A couple of days ago, Bambi was deeply saddened when she learned about the stabbing of a 70-year-old Canadian Jewish woman, in front of a kosher section of a grocery story, in the Canadian capital (https://tinyurl.com/5zaptdt6).
Her very first thoughts went to this critically injured innocent lady (may she be healing well now), her family/friends, customers/staff of the grocery store, and by extension her community of fellow Canadian Jews, Ottawans, and all Canadians.
Of course, Bambi also thought of all her Ottawa-based Jewish friends who may be going through fear now because of this story.
Later when she read more details related the story, she also thought of the 71-year old man who committed this crime (https://tinyurl.com/2e2ct29d). How odd, DEEPLY disturbing, and sad to learn that the stabber is of the same old age range of his target. You must be really unwell, into the business of blind hate or serious mental illness, to stab someone you do not know at a public place simply because of being associated with a group you dislike.
Bearing the above in mind, Bambi approached her friend and blog reader, Fred Klein, and invited him to an interview related to this tragedy. Mr. Klein (or Fred) happens to have regularly shopped his groceries at the same place where the stabbing occurred. He also happens to be of Jewish ancestry, like the lady. Because of the latter, she believes he can contribute to this post. Thanks to him for his time on this long Labour day weekend.
In the interview shared below, Bambi’s questions are in Italic and Fred’s answers in bold. As usual, this post will end with music. The chosen song is called “L’Envie d’aimer” [The Desire To Love]. The highly talented singer is Mr. Ko Eun Sung. The piece was originally performed by the late and beloved French artist, Mr. Daniel Lévi in the musical comedy by Mr. Élie Chouraqui and Mr. Pascal Obispo, “Les Dix Commandements” [The Ten Commandments]. May love prevail in Canada and everywhere.
—
INTERVIEW CHAT
Hello Fred. Bambi would like to extend her heart to the senior lady who was stabbed, to her family, community and to you especially, her dear friend as well as all our other friends in the beautiful Ottawa. As you can guess, she is very troubled and concerned by what is happening in Canada in terms of criminal behaviour or unkind antisemitic behaviour. What are your own thoughts about the following:
1. What comes to your mind following this tragic event at the grocery store when a 70-year old lady was stabbed by a 71-year old man in front of the kosher food section?
“What came to mind was the 2015 attack on a kosher food market in Paris. There, it was reported that the attacker chose a kosher food market as it would be an easy target for finding Jews. Last week’s attack in Ottawa was very similar in my mind because I know that Loblaws location has a well-stocked kosher section. So far as I know, it has the largest kosher section of any supermarket in Ottawa and was my regular grocery when I first moved to Ottawa. The same shopping centre has a bagel bakery that rivals the quality of Montreal’s, so it’s usually a great spot for Ottawa’s Jews and I have indeed bumped into people I know there more than once.
The local reporting was disappointing because they would not make the link between the kosher offerings and the victim’s Jewish status. They did report she was Jewish but wouldn’t say how they knew that or how it could be otherwise different from an attack on any other 70-year old woman“.
2. Are you concerned about either your own safety or the safety of your/our fellow Canadian Jewish citizens?
“I’ve been in the region twenty years now and yes, I routinely evaluate locations and events for their potential as a “terrorist draw” due to the call for global intifada and the naive left-wing values that are used to indoctrinate young people. I sometimes avoid Parliament Hill and am suspicious of the U. Ottawa campus. One needs to check not just the weather but the news also to see where the hot spots might be. I’ve been harassed in Hull and Montreal but don’t have much faith in the police nor justice system, who have themselves harassed me“.
3. Given your professional expertise (Librarian), how can we define semitism and antisemitism? Zionism and Anti-Zionism to the readers who may not be familiar with all these terms historically or socially or practically?
“In my professional experience, I have written about been harassed in Quebec, Ontario and New York. I’m not an expert on Zionism, however, I was taught Zionism can trace its origins back to the Jews who were already living in Israel as of the 1800s or earlier, having made an informal return to the Holy Land following the Roman Empire’s expulsion of the Jews in the year 70 C.E. when the Romans salted the soil and made it unusable for agriculture. The Jews left Israel and settled nearly every other country since.
Significantly, Theodor Herzl crystallized the mounting feeling of nascent Zionism in his 1902 book Altneuland, which in German means “the old new land”. The fundamental concept in Zionism as I understand it is that Jews have wandered all over the world since their year 70 expulsion and should stop wandering and return to the one land where they belong, the land of their ancestors.
The Anti-Defamation League defines antisemitism as
“The belief or behavior hostile toward Jews just because they are Jewish. It may take the form of religious teachings that proclaim the inferiority of Jews, for instance, or political efforts to isolate, oppress, or otherwise injure them. It may also include prejudiced or stereotyped views about Jews”.
Perhaps more information about Herzl and Zionism could be found in the links below”.
4. What could be some solutions to prevent intolerance or to foster a welcoming and truly inclusive sense of society for all?
“Canada’s patchwork system of indifferent jurisdictions and competing interests does not foster much positive. Inclusivity and tolerance testing/training could be made a requirement for employment. People in public employment who fail the test must follow training. Canada could also become a safe haven for Jews, like Israel. These and other measures would require amendments to existing laws making Canada a “Judeo-Christian” country where Jews and Christians together will form the new majority and with the Charter existing to protect minorities. Personally, I would also reduce immigration in Quebec to zero for a hundred years and allow that province to resolve its identity problems while its component ingredients “cook” a while longer.
By comparison to Ontario where the police are quicker to prosecute hate crimes, a Jewish man in Montreal was attacked earlier in August but the judge has already suggested the accused may have had mental problems, i.e. the obvious hate issues are circumvented. Such “soft” positions can only lead to a lack of consequences for hate crimes. In Canada, the lack of federal involvement in policing is keenly felt. Think of other countries where one crime can incur both local and federal charges. Federal civil rights are one area where the United States does it better than Canada and is an area for vast improvement”.
References provided by Fred:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypercacher_kosher_supermarket_siege
http://totalbiblio.ca/being-a-jewish-librarian-working-in-the-government-of-canada/
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Theodor-Herzl
https://www.adl.org/antisemitism
—
