Discrimina-Tory
Prejudice and bigotry lurk in unsuspecting ways
By EZRA LEVANT
Note to readers: It is important to read right to the end of this column.
"Jewish activists capturing Tory races," screamed the front page headline in Friday's Globe and Mail newspaper.
The article that followed was just as breathless. These Jews represented a "political penetration" of the Tory party by people who take a "hard line." These Jews had "ties" to Jewish "groups." And this was not achieved through normal democracy, but by rabbis "persuading" their flocks to join the party.
Out of 308 riding associations, the Globe only found eight in which Jews were candidates. But still they called it "a large number" and "an unfortunate turn" for the party, especially a party trying to shuck off accusations of a "hidden agenda."
The Globe found a Gentile politician who lost a nomination contest and served up just the right tone of worry.
"It begins to hijack the other agendas that parties have," said a candidate who lost to a Jew, a Jew who was "recommended" in his synagogue, a Jew with his own agenda, not the Tory agenda. He doesn't have anything against Jews. He is just worried that these Jews "probably can't get elected because they certainly don't represent any mainstream population view."
Other, less tolerant people are "extremely concerned," reported the Globe, but were unwilling to make their comments on the record, perhaps for fear of offending their Jewish friends. These critics "wished the party leaders had been more involved in the nominations." No one claims that the votes weren't fairly won by these Jews, so the "involvement" desired is clear: quotas limiting the number of Jewish candidates.
Canadian universities limited Jewish medical students until the 1950s, so why not limit Jewish candidates in 2005? Measured by their percentage of the population, Jews should make do with three seats, not eight. And those eight are just the Jews we know about -- MPs with names like Goldring or Strahl or Solberg could be Jews, too. Especially Monte Solberg.
One of the rabbis told the Globe he would "make no apologies" for his actions. Another "expresses no uneasiness." This was reported by the Globe because it is remarkable. Rarely have Jewish elders been so open about their protocols. The Globe explained why its readers should be uneasy -- one of the Jews was a past-president of a Jewish charity; another was the executive director of a Jewish anti-defamation organization for two years in the 1990s. Another one "has been" a leader at a community synagogue in Burnaby. These aren't just quiet Jews. They're the kind who talk too loud in restaurants and wear gaudy jewelry.
That front page article led to a column by a prominent Globe columnist who has, for several weeks, been running an inquisition into the religion of Tory candidates. On Friday, he apologized -- a week earlier he had said one Tory candidate bragged on his website that he was running a "Jewish law firm." The columnist admitted the website didn't say that. But since that candidate had mentioned elsewhere that "prayer [was] being practised by the partners," the point still stood -- fake but accurate, as Dan Rather might say. The columnist went on to expose other Jewish candidates who had hidden their real identities in their campaign brochures.
Oh, have I been writing "Jews?" I didn't mean to. The Globe would never write such things about Jews. No, the stories quoted above did run in the Globe -- except the word "Jew" here appeared as the word "Christian" in the Globe, "rabbi" was "pastor" and "synagogue" was "church." Look it up for yourself.
Shouldn't bigotry against Christians be just as unacceptable as bigotry against Jews?
Prejudice and bigotry lurk in unsuspecting ways
By EZRA LEVANT
Note to readers: It is important to read right to the end of this column.
"Jewish activists capturing Tory races," screamed the front page headline in Friday's Globe and Mail newspaper.
The article that followed was just as breathless. These Jews represented a "political penetration" of the Tory party by people who take a "hard line." These Jews had "ties" to Jewish "groups." And this was not achieved through normal democracy, but by rabbis "persuading" their flocks to join the party.
Out of 308 riding associations, the Globe only found eight in which Jews were candidates. But still they called it "a large number" and "an unfortunate turn" for the party, especially a party trying to shuck off accusations of a "hidden agenda."
The Globe found a Gentile politician who lost a nomination contest and served up just the right tone of worry.
"It begins to hijack the other agendas that parties have," said a candidate who lost to a Jew, a Jew who was "recommended" in his synagogue, a Jew with his own agenda, not the Tory agenda. He doesn't have anything against Jews. He is just worried that these Jews "probably can't get elected because they certainly don't represent any mainstream population view."
Other, less tolerant people are "extremely concerned," reported the Globe, but were unwilling to make their comments on the record, perhaps for fear of offending their Jewish friends. These critics "wished the party leaders had been more involved in the nominations." No one claims that the votes weren't fairly won by these Jews, so the "involvement" desired is clear: quotas limiting the number of Jewish candidates.
Canadian universities limited Jewish medical students until the 1950s, so why not limit Jewish candidates in 2005? Measured by their percentage of the population, Jews should make do with three seats, not eight. And those eight are just the Jews we know about -- MPs with names like Goldring or Strahl or Solberg could be Jews, too. Especially Monte Solberg.
One of the rabbis told the Globe he would "make no apologies" for his actions. Another "expresses no uneasiness." This was reported by the Globe because it is remarkable. Rarely have Jewish elders been so open about their protocols. The Globe explained why its readers should be uneasy -- one of the Jews was a past-president of a Jewish charity; another was the executive director of a Jewish anti-defamation organization for two years in the 1990s. Another one "has been" a leader at a community synagogue in Burnaby. These aren't just quiet Jews. They're the kind who talk too loud in restaurants and wear gaudy jewelry.
That front page article led to a column by a prominent Globe columnist who has, for several weeks, been running an inquisition into the religion of Tory candidates. On Friday, he apologized -- a week earlier he had said one Tory candidate bragged on his website that he was running a "Jewish law firm." The columnist admitted the website didn't say that. But since that candidate had mentioned elsewhere that "prayer [was] being practised by the partners," the point still stood -- fake but accurate, as Dan Rather might say. The columnist went on to expose other Jewish candidates who had hidden their real identities in their campaign brochures.
Oh, have I been writing "Jews?" I didn't mean to. The Globe would never write such things about Jews. No, the stories quoted above did run in the Globe -- except the word "Jew" here appeared as the word "Christian" in the Globe, "rabbi" was "pastor" and "synagogue" was "church." Look it up for yourself.
Shouldn't bigotry against Christians be just as unacceptable as bigotry against Jews?
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