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May 30, 2008
A dark time for Jews, Israel
Writer Mark Steyn addresses group of Hillel supporters.
MICHELLE DODEK
New Hampshire-based journalist, writer and social commentator Mark Steyn was in Vancouver to speak to the Fraser Institute earlier this week. His visit was sponsored by Ed Belzberg, who suggested Steyn also speak to a group of financial supporters of the new Hillel building, which he did. A controversial figure, Steyn's presentation was full of sarcasm and wit regarding serious geopolitical topics of concern to the Jewish community.
Steyn is a supporter of Israel and Hillel but is most famous for his bestselling book, America Alone: The End of the World as We Know It. A crusader for free speech, Steyn is currently facing Canadian and B.C. Human Rights tribunals over an excerpt from his book that offended Muslim students in Ontario.
America Alone posits that the end of Western civilization is nigh, primarily due to our declining birthrates. The Jewish community is among the worst in the reproductive scene, with the exception of the ultra-Orthodox. The group that is more than multiplying in every place they live, said Steyn, is the Arab population. In countries like Pakistan and Afghanistan, the birthrate is roughly four times the rate of Canada. The average age in the West Bank and Gaza Strip is 15. These demographic facts are the biggest threat to the modern world, according to Steyn.
Steyn is worried because, he said, "Islam has undergone reform and it has gone from a moderate form, which was integrating into societies around the world, to jihadism. It's a dark time for the Jewish community, and Israel is on the front line." That's one of the reasons for his support of the Jewish state. Steyn is not Jewish – he is of Danish and Belgian origin – but his belief in personal freedom and the importance of national self-determination makes it impossible not to count Israel as an ally, he said. "All the nation states in the Middle East gained independence between 1930 and 1948. Israel is the only one that has made a go of it. Jordan and Syria certainly have not," he commented.
When asked about why Europe refuses to support Israel and has, in his words, "fetishized the Palestinians," Steyn had a great deal to say. "They have their own complex psychological reasons for hating Israel. Europeans used to view Jews as sinister, cosmopolitan and stateless but now that there is a nation, Jews are hated for that. A certain proportion of people hate Jews for whatever they are, which is a completely irrational position, but they feel guilty for their hatred: they turn it around and support the Palestinians as a way to absolve their guilty conscience."
Steyn's criticisms of Europe are many and far reaching, but the one he touched upon was the elimination of Holocaust education in British schools. It can be attributed to demographics, said Steyn. In Britain, too many Muslims found teaching the Holocaust to be offensive, because "they take the conflicting issues of denying the Holocaust while lamenting it for not having done a sufficient job," he said. The result of this pressure, from the fastest-growing demographic presence in Britain, has been to eliminate any Holocaust education in British primary schools, he explained.
Among other topics Steyn discussed were the military and governance. Steyn said he believes in a strong military response when it is in the interests of a nation and that he fully supports the mission in Afghanistan – in the future, he said, people will look back on the presidential reign of George W. Bush and have a much higher opinion of it than they do now. Steyn is highly critical of Barak Obama, who may become the next American president, because he believes Obama is willing to do whatever the European Union and other countries suggest – without acting in what Steyn believes to be the best interests of the American people. He used an example from a speech Obama made, in which Obama warned that, in the coming years, Americans will not be able to drive, eat or heat their homes the way they have in the past because the rest of the world will demand change. Such an idea, Steyn suggested, is ridiculous for the leader of a country that still produces more than 25 per cent of the gross domestic product in the world. Steyn believes that nation states need to serve their national interests.
Steyn's talk provoked a great deal of discussion. Vancouver Hillel executive director Eyal Lichtmann thanked him for speaking and reminded those in attendance that Hillel is still looking for donations to complete its capital campaign. "An organization like Hillel cannot afford to go into debt," he said, mentioning that the University of British Columbia has been very generous to Hillel, but, without an additional $2 million by Aug. 15, the new building will have to take a less ambitious form. For more information on Hillel, call 604-244-4948.
Michelle Dodek is a Vancouver freelance writer.
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