ISRAEL’S UNEXPECTED ALLIES: ‘SAME ENEMY, SAME VALUES’

MODERATE MUSLIMS SPEAK OUT AGAINST HAMAS

It’s been a loud refrain and heartbreaking plea from the Jewish community since the Oct. 7 terror attacks in Israel: where are the friends we thought we had?

At their most vulnerable moment in decades, Jews hear deafening silence, when they sought outreach and empathy.

But there are allies quietly snapping to attention, from unlikely communities and ethnicities such as Kosovar, Albanian, Iranian, Azerbaijani, Pakistani.

Many are Muslim. In November, the Defending Democracy event drew hundreds of Jews and non-jews alike to a Toronto venue for a pro-israel slate composed entirely of Muslim speakers including Masab Hassan Yousef, rebel son of Hamas founder Sheikh Hassan Yousef. A similar event on Sunday by the Council of Muslims Against Antisemitism drew 400 people to a Toronto hall.

Here are some of the other unlikely allies providing comfort to a Jewish community that often feels alone:

❚ Donat Syla, former consul-general of Kosovo in Toronto, took to Tiktok to show he was buying Israeli wine “in solidarity with my Jewish friends,” and brought friends to an Israel rally in Toronto.

Syla, 42, said Kosovo and Israel “understand the experience of being marginalized and under threat,” and share democratic values.

When Serbians expelled Albanians from Kosovo, he said, Israel was among the countries that provided haven for the refugees. “I will always remember Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech in 1999, where he addressed the Jewish community about supporting our cause,” he said. In March 2021, Kosovo was the first Muslim-majority territory to open an embassy in Jerusalem.

In a first, his office spearheaded an event with the Kosovar and Jewish community, in February 2022 at a Toronto synagogue, marking the Balkan country’s 14th anniversary. They presented Yad Vashem’s Besa Exhibit, portraits of Albanians who saved Jews during the Holocaust. It was aimed to “highlight the deep connections and bonds” as well as the “shared history” between the communities.

In the early 20th century, international travellers described Prishtina, the capital, as having a Jewish community so robust it owned 10 per cent of the houses, Syla said. Kosovo recently announced visa-free travel for Israelis “that further strengthens the relationship.”

❚ Genc Tirana, who joined Syla at the rally, was honorary Albanian consul for 10 years. The Albanian community supports Israel, he said.

“You have to know who initiated the (Israel-hamas) war. There are surrounding countries that want Israel to be wiped out, and that is wrong. We have stood with the Jewish people for years. We cannot betray them,” he said.

“Whatever it takes, whatever is in our hands, we have to do it again. If Israel wins this war, it means they are going to live. If they lose this war, it’s not going to be good for Jewish people.”

The Muslim majority nation holds a special place as the only European country to have more Jews at t he end of the Second World War, than before. They held to “Besa” — i.e., treating their neighbours as family, refusing to hand over Jews. Some 2,000 were spared. “History is repeating itself,” said Tirana, 64.

Attesting to his country’s bond with the Jewish people, there’s a new Holocaust museum in the capital Tirana, a Jewish museum in Vlora, and the Solomon Museum in Berat. Saranda hosts the archeological remains of a 1,600-year old synagogue.

❚ Raheel Raza, a Pakistani-born Canadian Muslim who is a director of the Council of Muslims Against Antisemitism, has visited Israel 14 times over 20 years. She’s been involved in interfaith dialogues for a quarter-century.

In April 2023, her organization held an interfaith event with 175 attendees, celebrating Eid and commemorating Holocaust Remembrance Day. “It was actually one of the most heartwarming, brilliant events that we ever did.”

Raza concedes “there’s a lot of ignorance, and a lot of misinformation” about Israel “but once you get the dialogue going, and people start talking, it’s a very different thing.” Books about Israel, placed on her coffee table, present opportunities to engage guests.

She and friends made it a point to visit an Aroma Espresso Bar café in downtown Toronto, after it was defaced by antisemites during recent anti-israel protests. At an event at Toronto’s Congregation Habonim synagogue in solidarity with Israel, she wept. “I feel the pain. It’s so heart rending, the stories of the hostages, the kids, and the women. I’m still struggling with that, the horror, depravity, the inhumanity.”

“I want to be a voice for those who don’t have a voice.”

❚ Lalin Hasanova, director of Azerbaijan Art and Culture Centre in Toronto, recently attended a rally in support of Israel. She said of the terror attacks: “We can’t even say people, humans did it. How can we not be with Israel during their hard time?” She could relate: Armenians savagely killed 613 Azerbaijani civilians during the Khojaly massacre, in February 1992, she said.

Azerbaijan, abutting Iran and Russia, has long-standing ties with Israel — the Jewish state was one of the first nations to recognize Azerbaijan’s independence in 1991, placing its embassy in the capital Baku a year later. Today, Azerbaijan provides 40 per cent of Israel’s gas; Israel provides cellular infrastructure, military equipment, and de-mining technology. In November 2022, Azerbaijan became the first Shi’ite country to open an embassy in Israel.

The collaboration between nations came to Vaughan, Ont., a week earlier when the Network of Azerbaijani Canadians presented a Jewish-azerbaijan Heritage Night.

Baku-based Rabbi Zamir Isayev said that there’s “almost zero antisemitism,” toward the 20,000-strong Jewish population. He added that there’s frequent interfaith celebrations, including Muslims that attend Hanukkah parties and Sabbath dinners.

After Oct. 7, over a thousand Azerbaijanis came to Israel’s embassy, bringing flowers and toys in a gesture of support. Azerbaijan was the only country in the region without anti-israel demonstrations.

Israel’s ambassador in Baku, George Deek, said that Azerbaijan finding common cause with Israel is “Iran’s greatest failure,” because Azerbaijan refuses to adopt extremist Islam.

❚ Iranian-canadian Salman Sima, 40, said he was arrested many times on phoney charges in the Islamic Republic; he was jailed a year, mostly in solitary confinement. He fled to Toronto in 2011.

“I support Israel because in the Middle East there’s no other democracy, women’s rights, LGBTQ rights, human rights, religious rights,” he said. “Israel is fighting the devil, Islamic Jihad, on behalf of all of us. Hamas is Iran’s proxy. It’s a personal matter to me. Same fight, same enemy, same values.”

The point isn’t about whether one can criticize Israel, “but talking about morals. Killing Jews is Hamas’s entire mission.”

Sima has been a frequent activist fixture since his first counter-protest against an Al Quds rally at Queen’s Park in 2011. There, with nine other Iranian friends — six former political prisoners — they heard recurring calls to destroy Israel. It led to meeting Jews who were also protesting and eventually friendships.

He said Iranians are increasingly speaking out against the regime, and in support of Israel: “Jews in Israel understand the pain of the Iranian people, and the Iranian people understand the pain of the Israeli nation.”

❚ Goldie Ghamari, an Ottawa-area Conservative MPP, has been another high-profile Persian supporter of the Jewish state. In a speech in the Ontario legislature on Oct. 17, she noted the growing number of the Iran diaspora who wave the country’s pre-revolution lion and sun flag to show solidarity with Israel.

“I’ve never been more proud to be Iranian-canadian,” she said, and “proud of those brave Iranian people” calling out “pure evil.”

Persians and Jews have a 2,600-year shared history, she told National Post. “Despite the regime’s attempts to brainwash Iranians, they are resisting, knowing their historical culture of understanding.”