Why are we surprised about Jew hatred in Quebec? Diane Bederman
https://dianebederman.com/why-are-we-surprised-about-jew-hatred-in-quebec/
While Second Cup CEO Peter Mammas was at a theatre watching Gladiator II with his children, he learned about a franchise owner in Montreal spewing vile antisemitism. Without hesitation, he took decisive action to shut it down immediately. Contrast this with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who was at a Taylor Swift concert with his children as Montreal faced chaos. He did nothing. Leadership is defined by action in moments of crisis. One acted. One didn’t. Let that sink in.
In my not so humble opinion, Quebec is the most Jew hating province in Canada. I think it comes by it honestly. Quebec was settled by the French. Or should I say colonized?
Let’s take a peek at the Jew hatred from France, which, sadly continues today under the leadership of Macron. French President Emmanuel Macron called for an arms embargo on Israel as she fights for her life against Jew hating terrorists. And “France supports the International Criminal Court, its independence and the fight against impunity in all situations.” (Arrest warrants have been issued for Netanyahu and Gallant for crimes including “wilful killing”, “extermination and/or murder”, and “starvation” during the war in Gaza.) Canada’s French-Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, also stands with the ICC. A recent biography of Pierre Trudeau, long-serving prime minister of Canada and Justin’s father, revealed that in his twenties even he was part of fascist, nationalist, and anti-Semitic movements, before he evolved into a committed democrat and civil libertarian. Hmmm
A brief history of antisemitism in France.
There was the Dreyfus affair 1894.
During WWII France was asked by the Nazis to turn over foreign Jews. She willfully collaborated with Nazi Germany to a high degree: raids to capture Jews and other “undesirables” were organized by the French police not only in the northern zone – occupied by the German Wehrmacht – but also in the southern “free zone” which was occupied only after the Allies invaded North Africa in November 1942. The French state under Vichy not only agreed to implement antisemitism legislation, but did so with rare zeal, not hesitating to initiate roundups. Nor did it spare the Jews of the colonies. The Jews of Algeria, who had been French since 1870 and had paid a heavy price in the First World War, simply had their citizenship revoked. Those from Morocco and Tunisia, whose status was that of natives, suffered various forms of vexation and persecution.
Today, the future of Jews in France is in peril. Moshe Sebbag, the rabbi of Paris’ most prominent synagogue on rue de la Victoire, recently stated that “it is clear today that there is no future for Jews in France. I tell everyone who is young to go to Israel or a more secure country.”
I suggest Jews in Canada, particularly in Quebec, are in danger, too. In Canada, it is well known that one cannot become PM without catering(or is that catering) to the needs of Quebec. PM Stephen Harper is the only one to become PM without pandering to Quebec.
Quebec is much like France in its attitude toward the Jews.
A little history.
French Quebec has been singled out at times as a society wherein anti-Semitism is found at higher levels than elsewhere in Canada.
Jews are under greater attack in Quebec than other provinces. “Jewish marginality is an ongoing feature of Quebec Jewish life. The Jewish case in Quebec is unique in North America. French Quebec has not come to a full societal resolution of the legacies of its attitudes toward Jews and World War II during the 1930s and 1940s.”
A synagogue with swastikas painted on it in Sainte‐Marguerite, Quebec, 1938.
Canada refused Jewish refugees during WWII because of the Jew hatred in Quebec
Between 1933 and 1948, less than 5,000 Jewish refugees were allowed into Canada – the smallest number of any Allied nation. Canada was one of the nations that refused to allow entry to passengers on the MS St. Louis, a ship carrying over 900 Jewish refugees trying to escape the Nazis. Over a quarter of those on board would eventually die in the Holocaust. This occurred under William Lyon Mackenzie King: to protect the Liberal vote in Quebec.
“King heeded the advice of Ernest Lapointe, the minister of justice and his influential Quebec lieutenant, who staunchly opposed Jewish immigration because Lapointe knew that the vast majority of Quebecers opposed it – and Liberal power in Ottawa was somewhat contingent on winning most, if not all, of the province’s 65 parliamentary seats in future elections. The PM wanted to prevent the “intermixture of foreign strains of blood.” He feared that there would be riots if too many Jews were allowed entry. In short, it was politically advantageous to just say no to the ongoing lobbying efforts of the few Jewish members of Parliament and the community’s leaders who beseeched the Liberal government to admit more refugees.”
Since 1976 with the rise of antagonism to minority rights espoused by the secessionist Parti Quebecois and its leader, René Lévesque, who called for “sovereignty-association” some 30,000 to 40,000 Jews are believed to have left. They took Highway 401 West to Toronto. Many were well-educated young people fed up with political uncertainty, French-only language laws and public discourse often viewed as intolerant, if not outright anti-Semitic. Keep in mind,Quebec uses the threat of secession from Canada if her needs are not met.
Quebec Premier, René Lévesque was also pro-Palestinian, and anti-Israel. Following the Munich massacre of Olympic Israeli athletes in 1972, Lévesque came close to excusing the massacre of the Israeli athletes. The Quebec New Left adopted the ideologies of anti-imperialism and anti-Zionism, and in 1972, the Quebec-Palestine Association was established.
And here we are in 2024. One year after the barbaric attack by Hamas and thousands of Gazans invading Israel. Protests against Jews have been prolific in Canada, but especially in Quebec.
“In Montreal, amid the anger of events happening in the Middle East, the Jewish community has been the victim of a record number of hate incidents. Among them schools being shot at and synagogues and community centres being damaged by firebombs.” These events were prior to the November 22 attacks on NATO and the two day campus strike by Pro-Palestinians.
When freedom-loving Canadians who only wanted to work went to Ottawa to protest, Trudeau quickly shut them down with the aid of the police and sent many to prison and froze back accounts.
The non-stop attacks on Jews in Canada, and particularly in Quebec – meh.
From our esteemed Prime Minister:
“What we saw on the streets of Montreal last night was appalling. Acts of antisemitism, intimidation, and violence must be condemned wherever we see them.”
That’s all he wrote! And then did nothing.
Read and watch
As many as 85,000 students in Quebec on 13 university campuses went on strike on November 21/22 to demand divestment from Israel as they called for an intifada and a final solution while screaming:
‘The final solution is coming your way, the final solution. You know what the final solution is?’
At Concordia
Nov 21 HORRIFYING: Today students at Concordia University stormed a building and began violently breaking down doors. These are domestic terrorists. There is no other way to describe them. WATCH
Pro-Palestinian protesters disrupt classroom in Quebec Nov 2024
Pro-Hamas ‘activists’ take over school grounds, attempting to intimidate pro-Israel and Jewish students on campus in a planned walkout. WATCH
Anti-Israel protesters destroying the Palais des congrès in Montreal, Canada.WATCH
Cars burned, windows smashed at pro-Palestinian, anti-NATO demonstration in Montreal
Seems it’s OK to scream Death to Canada in Quebec WATCH
Rabbi Scheier was having a coffee with his family today in downtown Montreal at a Second Cup. He saw a pro Hamas gathering and took out his cell phone to document the incitement. The police told him that his being there is a threat to public order and that he must leave and hide his Jewish head covering (kippah). The Government of Canada permits this antisemitism.
Chaos at McGill Campus in Quebec WATCH
Montreal police say they won’t take action against the person wrapped in a a keffiyeh who gave the HeiI HitIer salute yesterday — because it wasn’t reported to its Hate Crimes Unit!
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