• News
    • Business
    • Canada
    • Health
    • International
    • Israel
  • Perspectives
    • Ask Ella
    • Ask The Love Rabbi
    • Features
    • Jewish Parenting Wisdom
    • Opinions
    • Ideas
    • Letters
    • Personal Essays
  • Food
  • Culture
    • Arts & Entertainment
    • The Arts
    • Books & Authors
    • Canada 150
    • Jewish Learning
    • June 1967
    • Sports
    • Travel
  • Events
    • Contests
  • Supplements
    • Spotlights
  • Other Communities
    • En Français
    • Russian
  • Subscribe
  • Member Centre
  • Log Out
Search
  • Subscribe
  • Member Centre (eCJN)
  • Log Out
  • Newsletter
  • FaceBook
  • Twitter
  • Youtube
  • Instagram
CJN - Canada’s largest Jewish newspaper
April 24, 2018 - 9 Iyar 5778
CJN - Canada’s largest Jewish newspaper
  • News
    • Canadian business accelerator lauded as one of the best in the world

      At 100, Ruth Rotman is still active in the community

      Miles Nadal donates $11 million to Mount Sinai heart centre

      Federal politicians honour victims of the Holocaust

      Thousands celebrate Yom Ha-Atzmaut in Montreal

      AllBusinessCanadaHealthInternationalIsrael
  • Perspectives
    • Looking at the state of Jewish-Muslim dialogue in Canada

      Bridging the divide between Jews and Muslims in the West

      Israel & the Internet: Circa 1948 – April 19, 2018

      Tales from the fascist book club

      The 70 faces Of Israel

      Documenting Israel’s birth

      AllAsk EllaAsk The Love RabbiFeaturesJewish Parenting WisdomOpinionsIdeasLettersPersonal Essays
  • Food
    • The Shabbat Table: Happy 70th birthday Israel

      The Shabbat Table: A special post-Passover garlic shlissel challah

      Everyone gets gooey at downtown matzah bake

      Making matzah balls unites a modern Jewish family, says Phyllis Feldman

      The easy way out of Passover

      Bannock and matzah: our breads of affliction

  • Culture
    • Exploring the Jewish world at Hot Docs

      Pound’s support of fascism didn’t deter his appeal to American poets

      Blending Caribbean sun and Jewish history in Curacao

      Novella splendidly blends math and literature

      Segal Centre features more Jewish content in 2018-19 season

      AllArts & EntertainmentThe ArtsBooks & AuthorsCanada 150Jewish LearningJune 1967SportsTravel
  • Events
    • Chai Lifeline’s Restoring Hope contest (Closed)

      The CJN Prize (CLOSED)

      BRITISH YIDDISH AND KIDDUSH CONTEST (closed)

      The CJN Prize for Young Writers Contest (closed)

      JEWISH MUSIC WEEK 2016 (closed)

      AllContests
  • Supplements
    • Home Beautiful

      CJL Magazine

      Passover Greetings

      Passover Greetings

      MTL Celebrations

      AllSpotlights
  • Other Communities
    • Quel avenir pour les Juifs de France ?

      Israël dans la grande poudrière du Moyen-Orient

      Une entrevue avec Enrico Macias

      L’héritage de Shimon Peres: “Aucun rêve n’est impossible”

      L’intelligence artificielle au service de la robotique

      AllEn FrançaisRussian
  • Subscribe
  • Member Centre
  • Log Out
Home Perspectives Opinions Examining the Jewish world
  • Perspectives
  • Opinions

Examining the Jewish world

By
The CJN
-
August 21, 2012
530
0
SHARE
Facebook
Twitter

Last month in its edition of July 28, The Economist published a 12-page special report on the subject of Judaism and the Jews.

The report comprised six discrete essays on subjects the editorialists of the prestigious, London-based, weekly news magazine felt would provide a sufficiently broad overview of the condition of the Jews in the year 2012.

It was not clear why the magazine chose at this time to dedicate a special section to Judaism and the Jews.

Israel – and the Jews – are a permanent preoccupation for European media. Israel’s conflict with the Palestinians seems to be the only yardstick by which the Jewish state is measured in many quarters in Europe. And, of course, by that yardstick, given the jaundiced attitudes and distorted coverage of the conflict that dominate there, Israel emerges as an ogre-like monster of giant malevolent proportions.

The six essay subjects were “Alive and well,” an overview of the modern Jewish condition; “Judaism in the Diaspora”; “Judaism in Israel”; “Israeli politics”; “Ideological divisions,” and “Looking ahead.” There was also a small sidebar on the phenomenon of the proliferation of Chabad houses around the world called “Hospitality abroad.”

