Contemporary Antisemitism: Canada and the World (review)

This book is the outcome of a conference held in February 2003 at the University of Toronto's Munk Centre for International Studies. Its theme: the 'new anti-Semitism.'

Despite what is implied in the book's title, Canada was not the centripetal focus of discussion. No overarching attempt was made to connect what has been happening in Canada – e.g., the United Talmud Torah bombing in Montreal – to developments worldwide, or vice versa. McGill University sociologist Morton Weinfeld was the lone scholar to address the matter of anti-Semitism, new and old, within the Canadian context, and he did so with his usual combination of rigour and good sense.

The other contributors were free to range far afield. Todd Endelman discussed the contemporary – and, in his view, precarious – situation of Jews in Western Europe. (Coeditor Michael Marrus's response to Endelman is not included here; it was taped and televised by tv Ontario, along with most of the proceedings.) Historian Steven Zipperstein explored the problem of distinguishing between political prejudice against Israel and anti-Jewish bigotry. The Left's present position on Israel vis-à-vis Palestine, for example, is based primarily on an idealistic, Manichaean understanding of the current geopolitical situation and not on myth or superstition. Therefore, according to Zipperstein, opposition to Israel should not be automatically conflated with anti-Semitism in the 'classic' sense, though there are times when this is entirely appropriate. In any case, motives matter.

Derek Penslar supplied the introduction as well as a thoughtful essay on the history of Arab and Islamic attitudes towards Israel. Mark Tessler provided evidence based on polls taken in the last decade that served to confirm Penslar's conclusion: unlikely as it seems now, an 'accommodation between Israel and the Arab world' is achievable, if only because anti-Semitism in the Middle East tends to 'grow out of a political conflict in which Jews are empowered actors, not figments of the imagination.' Arab anti-Zionism is 'rational' insofar as it waxes and wanes depending on the policies and actions of the Jewish state. In other words, there is the possibility of dialogue and for a fair peace, eventually.

Finally, it should be mentioned that, apart from scholars, there were also two prominent Canadian public officials invited to speak at the Munk Centre. Chief Justice Roy McMurtry recounted his years in office as Ontario's attorney-general (1975–1985), a time when the emergence of neo-Nazis, such as Ernst Zundel, challenged the state to take an active hand in combating hate; and, most notably, the conference opened with an address by former prime minister Brian Mulroney.

The editors generously describe the latter's contribution as 'historic.' That may be overstating the case: there is nothing particularly historic about a Conservative politician pointing out the sins of his Liberal predecessors; on the other hand, it is true that William Lyon Mackenzie King's anti-Semitic and pro-Hitlerite sentiments deserve public attention and continued denunciation. Mulroney's speech aside, it is historically significant that in his capacity as prime minister he did appoint three Jews in succession – Stanley Hartt, Norman Spector, and Hugh Segal – to serve as chief of staff, and that he went on to give Spector the Canadian ambassadorship to Israel, 'smashing the odious myth of dual loyalties that had prevented Jews from serving in that position for forty years.'

Although uneven in quality, as are most publications stemming from conference papers, this slim volume demonstrates that there were moments at the Munk Centre worth preserving in print. Perhaps next time the conference and the publication that follows will include examples of the kind of dialogue between Arabs and Jews most of the participants agreed is possible and of mutual benefit. Then again, recent events in Lebanon may preclude this from happening anytime soon.