There is a move by some countries in the West including in Canada to unilaterally recognize a Palestinian state, a move which in my view will not create a better Middle East but is only likely to promote uncompromising, extremist views on the part of the Palestinians. This recognition will add to the stature of Hamas and other jihadists in Gaza, as Hamas’s actions will be the ones credited with creating this development, and Hamas will renew its efforts to destroy Israel. In order for there to ever be peace in the region Hamas must not be placated but resoundingly defeated.
The simple fact is that there is no effective Palestinian government in either Gaza or the West Bank. Israel cannot be blamed for the fact that the Palestinian Authority has (despite massive financial support from the EU and many other states) been unable to build an adequate educational or health infrastructure or that Palestinian elections have not been held since 2006. The PA leadership continues to allocate significant resources to inciting to terror.
As Prof. Eyal Benvenisti had pointed out, notwithstanding the signing of the Oslo Accords, the Palestinian National Charter, which is the PLO’s constitution has never been amended to remove those provisions that are aimed at elimination of the Jewish State. In other words, the Palestinians continue to claim sovereignty over all of pre-67 Israel.
The core reason why the Arab Palestinian leadership (be it the PA or Hamas) has consistently rejected statehood offers is the fact they deny the legitimacy of the Jewish State of Israel.
The Palestinians have refused to renounce the “right of return” demanding that all those 500,000-750,000 Palestinians who were displaced in the 1948 war and all of their descendants numbering 6 million are entitled to live in what is now the State of Israel. But the real cause of their displacement was the refusal on the part of the Palestinians to accept the 1947 UN Partition plan which the Jewish side accepted. I fail to see any justification for creating an Iranian proxy Palestinian terror state that would seek to annihilate Israel.
Thankfully the United States does not support unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state, and will use its veto power at the UN Security Council, even if France and the United Kingdom, two permanent members of the UN Security Council do recognize a Palestinian state.
This current war has made it clear to Israelis that in the future Israel will need to manufacture more of its own weapons, such that it is less dependent on the United States or other countries in the West.
In Canada, we have seen the explosion of antisemitism on our streets and in our universities.
Canada’s envoy for combating antisemitism Deborah Lyons recently made a decision to leaving her job early by three months partly out of great exhaustion from “waking up every day to a fight,” she told the Canadian Jewish News
Deborah Lyons had been serving as Canada’s special envoy on preserving Holocaust remembrance and combatting antisemitism taking on the position soon after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel.
I have seen a post from a person who spoke with Deborah Lyons on several occasions and had exchanges with some of her staff. He wrote:
“The tension associated with her work was palpable and came across strongly in all conversations. I still recall one of her advisers, who told me that as soon as he agreed to join her office, he lost many of his friends… that's the world we live in! If you want to fight antisemitism, you risk becoming a pariah…”
This will not come as a surprise to many Canadian Jews who fear with good reason that Canada will no longer be an inclusive environment for themselves, their children and their grand- children.
“I would say that during… these last two years, I’ve …often become quite despondent and despairing about the fact that it was hard to get people to speak up, to speak with clarity, to speak with conviction about what we were seeing happening here on Canadian soil,” Lyons said to the Canadian Jewish News on leaving her position.
If that is what Lyons has said publicly, just imagine what she must have said in private.
I believe that the relative peace the Jews experienced in the world, post-World War II, was because the world felt guilty after the Holocaust. However, it is becoming more and more clear that like almost everyone, the world did not feel guilty for the crimes it committed, the world felt guilty for getting caught. And now, it is 80 years after the Holocaust and many in the international community have decided that the statute of limitations on dead-Jew guilt has passed. The Holocaust simply means very little anymore.
In Canada on a daily basis it has become increasingly untenable in many respects to live as a Jew. In my view, in Canada we need more pro-activity, understanding and education on the part of our Jewish leadership, non-Jewish leadership, political leadership, other faith communities, and NGO influencers.
