
Rochelle Wilner President	Frank Dimant Chief Executive Officer	Prof. Stephen Scheinberg National Chair	Ruth Klein National Director of Advocacy

1998 Audit of Antisemitic Incidents

INTRODUCTION

For more than a century B’nai Brith Canada has been monitoring the climate of intolerance in Canada, and documenting all reported antisemitic incidents in our Annual Audit of Antisemitic Incidents since 1982.

The state of hate in Canada appears to be changing. After two consecutive years of declining incidents, antisemitism and hate again appear to be on the rise. Previously in the 1990’s, incidents of antisemitic activity were linked with specific events like the Gulf War, the Quebec Referendum, or the rise of neo-Nazi organizations such as the Heritage Front. With the decline of organized hate groups in Canada due to various legal actions against its organizers and a general move in the hate movement towards "leaderless resistance", the incidents of antisemitism in Canada have become more diffuse in nature. The faces of hate in Canada are becoming harder to identify.

This year as in the past, Toronto, Canada’s largest and most ethnically diverse city, had by far the largest number of reported antisemitic incidents. This is primarily due to the size and visibility of the Jewish population, the continued presence of many of the "leaders" of Canada’s hate movement, and the ethnic frictions which are usually evident in all large and ethnically diverse cities.

This year has also seen many of the leaders of the extremist right involved in court cases and demonstrations, particularly in Western Canada, while their fundraisers and speaking engagements continued. Though not reflected in the statistics, since fundraisers and private speaking engagements are not included in the categories of vandalism and harassment, this activity has brought a lot of focus to the Western region.

This year has also witnessed increased tension on Canadian university campuses. The proliferation of Holocaust denial and antisemitic diatribes on web sites such as Radio Islam and unofficial Hezbollah and Hamas sites, with links to white supremacists and other Holocaust deniers, has fueled the situation on Canadian campuses. Several campuses have been targets for heightened anti-Israel propaganda. B’nai Brith has long been concerned about the rise on university campuses of antisemitic propaganda such as The International Jew or The Protocols of the Elders of Zion being passed off under the guise of anti-Israel commentary. Intellectual debate on Israel and its politics is one thing; to surround that debate under the guise of a larger international Jewish conspiracy is quite another.

In 1998 we noted an increased tendency on various websites and in some of our own media, to give free rein to the use of violent rhetoric in relation to Israel and Israelis, which qualifies as hate propaganda against them. There is no use pretending that "Israelis" are not seen as Jews and that the kind of animosity and hatred directed towards them does not spill over into hatred against Jews in general. In one article in the Ottawa Citizen, for instance, "Israeli settlers" on one line become "Jewish settlers" on the next. "Israel is a cancer on the Middle East" is parallel to the Nazi propaganda targeting Jews as "parasites on Germany". "Israeli doctors injecting the AIDS virus" are exactly parallel to the "Jewish Zionist doctors" who were accused of trying to poison Stalin.

The resurgence of "anti-Zionist" rhetoric in the Communist Party of Russia in late 1998 does not bode well and will almost certainly resurface here in Canada and elsewhere. Criticisms of Zionism must be taken in context and carefully examined. An article that promotes hatred and fear of "Zionist bankers" and "Zionist media" is clearly antisemitic. At the same time, right-wing antisemitic groups complain of "Zionist Communists". It is obvious who is meant.

While reported incidents of serious violent crimes declined in 1998, our data show a continued proliferation of hate propaganda, antisemitic harassment, and a growing acceptability of mean-spiritedness in the media. Although not documented as specific incidents for statistical purposes, monitoring of the Internet has revealed a continuing trend of the spread of antisemitism and Holocaust denial. First highlighted in 1995 by the League, this trend continues to have significant impact on the community.

Despite an apparent increase in incidents of systemic discrimination, positive steps have been made in combatting antisemitism, racism and bigotry in Canada this year. Several charges have been laid, workplaces are taking proactive steps toward training, and communities have rallied against cutbacks and government backsliding on anti-racism and anti-hate initiatives. The influence and impact of organized neo-Nazi groups remain low; however, there are indications that the Heritage Front and others are starting to rebuild their grassroots movements and continue to recruit, particularly in suburban areas.

Several important court cases took place in 1998 involving the promotion of hatred towards Jews. Ernst Zundel is facing a Canadian Human Rights Tribunal convened to hear a complaint against him for his website that promotes Holocaust denial. The hearing will continue well into 1999.

