Jews in crosshairs of cancel culture
Like other western countries, Canada isn’t immune to “cancel culture,” a disturbing sign of the times. The term itself may be contemporary but cancel culture’s unholy mix of defamation, intimidation and threats is anything but new. Variations on this practice date back millennia, with Jews often the prime target.
Amid rampant antisemitism and the current tyranny of cancel culture run amok, the anti-Israel camp is leading the charge in trying to silence the voices of Jews. Sadly, they’re succeeding far too often as organizations and institutions capitulate to pressure from those seeking to cancel Jews.
Earlier this week, a theatre in Hamilton reversed its commitment to host the city’s Jewish Film Festival this year after receiving threatening emails and complaints on social media about Israeli films being included in the event.
It’s but the latest case in what’s becoming a modern-day witch hunt driven by anti-Israel groups in which Jewish individuals are often blacklisted, organizations hosting them are hounded and venues are pressured to cancel Jewish or proIsrael speakers, artists, films and plays. Its pernicious impact extends far and wide.
Two weeks ago, former British Columbia cabinet minister Selina Robinson quit the province’s NDP government due to antisemitism in the party caucus. In a scathing letter announcing her resignation, she wrote: “Antisemitism is calling for the destruction and annihilation of Israel where half the world’s 15.8 million Jews live. Antisemitism is making Jewish people afraid to show their identity. Antisemitism is silencing an openly identified Jewish person who is speaking out about antisemitism. Your collective decision to silence me is antisemitism and you don’t even know it.”
Last month, B.C. Premier David Eby caved to a group of activists who demanded he remove Robinson due to a controversial statement she had made, for which she had already apologized. Robinson’s fate shows that the tactics of cancel culture practitioners, sometimes referred to as “cry-bullies,” often work, much to the detriment of free speech and open debate.
Canadian champion cyclist Leah Goldstein knows all about being cancelled in connection with her Jewish identity. Earlier this month, she was supposed to be the keynote speaker at an International Women’s Day event in Ontario but was disinvited when event organizers gave in to what they called “a small but growing and extremely vocal group” of anti-Israel agitators. They had demanded Goldstein’s removal as a speaker because she had served in the Israeli military more than 30 years ago.
In response, Goldstein posted on her website: “As a Jewish woman, I would never be offended if a Palestinian woman were to speak about her obstacles and life journey. I thought that’s what women were supposed to do for each other — listen and support! Instead, it seems, you have chosen to give in to threats and hate — and this is the saddest part. You removed me and made a statement to your audience, without even giving me a chance to make my own.”
It’s fair to say Jews are the world’s most cancelled people. Long before anyone spoke of “cancel culture,” Jews learned the hard way what it is to be shut down and silenced by hate-driven ostracism, harassment, threats, baseless allegations, historical revisionism and belligerent ideology.
Sadly, as part of the fallout from the Israel-Hamas war, certain universities, unions, NGOs, the arts community and others are increasingly yielding to those who seek to deny and erase the Jewish community’s connection to Israel. Amplified by social media, weaponized as part of this cynical campaign, such efforts feed off each other. In their self-righteous zeal, cry-bullies sometimes not only seek to cancel Jews but erase the Jewish state.
Cancel culture gone berserk doesn’t only endanger Jews — the proverbial canary in the coal mine — but imperils our very democracy. The best antidote is for people to be resolute in standing up to such intimidation. Otherwise, I shudder to think where this slippery slope will lead us as history has repeatedly shown that what starts with the Jews doesn’t end with the Jews.