For more than two and a half years, antisemitism in Canada has moved from the margins to a daily feature of Jewish life. Synagogues have been shot at, including several Toronto-area congregations this spring (among them the Shaarei Shomayim, the synagogue where I was married). Jewish schools now operate with police at the doors, community events screen attendees and withhold their locations from public disclosure, protesters target Jewish residential areas, and many Canadian Jews have quietly taken the mezuzahs off their doorposts or tucked a Star of David out of sight. Despite antisemitism rates that have attracted increasing global attention, leadership prepared to directly confront Canada’s antisemitism problem has too often been lacking.
That is the backdrop against which many in the community, myself included, hoped Prime Minister Mark Carney would use yesterday’s speech on antisemitism to forcefully call it out and take ownership of the work of confronting it. After years in which too many leaders treated a tweet or a hedged statement as a sufficient response, a Prime Minister standing up to name the crisis without qualification was much needed. Carney rightly acknowledged that the country’s civic compact is failing Jewish Canadians. He noted that more than two-thirds of all religion-motivated hate crimes last year were directed at a community that makes up only one per cent of the population, adding:
They have thrown firebombs at synagogues and attacked community centres. They have targeted Jewish-owned businesses. Harassed Jewish patients at hospitals. They drove Jewish students from the common spaces on our university campuses. And desecrated our Holocaust memorials. Canadian parents must now weigh whether it is safe to send their children to a Jewish day school. Observant Canadians think twice before wearing a Kippah on the subway.
These are facts but given that there are some that deny or seek to justify these facts, it is important that the Prime Minister has called it out without equivocation. No one can say they don’t know.
Naming the crisis is only step one however, and on the parts that matter most, the speech missed the mark. Begin with where he chose to deliver it. Carney told his audience he was speaking in a synagogue but the address was for all Canadians. But a speech for all Canadians that frames antisemitism as a national problem belongs on the floor of the House of Commons, where Canadians are represented and where all MPs – whether or not they are Jewish or represent ridings with large Jewish populations – would have had to sit together and hear the need for the country to take responsibility for antisemitism. I’m happy to see Evan Solomon, Leslie Church, Anthony Housefather, Rachel Bendayan, and Ben Carr in attendance. But we need all MPs, particularly those who have said little about antisemitism since October 7th, to see this as their issue too. MPs from all perspectives sitting side-by-side only happens in the House of Commons, and it did not happen yesterday (as one rabbi noted, a speech in a synagogue was needed months ago in the immediate aftermath of the shootings).
The larger problem is that to hear the speech is to learn that Canada has an antisemitism problem without learning why. The hate is treated as something that simply appeared (or, more accurately, re-appeared as Carney traced back to Canada’s shameful legacy during the Holocaust) and now must be managed. There was no mention of October 7th, no mention of anti-Zionism, and no account of the factors that have left the community exposed. In fact, there was not even a mention of Israel either. The prepared remarks had one reference that sought to assure Canadians that antisemitism guidelines still permitted criticism of the State of Israel, but he skipped that reference on delivery in French. In this regard, Carney’s speech does not compare well with one Justin Trudeau gave a year ago on antisemitism in which he stated “no one in Canada should ever be afraid to call themselves a Zionist. I am a Zionist.”
As I argued when the Senate’s human rights committee released its report this spring, antisemitism in Canada today runs through two channels: Jews targeted for being Jewish, and Jews targeted for being Zionists. When more than nine in ten Canadian Jews regard the existence of a Jewish state as part of who they are, those are not two problems but one, and a response that will not name the way anti-Zionism is used to launder antisemitism cannot address it. Deborah Lyons, the former Special Envoy on antisemitism whose handbook on the IHRA definition exists for precisely that reason, understood this. Carney either does not or, worse, does not believe it.
