To Save the Soul of Israel, We Must Speak Out

The violence has not subsided since then and, under the cover of the Gaza war, has in fact increased, as we discussed in our most recent policy paper.

Yesterday, we once again saw settler violence make international news due to the size and egregiousness of the attack, as settlers rampaged the town of Jit, just west of Nablus. Over 50 settlers took part in the attack, multiple houses and cars were torched, and one Palestinian was killed.

We wrote to you two weeks ago about the anti-Zionism of Israel's leadership, and how a democratic Israel is being sacrificed for a messianic fantasy of Judea.

Indeed, following the news of this attack yesterday, the leader of Israel's new political party, The Democrats, Yair Golan tweeted: "Messianic Jewish terrorism is determined to ignite the territory and force a difficult and unnecessary regional campaign on Israel."

For far too long, criticism of Israeli policies was dismissed in both Israel and the Jewish diaspora as "anti-Israel" or "Antisemitic." It is true that critique can go too far, or can either consciously or unconsciously slip into Antisemitic tropes. But when everything is dismissed under such a guise, and no critique is permissible, it allows these actions to continue with impunity, leading us to the situation we find ourselves in today.

We do the work that we do for one main reason - as Canadian Jewish Zionists, we are stakeholders in Israel's future. As a result, we want to see the Israel that has been presented to us in our Jewish diaspora education. A homeland for Jews in our ancestral land, that strives for peace with its neighbours, to uphold international law, and to be a light unto nations.

We see what happens when we don't speak up. When we tow the "Israel, right or wrong" line that so many of our establishment institutions have towed for too long. It is not just specific policies that scare us, but rather, the complete and existential threat to the future of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state, which is coming from those who purport to care about the state the most.

Speaking out against these actions as Jewish Zionists is not anti-Israel, it is the very opposite.

It is recognizing how lucky we are to live in a time of Jewish sovereignty in the State of Israel and thriving Jewish communities in the diaspora.

This has not been our reality for very long - less than 100 years - why should we take it for granted, assume we wouldn't need to fight for it?

This is why we continue to speak out forcefully against the rise of messianism and extremism in Israel. It is why, in addition to speaking out, we also ask the Canadian government to take action, as a friend and ally of Israel's, through actions like sanctions, including entry bans.

After the attack on Huwara in February of 2023, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called for Huwara to be wiped out. Yesterday, he condemned the attack on Jit.

Make no mistake - the condemnations from various political leaders in Israel were still mealy-mouthed and downplayed the violence. But ignoring the attacks altogether is clearly no longer an option.

This is due in no small part to international sanctions, including from Canada.

It is a message to Israel's extremist and authoritarian leaders that they can no longer act with impunity, and that there will be consequences. Slowly, the message is getting across.

This means that our work now is more important than ever. Change may happen slower than we want, maybe even slower than needed, but that it is happening after all these years is already a victory. The continuation of our work means that we can continue to push for this change, speed it up, and see the future for Israel as we've always envisioned it.

Earlier this week, we published our 2023 annual report. In just one year, with a fraction of the budget of our mainstream Jewish institutions and no paid staff in 2023, we were able to make incredible progress toward a shift in attitudes in both our Canadian Jewish community and the Canadian government.

We are not driven by anger or fear, and we don't seek to instill anger or fear in you, our supporters. We seek to build hope, to build a better path forward, to show that Israel can live up to the Zionist ideals of its founding.

The Talmud teaches us that we are not obligated to complete the work, but nor are we free to desist from it. This work may never be complete, but as long as we stay fighting for the liberal and democratic values in which we believe, we can win against messianic, extremist forces.

Speaking out may not be easy, but it is the right thing to do. We've seen the change this can make, and we know that we couldn't do it without you adding our voices to ours. We can be the change that we want to see, and we can do it together.