Not everyone has been feeling the love recently, despite the presence of flowers and chocolate for Valentine’s Day. One Jewish cultural center in Toronto is presumably feeling particularly icy. After a recent event which featured anti-Zionist speaker Hajo Meyer, the Canadian Jewish Congress (CJC) has cut ties with the Winchevsky Centre.
Defining itself as a “progressive secular Jewish community centre,” the Winchevsky Centre seeks to celebrate secular Jewish heritage. Furthermore, social justice appears to be a central theme of their website and community events. But the CJC disassociation came after a February 1st speech by Meyer, who told the audience that “the destruction of Israel as a state from within” was one of his hopes. Is this another example of the Jewish establishment attempting to punish those who criticize Israel?
Before you jump to that conclusion, consider that Meyer did not merely criticize; he essentially said that he wants Israel eliminated. Therefore, I think the CJC response was justified. Organizations are not obligated to support other organizations they do not agree with. It would be ridiculous to expect the CJC, which states on its website that it is “part of a group of advocacy agencies that work with the Canadian Council for Israel and Jewish Advocacy,” to continue lending its name to the Winchevsky Centre after a speaker they hosted explicitly voiced his support for Israel’s destruction.
In fact, one may wonder why the CJC waited until after the event to take action. A sponsor for the event was the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network (which I can assure you, does not present a rosy picture of Israel). And the CJC was clearly aware the event was taking place. An article in the Canadian Jewish News even mentioned that the CJC “sent someone to monitor [the event].” So it seems that before they made any decision, they listened to the content of Meyer’s speech. Then, after hearing it, decided to pull their support for the Winchevsky Centre. To me, that is a reasonable, measured response.