Having failed to explain the source of the problem, Carney offered little in the way of new solutions. The measures he pointed to are already underway: counter-radicalization projects, additional security funding for community institutions, and the Criminal Code amendments already before Parliament. In other words, erect larger walls to protect the community without targeting the sources of the problem.
The one new element was the announcement of the membership of the Advisory Council on Rights, Equality and Inclusion, the body that replaced the Special Envoy positions the government eliminated in February. That council will be chaired by Culture Minister Marc Miller and includes just one member of the Jewish community, alongside a mix of representatives that includes the lawyer behind a legal challenge against the University of Alberta for calling in police to clear an encampment in 2024 that the University said raised public safety concerns. The council, with no obvious expertise on the issue and membership that some in the Jewish community will view to have been adverse in the past, has been asked to approach antisemitism with more study, research, data collection, and measurement.
But we are long past the time when the community needs more study. It has been living that assessment for many months at its schools, synagogues, community centres, old age homes, hospitals, and residential areas. What was missing from the speech was new policy that might turn the tide: a zero-tolerance standard for antisemitism on campuses or commitment to active prosecution of hate. Active support for extending bubble zone legislation or tackling antisemitism within the government itself. There are no shortage of ideas. Indeed, the recently released Senate committee report on standing united against antisemitism listed 22 recommendations for action, but Carney proceeded to ignore most of them. In fact, he assured that the council’s measures “are not curtailments of freedom of expression. They are not constraints on legitimate criticism of any government on any subject anywhere.”
This is not an argument that speaking out and providing support to the community does not matter. It does and this speech was overdue. But addressing antisemitism must combine words with action and a personal commitment, whatever the political cost. In delivering a speech lacking in urgency, that prioritizes criticism of Israel over the safety of Canadians, and which comes up empty on new ideas or policies, the Prime Minister failed to meet the moment.
How about Israel stop genociding Palestinians?
You ever think that that maybe that root cause of that anti-Semitism is anger at the Jewish state for raping and slaughtering tens of thousands of Palestinians?
How many IDF soldiers ended up in jail for what they did? None.
And do try and remember that conflating anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism, is explicitly anti-Semitic.
Are Chinese-Canadians singled out for the Chinese government’s treatment of 1.5 million Uyghurs? Are they assaulted, intimidated, shot at, stabbed, their schools and places of congregation shot at?
Until you can answer why antisemitism in Canada, the US, the UK, Australia, etc., is excused by the argument that the actions of a foreign government justifies treatment of Jewish Canadians (and Jews in other countries), and the discrimination of any other racial/religious/ethnic/national group does not exist despite unlawful and despicable actions of foreign governments that aren’t Israel, anti-Zionism IS antisemitism.
First of all, it’s not “excuses”, it’s “explained”. As in this is the logical end result of a decades long campaign, by Zionists, to explicitly link anti-Zionism, to anti-Semitism.
The Chinese government isn’t out there spending billions of dollars in American lobbying money saying that if you oppose the CCP, you oppose the Chinese people. Israel has done that for over 50 years.
And more to the point, even despite that, yes, Chinese Canadians have been the targets of hate crimes because of the actions of the Chinese government.
The fact that you think that Jewish people are the only ones who face discrimination speaks volumes about your world view.
This really misses the point. Jewish Canadians, more than any other group, live in fear. You have to contextualize any comment within that reality. It’s statistically and anecdotally repeatedly shown to be true.
“Jewish Canadians, more than any other group, live in fear.” Hmm? Try telling that to a young Fist Nations woman. You’ve made a bold claim now show us what credible evidence you have to make it. Preferably research from some place other than a Jewish-Canadian lobby group.
So you consider it discrimination when “Chinese Canadians [are targeted] by hate crimes because of the actions of the Chinese government.”
But you consider it correct when Jewish Canadians are targeted by hate crimes in response to the actions of the government of Israel.
Opposition to the existence of one, and only one, state is not normal. Zionism does not imply support for Israeli policy.
