The Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, defended the Zionist ideology, of which he claims, while reiterating Monday before members of the Jewish community that he still believes in the two-state solution in Palestine.
“You can be a Zionist and strongly support the creation of a Palestinian state living peacefully with Israel. This is an opinion that I know is shared by many in the Jewish community and across the country. This is also my belief,” declared the Canadian Prime Minister on the sidelines of Yom HaShoah, the day of remembrance of the genocide of the Jews during the Second World War.
Justin Trudeau insisted that the term “Zionist” should not be interpreted as an insult, and that no one should be targeted for subscribing to this ideology. “Threatening, intimidating or excluding Canadians because of their faith, their identity, or because they support the right of self-determination of the Jewish people in their ancestral lands is absolutely unacceptable,” he said. “The Jewish people, like all people, have the right to determine their own future. »
Criticized on campus
Criticism of Zionism is nevertheless omnipresent within the encampment currently set up in front of McGill University in Montreal, noted The duty. Tents were erected around ten days ago by pro-Palestinian demonstrators who demand that the institution end all links with “the Zionist regime” of Israel. This protest movement born in the United States is also present on the grounds of the University of Ottawa, among others.
Toronto Metropolitan University, for its part, is the target of a lawsuit from a student who alleges she was greeted on campus by a sign bearing the message “Zionism off our campus.” The Advisory Center for Jewish and Israeli Relations (CIJA) denounces an “anti-Semitic environment”.
Conservative Party of Canada Leader Pierre Poilievre spoke Monday at the same commemoration event as Prime Minister Trudeau. He railed against “the despicable violence and hatred on our campuses and our communities”, in reference to these demonstrations.
“Zionism is not unanimous”
According to Pierre Anctil, a retired history professor at the University of Ottawa, to call oneself a Zionist means to agree with the creation of “a Jewish national home” or, in contemporary terms, to “support the existence , the security of the State of Israel. “Zionism is not unanimously accepted, but it is accepted socially and politically in Canadian society as a legitimate, valid option,” he said.
However, there are deep debates within the Zionists themselves, as evidenced by the various rival parties in the Knesset, the Israeli Parliament. Some favor coexistence with a possible Palestinian state, called the “two-state solution,” while others advocate for the domination of a single state — Israel — over the entire territory.
That said, Jews themselves oppose Zionism, recalls Yakov Rabkin, associate professor of history at the University of Montreal. “Zionism and the State of Israel divide Jews, just as the idea of Quebec’s political independence divides Quebecers,” he wrote in an article published on his website.
On Monday, the Jewish organization B’nai Brith published its count of anti-Semitic incidents in Canada, numbering 5,791 for the year 2023, a sharp increase compared to previous years. Among them is an attempt to burn down a synagogue and a Jewish community center on the island of Montreal, as well as shots fired at two Jewish schools in Côte-des-Neiges and Outremont.
With Zacharie Goudreault