— Feature, Musings —03.06.2024 12:53 PM
My latest: words that kill
Genocide.
Apartheid. Occupation. Settler-colonialism.
Those are words we are all hearing a lot, lately. They get thrown around like confetti.
After October 7, when 1,200 men, women, children and babies in Israel were tortured and slaughtered – and when more than 200 were kidnapped, to be raped or killed or both – a professional and coordinated global campaign of anti-Semitism was unleashed. Its objective was to deny or justify the horrors of October 7 and thereafter.
Protestors were paid to protest, organizers were hired, slick posters and banners were generated. The objective was to intimidate Jews and their supporters into silence with epithets and libels. In many places, it’s worked.
Because, as in any pogrom, as in any act of hate-fuelled violence, language is critical. Every historian knows that violent hate is caused by hateful propaganda. The barbaric acts of the Holocaust always first needed the horrific words in Mein Kampf.
So, every skinhead this writer ever interviewed had a well-thumbed Holocaust-denying tract nearby, usually memorized. Every Jew-hating Hitler freak I’ve ever interviewed – and I’ve interviewed plenty, over the years – was radicalized first by hateful words and images. Online, or in a book or pamphlet.
That’s why we need to pay attention to words. Because hateful words always precede hateful deeds. Always.
Ask Justin Trudeau. His meeting with a G7 leader in Toronto was shut down by hate-spewing Israel-haters, principally because Toronto police did nothing to stop them. And then, a few days later, Trudeau was confronted by a man – on an Ottawa-area ski slope. While he was snowboarding, Trudeau was followed by the skiing Israel-hater who threw angry words at him.
Trudeau snowboarded away, presumably on his way to restoring funding to the Hamas-loving UNWRA.
More words: last week, again, a Toronto lawyer wore a hoodie to a Raptors game with the words “FREE OUR HOSTAGES” and a little Star of David on the back. MLSE security kicked him out.
This week, the lawyer and some of his supporters showed up wearing the same sort of messages on their clothing. MLSE’s response? They handed the Jews cards containing warnings – you know, kind of like how the actual Nazis used to hand out stars for Jews to wear on their clothing.
And, another recent example: a group calling itself “Health Workers for Palestine” has created a secret (until now) petition aimed at words in common use. Specifically, to stop healthcare workers – doctors, nurses – from using the International Holocaust Remembrance Association’s working definition of anti-Semitism:
“Anti-Semitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of anti-Semitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.”
Sounds pretty accurate, right? Well, the Canadian “Health Workers Alliance for Palestine” want to kill that definition – because it’s being used against anti-Semites. In their secret petition, the pro-Palestine health workers say they’re being “silenced” by those who object to the foul anti-Semitic words they use. So, their solution? Change the definition of “anti-Semitism.” Make it okay to accuse people of “genocide,” “apartheid,” “occupation,” and “settler-colonialism.”
Even though their petition is still under wraps, 142 people have signed it, most of them with what appear to be Arabic names. None appear to be Jewish.
One Jewish doctor, who fears retribution and asks that his name not be used, says: “The Health Care Workers Alliance for Palestine [have been] harassing an array of Jewish Mount Sinai physicians online. They and their collaborators are trying to tell the hospitals what counts as anti-Semitism, including by trying to bully them into denying obvious anti-Semitism.”
And that, as with all fights about language, is the key objective: to control the narrative. To dominate.
Jews and their allies are fighting back (this writer, full disclosure, is suing a neighbor who falsely accused me of supporting genocide). The media are looking more critically at the false claims of the Israel-haters. So the haters are responding as propagandists always do: by trying to change the true meaning of the words we use.
It’s what Hitler and his propagandists did: they told big lies, over and over. And they did for the same reason:
To eliminate Jews and those who would oppose them.
The increase of antisemitism is alarming, and so is the Israeli endeavor to rout Hamas and clean up Gaza. Both can be and are true imo.
.
