Ariella Kimmel: For Jews, a year of pain and neglect.
Incredibly, many people, who no doubt consider themselves moderates and progressives, accept the new antisemitic status quo.
By: Ariella Kimmel
On October 7th, 2023, Hamas carried out an unprecedented and barbaric terrorist attack on Israel, resulting in one of the deadliest days in the nation’s history — the worst mass killing of Jews since the defeat of Nazi Germany ended Hitler’s Holocaust.
The past year’s moments have been measured in grief, pain, fear and hopelessness. For what felt like days of no sleep, Jews around the world sat glued to their phones as horrific stories and videos came out, and as it became clear that hundreds had also gone missing, taken hostage by Hamas into Gaza.
The images and stories are horrific. The descriptions of women being raped so badly their pelvises were broken, or of children being tortured, are so much worse than one could ever imagine. The targeting of civilians in a depraved and deliberate way still shock with their sheer brutality.
In many ways, what came next was worse.
The aftermath of this horrific day was a wave of antisemitism spreading around the Western world. As Jews grieved, we were confronted by people in our own communities offering support, sometimes open and overt, to the terrorists who had hunted our co-religionists down. It felt like as the sympathy for those murdered, tortured and kidnapped by Hamas waned, a door opened that allowed those who hate Jews to express that hate freely under the guise of “antizionism.”
About two months after October 7th, I was speaking to a friend about the rise of antisemitism and simply declared that it was only going to get worse. And it has. Over the last year, it has become painfully clear many people have lost their moral compass. It’s not just those who’ve hit the streets of Canadian cities weekly to chant for an “intifada,” or the ethnic cleansing of Jews through chants of “from the river to the sea” or “Leave Palestine alone and go back to Europe.” As the year has gone on, they have become increasingly emboldened to openly support listed terrorist organizations, including Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis. Some are openly cheering on the massacring of Jews through speeches declaring “long live October 7th” or calling for more “October 7ths.” These protestors claim to be speaking for human rights, while targeting Jewish community centres with schools and daycares in them, Jewish owned businesses, synagogues and heavily Jewish neighbourhoods.
I acknowledge that not all protestors are antisemitic, that many of them are motivated by civilian suffering in Gaza and Lebanon. But those claiming to support human rights abroad can’t square the acts of “protest” happening here at home, when the targets are Canadian Jews who have no role in the actions of the Israeli government.
Yet, incredibly, many people, who no doubt consider themselves moderates and progressives, accept this new status quo. So-called feminist activists can’t bring themselves to condemn rape when the victims were Israeli — the only women, apparently, we aren’t supposed to believe. Leaders of the labour movement, such as Fred Hahn, the president of CUPE Ontario, has alienated members of his own union through social media posts deemed by many to be antisemitic. Politicians fail to condemn what is happening on our streets and take real action. The best they can do are long, meandering statements that say nothing, or hide behind “complexity” and both-sidesing.
This, too, is a lesson of the last year. Antisemitism is not something that exists as an abstract thought that went away after the Holocaust. It has in fact become normalized and often even excused because of the actions of Israel. And this normalization manifests not just as hate, but as neglect. Neglect of Israel’s security needs, but also the needs of Jewish Canadians, who deserve community centres and schools that are safe, and long-term-care homes for our elderly — including one in Ottawa where my grandfather once lived — that aren’t the focus of protests aimed at the Jewish patients inside. Yet a few days ago, that’s exactly what happened.
Because a year after the attacks, this is where we are. Jews in Canada are terrified. And Jews in Israel are hated, or forgotten. The Western world’s response to the 101 hostages held by Hamas has been marked by indifference. Those who are still in captivity have all but faded from global attention as the families scream into what seems like a void. Media coverage and political discourse have largely shifted toward broader geopolitical debates surrounding Israel’s war against Iran’s terrorist proxies, sidelining the immediate human tragedy of the hostages. Calls for their immediate release are being overshadowed; the hostages are given token mentions in most speeches and public comments, but nothing is done. Where is the pressure on Qatar as one of the funders of Hamas? Where is the international pressure on Hamas, which has consistently walked away from the negotiating tables?
And, frankly, where are our leaders and why don’t they speak the hostages’ names? Judith Weinstein is the only Canadian being held hostage, and not since December has our government even mentioned her.
We Jews get it. We know what’s happened. Any acknowledgment of our suffering, any mention of the hostages, is just words, now, added in by speechwriters so that they don’t get in trouble for not ticking that box before their boss steps up to the mic.
This shouldn’t be a Jewish issue. It should be a humanitarian one. And yet.
The psychological damage caused by the October 7th, 2023, attacks in Israel is profound and far-reaching. The horrific violence, much of it captured on video, has left deep emotional scars on survivors, families of victims, Israeli society and Jews around the world. It is a collective trauma. This collective grief and shock will take years to heal, if it ever does, leaving a lasting impact on the mental health of the population, as well as Israel’s national psyche. For many, the psychological scars of October 7th will endure far beyond the immediate aftermath of the attacks.
For now, I continue to measure each moment through sadness, fear and hopelessness. And I wonder if I’ll ever feel normal again.
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The lack of action against the "Protesters" show a lack of moral judgment amoung some of our political leaders and a pandering to votes instead of upholding the laws of this country.
Thank you Ariella. I am disgusted with the fools who march in the streets and ashamed of our weak leaders who don't have the guts to stand up to the antisemits.