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Rochelle Wilner |
Frank Dimant |
Prof. Stephen Scheinberg |
Ruth Klein |
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Rochelle Wilner |
Frank Dimant |
Prof. Stephen Scheinberg |
Ruth Klein |
The League for Human Rights of B’nai Brith Canada felt compelled to release this interim Audit of Antisemitic Incidents due to the disturbing increase in antisemitism noted in just the first six months of this year. From January - June 2002, 197 incidents were reported to the League through B’nai Brith’s regional offices and over its Anti-Hate Hotline which operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week at 1-800-892 BNAI (2624). This compares to a total of 286 for the entire 12 months of 2001 (see Figure 1). This increase comes on top of the 35% increase in antisemitic incidents in the five year period leading up to 2001.
Of these incidents, the largest number under review occurred in Toronto (96) and Montreal (49). Toronto and the surrounding area is of particular interest at present given the brutal murder of a visibly identifiable Jew just as the Audit was being prepared for publication, even though this tragic death is not included in the statistics under discussion.
The issue of whether or not this murder qualifies as a “hate crime” is very much in the public eye at present and warrants some initial comments that are relevant to the period under review. The fact that the assailant singled out a victim who was an Orthodox Jew — instantly identifiable by his head covering and conservative attire — could reasonably support the contention that this is a hate crime, even if other circumstances before the murder took place suggest additional motivation.
Although the police subsequently announced related evidence to explain the suspect’s presence at the crime scene, his aggressive behaviour, his possession of a deadly weapon and the fact that he felt impelled to vent his rage and hatred on this one particular individual in this particular geographic location, cannot simply be dismissed as a chance occurrence wholly unconnected to any racist motivation or impulse. Enough questions have been raised to warrant some discussion, later in this report, about skinhead activity in Canada and whether its recruitment and propaganda techniques could have had some impact on creating the type of visceral hatred that could perhaps lead to such a cowardly crime.
197 incidents were reported to the League for Human Rights in the six-month period from January to June 2002. This compares with a total of 286 for the entire twelve-month period of the previous year. When we compare these 197 incidents with the 121 incidents reported in the first six months of 2001, we note an alarming increase of 62.8%. The January-June 2001 time frame was chosen as an appropriate point of comparison since it did not include the cataclysmic events of September 11 and its troubled aftermath, which may have skewed the total figures for 2001.
As is the case with all victims of abuse, sociologists and police experts suggest that only 10% of all incidents are ever reported. The data under review, therefore, represents only the tip of the iceberg.
While previous Audits have classified incidents into just two categories - Vandalism and Harassment - a third category, Violence, has now been added in order to accommodate the growing magnitude of the incidents and threats recorded. This relatively new trend reflects the intensified application of violent motifs in the terminology and imagery used to discredit or to intimidate Jews. These three categories encompass the following types of incidents:
As discussed later in this report, incidents that involve or reflect an increasing worldwide trend towards virulent anti-Zionist rhetoric are only included if there is an anti-Jewish component. This would necessitate the victim or victim group being targeted on an almost irrational basis simply, because of their Jewish name or appearance and perceived affiliation with, or support for, Israel.
Using this classification system, the 197 incidents can be broken down into 121 cases of harassment, 64 of vandalism and 12 of violence involving assault with or without a weapon (see figure 2 for incidents by category and month).
This report focuses predominantly on Toronto and Montreal where statistically significant samples have been collected. Of the 197 reported incidents, 96 (48% of the total number under review) took place in the GTA, with 49 (25%) in Montreal. The remainder were reported in such places as Winnipeg, Saskatoon and Calgary in western Canada and, on the other side of the country, in Quebec City and Moncton, New Brunswick. Winnipeg reported a total of 14 incidents from January to June 2002, compared to six incidents in the entire twelve months of 2001.
The breakdown between Ontario and Quebec is as follows with regards to types of incidents:
| PROVINCE | INCIDENTS (Total No.) |
HARASSMENT | % of Total | VANDALISM | % of Total | VIOLENCE | % of Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ONTARIO | 123 | 83 | 68% | 36 | 29% | 4 | 3% |
| QUEBEC | 50 | 21 | 42% | 24 | 48% | 5 | 10% |
In Winnipeg, out of the 14 reported incidents, 10 were harassment, 2 were vandalism and 2 involved violence. It should be noted that in all of 2001 there were a total of six antisemitic incidents reported to the League in Winnipeg, none involving violence. This represents an increase of 133% of reported incidents in just the first six months of 2002.