Lmao, you have such a victim complex, apparently it impedes your reading comprehension.
No one is excusing anything.
We’re staying very clearly that the rise in anti-Semitism is a direct result of the actions of the Israeli government.
You want to stop anti-Semitism, stop writing about Carney, and start writing about Netanyahu. He is the one who has caused the rise in anti-Semitism, him and all his supporters.
Yes, people are aware that the anti-Israel crowd, anti-Zionists or “pro-Palestinians” claim to have accurately identified the real root cause of anti-Semitism
It’s not a lack of awareness. We’ve heard this many times
After all, people like you are constantly trolling articles like this, triggered by your knee-jerk reactions, refusing to give space for this topic. You folks repeat your predictable, asinine arguments, over and over and over, not caring that *this* time, they *still* don’t agree with you
One reason that Michael Geist ignore you and continue to post articulately about anti-Semitism is that because you have no credibility
The reason you have no credibility (outside your bubble) is that your emotional reasoning and attribution errors are plain for anyone to see. But without self-regulation, you are incompetent at course-correcting, so people like you continue to troll and troll, and your intended audience continues to ignore you
Alternatively, some people argue with your “facts” and fallacious “logic”, but it never goes anywhere, nobody will change your mind, and you won’t change theirs either. It is predictable and draining
So people like Michael Geist will continue to post about anti-Semitism, and will continue to ignore you. I’d say “Deal with it” but we both know you can’t deal with it, which is why you’re still here, over and over. Now go ahead and do your worst and continue to vent as you do
The IDF have slaughtered tens of thousands of innocent me , women, and children.
They have openly raped and tortured prisoners. They recently raped and abused the flotilla activists.
They have bombed churches, mosques, schools, and hospitals into rubble.
The IDF and Israeli settlers have faced mass international sanctions, for their genocidal conduct in the Palestine and Lebanon.
Do not talk about not understanding context when you are a willfully blind and ignorant supported of Palestinian genocide.
Name the atrocities of the IDF when you’re talking about anti-Jewish anger, or shut the —- up. No one wants to hear you ignore reality and wonder who could possibly have caused an increase in anti-Jewish sentiment, when the obvious answer is in the newspaper every single day.
Do you (or do you think it’s OK to):
– troll articles about Islamophobia, repeatedly
– vent and rationalize that the root cause of Islamophobia (like a mosque being shot up) is violence and oppression perpetrated in Muslim countries?
– when someone calls you on it, you tell them to shut the f_ck up
Or do you only do this for Jews?
C’mon, do really think nobody sees you for what you are?
No credibility, have you
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And that has exactly what to do with rising antisemitism?
I don’t know anything about people who specifically identify with the label “anti-Zionist”. Personally, I’m not opposed to an ethnostate for Jews. I’m opposed to an ethnostate for *anybody, Jewish or otherwise, period*. The whole concept of “Nations” is pernicious; they should be a lot more like “administrative districts”.
As for what 90 percent of Jews in Canada think, well, 120 years ago (even 100 years ago), probably 90 percent of white people in Canada thought that white people should be running everything, because of some combination of believing they were culturally superior, believing they were genetically superior, and just believing it was “their nation”. If I’d contradicted them, would that have made me anti-white?
Firstly, I can only speculate what hypotheticals you would dare to come up with to critique other persecuted minorities… or do you only do this for the Jewish community?
Secondly, inventing a 1900s time-travel fantasy — using the alias of “sock puppet” of all things — to hypothetically contradict a dominant majority’s beliefs in an attempt to troll the real-life, present-day persecution of a minority in 2026 doesn’t make you anti-white.
It just makes everyone see that you are anti-analogous, anti-reasonable, and anti-believable
The point is that it is not legitimate to tell people that they’re not allowed to disagree, even vehemently, with some view that happens to be held by a majority of a group, on pain of being accused of some kind of essentialist hatred of that group.
