"Ask A Jew" Wednesday

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[u/bearoscuro]

I was wondering how people felt about these two articles + twitter thread? They're from a Canadian news outlet I follow. The second is a rebuttal to the first, and the third is a counter-rebuttal. A lot to read haha, but I'm curious about people's opinions.

https://www.readthemaple.com/are-canadian-jews-complicit-in-israels-genocide-in-gaza/

https://www.readthemaple.com/moral-complicity-and-the-bigger-picture-of-canadian-support-for-israel/

https://x.com/DavideMastracci/status/1841517917281616332

[u/ApplesauceFuckface → u/bearoscuro]

Nice to see another reader of The Maple and The Breach on here.

One thing I would note about the Mastracci article and Appel's response is that these are two Canadians commenting on the Jewish community in Canada. While there are Canadian Jews who oppose Israel on a more fundamental level than "oh, Bibi is bad but Israel has a right to exist and defend itself", I think Mastracci is correct to point out that we're very much in the minority. And we do not have the same pull economically, politically or socially as the Zionist bloc. I can also empathize to a degree with Appel, I had to go through a difficult period of cognitive dissonance as I shook off the Zionist indoctrination I grew up with, and I was blessedly able to do that more or less in private.

[u/bearoscuro → u/ApplesauceFuckface]

Yeah! Those two and the Grind have been putting out consistently decent coverage, I drop them a few dollars when I can. I felt like I was going insane whenever I saw the CBC passive voice war crime apologia otherwise... every time Israel bombs something they'll be writing a stream of consciousness free verse poem in the headline to avoid saying who did it. It's good the Maple can have slightly conflicting opinion pieces like this, it's a sign of integrity I think.

I think there is a degree of unease I felt about Mastracci's phrasing, because there are genuine antisemitic goons who use similar stuff as a way to segue into their ideology, but it's pretty factually backed up and he does make it clear that he's discussing their material actions of support, not identity. And it is unfortunately an issue... I think if there were statistics floating around like "60% of Canadian Muslims think it's bigoted to criticize the idea of a caliphate" or "Russian Canadians raise 100 million for Russia as support after it invades Ukraine" people would be rightfully unsettled, but Zionism is more socially acceptable to support.

[u/Saul_al-Rakoun → u/bearoscuro]

I could come up with a critique of the initial article, but I only really have the time and energy right now for a critique of the rebuttal. My critique is pretty simple: it's sophistry. Appel simply sidesteps the core of Mastracci's argument, which is the organized Jewish community provides material support to the Israeli State. He dodges the fact that Mastracci isn't simply making an argument based on what polls tell us about the passions and sentiments, but also that what the polls tell us line up with the fundraising reports.

This is a brute fact of Zionist occupation of Judaic institutions and it is one of the mechanisms by which the Zionist state can interfere in other countries' politics.

The second thing that neither Mastracci nor Appel touch on is hasbara: Zionists donate their time to the colonial project by volunteering themselves as amateur propagandists. Eylon Levy is perhaps the most hilarious archetype of this person, but as a group they provide material support for genocide by trying to gum up popular opposition to it.

[u/bearoscuro → u/Saul_al-Rakoun]

Thank you! Yeah, that's what I didn't agree with in Appel's article - he kind of frames it as "well, the facts say that a lot of Jewish people and institutions support Israel, but it's not real support, it's just posting online and donating money sometimes!" which is still quite morally wrong, and it helps prop up Israel's economy as well.

Also I wish more journalists in general would cover the widespread employment/educational discrimination going on... neither Mastracci or Appel did, I guess understandably bc Mastracci's initial article was already fairly long. It should be way more of a scandal than it is, and I think the publicized cases are a tip of the iceberg because a lot of people are afraid to say anything, or are of marginalized backgrounds already, and don't have the resources to make a legal case out of it.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/chilling-effect-pro-palestinian-1.7064510

https://breachmedia.ca/abuse-of-power-hospitals-med-schools-crack-down-on-palestine-advocacy/