By Yves Engler

As Gaza endures unimaginable suffering, Canadian media and politicians amplify narratives that overlook the Palestinian plight.

Babies are dying of hypothermia. Cats have joined stray dogs in eating the dead. The last functioning hospital in the north has been burned down.

Amidst this ever-worsening holocaust in Gaza, the media and politicians want us to believe Canadian Jews are the real victims. In an egregious example, the Winnipeg Sun just published “Dahlia Kurtz mobilizing pushback on Canada’s Jew-hate problem.”

Palestinian suffering is omitted from the long profile of an unhinged Jewish supremacist. The article describes Kurtz combating “‘Free Palestine’ hatefests” and selecting Justin Trudeau “winner of my 2024 Jew-Hater of the Year Award.”

Over the past 15 months Kurtz has become a leader in Canada’s fascist movement, posting incessantly about purported Jewish victimhood and the anti-genocide “mob” who should be “deported”. A compulsive liar, Kurtz openly calls for state violence against those challenging Canadian complicity in genocide.

On Friday, she posted a video that appeared to show dark-skinned teenagers fighting in Edmonton mockingly describing the incident as “a celebration of diversity”. A week earlier she posted a photo of neo-Nazis rallying with the statement “‘MASS DEPORTATIONS NOW’ banner at mall in London, Ontario. Who’s with them?”

A major paper profiling this fascist, Jewish supremacist, fifteen months into the holocaust in Gaza speaks volumes of the media climate. In a search of the Major Canadian Dailies database since October 7, 2023, the word “antisemitism” came up 4,217 times while “anti-Semitism” was referenced 238 times.

During that time the Globe and Mail, Toronto Star, Ottawa Citizen and other newspapers included in the database used the word “Palestine” 3,501 times. The words “genocide” and “Israel” elicited 2,139 mentions while “famine” and “Gaza” only had 311 mentions.

Over the past fifteen months, Pierre Poilievre has denounced antisemitism far more often than the wholesale slaughter of Palestinians. The Conservative party leader is now even calling to “defund” universities that allow speech that makes Jewish Zionist students “feel uncomfortable”.

Giving greater focus to antisemitism than Palestinian suffering holds true of the prime minister as well. On his X account since July Justin Trudeau has condemned alleged or real acts of antisemitism nine times (my attempt to search his X account beyond July was blocked).

He used words like “appalling”, “vile” and “disgusting” to describe these incidents (he also posted criticizing Hamas, Samidoun and Iran a half dozen times). During this period Trudeau didn’t express concern for Palestinians a single time on X (one vague mention of a ceasefire implied concern).

In a sign of how the Liberals see Canadian Jews as the primary victims of Israel’s holocaust, health minister Ya’ara Saks decried a Boxing Day rally in front of an Indigo bookstore, which is owned by a billionaire couple that’s given $200 million in (tax-subsidized) donations to assist non-Israelis who join the Israeli military.

Saks posted, “Protesting a Jewish-owned business in Canada is NOT the right to protest or freedom of expression. It is not a lawful demonstration calling for peace. It is meant to create chaos and intimidate. It is inherently antisemitic — full stop.”

NDP leader Jagmeet Singh seems to consider the holocaust in Gaza as slightly more troubling than what’s happened to Canadian Jewry. Between December 27 and March 10 (my attempt to search beyond that date was blocked) Singh posted to X about antisemitism 10 times (he also retweeted MP Alexandre Boulerice criticizing antisemitism and his statement on Purim was partially a condemnation of antisemitism.

Singh also posted a long statement critical of Hamas on the anniversary of October 7 and condemned Iran for responding to Israel’s attack). During that period Singh posted criticizing Israel’s actions or in support of campaigns doing so 17 times (Singh also retweeted NDP foreign critic Heather McPherson criticizing Israel four times, criticized anti-Palestinian racism and defended the rights of student activists to set up encampments).

Despite the antisemitism frenzy, it’s unclear if a single Jewish Canadian has even been hospitalized because of an anti-Jewish incident in the same period as tens of thousands of women and children have been killed by Israeli attacks in Gaza.

And it is important to note that hate crimes are the only commonly employed socioeconomic indicator in which the Jewish community fares poorly. Of the twenty most used categories in discussions of racism — income levels, incarceration rates, educational attainment, life expectancy, home ownership, positions on corporate boards, etc. — Jewish Canadians fare better than the average. In general, Jewish Canadians are overrepresented in positions of wealth and influence.

But the media, politicians and even many progressives are telling us antisemitism in Canada is worth more attention than people facing famine after being displaced a half dozen times. We hear more about the feelings of Zionist Jewish university students’ than a study finding that 96% of children in Gaza feel death is imminent and that half want to die.

It seems that the media, along with supporters of Israel believe the possibility of something bad happening to Jews is a greater threat to humanity than the actual death, injury and trauma to hundreds of thousands of Palestinians.

 – Yves Engler is the author of Canada and Israel: Building Apartheid and a number of other books. He contributed this article to The Palestine Chronicle. Visit his website: yvesengler.com.