By: Zach Paikin

Last week, Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) hosted Gideon Levy at McGill. Levy, a columnist for Haaretz, is known for his very critical views on Israel.

Levy, just like many anti-Israel advocates on campus, espouses a leftist worldview. Different from a liberal or conservative view, such opinions base their arguments upon emotion instead of intellect, and weigh the powerful against the powerless instead of right against wrong. Let me explain.

Most of us view the world through the prism of right vs. wrong. For instance, we can all agree that genocide is wrong, regardless of who is committing it, and that it should be condemned and fought. Leftists, on the other hand, weigh the powerful (white, Western, often Jewish) against the powerless (“darker skin”, “Third World”). Their argument is based upon historical and present colonialism and imperialism.

The result is a worldview in which the “powerless” can do no wrong whereas the “powerful” can do no right. Leftists care not of the dangers of Islamic fundamentalism, nor of the fact that over 10 million Muslims have been slaughtered by fellow Muslims since the end of World War II. A few new housing units for Jews in East Jerusalem, in their view, is the largest obstacle to regional (and often, world) peace.

Levy, paralyzed by his own worldview, fails to understand Israel’s legitimate security concerns. In his talk, he posed an Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear facilities as a greater threat than allowing Iran to obtain nuclear weapons. He also implicitly called for Palestinian acts of violence against Israeli civilians, while refusing to acknowledge that Palestinian refusal to recognize Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state is one of the driving forces of the conflict.

Such dangerous words, which view Islamic fundamentalists as static instead of dynamic, pose a major threat to the intellectual balance on campus. Small-l liberals are being swayed by this leftist argument. If we don’t make the liberal case for Israel, then we have contributed to a major defeat for the supporters of democracy, freedom and human rights in Canada and across the world.

On a lighter note, Hillel Montreal recently hosted its Froshashana party, attracting hundreds of young Jewish students from across the city. The event was a major success, and has contributed greatly to the fostering of Jewish identity within the local community. Congratulations to Hillel McGill President Victoria Shore and others for their phenomenal effort.

In Ottawa, the Israel Awareness Committee has announced its list of speakers for the fall, a list that includes Yaakov Katz (October 6^th), Neil Lazarus (November 4^th), Gil Hoffman (November 8^th) and others. The IAC’s first general meeting of the year will be on October 5^th at 7pm at Carleton (Tory 216).

Chag sameach to all!