Premier Ford speaks for the Silent Majority

Ford seems to be the only First Minister to recognize that we are the Frog in the proverbial pot, and the water’s about to boil.

There’s been so much to write about for The Star over the last couple of months, I’ve been able to avoid tackling the many distasteful displays at various “pro-Palestinian” rallies across Toronto. (Although one can always take matters into your own hands when it comes to anti-Semitic graffiti):

A couple of notable protests resulted in extended blogs (see prior posts “‘No Justice’ in Gaza means ‘No Peace’ in Toronto” Mar. 29-24 & “‘Toronto the Good’ bows down to Iran” April 12-24), but on this topic, I think one has to bring a new perspective to a high profile issue to warrant treatment in The Toronto Star.

Now that access to parts of The University of Toronto is being granted or denied based upon religion, the time has come. A subset of these “pro-Palestinian” protestors don’t seem that interested in the Canadian Values that I grew up with, meaning that we’ve become the proverbial Frog in the pot of water. As was foreseeable six months ago (see prior post “Talking past each other” Nov. 7-23):

Instead of talking past (shouting?) the rest of us, those who are marching in our streets to protest Jewish-owned businesses, or at an Israeli Consulate, need to help we non-aligned Canadians understand why Israel is being held a different standard than, say, Saudi Arabia vis-a-vis Yemen? Why are you not demanding that CPPIB divest from China, for example, concurrent with the UofT Grad Students’ Union’s formal request that their school’s endowment exit all Israeli investments? Why are you not also calling for a “cease-fire” in front of 1151 West Georgia Street in Vancouver, home of the Honorary Consulate for Syria, when an estimated 18 Syrian children die each day?

While the charitable among us might simply say that people “forgot with the passage of time,” these clear double standards may well be anti-Semitism at play (“Corporate Canada must do more to combat anti-Semitism” Oct 31-23). If not, please help we fair-minded Canadians better understand where you’re coming from — why these are all just unfortunate coincidences.

If I were you, I’d do it soon, before these local images and incendiary speeches are irreversibly ingrained for all-time in the minds of Canadian-born kids. It won’t help your cause if they’re left to unilaterally process these inexplicable dichotomies. Share you passion, perspective, choices and context with them.

Please help them understand why “Free Palestine from the Jordan River to the Sea” isn’t a call to eradicate Israel. And how “By Any Means Necessary” isn’t support for the raping of Jewish girls or the fire-bombing of Israeli families. Why Israel should “decolonize” Palestine, just as you protest on lands in Montreal, Toronto, Edmonton and Vancouver that were, according to many, “colonized.”

Or don’t bother. But please recognize that a lot of us are watching (“My Canada does not include the Hamas flag” Oct 15-23), and we are deeply troubled by what we see.

I’ve posted the first half of my latest Star column below; if you want to see how it ends, you have the choice of buying the Wednesday hardcopy, signing up for the $65 (pre-tax rebate) annual digital subscription via the newspaper website, or accessing the piece via your Apple News App.

The “boiling frog” theory has it that if you put a frog into a pot of boiling water, it’ll jump out to save itself; but if you turn the heat up slowly, it won’t notice that it’s being boiled alive.

As I watched anti-Israel protestors block rush hour traffic at Yonge and Bloor again last week and read about Jewish Canadians being harassed at the University of Toronto, it seemed that the time had come admit that we are that “boiling frog.”

Ontario Premier Doug Ford appears to be thinking the same thing.

After months of disruptive anti-Israel protests across Canada, Ford reflected the mood of a growing silent constituency when he declared that “people are fed up.” Ford called the instances of racism at various university encampments “disturbing,” encouraging administrators to “remove those people. You don’t come to Ontario, no matter what culture you are, and stir things up.”

Some on the left went bananas. Author Dr. David Moscrop took issue with Ford’s “dangerous” choice of words, claiming they “threaten to whip up xenophobia or worse.” Even if many of the anti-Israel campus protestors “are from somewhere beyond the borders of Ontario or Canada,” “so what if they are?” said Moscrop.

Moscrop exemplifies what many “progressives”, including elected officials, think, I fear.

But while it’s true that the last thing we should want is to whip up racism against any group, many on the left seem pretty forgiving of the racism too often on display at these protests. 

Moscrop predicts that “history will once again side with the [university] dissenters,” despite characterizing the 2022 Freedom Convoy “occupation” as “toxic” “right-wing extremism.”

U of T protest organizer Heigo Parsa told the CBC that his compatriots “have dealt with threats and incidents of racism from ‘outside agitators.’” Parsa’s attempt to distance his caustic throng from documented antisemitic acts was quickly undercut when his protest “marshals” physically prevented a professor from accessing parts of the campus, leaving him little choice but to believe that this was because he was Jewish.

Hit the link to read the rest.

MRM

(this post is an Opinion Piece)

(photo credits: MRM)