00:11:38.040So Holocaust Inversion is turning the Holocaust, the memory of the Holocaust, against the Jewish people, using the Holocaust as one more stick with which to beat the Jews.
00:11:56.160And the way that plays out in the Middle East conflict is by invoking Holocaust imagery to criminalize Israel.
00:12:15.760The Palestinians become the victims of the Nazis.
00:12:21.180Gaza is the Gaza ghetto echoing the Warsaw ghetto.
00:12:27.080And, of course, this war has introduced the word genocide into the equation so that it is Israel, which is the successor state to Nazi Germany and the heir to its genocidal program.
00:12:50.520So on that word genocide, because certainly that's where I've been focused, what is their objective in making an allegation that to so many fair-minded people is absurd?
00:13:12.520Well, first of all, because it's working.
00:13:15.520And by accusing Israel of genocide, you remove any legitimacy to the Jewish state.
00:13:29.720But there's been a progression of accusations against Israel, beginning with colonialism, moving to ethnic cleansing, accelerating to apartheid, and culminating in genocide.
00:13:51.920And if Israel is a genocidal state, like Nazi Germany, then it is incapable of waging a legitimate war of self-defense because a genocidal state has no right to self-defense.
00:14:09.660Nazi Germany in World War II was not defending itself.
00:14:13.960It was an aggressor and a murderous state that needed to be defeated and destroyed.
00:14:23.120And so the goal of the anti-Zionists is not to end the occupation of the West Bank and create a two-state solution.
00:14:32.340The goal is to delegitimize the existence of Israel as a necessary prelude to justifying its destruction.
00:14:47.400Who is making most use of this, you know, false allegation?
00:14:56.960So I guess what you're saying is the genocide allegation is an inversion of the Holocaust.
00:15:22.340The genocidal accusation is aimed at young people in the West who were raised, who were educated to see the Holocaust rightfully as the ultimate crime.
00:15:39.620And so if you can pin the Holocaust on its victims, then the Jews no longer have a moral claim on the West.
00:15:58.680And Iran's supreme leader, Khamenei, said this very explicitly.
00:16:05.280Iran has been leading the Holocaust denial campaign, denying any historical legitimacy to the Holocaust.
00:16:17.220And he said that if you can deny Israel the protection of the Holocaust, then it will be defenseless.
00:16:27.720And Iran's Holocaust denial did not resonate in the West.
00:16:50.560But the outrage now is to accuse the children and grandchildren of the Holocaust survivors of doing exactly what was done to their families.
00:17:04.080And that's a much more effective way of delegitimizing Israel, of stripping the Jews of their own history, not by clumsy attempts to deny the historicity of the Holocaust, but simply by shifting the burden of genocide to the Jews.
00:17:30.000Why is it, you know, we've both seen the data, and regrettably, the data in Canada is just as shitty.
00:17:39.220You know, I've seen stuff that some of my colleagues have done before, just actually on the heels of the 7th, indicating, you know, 41% of Gen Z Canadians believe the Holocaust was a hoax and that Hamas was entitled to do what it did.
00:19:14.760And this conflict, the Arab-Israeli conflict, is messier and more complicated than most.
00:19:26.760And so applying, applying the, the, the, the, the, the, the, ahistorical approach of social media combined with the, the, the, the ideological, um, um, distortions of intersectionality.
00:19:55.760To, to Israel results in turning the Jews from a people that heroically overcame, uh, the worst oppression that any people ever experienced.
00:20:13.760Into their enemies, into their enemies, into their worst enemies, uh, and doing so while the Jews are protecting themselves from a truly genocidal enemy.
00:20:28.760So the inversion is happening on multiple layers.
00:20:33.760It's turning Israel into, into Nazi Germany.
00:20:37.760It's turning the genocidal Hamas, uh, into victims.
00:20:42.760And what we're seeing is one of the most extraordinary distortions, uh, in, in, of, of reality, of political reality in the world today.
00:21:00.000One of my, um, um, uh, my discussions with polling people, I say, you know, why aren't these young people who are attending elite colleges and universities across North America and Western Europe, why are they so susceptible?