I don’t believe that Zionism is of the essence of Jewishness or Judaism. Neither do most non-Jews, and neither do some Jews.
If you *do* think Zionism is essential to being Jewish, and if your definition says that disagreeing with that *substantive political position that has real effects on non-Jewish people* makes somebody anti-semitic, well, yes, I guess you’re going to find a lot of anti-semites in your world. But that is because you have adopted a bad definition that creates a useless, and frankly dangerous, concept. The rest of us aren’t obliged to change because you call us names.
I don’t speak for others, but I don’t personally have an issue with you opposing Zionism if you oppose the existence of all nations. Do you also dedicate your time writing about your opposition to the existence of Greece or Japan?
You are unable to distinguish between a nation and a state? And also between a state that is committing genocide and one that isn’t? I’m just curious, how old are you ? Are you out on recess?
I submit that “the point” is:
1. You disliked the premise of the article, so you invented a wildly contrived 1900s time-travel hypothetical to manufacture a “gotcha”
2. When that failed, you pivoted to a different argument entirely: redefining Jewish identity on behalf of the Jewish community
3. You advocate an ideology that rejects nationhood itself, so you really have no pragmatic solution and no meaningful engagement with antisemitism in 2026. Faced with an article about rising antisemitism, your response has been entirely self-centred: not concern for Jews, but concern that your own anti-Zionist-adjacent views might be criticized
Why should your intended audience care about your convoluted rationalizations, if you’re trying to insert yourself as a victim the very real persecution of a minority?
Since you ignored my first question about criticizing other persecuted minorities, I would also LOVE to hear your answer to the question above: do you equally oppose other nations with all your passion, time and energy, or are you just obsessed with the Jewish one?
1. I used an analogy to *actual history*. There’s nothing hypothetical about it. You know perfectly well that time travel has nothing to do with the point. I suspect you don’t like the comparison because you have no actual answer to it. The fact is that Zionism and white nationalism (and all the legions of other nationalisms out there) are based on the same principles and viewpoints. Accept one, and you accept the other… unless you are dishonest, which of course many nationalists are. That remains true *no matter how many people believe in them*. Nobody’s past or present victimization gets them a pass, either.
2. I didn’t “pivot” to anything. I said that I don’t think X is essential to Y, nor indeed that Y is essential to X so being opposed to X doesn’t doesn’t make me anti-Y. I pointed out that not identifying X with Y is not some kind of universal thing, let *alone* a logical necessity. If I am going to discuss my view of Jews or of anybody else, I have to offer some idea of who I think I’m talking about, and that has nothing to do with defining anything for anybody else. If you choose to define “Jew” to require “Zionist”, well, have fun, but that doesn’t affect me, statistics or no statistics. And you might want to have a thought about who you’re excluding in the process.
3. I’m not a victim. I’m interested in keeping people from creating *more* victims by buying into ways of thinking that have created plenty of real victims. However, I will admit to being peeved at Geist’s name-calling sweeping me in. So? Nothing to say about substance?
4. If you think that’s “all my passion, time and energy”, you must have a pretty sad baseline.
5. Yes, actually, I do write a lot *more* about nationalism in general. I do it in a lot of forums, under a variety of names, whenever it comes up. I do it maybe once a week. I might mention Israel once every few months, invariably because somebody else brought it up. Probably the biggest countries I mention are the US and Canada. I don’t sit around *thinking* about Israel or Jews or anything related, or spend my time in places that focus on them. They’re not special. This was *brought to my attention* on a site I read for the copyright and privacy content. And I’d have written about an equally obvious copyright or privacy error, too. It’s just that there aren’t so many of those on here.
I’m guessing you aren’t Jewish. So you have no standing to tell us what is antisemtism or anti-Zionism. But ignoring that…
Zionism is a HUGE part of the Jewish religion. Every year at Passover we say “Next Year in Jerusalem”. Because Jerusalem is the capital of Israel.
