"It Will Never Happen"

CJC CEO Bernie FarberPic: CJC CEO Bernie Farber

On Monday night, a public briefing was held for Toronto's Jewish community, following the confrontation between IDF soldiers and activists on the ships that participated in the Gaza aid flotilla.

The briefing, held at Adath Israel Synagogue and sponsored by UJA Federation, was meant to update local community members on the situation as well as to provide methods for community members to speak up for Israel following the outrage which has been directed at it as a result of the confrontation.

Among the speakers at the briefing were Israel's Consul General in Toronto Amir Gissin, Colonel Richard Kemp (who participated from the UK via Skype), international legal expert Professor Ed Morgan, and Noah Kochman and Rebecca Cherniak of the Canadian Federation of Jewish Students.

Also addressing the community was CJC's CEO Bernie Farber. Shalom Life is proud to bring to its readers the full text of Farber's speech:

My dear friends:

What a difference a day can make.

On Sunday, May 30, the Jewish community of Toronto took to the street in its thousands to participate in the annual UJAFederation Walk for Israel. There, on a beautiful day we were joined by our friends from many communities to express our love for Israel. The day was made more special by the presence of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who spoke of Israel, its longing for peace and its need for safety and security. There were those protesting the Walk who questioned our longing and denigrated our needs – and wrapped up their false arguments in a disgusting tissue of lies, calling Israel an Apartheid State – but they were in the minority on that beautiful day.

Twenty four hours later, the sun had seemingly passed behind a cloud, and Israel once again was characterized with language designed to demonize and delegitimize.

Antisemitic tropes. We are pirates. We are violators of international law. We are murderers. We are child-killers and blood-suckers. We are the enemies of peace. We are the practitioners of Apartheid and we are the truncheon-wielding police of Selma, Alabama.

What can be said in the face of all this? What can be said as our enemies – ignorant and willful – compose this new al chait, and try to bend our arm to our breast so that we may beat ourselves in penitence? There is only one thing to say – “It will never happen.”

We will not, as a community, accept the fantasy that others have of Israel as being its reality. We will not accept the explicit notion that Israel is forbidden to protect itself, nor will we accept the implicit notion that the only good Jew is a subservient one – or a dead one. We will not accept the notion that the rules which apply to every other nation in the world are somehow suspended in their application where Israel is concerned. We have the right to defend ourselves from those who would do us harm.

On the screen behind me there are images that have been taken from anti-Israel rallies held in the week since the attempted breach of the Gaza Blockade.

Two things strike me immediately. The first is not so obvious: look at the faces of the people who are carrying the placards. They are for the most part calm, relaxed. I would almost feel better if I saw some anger. That would at least explain in some measure the hateful messages they carry. But this workmanlike attitude is more chilling. It reminds of how, many years ago, I stood in front of the Israeli Consulate watching a Palestinian community leader rouse his crowd with the antisemitic chant of “Barak and Hitler both the same, the only difference is the name”. A few hours later the same leader, composed and fresh, was interviewed on television, speaking calmly about the desire of Yasser Arafat for peace.

The second point is more obvious: the concerted effort to link Israel and its leaders to the darkest periods of human history: Netanyahu has the “same soul” as Hitler Israel is synonymous with Apartheid, with racism, with ethnic cleansing. Israel is, simply put, a “devil state”.

And what is to be done with a devil state? That too may be simply put: “Israel Belongs to the Palestinians”. This is the peace that is being offered to us: the peace of dissolution. I’ve seen this message before, scrawled on a synagogue door: a swastika accompanied by the words “Not wanted here. Get out.”

What can be said in the face of all this? What can be said as our enemies call for our disappearance as the answer to their Trials and Tribulations? There is only one thing to say – “It will never happen.”

We are here, and here we remain. Peace can be had, but not at any price.

A few days ago, the Toronto Star carried a bizarre opinion piece by Jonathan Power that captured, in three words, all that is misunderstood about the conflict in the Middle East, and defined perfectly the true meaning of “proportionality”.

Turkey releases Flotilla Report After Denouncing Israel...

Turkey's Final Flotilla Report says Israel Violated...

Another Flotilla Planned for Gaza in June

Turkey Warns Israel Over New Gaza Flotilla