Canadian Jewish Press, Canada
By RON CSILLAG, Special to The CJN
JERUSALEM — Delegates to the 13th plenary of the World Jewish Congress held here last week left with a renewed solidarity with Israel in the wake of the country’s military operation in Gaza.
More than 400 delegates from 90 countries, including 20 from Canada, came together for the two-day gathering to hear Israeli politicians reaffirm their nation’s commitment to destroying terrorist infrastructure in Gaza, but also to listen to some delegates’ heart-rending tales of anti-Semitism that the Gaza fighting triggered in their countries.
Iran was also front and centre, as experts issued dire warnings about the country’s imminent nuclear capabilities.
U.S. cosmetics heir Ronald Lauder was reinstated as the New York-based WJC’s president, while Moshe Ronen of Canada was re-acclaimed as a vice-president.
Canadians played prominent roles at the meeting. In one instance, as a resolution proclaiming the Diaspora’s solidarity with Israel was about to be passed, with a section singling out the United States and Australia for their special support during the Gaza incursion, Canadian Jewish Congress co-president Rabbi Reuven Bulka quickly rose to note Canada’s “steadfast” support, too, adding that Canada’s was the lone voice opposing a recent one-sided United Nations resolution on the fighting. Canada was added to the WJC resolution without debate.
In his remarks, Israeli President Shimon Peres said he sought to correct “misunderstandings and misrepresentations” about the Gaza conflict.
Since 2000, there have been 5,792 Qassam rockets and 4,411 mortars fired from Gaza into Israel, most of those since Israel quit the territory two years ago. The 20,000 or so overall terrorist attacks coming from Gaza resulted in 842 civilians and 325 Israeli troops killed in recent years.
“I don’t know any country that went through such an experience,” Peres said.
“So where is the disproportion?”
Contrary to charges that Israel laid siege to Gaza, Peres said that from June 2007 onward, Israel allowed 42,327 trucks carrying 1.8 million tonnes of fuel and supplies into Gaza. “The whole story of a siege is totally unfounded. There was never a shortage of fuel… [or] food.”
Peres referred to a stockpile, found in 2005, of weapons smuggled into Gaza: 300,000 kilos of dynamite, 20,000 rockets, rifles, machine guns and pistols, and a half-million kilograms of ammunition.
“When you fight terrorism, you can’t have a victory characteristic of conventional war because there is no uniform, no front, no army. The only way we have to stop terrorism is to hit terrorists hard.”
He called Hamas “the greatest Arab problem.”
Asked whether he thinks the terror group will continue attacking Israel, Peres said: “They won’t do it so quickly. I hope the lesson will serve as a deterrent.” (Two days later, Israeli aircraft struck at tunnels used for smuggling goods and weapons on the border between Gaza and Egypt).
In a short address, Likud leader and prime ministerial front-runner Benjamin Netanyahu said he has “no doubt that ultimately, militant Islam will lose the battle against modernity and freedom. The question is, at what price?”
He called for a broad alliance with Christians and moderate Muslims against anti-Semitism and “the creed of hate.”
In his address, Lauder blasted the world’s “double standard” in criticizing Israel’s Gaza operation. “How long would your governments wait if you were threatened, not just by words that promised your destruction, but by real rockets?” he asked. “When I look at the double standards the world applied to Jews, I come to the sad conclusion that with anti-Semitism, the best we can hope for is that it goes away for a time.”
The anti-Semitism facing European Jews “is as bad as it’s ever been,” but “we will defend ourselves. We will not waver,” he said.
Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak, who was well received, called the blow against Gaza the “toughest” ever carried out by the Jewish state. He said 150 tunnels used for arms smuggling were destroyed, along with 250 buildings used by extremists and more than 100 rocket launch pads.
Barak, a former prime minister, said he “strongly believes no other country would have had such patience for so long” as Israel did. “We are not trigger-happy or looking for wars,” he added. “I have been through too many to be looking for wars.”
Several delegates spoke of increased anti-Semitism in their countries. The envoy from Turkey related that hundreds of thousands of people in Istanbul attended an anti-Israel rally.
Rabbi Henry Sobel of Congregation Sao Paulo Israelite in Brazil was forthright. He called Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who ejected Israel’s ambassador from his country, an anti-Semite, and he noted a worrying trend of anti-Semitism across South America.
Probably the best-received speaker was foreign minister Tzipi Livni, the Kadima party’s candidate for prime minister in the Feb. 10 election. In a short, direct address, Livni, to wide applause, said that Israel is “not going to show restraint anymore.”
An agreement with Hamas “is not an option. We need to change the rules of the game until they learn that the rules have changed and the equation has changed,” she added.
“We are not trying to avoid negotiations. We are trying to do it the right way.”
Canadians voted en bloc against two controversial resolutions, which both passed. One dealt with the recent decision by Pope Benedict to reverse the excommunication of a British bishop who openly denies the Holocaust. It called on the pontiff to “strengthen and reinforce the achievements of Jewish-Catholic dialogue thereby assisting to counter the adverse impression arising from the decision concerning Bishop [Richard] Williamson.”
Rabbi Bulka said the resolution missed the point. “To welcome back a Holocaust denier flies in the face of elementary decency and is a travesty,” he told The CJN. “The Pope has to make a clear statement addressing and redressing the damage that this decision has caused.”
The other resolution dealt with the followup to the UN’s 2001 anti-racism conference, known as Durban II, slated for later this year. Moments after Livni encouraged countries to boycott Durban II, the measure called on Jewish communities around the world to pressure their governments to ensure that the conference is not a replay of the 2001 parley, which descended into a chorus of anti-Israel sentiment. Failing that, the resolution encouraged governments to stay away from the conference.
Rabbi Bulka said the Canadian delegation was “firmly behind the government of Canada,” which announced a year ago that it would not attend Durban II. “They saw long before now where this sham is going. They have been proven correct.”
“To suggest that one can minimize the racism and hate that will be present at the conference is like saying that instead of much poison, we can settle for a little less poison.”