Montreal: Two jeeps with Arab-speaking youths armed with bats surrounded a car filled with Jewish youngsters who were threatened with bats.
Toronto: Material sent out by a Jewish organization was returned, defaced with swastikas.
Regina: Antisemitic flyers were distributed to private homes.
Toronto: A synagogue was defaced with a Star of David with the word “devil” marked on it.
Montreal: A theatre running a movie with Jewish content was firebombed.
Toronto: A physician who found himself in the midst of a downtown demonstration by pro-Palestinian protesters, was called a “Jewish murderer”, pushed to the ground and physically assaulted.
Montreal: A Jewish student was choked in front of a Hillel information table at Concordia University, while the perpetrator called out, “F**k you, you Jewish bastards.”
Montreal: A synagogue was defaced with anti-Jewish graffiti.
Winnipeg: An orthodox man — dressed in traditionally conservative attire — was physically accosted by a group of girls from a high school directly across the street from his synagogue.
Montreal: Two visibly identifiable Jews, accompanied by their young children, were accosted by eight Arab-speaking men who threatened them and made anti-Jewish comments.
Saskatoon: A synagogue was firebombed.
Grand Prairie: A clergyman addressing his congregants disseminated the myth that no Jews were killed in the bombing of the World Trade Centre because they had prior knowledge of what was to happen and therefore stayed home.
Toronto: Hate messages were sent to the Jewish community’s Tele-Aid distress line, including comments such as, “Death to all you Jewish a**holes. Go back to where you came from…”
Montreal: Employees of a Jewish organization received threatening phone calls with such comments as, “You guys are murderers. You deserve everything you get.”
Toronto: Intruders entered an apartment building at night, daubing swastikas on doors, and damaging mezuzahs, the traditional religious symbolic scrolls commonly found affixed to the doors of Jewish homes.
London: A Jewish cemetery was vandalized and headstones overturned.
Montreal: 15 participants in a soccer game were overheard shouting “Death to Jews” in Arabic and French throughout the match. When the game ended, several Arab-speaking youths jumped the fence and assaulted a group of Jewish students, threatening them with knives.
Toronto: A man received a postcard in the mail calling for “Death to the Jews”, and threatening him and his family specifically, after he expressed his opinion on CBC radio that Israel has a right to defend itself.
Montreal: A visibly identifiable Jew was refused service at a national chain hardware store in West Island. When the attendant finally arrived and was asked a reason for the delay, he responded with anti-Jewish slurs.
Calgary: A Rabbi received death threats by phone.
Toronto: A hate propaganda mailing alleging that non-Jews are unwittingly forced to pay a hidden tax so that Jews can have kosher products was surreptitiously inserted in a local newspaper prior to delivery to area residents. This Kosher Food Tax canard has re-appeared with increasing frequency in recent months and is currently posted on several far Right and far Left websites.
Montreal: At some time between the time of posting and the time of delivery, letters sent by a synagogue to its board members were marked with a Jewish Star, an equal sign (=) and a swastika. An investigation has been initiated by Canada Post at the request of B’nai Brith Canada.
Montreal: A visibly identifiable 12-year-old boy was harassed on a public transit bus in Ville St. Laurent and death threats were made.
Toronto: A pharmacy assistant at a national chain drug store in an area with a significant Jewish population gave a Heil Hitler salute to a Jewish customer in front of other shoppers.
Quebec City: A pipe bomb was thrown at the city’s only synagogue.
Ottawa: The police issued an alert to the city’s Jewish community of an unspecified threat against its synagogues or institutions, based on intelligence that the community was to be targeted during the month of June.
Calgary: Shouts of “Death to the Jews” were heard at a pro-Palestinian demonstration.
Mississauga: A female high school student had to be escorted to and from classes after being harassed in the schoolyard by Arab-speaking students and subjected to antisemitic remarks and threats of violence.
Cochrane: A memorial to Raoul Wallenberg was vandalized with antisemitic graffiti.