Believing we have the right to self determination in our ancestral homeland is not a white supremacy policy as you antisemites want to continue to believe. You only believe that because it furthers your spoken hatred for Jews.
It’s interesting. In the 1930s and 40s, we weren’t ‘white enougjh’ and so you and your German friends thought killing us was a good idea.
Now suddenly, with 50% of Israeli Jews being people of colour, we’re somehow TOO WHITE for you.
We were too poor and as soon as we took it upon ourselves to learn, read, create, invent and make spaces for ourselves, where we never stopped others from joining us, you hate us because we’ve succeeded.
So don’t tell me that you don’t hate Jews you “only hate Zionists” because the reality is, you’ve never liked us, rich, poor, white, brown, black, Asian (yes, there are Asian Jews).
And you don’t get to define antisemitism to us just like you don’t get to define racism to Black people.
Is zionism ESSENTIAL to Judaism? No. But I would love to see how an anti-Zionist finishes the Nirtzah without L’Shana Haba’ah B’Yerushalayim (Next Year in Jerusalem).
Let’s play whack-a-mole with your arguments:
1. On your “history” lesson:
On this thread, you assert as a self-evident fact that “Zionism and white nationalism are based on the same principles.” No, that is your ideological premise. Don’t flatten all forms of national self-determination into a single category as if the differences don’t matter. Majority nationalism, minority nationalism, indigenous nationalism, and white nationalism could all be interchangeable or debated as such ad nauseum
You want people to see you as a sophisticated analyst? You’re not. Your argument is intellectually lazy and reductive. White nationalism was from a dominant majority and Zionism was a historically persecuted minority seeking safety from pervasive persecution
With a philosophy that can’t distinguish between a desire to dominate and a desire to survive, you’re completely useless at analyzing the real world, much less be any sort of credible voice on the topic of antisemitism in Canada
But you made a useless analogy, then you doubled down. I already had an unfavorable opinion of your character, motivations and trustworthiness when you first trolled this article; now my opinion is bolstered
2. On your definition of Jewish identity:
You seem to be arguing with a position I never took. Jewish identity and Zionism are interdependent while conceptually distinct. However, the connection between Jewish identity and Israel predates modern political Zionism by centuries. It’s embedded throughout Jewish history, liturgy, and practice. For example, for two millennia, diaspora Jewish families ended every Passover Seder with the words, “Next year in Jerusalem”. Anti-Zionists omit this sort of thing because they don’t know as much as they think they do, to hide the weaknesses in their reductive arguments, or some other selfish motive that deflects from accurate representation of the majority of the Jewish community
So yes, you are free to reject ethno-religious traditions. What you are not is an authority on its significance to Jews, much less on how Jews should understand antisemitism directed at them. Ironically, you did acknowledge that 90% of Canadian Jews hold this connection while using a fallacious analogy to insist that this should carry no weight anyway. Consistency isn’t your strong suit when you just try to throw whatever sticks
3–5. On your claim about motivations and “universality”:
You claim you’re not targeting Jews and that you apply the same critique to all nationalisms
You were also asked a direct question: do you apply this same framework when confronted with other forms of minority persecution and identity-based violence? So where’s the answer? I must have missed it
The article is about antisemitism in Canada in 2026. Your contribution is that nationalism is bad
So we are confronted with a real rise in antisemitic attacks, and your trolling … sorry, your well-motivated, good-natured, non-prejudiced, helpful and useful intervention… is to argue that Jewish self-understanding is philosophically illegitimate? And THAT’s how you think you’ll rescue people from self-victimization?
I mean, seriously? How’s that working out for you?
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“ …we have discovered a great social secret in Canada. We have contrived to solve problems which would ruin other countries merely by ignoring their existence.” — Hugh MacLennan.
