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Gili Zemer and David Mandel: We are Canadian Jewish parents. The Toronto District School Board has failed to protect our kids

Commentary

A Toronto District School Board sign is shown in front of a high school in Toronto on Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2018. Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press.

Much like the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks by al Qaeda in the US—9/11 to many of us—the 10/7 terrorist attack in Israel by Hamas changed everything. In both cases, the localised events were catastrophic, killing over a thousand innocent civilians. In both cases, the events sent shockwaves reverberating around the world.

Following 10/7, however, Jews in most Western cities weren’t as shocked by the terrorism itself, as they were by the rapid explosion of antisemitism in its newest guise of anti-Zionism. Perhaps even more shocking was the tepid response by decision-makers, both public and private, who enabled its expansion through their acts of omission.

Before 10/7, antisemitism was, by far, the highest per capita form of recorded hatred in Toronto and Canada. Since 10/7, there has been a massive spike in antisemitic violence.

A crisis in the Middle East comes to Canada

Well before 10/7, we and other Jewish parents at Rawlinson Community School, a Toronto District School Board elementary school in Midtown Toronto, noticed a glaring double standard. While the TDSB addressed many forms of hate, such as anti-Black racism or gender-related discrimination, it was entirely silent about the rapidly rising antisemitism. To foster awareness of the problem, the school’s parent council secured a TDSB innovation grant to hold two antisemitism workshops for our school’s parents. These optional online workshops were to be presented by the TDSB partner organization Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Education (FSWC). They were to be balanced, respectful, and incorporating values of diversity and inclusion.

When the first session was announced to the community, a small but loud group of parents vehemently opposed the sessions and began a relentless campaign to cancel the workshops with letters, phone calls and meetings with the principal, parent council chairs, superintendent and our school board trustee. They claimed that while they do not oppose antisemitism education, they were appalled that a “staunchly Zionist organization would be welcomed in our  school. They alleged that FSWC “repeatedly conflated criticism of Israel with antisemitism.” Meanwhile FSWC actually took great care to distinguish legitimate criticism of Israel from speech or writings that demonize, delegitimize or apply double standards to Israel. In an attempt to further delegitimize FSWC, they pointed to their website, which they pointed out states, “Fighting Antisemitism: Standing with Israel” and shows “an Israeli flag clearly displayed” on a young girl.

The oppositional parents also took the liberty to share their deep knowledge of the Middle East conflict by defining anti-Zionism for our Jewish community: “Anti-Zionism is the rejection of colonialist, racist apartheid political sentiment rooted in legitimation of occupation of Palestinian land, which anybody with a lay understanding of anti-racism, anti-oppression and human rights cannot deny.” It was interesting as Jews to be educated by non-Jews as to what hatred towards us actually was. Any other group would be condemned by the TDSB for attempting to define another group’s understanding and definition of racism against themselves.

These parents relied on many specious claims about FSWC: The organization, they said, demonizes Palestinians and their supporters. It applauds Israel’s military actions and advocates for the cutting off of aid to starving families and children. And, of course, it supports genocide. No matter that Joan Donoghue, former president of the International Court of Justice clarified that the court did not rule that Israel was commiting genocide in Gaza. Rather, it ruled that Palestinians had a “plausible right” to be protected from genocide, and that South Africa had the right to present its claim to the court. We believe that all people should be protected from genocide and political violence, and that all civilian casualties of war and terrorism are tragic. But the ICJ rulings are a far cry from the common accusation that Israel is directly and intentionally committing genocide and we must remember that the proximal cause of both Israeli and Gazan suffering in this conflict is Hamas.

What these parents are really trying to say is that the problem with FSWC is that it’s Zionist. It stands for the right of the Jewish people to self-determination in their ancestral homeland of Israel. What they won’t plainly say is that they oppose this right of the Jewish people, and they oppose Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state. This is anti-Zionism.

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