George Orwell, the great British essayist, famously wrote, “Who controls the present, controls the past.” Orwell’s penetratingly wise credo came to mind after I read a Canadian Press news story, dated June 20, about a ongoing Polish campaign to discredit a respected Canadian academic. Jan Grabowski, a University of Ottawa historian specializing in the Holocaust […]
Category: Commentary
Clearing The Internet Of Extremists
Shortly after Muslim suicide bomber Salman Abedi blew himself to smithereens at a concert in Manchester, taking down 22 people with him, British Prime Minister Theresa May advised internet providers that they were duty-bound to monitor and stop the spread of jihadist propaganda. “We cannot allow this ideology the safe space it needs to breed,” […]
Taking Islamic Extremism Seriously
With Britain having been bloodied by three terrorist incidents in the past two-and-a-half months, British Prime Minister Theresa May may be finally coming to grips with a problem that has been festering for years. Speaking less than a day after Muslim terrorists rammed their van into a crowd of pedestrians on London Bridge and then […]
Confusion has arisen over whether a member of the British royal family will pay an official visit to Israel this year, the centenary of the historic Balfour Declaration. An invitation was extended to Prince Charles, the heir to the throne, when Israeli President Reuven Rivlin met British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson in London about two […]
The Beauty Of Spring
I never cease to marvel at the arrival of spring in Toronto. It’s not a sudden, overnight event, but rather a gradual process that unfolds over several weeks, teasing and tempting us about warmer, sunnier days that lie tantalizingly ahead. Although March 20 is the first official day of spring, the calendar is really playing […]
Marine Le Pen Distorts Reality
Jean- Marie Le Pen, the founder of the far-right National Front party in France, was known for twisting and distorting historical reality. Some years ago, he airly dismissed the Holocaust as “a detail” in the annals of World War II. This cavalier comment showed Le Pen to be a fool, an antisemite or, perhaps more […]
A Commendable Decision
Until quite recently, the student union at Ryerson University in Toronto appeared cool, if not hostile, toward Jewish student concerns. Three years ago this month, the union joined the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel, an outfit whose goal is to delegitimize Israel. Last November, at its semi-annual general meeting, two anti-Israel organizations, Students […]
Chrystia Freeland Can Rest Easy Now
Congratulations, Chrystia Freeland. You’ve won. You and your handlers not only buried a legitimate news story, but convinced a compliant media, a cowed Jewish leadership and a spineless Jewish press to ignore it, as if it never even existed. I’m referring, of course, to the short-lived Freeland affair, which broke in Canada several weeks ago. […]
Mosques As Platforms For Antisemitism
There have been a flurry of reports in the Canadian media of late that mosques in Montreal and Toronto have been used as platforms to disseminate antisemitism. Muslim organizations have denounced the imams who’ve delivered these noxious sermons, but their denunciations will mean precious little if mosques continue to serve as venues of anti-Jewish diatribes. The […]
Gorka Investigation Needed
Three U.S. senators — Ben Cardin of Maryland, Richard Durbin of Illinois and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut — were absolutely right to call for an investigation into of one of President Donald Trump’s top aides, Sebastian Gorka, who may have links to a notorious antisemitic Hungarian organization. Gorka, Trump’s adviser on counter-terrorism, was photographed at […]