Toronto: The B’nai Brith Canada national office, along with several other Jewish organizational targets, received hate mail that included specific threats of violence. Some of these letters included white powder in an apparent intimidation campaign reminiscent of the rash of such hoaxes in the Fall of 2001. One of the targeted locales was the Anshei Minsk Synagogue in the downtown area, the target of “suspected arson” in April 2002. The letter threatened: “We reserve a singular hatred for the Jew… we will soon be in a position to crush you not just in Israel but worldwide… We outnumber you in every place in which you once felt safe…”
Toronto: There was a bomb threat against a Jewish community center complex that houses a school and nursery, as well as the offices of several community organizations.
Ottawa: Cars were vandalized in a synagogue parking lot.
Scarborough: As part of a course on world religions, a high school Religious Studies teacher told his students that the Jews killed Jesus.
Toronto: Cars were vandalized in a condominium building with a large number of Jewish residents, and antisemitic graffiti and swastikas defaced walls throughout the building.
Guelph: Neo-Nazi related material posted on a website was investigated by police.
The findings of the mid-year 2002 Audit demonstrate a marked increase in the number of incidents reported so far this year. This appears to be a distinct deviation from patterns noted in the last few years by researchers in the field, as illustrated by a review of the same time period in 2001 (See Figure 3). Events abroad clearly have the capacity to weaken the social cohesion of Canadian society and test its multicultural traditions, as evident in the backlash against many minority groups in the aftermath of September 11. However, other groups report that the rash of incidents has abated as Canadian values of tolerance appear to have re-asserted themselves to a certain extent. In stark contrast, incidents against the Jewish community have not levelled off and, indeed, have reached even higher levels than in the immediate post 9/11 period.
Historically, whenever events in the Middle East make headline news, there is a tendency for incidents against the Jewish community to increase. To clarify, this increase does not happen when the coverage focuses on the Palestinian suicide bombers and their victims, even though that coverage is often comprehensive and widely viewed. It occurs only when the rhetoric begins to heat up in the media on Israel’s defensive response to this ongoing violence. The tendency of some of that reporting, especially following the Durban conference last summer, has been to feature the viewpoints of those who seek to delegitimize Zionism and to vilify it as racist, and an aberration in the family of nations.
To analyze why this has led to an increased level of intimidation and harassment here in Canada, it is necessary to define Zionism. Since the very essence of Zionism is that the Jewish people have the same right to self determination and a homeland as any other peoples in the world, attempts to denounce and criminalize is have been well described as akin to a “New Antisemitism”, in which Israel’s alleged “atrocities” are described as inherent to its very nature and traditions (i.e. its Jewish nature and traditions). Following this line of reasoning to its logical conclusion, it is clear that while “traditional” antisemitism has aimed through the ages to marginalize, criminalize and strip Jews as individuals of their rights and entitlements as full and equal citizens, the new variant seeks to denounce and delegitimize the Jewish State, its inhabitants and its supporters, as a collective entity, and deprive it of its rightful position in the world community.
In the words of one of the martyrs of the human rights movement, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.:
“…anti-Zionist is inherently antisemitic, and ever will be so… And what is anti-Zionist? It is the denial to the Jewish people of a fundamental right that we justly claim for the people of Africa and freely accord all other nations of the Globe. It is discrimination against Jews, my friend, because they are Jews. In short, it is antisemitism… The antisemite rejoices at any opportunity to vent his malice. The times have made it unpopular, in the West, to proclaim openly a hatred of the Jews. This being the case, the antisemite must constantly seek new forms and forums for his poison. How he must revel in the new masquerade! He does not hate the Jews, he is just ‘anti-Zionist’! Let my words echo in the depths of your soul: When people criticize Zionism, they mean Jews — make no mistake about it.”
(Martin Luther King Jr., “Letter to an Anti-Zionist Friend,” Saturday Review_XLVII, August 1967), p. 76.)
Although the purview of this Audit is to cover antisemitism here in Canada rather than to analyze anti-Israel incidents, it is still necessary to understand these factors in order to appreciate the interplay between events on Canadian soil and those abroad, and to give a context to the data and the trends that the figures indicate. In some respects, the face of antisemitism in Canada is mirrored in events unfolding elsewhere, but particularly in Western Europe. The bombings of synagogues as far flung as Turkey, France and, at time of going to press, in Finland, attest to a frenzy of antisemitism that has, without a doubt, fed off the anti-Israel sentiment that abounds in the capitals and on the streets of many countries around the world.