Can’t ignore it any longer…
Perhaps it is time for an open discussion on the elephant in the room, starting with the over-used, but under supported by facts, use of the word “genocide” when talking about Israel’s response to an enemy at their gate who has – without pause – sought the extermination of the Jewish people from their homeland.
War is all hell, as Sherman said, and with Hamas, no one yet has offerred up how Israel is to battle a cowardly and disgusting enemy who digs under schools and hospitals to practice their evil without civilian casualties.
There is a religion which regularly chooses violence to assert itself upon non-believers, and it’s not Judaism. But we keep expanding its presence in Canada, then act mystified about why anti-Semitism keeps growing.
So in your mind any and all actions taken by the Israeli army are justified?
The raping of prisoners and activists? The slaughtering of tens of thousands of innocent women and children? The mass destruction of their homes, businesses, schools, hospitals, and lives…. With absolutely zero intention of rebuilding or providing them with anything?
In your mind there’s no such thing as a war crime? Are you saying that Nazis shouldn’t have been punished for their war crimes too because “war is hell” and every single person on the “other side” counts as an enemy combatant?
The cognitive dissonance that Israelis have is un—-ing real. The western world literally stole Palestinian land and kicked hundreds of thousands of people off their land violently to make room for Israel. Israel then proceeded to create an apartheid state, stole more land from Palestinians, created a decades long policy of breaking the bones of children who protest them, and is now actively genociding Palestinians daily, and you wonder how there could be any other option??
Are you really that —-ing dumb? Netanyahu himself explicitly armed Hamas and derailed Palestinian peace talks for no reason other than crass political survival. Stop —-ing acting like the rise in anti-Semitism is anything other than the predictable result of Israeli actions.
You’re getting angry. Yes, show everyone how their concerns about antisemitism makes you SOOOOOO angry. You ARE the victim here
And people will be lining up past the door to talk to you, excited and eager to discuss with you the straw man argument you set up
Let them see you rage about the big, serious problems of this world with all of the emotional intelligence of a toddler, with some swear words to boot
And keep doing that, over and over, until everyone who disagrees with you has given up on you. And then you will find peace of mind
BUT… then, when you find another article about antisemitism, you’ll do it… again! And that that’s when you will find peace of mind at last
If you want to identify the root cause of the rise of anti-Semitism, it’s Netanyahu and those whose support him.
If you want to address the recent rise in anti-Semitism, that’s where you should focus your efforts. If you don’t think it’s worth trying to address the root cause and that we should still address the symptoms, then fine, but at least acknowledge the root cause and don’t act like it’s a mystery.
So calmly restating your position, as if you’re behaving like a normal, rational person all of a sudden. But the past record is right behind you, and I can simply copy and paste from before:
* * *
Yes, people are aware that the anti-Israel crowd, anti-Zionists or “pro-Palestinians” claim to have accurately identified the real root cause of anti-Semitism
It’s not a lack of awareness. We’ve heard this many times
After all, people like you are constantly trolling articles like this, triggered by your knee-jerk reactions, refusing to give space for this topic. You folks repeat your predictable, asinine arguments, over and over and over, not caring that *this* time, they *still* don’t agree with you
So people like Michael Geist will continue to post about anti-Semitism, and will continue to ignore you.
I’d say “Deal with it” but we both know you can’t deal with it, which is why you’re still here, over and over.
Now go ahead and do your worst and continue to vent as you do
* * *
Isn’t going in circles so much fun?
You and Michael Grist are the ones asking for change.
It’s on you to avoid going in circles.
If you find that repeatedly ignoring the genocide of Palestinians is accomplishing that them you’re delusional.
“You and Michael Grist are the ones asking for change.
It’s on you to avoid going in circles.
If you find that repeatedly ignoring the genocide of Palestinians is accomplishing that them you’re delusional.”
