Solidarity? Whatever

Editorial

A federal election is approaching and political parties are mending fences and trying to avoid pitfalls. For Jewish voters, this election comes at a time of immense communal trauma, including the worst outbreak of anti-Jewish violence in recent memory. As the election campaign progresses, Canadian Jews and Zionists will look carefully at the candidates and their positions, and the Bulletin will help elucidate the issues.

But it may be worthwhile, as Prime Minister Paul Martin ponders when to call an election, for Canadian Jews to share some of our experiences with our cousins, Canadian Muslims.

In the past couple of years, the New Democratic party has made explicit gestures toward the rapidly growing Muslim community in Canada. There are obvious points of agreement that make the Muslim community look favorably upon the New Democrats. Arab societies and, to an extent, the larger Muslim world, have strong communitarian traditions. Like the Jews and other traditionally "desert" peoples, communitarianism can be a life-and-death necessity.

But there is another factor that might make Arab and Muslim Canadians turn their attention to the New Democrats. The party of the left has offered some of this country's most visible and vociferous condemnations of Israel and support for the Palestinians. Though not all the party's MPs agree with the anti-Israel slant expressed by a few of the party's MPs, the most vocal spokespeople on international affairs have offered condemnatory (or at least wildly unbalanced) perspectives on the Middle East conflict.

Part of this may be base political expediency, but it is also likely a result of siding with the perceived underdog – always the left's stated priority.

But the pro-Palestinian position of the Canadian left reflects a misplaced perception of who is David in this scenario and who is Goliath. Though world opinion seems to position this conflict as between Israelis and Palestinians, the reality of Israel's isolation is that the Jewish state's eight million souls are almost alone against the world's 1.2 billion Muslims, who have made hating Israel an intrinsic tenet of their faith.

As well, Canadian "progressives" will contend that they are free to criticize Israel without being guilty of inciting hatred against Jews. They may be correct. But Canadian Muslims, who seem to have found a home on Canada's political left, could learn a lesson from the experience of Canadian Jews.

Zionism and socialism arrived in Canada on the same boat in the 19th century. Jewish immigrants who formed the backbone of the socialist movement in Canada were also the backbone of a nascent Zionist movement. Though there were dramatic schisms between the nationalist agenda of the Zionists and the internationalist impulses of the left, the two movements shared ideas, foot soldiers and inspiration.

As recently as the 1980s, Canadian labor officials were having bilateral meetings with Israeli unionists. From 1948 until 1967, the ties between the Canadian and Israeli left were seemingly concrete bonds.

But decades of common ground between Canadian Zionists and Canadian leftists have gone down the drain, as the left has explicitly allied itself with the
Palestinians, in the process downplaying or justifying the prevalence of violence inherent in supporting their cause, while condemning in the harshest terms every affront by Israel.

With a few exceptions, Canada's left has become devoid of Jews. While insisting that criticizing Israel is not the same as criticizing Jews, the vicious language they often employ and the fact that most Jews are Zionists, has made it almost impossible for a self-respecting Jew to remain active in the left – the very movement our parents and grandparents built.

More alarming still is the fact that this reality has not raised the concern of most New Democrats or trade unionists. The fact that their movement is no longer a welcoming place for progressive Jews should be a horrifying wake-up call to them.

It should also be a lesson for Canadian Muslims and Arabs, who are hitching their wagons to the left. Perhaps they have found common ground on issues of Israel and a Palestinian state, but when peace finally comes to that region, there are other issues, including women's rights, free expression, gay equality and a range of contentious matters that are potentially very divisive between these new-found allies.

A word from Canadian Jews to Canadian Muslims about their new friends on the left: Been there. Done that. Enjoy it while it lasts, because "solidarity forever" has a strange interpretation among Canadian "progressives." If the next haute cause conflicts with your agenda, you may find yourselves cast out like the Zionists and Jews who built the movement to begin with.

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