Having said that, while the increased number of incidents noted in the Audit for April and May coincided with Israel’s Operation Defensive Shield and was exacerbated by unfounded, but widespread allegations of an IDF “massacre” in Jenin, the Intifada that began in the Fall if 2000 was in full swing by the first six months of 2001 and no notable jump in incidents was reported then. A glance at the picture for the entire 18 month period from January 2001 to June 2002 best illustrates this point (See Figure 1).
Taking advantage of Mideast tensions, both the propagandists of the far Right and those of the far Left now routinely include anti-Zionist and traditional antisemitic material in almost equal measure, yet another factor that must be added to the mix in analyzing a complex issue.
While conventional wisdom has judged that the day of the White Supremacist is past, the League has followed closely a subtle yet persistent level of skinhead activity that, while not as organized and systemic as in the past, nevertheless attracts a loose association of adherents, who sometimes operate as rogue units. There are pockets of activity in select areas of the country, most notably southwestern Ontario. The racist philosophy that drives such groups provides them with a range of targets — including such minorities as Jews, Blacks, Muslims, Sikhs, Hindus, Hispanics and Asians. While weakened in one sense by a lack of leadership and reportedly driven underground, these movements have in recent years benefited from a capability to utilize the internet to reach a potential audience of substantial proportions, enjoying particular success with young, White, disaffected males.
As the case of Alexan Kulbashian illustrates, there is only a fine line between those who advocate violence and those who commit it. Kulbashian, the former spokesman of the Canadian Ethnic Cleansing Team (CECT), was charged earlier this year with counseling to commit murder on the internet. The death threats he posted last year on the CECT website promoted attacks on “B’nai Brith offices, Mossad temples, and any Jew or Arab temple, building, house and cars. There are no innocent Jews especially in a time of war.” Words were clearly not his only weapon. He had a previous conviction dating back to May 2000 based on an assault on a Black victim in the TTC for which he was sentenced to five months in jail. Kulbashian has brought an appeal of his conviction for assault. He is currently on bail for his internet related charges and the Judge has banned him from using the internet as a condition of bail.
The Tri-City Skins is another case in point. This group is inter-related with the Canadian Ethnic Cleansing Team and Canadian Heritage Alliance (established relatively recently in the year 2000). Believed to be based in Waterloo, it has expanded to Hamilton, London and other cities in southwestern Ontario. Again, its limited geographic base has not impeded its ability to reach a much wider audience over the Internet. It is known to have conducted underground white power concerts, harassed human rights activists and disrupted their meetings — often in Nazi regalia — and has been responsible for a rash of racist pamphlets appearing at bus stops, local high schools and other public places. The proceedings of one recent White Power concert in Scarborough, Ontario caused one veteran Hate Crimes Officer to note that this was an “eye opener” which, in his own words, made him “shudder”.
The American-based National Alliance has also made inroads into Canada in several different regions of the country. As reported in last year’s Audit, specific areas in Quebec were targeted for blanket distribution of racist and antisemitic literature. This type of activity was seen this year in Guelph, Ontario, which was targeted in May 2002 just as it had been on more than one occasion in 2001. Cohrane, Ontario, and Calgary, Alberta, have also seen a rash of this type of pamphleteering activity.
Although these groups still operate on a relatively limited scale in terms of their capacity to distribute propaganda by traditional means, not all experts are confident that their activities, or those of their adherents operating independently, can be dismissed as just the annoying but insignificant ravings of a fringe culture. David Harris, former Chief of Strategic Planning for the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), sees the post 9/11 climate of uncertainty as the “perfect incubator” for a renewed effort by neo-Nazis to destabilize society. According to his line of thinking, these groups have the capability to perpetrate acts of violence against Jews, for example, which can be blamed on Islamic extremists, while at the same time committing or inciting hate crimes of retaliation against Muslims. Harris believes that white supremacists have the motive, the opportunity and the capability to create chaos and destabilize society.
Matthew Lauder of the Guelph and District Multicultural Centre warns in a report released by the Centre earlier this year entitled The Neo-Nazi Skinhead Movement in South Western Ontario, that at least five White Supremacist groups are working to form a ‘united front’ in the area, and are recruiting aggressively amongst the youth not just in Guelph, but in the nearby Waterloo Region as well. His concern is about “a dramatic increase in a new form of organized racism that represents a greater threat…because of its subtle approach and pervasive nature.” (The New Generation of Organized Racialism in Canada, Amnesty International Paper.)
