Jews in Canada

"Brym [Robert Brym, sociologist,University of Toronto] believes that the Israel-Hamas war plays a part -- surveys elsewhere in the world show that Muslims' negative sentiments toward Jews rise whenever war breaks out."

"But he also points to local factors; of Canada's religious groups, Jews are the highest earners and are the least impoverished, while Muslims earn the least and are impoverished the most."

"Nearly two-thirds of Muslims, but less than one-third of Jews, are immigrants. And on average, Canadian Muslims are much younger than Canadian Jews."

Jamie Sarkonak, journalist, National Post

Anti-Israel protest in Ottawa, April 20, 2024. Photo by Dacey Media

Generally, on the other hand, the vast majority of Muslims have a darkly negative view of Jews, ingrained not only in the culture, but emphasized by hadiths and the Koran, addressing relations with Jews; on the one hand, Islam counts Jews and Christians with a modicum of regard since they are part of the Abrahamic triangle; people of 'the book'. On the other they must be subservient to Islam with the understanding that Islam according to its reckoning, represents God's final presentation to humanity. They are 'kuffar', undeserving of respect for not surrendering their souls to Islam and Allah.

 

Resentment and victimization represent another facet of how Muslims regard Jews; believing all Jews to be wealthy and privileged. The Jewish presence in Canada dates back hundreds of years and while Jews mostly maintained their religious devotion in Judaism, they respect the laws of Canada, consider themselves Canadian, and integrate into the political, justice, and social system, content to be another Canadian. Muslim presence in Canada is of a far more recent vintage. Assimilation into the general culture, adapting the prevailing values, is not favoured by most practising Muslims for whom Sharia, not the law of the land is the final arbiter of justice for them.

 

Muslims typically have large numbers of progeny since Islam promotes childbearing as a moral religious duty, as does Catholicism to a lesser degree and Orthodox Judaism as well. In Canada it can be costly raising a large family, certain to be an economic challenge to many for whom large families is part of their religious devotion. The very fact that there are many more Muslims that are recent immigrants than Jews with lower economic standing, relates to the fact that it takes time to establish a presence in the country, including employment with high remunerative qualities.

Sociologist Robert Brym undertook a study recently, and published the results, looking into Canadian attitudes toward Jews and Israel. Surveys undertaken in early2024 list the most negative attitudes toward Jews spring from the Muslim demographic, alongside Quebecers and non-Jewish university students. The most negative sentiments expressed toward Israel, stem from Muslims and non-Jewish university students, and supporters of the New Democratic Party.

A survey sample of over 300 Muslims indicate unmistakable distrust and negativity toward Jews. Merely five percent of Canadian non-Jews reported their belief that "Jewish people are largely to blame for the negative consequences of globalization", but among Muslims the figure became 48 percent; while 83 percent of non-Jewish Canadians disagreed that Jews have too much power in Canada, 34 percent of Muslims held the same belief.

Unsurprising to a degree then, that Toronto and other Canadian cities have seen frequent well-attended protests proceeding through the streets, aggravating and accusing Canadian Jews of 'genocide' against Palestinians for their support of Israel, shouting 'intifada' in unison, and 'from the river to the sea', common shorthand for the destruction of Israel; Arabic speakers and signs, the Qu'ran in proud prominence and university campuses taken over by the 'pro-Palestinian' protests, targeting Jewish students.

The statement on the survey that "There is no justification for Palestinian suicide bombers targeting Israeli civilians", brought 30 percent disagreement from Muslims in comparison to 11 percent of non-Jewish Canadians. And while 54 percent of Muslims express the belief that Israel is an apartheid state, 34 percent of the general population appears to concur, thanks to ingrained antisemitism and successful propaganda. 60 percent of Muslims equate Zionism with racism, while 38 percent of non-Jewish Canadians concur.

As far as 81 percent of Muslims are concerned, the current war in Gaza represents genocide, a belief shared by 49 percent of non-Jewish Canadians. Logically, bringing in new immigrants, refugees and migrants whose culture and religious devotion dictates their values and inculcates prejudices born of historical events and antipathies, more or less guarantees that this level of blame from a victimhood-prone group against an already-existing group would result. 

Victimhood, resentment, anger and hatred coalesce and become a threat by one to the other, and with the help of a powerful propaganda device of victimhood and occupation led by student groups of Palestinian and Arab origin, the slander of a democratic state that is anything but racist and apartheid finds a ready audience among the demographic of non-Jewish, non-Arab Canadians from various backgrounds, origins and cultures, happy to take up a cause that happens to coincide with their own prejudices.

Canada now hosts some 1.8 million Muslims, half of which immigrated from 2011 forward with increasing frequency and numbers. It is now clear that government authorities had no interest in ensuring that those comprising great numbers of an ethnic, social, cultural, religious background that tended not to accept the culture, social justice system, values of a society they gravitated to, might very well present as a future danger to social cohesion and the general social compact in a democratic society.

All of which has led to spectacles of violent demonstrations against a much smaller demographic of about 350,000 Jewish Canadians who view with dismay and disappointment the inaction of their fellow Canadians, much less Canadian governments at every level, failing to react and act to uphold the law and to protect the Canadian Jewish population threatened by increasingly volatile and violent 'protesters' who no longer bother shielding their support of Palestinian terrorists from public view.

Canadian universities for the past few decades have succumbed to leftist progressive divisiveness, promoting the ideology of 'anti-oppression, teaching that colonialism of which they claim Israel is a prime example, is morally indefensible, that people of European ancestry are born exceptionalists, superior and dominating others of 'colour', under Critical Race Theory. Privilege and intersectional 'oppressor' beliefs are reflective of university campuses in this age.

Published

2024-04-09

"Most Canadian Jews feel unsafe and victimized. They perceive a rise in negative attitudes toward Jews in recent months and years. Most doubt the situation will improve. The main reason they feel this way is that extreme anti-Israel statements and actions have proliferated in recent months. Because support for the existence of a Jewish state in Israel is a central component of their identity, most Jews regard extreme anti-Israel statements and actions as a threat to their existence as Jews."

"Most non-Jewish Canadians do not have negative toward Jews. However, non-Jewish university students, Quebecois, and especially Muslim Canadians tend to have significantly more negative attitudes towards Jews than does the non-Jewish population as a whole."

Abstract: Jews and Israel 2024: A Survey of Canadian Attitudes and Jewish Perceptions : Robert Brym