Please ... you flatter us

Editorial

An old joke has two fin-de-siècle Viennese Jews in a café reading the papers. Jacob, scanning the liberal Yiddish journal, gets more depressed with each turn of the page. Chaim, reading one of the notorious anti-Semitic rags that proliferated in that time and place, is happily chortling with each new page.

"How can you read that anti-Semitic claptrap?" Jacob demands.

"I used to read your paper," Chaim responds, "but it was all pogroms and bad news, Jews mistreated and disenfranchised around the world. Nothing but tsures, troubles. Now, everything I read is about the Jews controlling the financial institutions, pulling strings behind governments, taking over the world. I like this paper better."

The hackneyed joke came to mind recently when an editorial in this space caught the attention of a little paper in Montreal. We opined here that Canadian governments should foot some of the bills for the often-expensive security measures required, sadly, by Jewish organizations. We noted that threats (and actions) against Jewish institutions in North America, Europe and elsewhere have had clear correlation to the stresses of the Middle East. Though this is not rocket science, it is too nuanced for some to appreciate: virulent, vicious condemnations of Israel have repercussions for cultural harmony here at home.

But our editorial caught the eye of Montreal Planet (we're read all over), who applied a novel interpretation to our comments. The Jewish Independent, which they generously dub "Canada's pro-Israel lobby," is calling, they claim incorrectly, for "the Canadian government to silence criticism of a foreign country by other Canadians."

The Montreal periodical describes our modest missive as "the first volley in what might become a campaign...." Perhaps. Or, like any newspaper's editorial, it might become birdcage fodder. Either way, we could hardly control our amusement over the immense powers attributed to us to set the agenda for Canada's "pro-Israel lobby." Having attained this modest goal, we can now set our sights on the banks, the government and the world.

We found something to agree with in the Planet's critique though. The author concluded: "Orwell is surely rolling over in his grave."

Orwell may indeed be rolling over in his grave, because Orwell, unlike some present-day commentators, gave deep consideration to the issue of anti-Semitism. His essay "Anti-Semitism in Britain" is a timeless piece of some genius. We recommend it.

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