sydney. The Globe & Mail only updated in the last hour or so. It won’t be long before they start plugging stories about the plight of Gazans again. On every news website there is a masthead with a list of people who call the shots. We need to put pressure on those people to be fair and rediscover their values. It is top down change.

Social media:

Social media is cutting edge, companies like Meta claim it is impossible to moderate, but make no mistake: these sites can certainly moderated and controlled. Instagram and Facebook are smart enough to be able to moderate away news. It is time to now put more severe restrictions on content that is inflammatory.

We can restrict content that is political, and we can quickly and mercilessly ban accounts that break rules. I was banned from Tik Tok recently with no warning or reason - likely due to a post I had that reached 35K views in a couple of days. The banning happened with no explanation, and Tik Tok has ghosted me. Bottom line, we can ban accounts that are inflammatory. AI can parse through the filth and make it so. The government needs to write these laws and enforce them, but to do that, we need the political will.

We also need to move away from social media activism. Simply put, sharing a post into your own instagram bubble is long past being useful. The haters blocked you or unfollowed you years ago. Most other people will just glance and swipe through it.

There is a loop at play here:

The bad thing happens, a carousel is created by whatever organization, and then you and your friends all share it. Then we all go dark dark and quiet, nothing is done, and we move on. You feel like you sounded the alarm, but you just acknowledged that you are aware of a problem. You trust that someone is coming to help you, but they aren’t. We need to stop the cycle, we need to get out of our small bubbles and echo chambers. We need to get into the real world. We need to translate that into something that people can understand.

Finally, we need to exercise our leverage, resources, and connections. If you or someone you know has the ear of decision makers, or is a major donor at an institution, we need to take the plunge and call in those favours. We wanted to keep our powder dry, evidently. No longer can we afford that luxury. It is time to put a century of Jewish Canadian progress to the test: have we earned our seat at the table? Have we worked hard enough to fight the tide of judeophobia?

That is what power is about after all, being able to influence decision makers. What was it all for if not for this?

Like many millennials I grew up on Harry Potter. At the end of the third book, Harry is watching himself under attack. He waits for his rescuer to appear over the ridge, he believes his father is coming to save him. He waits, and he waits, and eventually he realizes that no one is coming to save him. The burden falls to him now, and he is the one that must step up. He must do what it takes to provide the light that chases darkness away.

Jews, no one is coming to save us. We must stand up for ourselves, or we risk being pushed out. It happens in every generation, a great test of our peoplehood. That test is here now. Will you rise to the occasion?

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