Despite the inclusion of the term Judaism in the title of report, most of the reportage kept returning to the myriad ways in which Jews relate to Israel and to the myriad ways in which Israel affects the lives of the Jews of the world. This was quite evident from the very beginning of the report in which the following summary subheading appeared: “Judaism is enjoying an unexpected revival.” But in the very next sentence it adds the caution: “There are deep religious and political divisions, mostly centred in Israel.”

The special report was generally free of the obsessively, one-sided, hostile treatment of Israel we have come to expect from most British media. That’s because a great deal of the report deals with the behaviour of Jews outside of Israel. Nevertheless, the magazine’s disdain for the policies of the centre-right government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was quite evident throughout the report.

For example, in the essay on Israeli politics the writer pens a wildly generalized, unfair assessment of the Israeli government’s response to current anti-Israel developments throughout the world.

“For the Israeli right and for many Jewish communal leaders in the Diaspora, an undifferentiated axis of evil (my emphasis) extends from the Iranians to the Palestinians and on to antisemitic thugs on European streets. Rising antisemitism is lumped together with growing criticism of Israeli policy and hyped by Mr. Netanyahu’s government into what it calls a campaign for the ‘delegitimization’ of Israel.”

The magazine implies that the campaign for the “delegitimization” of Israel is some cynical, opportunistic concoction by the prime minister of Israel to rally his hordes of right-wing supporters. The writer uses the phrase delegitimization in an ironic sense, placing it in quotation marks suggesting there is little truth in its use. Or that at least he or she does not believe it to be true.

In truth, of course, the campaign to delegitimize the Jewish state has been active at least from the mid-’70s when the infamous “Zionism is Racism” was passed and adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations. Even though the resolution was subsequently rescinded by the UN, it has transmogrified into the even more sinister, more dangerous poster slogan “Apartheid Israel” and spawned the equally dangerous and notorious BDS campaign that advocates the boycott of, disinvestment from and sanctions against Israel.

The first UN-authorized anti-racism conference in Durban, South Africa, in 2001 breathed its hateful, foul life into the free-coursing sails of the apartheid, BDS cutter.

Among the first individuals to warn against the delegitimization of Israel were human rights champions such as Harvard law professor Allan Dershowitz and Liberal MP Irwin Cotler.

Netanyahu has every right today, many years after the term was first coined, to warn the world against this menacing threat to his country. To accuse him of pointing to an “undifferentiated axis of evil” is inaccurate and unfair. He – and the many Jewish communal leaders the magazine lumps in with him – have been quite precise in identifying those who pose the greatest threats to the existence of the Jewish state.

The Economist’s special report on the condition of the Jews was a superficial skimming across a complicated surface by journalists purporting to add depth to a story. But, for them, it remained still merely only a story. Nothing more important.

A short time before The Economist’s report was published, the Jewish People’s Policy Institute (JPPI) – a body established by the Jewish Agency for Israel – published its annual assessment for 2011-2012. The JPPI report is not a journalistic work. It is a work of serious research by a group of individuals concerned about and dedicated to helping steer the Jewish People to a thriving future. More on the JPPI report next week.

 

 –MBD

 

SHARE
Facebook
Twitter
The CJN

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

Looking at the state of Jewish-Muslim dialogue in Canada

Bridging the divide between Jews and Muslims in the West

Canadian business accelerator lauded as one of the best in the world

At 100, Ruth Rotman is still active in the community

  • Popular
  • Recent
Subscribe to the CJNSubscribe
RSS FeedView
5,523FansLike
856FollowersFollow
10,105FollowersFollow
197SubscribersSubscribe
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Subscribe / Member Centre (eCJN)
  • eCJN Archives
  • Supplements
  • Media Kit
  • Advertising Terms
  • Premiums

One on One at Comicon with Leo Leibelman

Purim 2018 on Toronto's streets

Baba Fira's CJN Prize Awards invite

  • News
  • Canada
  • Israel
  • International
  • Opinions
  • The Arts
The award-winning Canadian Jewish News (CJN) is Canada’s largest, weekly Jewish newspaper with an audited circulation of nearly 32,000 and read by more than 100,000 people each week.
© Copyright 2018 Canadian Jewish News
  • Comments Policy
  • Community Links
  • Contact Us
  • Media Kit
  • Privacy Policy
  • Subscribe
  • Admin

Week in Review...

Comes Right to You

Sign up for our Weekly Newsletter

X