They clearly are. Opinion polls not just in Canada but in the US and throughout the world show a growing majority of people are completely over the cynical use of antisemitism to silence criticism of Israel but Geist and Co have not adjusted at all. Now, whining that Carney is not as Zionist as Trudeau. Shows a total lack of self-reflection. Literally no one would argue that Carney is to the left of Trudeau as he has moved to the right on literally every issue. They just don’t recognize the political centre when it’s staring them in the face. Zionists must all be going to the same dinner parties because they are extremely out of touch with public opinion and judging from their inflexible rhetoric, do not seem to understand why.
Do genocides routinely have bouncy castles?
Israel apologists insist on playing a double game where they like Geist here claim the rise in antisemitism is linked to Oct 7th but then simultaneously argue that linking criticism of Israel’s genocide and apartheid is antisemitic conflation. I’m sure in their little insular bubbles that this is somehow coherent. Most Canadians and citizens of the world clearly disagree but they just keep doubling down on the same tired argument and push for censoring criticism of Israel. They have lost the argument and refuse to engage honestly so that’s all they have left while the rest of the world moves on. The fact that Carney doesn’t have their back the way Trudeau did is just another sign of how isolated they are from public opinion.
Setting aside their rationalizations and pseudo-logic, none of these trolls will actually answer this question:
Have you, or do you think it’s acceptable to, apply your behavior observed here to any other community? For example:
1. You read an article about Islamophobia, like a mosque shooting in the West
2. Your mind immediately rationalizes that the “root cause” is the actions of a Muslim government you oppose
3. Because just thinking it isn’t enough, you feel compelled to hijack the comments section of that article to lecture the affected community about your geopolitical views
4. You never back down. Never integrate their concerns. This is a war of psychological attrition until everyone else gives up. That’s how you “win”, not by truth, but by angry persistence
Or… do you only save this specific, obsessive behavior for Jews?
Because reasonable people do not think this behavior is normal or acceptable
Realistically, we don’t need to “win” against these trolls — not on their terms. It’s clear how their behaviour is not OK. Their prejudice makes them unreasonable, not credible, and incompetent and that’s “good enough” for me
“2. Your mind immediately rationalizes that the “root cause” is the actions of a Muslim government you oppose”
Ahh yes because the blog post doesn’t directly link the rise of antisemitism with criticism of the State of Israel.. One would almost think that this commentator did not even read the blog post that we are all commenting on. This playbook is so wrote and scripted that it really could just be a factory of bots still making excuses for genocide. But of course that’s the double move that Israel’s apologists think people don’t clearly see. They conflate antisemitism with criticism of Israel and then when people respond by saying criticism of Israel is legitimate and should not be conflated with antisemitism in this way, they cry about how this is antisemitic and only an antisemite would talk about Israel’s crimes in a ‘totally unrelated’ discussion on antisemitism. It’s hilarious that they think this is convincing in any way and that everyone is too stupid to see past their tired obfuscations. Again, they must not be going out much.
And of course it’s all sprinkled with a healthy dose of whataboutism as if the genocide of Palestinians is just similar to what all states are doing right now. Just an astounding absence of any moral compass. According to them opposing genocide is an unhealthy preoccupation. People will be studying these completely immoral justifications of an ongoing genocide in history books long into the future.
Nah, this is straight up bullshit & disgusting to even argue decades into Israel’s genocide of Palestinians, Lebanese peoples, Iranians, Syrians & many other WANA peoples. But! There are 2 great lessons to take away from this dressed up drivel:
1. It is antisemitic AS FUCK to conflate Judaism & Jewishness (a diverse, ethnoreligious marginalized demographic with a long history of being othered & targeted with hate &/or violence) with Zionism (a recently invented, atheistic, fascist, ethnosupremacist ideology).
2. Even people with an impressive CV & extensive education can be bigoted idiots. Michael Geist is a great example because why the hell does an Ottawa U privacy & copyright law guy think that that experience empowers him to speak authoritatively on genocide & geopolitics?
Fuck off Michael Geist, free Palestine 🇵🇸