The most disturbing aspect of this renewed activity is that materials disseminated by these groups, primarily on the internet, have borrowed aspects of the blatantly antisemitic propaganda that circulates freely in the Arab world. Evidence of this unholy alliance between Western based neo-Nazis and the propagandists of the Middle East has been sighted on these shores, though such sites have generally been closed down almost as soon as complaints have been made and investigations initiated. There are precedents for this type of alliance between the Far Right and the hardliners of the Arab world in the not too distant past. Don Andrew’s Nationalist Party of Canada established links with Libya in the 1980’s, twice sending delegations of Canadian racists to Tripoli on “fact-finding missions” sponsored by the Gaddhafi government.
A disturbing addition to the repertoire of the far Left is the use of placards equating the Magen David (the Jewish Star of David) with a swastika, as sighted at anti-globalization and anarchist demonstrations. These images, and the equation of Zionism with Nazism now commonplace amongst these groups, is an abhorrent distortion of historical fact.
The far Left advocates of unfettered free speech have also begun with increasing frequency to post on their websites the “classics” of age-old antisemitic propaganda such as the infamous Czarist forgery The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, Henry Ford’s International Jew — The World’s Foremost Problem”, and a broadsheet denouncing Jews that is falsely attributed to Benjamin Franklin. One particularly blatant example of this relatively new venue for hate propaganda has been the use of the open publishing format of the anti-globalization international news service www.indymedia.org by purveyors of hate, and all in the name of “free speech”. B’nai Brith Canada has found a number of postings of such materials published on Canadian-based indymedia sites in Windsor and Hamilton, while additional antisemitic tracts, such as the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, can easily be accessed on the international indymedia site through ‘hotlinks’ to the sites of its Canadian affiliates. The Windsor site currently posts an article called The Hidden Tyranny, which is a classic example of hate literature.
There is considerable irony in an ostensibly tolerant and left wing news service being used to proliferate antisemitism, which seems to be a seemingly natural spin-off from the heightened anti-Zionist rhetoric that has captured the minds and hearts of this sector of society. It is a predominant theme in its literature, both web-based and print version.
These considerations suggest that the marked increase in antisemitic incidents so far this year is due to the convergence of the antisemitism of the far Left and the antisemitism of the far Right. Both have borrowed freely from the antisemitic motifs of the Middle East propagandists and made indiscriminate use of such material in what can almost be termed an unholy alliance of hate. Such a combination of propaganda must, of necessity, percolate down to society in general.
As we go to press, a recurring theme is evident in some of the media coverage of the Rosenzweig murder and some of the reactions of people on the street: “What is the big deal — why are the Jews so worried about categorizing it as a hate crime?” Interestingly, other minority groups who have called B’nai Brith Canada to express their shock and revulsion have had no difficulty in this respect. Their own experiences with discrimination and hatred have naturally made them more sensitive to the harsh realities of such incidents than the mainstream public.
The most pertinent answer is that this determination can affect sentencing on whatever charge is ultimately brought against the assailant. The Criminal Code (s. 718.2) provides that “evidence that the offence was motivated by bias, prejudice or hate based on race, national or ethnic origin, language, colour, religion, sex, age, mental or physical disability, sexual orientation, or any other similar factor” is an aggravating factor which can lead to a greater term of imprisonment.
Given this consideration, it becomes evident, therefore, that close attention must be paid to understanding the definition of a hate crime, as well as the legal recourses available.
These definitions are taken from the League’s Taking Action Against Hate Training Manual. In common usage, a hate crime is usually understood to mean an act committed to intimidate, harm and terrify the victim or the entire group of which the victim is a member, solely because of who they are. The Community Advisory Committee on Anti-Hate and Anti-Racism defines a hate crime as “a criminal offence committed against a person or property, that is motivated in any part by the suspect/offender’s hate/bias against a racial, religious, national, ethnic, sexual orientation, gender or disability group.” (Hate, Communities Can Respond: A Community Handbook, Toronto, 1996, page 10)
The following provisions are put into place to address the above issues. Not all incidents reported in the Audit are necessarily classifiable as criminal offences under federal legislation or covered under our human rights codes., but these provisions should offer a measure of protection to all minority groups.
Under the Criminal Code of Canada, hate crimes involve one of two specific types of acts:
1) “Hate propaganda” (s. 318), i.e., advocating genocide — acts committed with intent to destroy in whole or in part any identifiable group (distinguished by colour, race, religion or ethnic origin.)
