The eunuchs at the Canadian Jewish Congress
As I mentioned the other day, it took an unseemly long time before the slothful Canadian Jewish Congress roused itself to say a word about the anti-Semitic, pro-Hamas rallies across Canada. They had to be pushed to do it by their donors, and they only did so under the supervision and direction of the Canada-Israel Committee. Left to its own devices, the official CJC policy is to "dialogue" with terrorist supporters like the Canadian Arab Federation, not to criticize them.
And what did the CJC finally say? As Mark Steyn notes, their press release was a laughable attempt to take "credit" for "exposing" the anti-Semitism of the protests. That's what the CJC's press release headline said. Not "CJC backs lawsuit to impeach anti-Semitic CUPE leader"; and not "CJC demands government cut off all funds to and contact with anti-Semitic organizations"; and not "CJC calls for investigation of why police didn't intervene arrest death threat makers"; and not even "CJC demands political leaders condemn bigoted rally", just to come up with a few possibilities. No, their headline was:
2. The CJC didn't expose anything. Their exposure consists of republishing photos and videos taken by others -- even a photo taken from my website. The CJC didn't send out camera crews; the CJC didn't do a damn thing other than hide under their desks.
3. OK, now that you've "exposed" things, what the hell are you going to do about it? That's the point. They're doing the only thing they know how to do -- looking to hate speech laws (in the criminal code this time, not the human rights act). Are they so barren of ideas that that's the only one they can think of -- one doomed to fail?
When it comes to the CJC's other enemies, the CJC is quite creative. Take the CJC's hatred for Christianity in the public square. I remember this disgraceful episode well: the CJC threatened to sue to have the Christian Lord's Prayer banned from the Ontario Legislature.
That's how morally bankrupt the CJC is: attacking religious Christians -- Jews' best friends -- but staying silent in the face of Muslim radicalism.
Now why would the CJC do that?
Two reasons. First the CJC isn't really a Jewish organization. It's a liberal organization, run by Jews. And it shares the Left's hostility to Christianity, especially Christianity of any seriousness. Second, the CJC is afraid of Muslims, but not afraid of Christians. They're happy to threaten lawsuits to end the Lord's Prayer, and they love suing little nobodies sitting in front of computer screens, under section 13. But they're just plain afraid of taking on Muslim radicals. That's why they were silent for a week about the pro-Hamas rallies in Canada, and that's why they're silent to this day about, for example, the bigotry of Montreal's imam al-Hayiti.
The CJC is worse than useless. Useless implies harmlessness. The CJC is worse than harmless. It practically created -- and has certainly strengthened -- censorship provisions in human rights laws that radical Muslims are now using against Jews and Zionists.
As well, the CJC's fear and reluctance to criticize Islamist groups has allowed bigots like Mohamed Elmasry and Syed Soharwardy to conduct themselves as if they're normal Canadian members of society. If the CJC weren't such moral eunuchs, they'd have taken on those evil men, and shown them to be menaces -- rather than engaging in "dialogue" with them, which only legitimizes them. Really: why should the media have anything bad to say about anti-Semitic bigots, when the CJC itself doesn't?
Finally, the CJC sops up Jewish money, volunteer time and other resources that would otherwise go to an effective Jewish lobby -- one that wasn't always saying "Shhh! Don't speak out! You'll upset the czar!"
The CJC was created to help settle Jewish immigrants in Canada, and later to recruit Jews into the Canadian army. Somewhere along the way they turned into politically correct grievance hustlers, beholden more to the cult of multiculturalism than to Judaism itself, and more interested in liberal politics than being a non-partisan Jewish advocacy group.
Canada's Jews -- and Canada itself -- deserves better.
And what did the CJC finally say? As Mark Steyn notes, their press release was a laughable attempt to take "credit" for "exposing" the anti-Semitism of the protests. That's what the CJC's press release headline said. Not "CJC backs lawsuit to impeach anti-Semitic CUPE leader"; and not "CJC demands government cut off all funds to and contact with anti-Semitic organizations"; and not "CJC calls for investigation of why police didn't intervene arrest death threat makers"; and not even "CJC demands political leaders condemn bigoted rally", just to come up with a few possibilities. No, their headline was:
CJC exposes incitement to hatred and violence at pro-Hamas rallies1. Uh, it wasn't covered up, in need of being exposed. That's sort of the point here. It was brazenly on display in the streets of our biggest cities. Thousands of them -- tens of thousands, if you believe the protesters.
2. The CJC didn't expose anything. Their exposure consists of republishing photos and videos taken by others -- even a photo taken from my website. The CJC didn't send out camera crews; the CJC didn't do a damn thing other than hide under their desks.
3. OK, now that you've "exposed" things, what the hell are you going to do about it? That's the point. They're doing the only thing they know how to do -- looking to hate speech laws (in the criminal code this time, not the human rights act). Are they so barren of ideas that that's the only one they can think of -- one doomed to fail?
When it comes to the CJC's other enemies, the CJC is quite creative. Take the CJC's hatred for Christianity in the public square. I remember this disgraceful episode well: the CJC threatened to sue to have the Christian Lord's Prayer banned from the Ontario Legislature.
That's how morally bankrupt the CJC is: attacking religious Christians -- Jews' best friends -- but staying silent in the face of Muslim radicalism.
Now why would the CJC do that?
Two reasons. First the CJC isn't really a Jewish organization. It's a liberal organization, run by Jews. And it shares the Left's hostility to Christianity, especially Christianity of any seriousness. Second, the CJC is afraid of Muslims, but not afraid of Christians. They're happy to threaten lawsuits to end the Lord's Prayer, and they love suing little nobodies sitting in front of computer screens, under section 13. But they're just plain afraid of taking on Muslim radicals. That's why they were silent for a week about the pro-Hamas rallies in Canada, and that's why they're silent to this day about, for example, the bigotry of Montreal's imam al-Hayiti.
The CJC is worse than useless. Useless implies harmlessness. The CJC is worse than harmless. It practically created -- and has certainly strengthened -- censorship provisions in human rights laws that radical Muslims are now using against Jews and Zionists.
As well, the CJC's fear and reluctance to criticize Islamist groups has allowed bigots like Mohamed Elmasry and Syed Soharwardy to conduct themselves as if they're normal Canadian members of society. If the CJC weren't such moral eunuchs, they'd have taken on those evil men, and shown them to be menaces -- rather than engaging in "dialogue" with them, which only legitimizes them. Really: why should the media have anything bad to say about anti-Semitic bigots, when the CJC itself doesn't?
Finally, the CJC sops up Jewish money, volunteer time and other resources that would otherwise go to an effective Jewish lobby -- one that wasn't always saying "Shhh! Don't speak out! You'll upset the czar!"
The CJC was created to help settle Jewish immigrants in Canada, and later to recruit Jews into the Canadian army. Somewhere along the way they turned into politically correct grievance hustlers, beholden more to the cult of multiculturalism than to Judaism itself, and more interested in liberal politics than being a non-partisan Jewish advocacy group.
Canada's Jews -- and Canada itself -- deserves better.
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