There is no shortage of rabid anti-Semites or virulent Islamophobes. Both are being played by corrupt and evil officials for power, yet regular people with virulently controversial opinions like “don’t kill kids” are getting lumped in with both. Then, much like any other aspect of the human condition has demonstrated for millenia, those people who repeatedly get painted unfairly with the same brush will ultimately decide to become what we’ve labelled them.
Israel had unspeakable horror wrought upon it on October 7th. It has responded by returning the favour a thousand fold, well beyond proportionality or reason. Both of these statements are fact. Neither of them carry any righteousness.
Nobody gets a free pass to kill civilians. Ever.
Warren,
Had I been that neighbour, I would have quickly written an apology following receipt of the demand letter. Some people…
Check out now former NDP member/minister Selina Robinson’s letter of resignation from the BC NDP. It can be found in the National Post.
https://nationalpost.com/news/politics/full-text-selina-robinson-resignation-letter-to-bc-ndp-caucus
A very, very compelling condemnation. Not just of her colleagues. But of a society that observes, but does not see.
Here is Selena Robinson’s resignation letter. It should explain to anyone who bothers to read it why we are in the situation we’re in. Gutless politicians and pusillanimous civic leaders.
https://nationalpost.com/news/politics/full-text-selina-robinson-resignation-letter-to-bc-ndp-caucus
Worth a read. Full text of Selina Robinson’s letter to the BC NDP caucus.
https://twitter.com/nspector4/status/1765741687606030625?
Agree entirely on the manipulation of words and terms to serve the interests of the groups who stand to benefit.
Other examples include “genocide” (far too overused these days, for things that do not nearly qualify), and “nation” / “national” (which means a country, not the misuse of that term in certain provinces and by certain groups).
I simply find it almost impossible to believe that the world is spinning toward another holocaust- and yet I did say ALMOST impossible. It appears to me we ARE chugging down the antisemitism track at break neck speed.
Sure wish I had the answer I have only one family of Jewish friends but I think of them every time Warren writes on the topic.
I’m a 5th generation Canadian of German descent and I never felt any sense of guilt for nazism but I’m feeling guilt for being a member of humanity these days.
Seems our best hope is that God protects his chosen people.
Warren,
Jesus. This won’t help matters one bit…
From Al Mayadeen:
“68% of Israeli settlers oppose humanitarian aid to Gaza: Poll
According to a new opinion survey, the majority of Israeli settlers reject transferring humanitarian supplies to Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip, where the occupation has continued its ongoing war for 142 days.
The Ministry of Health in Gaza announced in its daily death toll that the number of martyrs has reached 29,606, in addition to 69,737 injuries.
According to a study done by the “Israel Democracy Institute, more than two out of every three Israeli settlers, or 68% of respondents, oppose “the transfer of humanitarian aid to Gaza residents at this time.”
According to the opinion survey, the statistics are considerably worse among far-right Israelis, with the opposition accounting for 80% and four out of five.”
You can’t expect it to get any better. Aside from the obvious corruption and moral bankruptcy of Netanyahu, the Israeli Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, is a complete monster who previous PM Ehud Olmert once framed as “more dangerous to Israel’s future than a nuclear-armed Iran.” In fact, he referred to him as an “enemy of the state” just a few weeks ago. Why is this relevant? The man is an 8-time convicted terrorist sympathizer (under ISRAEL’s laws, noone else’s) who casually displayed a photo of a mass murderer in his home (until shockingly recent political pressure made him take it down, at least, when the cameras were rolling) and preaches a philosophy that all Arabs should be subservient or be forcibly purged from Israel – and that his brand of Jewish supremacy and democracy are incompatible.
Knowing that, it is utterly ridiculous to act like the government isn’t complicit in exterminating civilians. The caveat here is that this is not the fault of “the Jews,” and anyone protesting all Jewish people and their existence IS a deranged anti-semite – BUT – the Israeli governing coalition, the select group of people in charge right now, are monsters – and I’m not backing off on that point. Nor should anyone.