2) “Public incitement of hatred” (s. 319) i.e., the wilful promotion of hatred — inciting hatred against any identifiable group that is likely to lead to a breach of the peace.
The Canadian Human Rights Act is also relevant, specifically Part I which deals with proscribed discriminatory practices. Under section 13(1) of the Act, it is a discriminatory practice (proscribed discrimination) “to communicate telephonically or by telecommunication undertaking any matter likely to expose a person(s) to hatred or contempt by reason of being identifiable on a prohibited ground of discrimination” (race, religion, origin etc.).
Section 1 of Ontario Human Rights Code provides for freedom from discrimination, that is, equal treatment without discrimination based on race, ancestry, place of origin, colour, ethnic origin, citizenship, creed, sex, sexual orientation, age, marital status, family status or handicap, record of offences (in employment) and receipt of public assistance (in accomodation). The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms also provides for such rights.
Under the new Anti-Terrorism legislation, (formerly Bill C36) introduced by the federal government late last year, the Criminal Code was amended to provide for enhanced search and seizure provisions of materials relating to hate propaganda offences. A new offence under section 430 (4.1) was also added regarding mischief against places of religious worship or religious property motivated by “bias, prejudice or hate based on religion, race, colour or national or ethnic origin.”
The Canadian Human Rights Act was also amended at that time to extend the prohibition against hate messages beyond telephone messages to include all telecommunications technologies.
If applied vigorously, these provisions should provide redress for a significant number of hate-related incidents, including those motivated by antisemitism.
The brutal murder of David Rosenzweig, increasing evidence of an underground culture of hate, the rise in reported antisemitic incidents not just in Canada but world-wide — all these factors have raised the level of anxiety in the Jewish community. Clearly, this anxiety will not dissipate so easily.
When one considers the specifics of the Rosenzweig case, the arguments one hears over whether or not this is a hate crime are reminiscent of similar discussions relating to the “suspected arson” targeting Toronto’s Anshei Minsk Synagogue earlier this year, and the shooting spree of an Arab ex-patriate directed at passengers and staff at the El Al desk at Los Angeles Airport. In all these cases, the inference seems to be that these crimes are not motivated by hate or bias because some other factors may have also been in play that fit conveniently with an indictable offence.
In the Rosenzweig case, a drug related agenda on the part of the assailant is currently being stressed by police, with the suggestion that the murder was just a chance encounter with a random victim. In the Anshei Minsk case — still unresolved — it is suggested that this was merely an unfortunate episode, perhaps involving “street people” who were not in any way intending to target a Jewish house of worship. South of the border in LA, in the rush to stem apprehension that might well have put a damper on the public’s Fourth of July celebrations and travel plans, the authorities moved swiftly to downplay the double murder. Instead, these killings seem to have been put in a nebulous category that apparently falls neither into the determination of terrorism against civilians, nor into the classification of hate crimes.
These three recent cases demonstrate what appears to be a marked reluctance on the part of the authorities and, in some cases, the media, to consider violence against Jews or Jewish-related targets as hate crimes. An incident that speaks volumes about this issue took place at a hate crimes seminar held recently in Toronto attended by a multitude of different minority groups. A participant in this intercultural event attempted to make the case that the increased number of antisemitic incidents experienced by Canadian Jews, many of which may well have been prompted by events in the Middle East, while reprehensible, should be considered in a separate category so as not to “dilute” the true definition of a hate crime. This is like suggesting that incidents such as the schoolyard harassment of young boys named Osama in the aftermath of 9/11 should also be excluded, since they were similarly prompted by events abroad. However, that broad an application was clearly not the intention of this attempt to propose a “separate” status for the experiences of a minority group which is a full and integral part of the Canadian mosaic.
Experts agree that passions unleashed by shock waves reverberating around the world post September 11 have exposed just how thin the veneer of civilization really is. However, while in general anti-minority sentiment in Canada appears to have calmed down, in the case of attitudes to the Jewish community, it appears to have become almost acceptable to express varying levels of prejudice and bias, especially if the anti-Jewish sentiment can be couched in terms of anti-Zionist rhetoric. Certainly, the incidents under review in this Audit support the contention that old hatreds, sustained by an abundance of antisemitic canards over the centuries, have gained new ground due in no small part to the unfettered rhetoric at Durban and the propaganda efforts of both the far Right and the far Left.
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