October Never Ends

Another weekend, another election: Jews and Israel remain the eternal target

It is overlooked or undocumented, but we should not forget that were it not for poor communication the attacks of October 7th could have brought Israel on the brink. Hamas jumped the gun, but if Hezbollah had joined in with all its might on that very day - as was the original plan - we would have potentially witnessed something approximating a real genocide. Of Jews. Because that was and remains the stated intent of Hamas and its affiliates like Hezbollah and Iran. Israel and the civilized world of democracies dodged a real bullet that day and I think this has been largely forgotten.

Not only has this been forgotten, many have turned the narrative upside down. This is a process that started on October 8 when a global and well-organized torrent of Jew and Israel protests was unleashed. Even for me, having been on this issue for more than eighteen months now it was revealing last week to watch the just released movie documentary October 8 which meticulously details how this campaign spilled into western media and campuses. It also outlines how insidious and ultimately violent these protests have become. And how - a point often made in the documentary - so many politicians and media figures, or really anyone with some influence or importance, decided to stay silent, to sit it all out. Taking a moral stance is just too difficult for many.

In Canada we have a federal election on April 28 and while a lot of it is focused on the economy and the record of the incumbent Liberal government, the Middle East has entered into it forcefully. To such an extent that we are apparently ‘voting for Palestine’ according to this list of candidates some incumbents, some vying for office. Most of these are of the left Green and NDP parties, but it also includes a few Liberals including the MP representing the riding I live in (and yes we are working hard to unseat this guy).

There are a few things that stand out when your review this platform. Firstly of course, the focus on Israel, an honour not accorded to many other nations which would be far more befitting of the attention when it comes to focusing on human rights or independence movements. Canada’s progressives are eerily silent on the suffering of the Uyghurs in China for instance. Secondly, the call for a weapons embargo on Israel. Not that Canada is sending that much weaponry to Israel, but it is about the message: Israel is not deserving of getting any tools to defend itself or pre-emptively attack its mortal enemies, the ones that have stated their genocidal intent. And in doing such there is a subliminal call for any boycott of Israeli goods, a dog whistle, a call to delegitimize Israel’s existence. And yes, that easily morphs into boycotting or attacking Jewish owned businesses in Canada itself.

And while political candidates can try and coax you with language, they are signalling something gladly picked up on the streets, in particular during weekends, where in Canada’s major cities it is a free for all fest of Jew hate. And not just in Canada, it all erupted this weekend on a global scale during the Jewish Passover holidays. Just consider yesterday where an arson attack on Pennsylvania’s Governor Josh Shapiro took place or in Strasbourg, France where a Jewish bakery, named Dreher, became the target of the pro-Palestinian/Hamas movement:

You have to wonder what would have happened if the police had not been present on the spot to defend the store and its staff. And today, offices of University of Amsterdam came under attack again. This is just a sampling, there are just too many incidents to mention.

Again, it starts with, but never ends with the Jews.

Hostages

Many of you have been wondering where we are with the hostage negotiations. The pressure to get them released was amped up over the past week and as of today we do know that there is some progress on getting to a ceasefire and release over the next few weeks. Talks are progressing and this is driven by Trump’s planned visit to Saudi Arabia which is scheduled for somewhere mid-May and it is inconceivable that this visit will take place without any major progress and resulting news announcements. And by that I mean material news. This ranges from Saudi-Israeli relations, the nuclear discussions with Iran, a ceasefire in Gaza, ideally all. And most of these hinge on ending the one unresolved humanitarian disaster: the 59 remaining hostages. Stay tuned, we are going into a decisive few weeks here.

Here is a link to an incredibly moving interview by Dan Senor with Rachel Goldberg. In the second half of the interview she talks about her murdered son Hersh, but also about the hostages and in particular on the importance to bring back the deceased hostages (something that is not talked or written about a lot). I highly recommend listening to it.

Photo: Dutch police in riot gear remove protestors from the ‘Maagdenhuis’ building which is the central office of the University of Amsterdam on April 14, 2025.