In 1998, the decision came down in the 1997 appeal by the Liberty Net hateline to the Supreme Court of Canada. The Supreme Court upheld the right of the Canadian Human Rights Commission to obtain temporary cease and desist orders against telephone hate lines until the cases can be decided by the Canadian Human Rights Commission. In 1998 BC Tel decided that the Internet service provider, Fairview Technology Center Ltd., would be held liable for any illicit material housed on its server. Fairview’s owner, Bernard Klatt, did not renew the contract and thus the Liberty Net website was closed down. A B.C. Human Rights Tribunal, further to a complaint by the Pacific Region of the Canadian Jewish Congress, deemed a single article by North Shore News journalist Doug Collins to be antisemitic but not likely to promote hatred or contempt toward Jews. Another complaint, launched by B’nai Brith’s Victoria representative, Harry Abrams, dealt with a greater corpus of Collins’ work. Abram’s case was argued before the Tribunal in July 1998 with the League as intervener, along with the B.C. Human Rights Commission and the Attorney General of British Columbia. Early in February, 1999 the decision came down that a series of Collins’ articles is likely to expose groups to hatred and contempt. Mr. Collins and the North Shore News were ordered to pay $2,000 to Harry Abrams “for injury to dignity and feelings of self respect”, and not to publish similar articles. The North Shore News was ordered to print a summary of the ruling and to apologize for the series of articles that promoted hatred against Jews.

Conventional Wisdom and Hatred

A number of the instances noted above as well as everyday conversation as reported by several small businessmen, employees and students, highlight the stereotypical views of the Jewish community and its members. Jews are rich; Jews only help each other; Jews are powerful and control our media, political and financial institutions; Jews are always demanding - these are commonly held stereotypes and prejudices against Jews.

Individuals who hold these views are not necessarily perceived as negatively disposed to Jews, so these views do not always result in reported antisemitic incidents. Nevertheless, they form part of the basic shared prejudices that still exist and are widely reported in some settings. If every instance of this type was included in the Audit, the count in several regions, including Ottawa and Quebec, the West and the Maritimes would rapidly climb.

Each instance must be evaluated in its context, including the audience to whom such thoughts are uttered. Even praising the Jewish community’s organization and perceived wealth can become antisemitic if the context is to provoke resentment and hatred in an audience that has a priori reasons to be suspicious of the Jewish community. Thus it was dangerous for the individual who spoke on Parliament Hill to exaggerate the power and wealth of the Jewish community to an audience of Palestinians while telling them that this community was the sole reason their rights had not been recognized by Canada.

Need for other Measures

It is becoming increasingly apparent that both the conventional stereotypes of Jews and the more serious animosity directed at them need to have more than one method of measurement.

Antisemitic attitudes or prejudices are obviously present even when incidents do not occur. There is simply no situation for them to be expressed. In addition, with the Internet, the rapid, immediate and international spread of rumour, hate propaganda and false information has the potential to rouse negative responses in very short order in a very large group of people. And Jews remain the principle targets of this increased activity.

This creates not only challenging but dangerous times for vulnerable minorities. It has become just as important to know how attitudes are shifting as it is to count the number of times antisemitic incidents are reported. A 9-year attitudinal survey conducted for the League by Professors Steve Scheinberg, Frank Chalk and Taylor Buckner of Concordia University (1982 - 1991) through an Environics poll, revealed a strong correlation between attitudes towards ethnic groups and overt incidents reported in the Audit. It is clearly time to check the pulse of the country again in this regard.

The method of counting incidents needs to be supplemented by tracking the destination of rumours from the Internet and what effect, if any, they have. In a number of settings, it was reported as fact that Monica Lewinsky was a Mossad agent sent to weaken the President and make him more amenable to Israeli manipulation. Indeed, some Arab press printed articles making exactly that claim. Where and when did the idea originate and how did it spread?

Christian Millennial thinking, the Y2K bug, the frailty of the international markets - all of these factors point to a dangerous time for the Jewish community in the near future. We need better early warning signals to identify when rumours and propaganda are spreading widely; we need to understand their effects, and we need ways of countering this information war.

Those who are adamantly anti-Jewish will unfortunately always be with us. As one Holocaust denier noted this year, “Everywhere you look, there is a story about the Jews. I’m tired of it.” For these people, Jews take up too much space, physically and psychically.

The Audit of Antisemitic Incidents remains an important resource for government, human rights organizations, educators, police, media and others to gauge antisemitism in Canada. By providing an analysis of the nature and extent of reported antisemitic activity across the country, the Audit provides a model for data collection and analysis, and helps guide decisions in resource allocation, legislative development, and plans for formal education initiatives to confront racist attitudes and to sensitize all Canadians to the problems of hatred and intolerance. Finally, the Audit also serves as an important indicator of the general level of racism in Canada.

The Audit is part of the League for Human Rights of B’nai Brith’s commitment towards combatting antisemitism. Canadians must be able to identify and name antisemitism in all its forms if we ever hope to eradicate this odious form of bigotry and hatred.