00:21:13.980They said, well, you know, during the, they, they feel, and I think they're right, the pandemic played a role.
00:21:19.600So, you know, these kids lost their prom dances and they lost their commencement exercises.
00:21:25.080So they actually became the most online demographic in human history and, and Iran and Qatar and the bad guys were all there and, and working this well before the seventh.
00:21:49.600Going back to the 1970s and 80s, when Middle Eastern studies were almost completely politicized and, and the, and the anti-Zionist sentiment that emerged, um, from, from the, from those departments, gradually spread to other parts of the humanities.
00:22:24.220And, um, every, every, every part of, of, of Zionist and Israeli history has been placed under a microscope.
00:22:37.420So that, so that, so that, so that all of Israel's transgressions, real, real or imagined, have been magnified, while the transgressions of the other side have either been, um, minimized or outright dismissed.
00:44:50.740This is CFRA Live, Sunday political panel.
00:45:04.020And welcome to it. Joining us for our political panel on this Sunday morning is Carl Belanger. He's the president at Traction Strategies. Good morning, Carl.
00:45:28.040So lots of there's lots on the docket this week. Maybe one we'll get to because we have seen this on the international front.
00:45:32.880The prime minister has endorsed U.S. President Joe Biden's peace plan.
00:45:37.380Well, I guess a plan for a ceasefire in the Middle East. We'll see how that kind of comes to fruition.
00:45:42.400But the prime minister also kind of taking some heat for not taking a firm stance one way or the other when it comes to dealing with Israel and Hamas.
00:45:50.900There's a piece in the Star this morning kind of looking at that as well.
00:45:54.960I guess, Warren, I'll start with you because I know you've been covering the different parts and aspects of some of the demonstrations that we've seen.
00:46:00.500But what do you make of the prime minister's kind of reaction so far politically to this situation?
00:46:06.280It was a non-reaction to the extent that the embassy of Israel had to issue an official statement basically condemning our prime minister and our foreign affairs minister for not, you know, giving an answer.
00:46:20.440Like the entire world, after Biden made his statement, stepped up to the microphone and said, you know, what they thought of it.
00:46:27.360Most of them approved of it. And Canada didn't.
00:46:30.940And I think this is symptomatic of what we've been seeing since October 7th.
00:46:34.680And it's led this week, this week in Canada, firebombing of a synagogue in Vancouver, shooting up of a Jewish school in Montreal, the shooting up of a Jewish school in Toronto.
00:46:45.680Like we've got a big problem. If you look at all the metrics, we probably have one of the worst anti-Semitism, anti-Semitic crime problems in the world.
00:46:55.220And it's incumbent upon our top leader, which is Justin Trudeau, to be more clear.
00:47:00.840But he hasn't been that way. And it's created this environment where the Jewish community, I can tell you, are feeling isolated and lonely and, you know, under attack.
00:47:11.480And we need some leadership and we're just not getting it.
00:47:14.300And I've mentioned, you know, luckily, locally, we haven't seen any major issues or incidents like this, but no doubt some very violent incidents happening and concerning incidents in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver this week.
00:47:26.860Tasha, when it comes to the political aspect of this, just reading the headline of the Star this morning, Ottawa's waffling on Gaza makes commitment to human rights look shaky.
00:47:34.060Is Justin Trudeau waffling here in your mind?
00:47:37.940Yeah, Justin Trudeau has been waffling since the beginning of this.
00:47:41.300And it's a purely electoral calculus. I hate to say it.
00:47:45.000You know, the Muslim population of Canada is about 5 percent.
00:47:48.660Many of them, not all, but many of them are sympathetic to what is happening in Gaza.
00:47:55.860Some have maybe even connections to people in Gaza.
00:47:58.200And then there's 1 percent of the population, I think approximately, is Jewish, who have connections also, in many cases, to family, people they know in Israel.
00:48:18.080Justin Trudeau has not been equivocal because he wants to have it both ways.
00:48:22.640He wants to maintain support in the Jewish community, which, frankly, has pretty much fled the Liberal Party at this point.
00:48:28.200And the Muslim community, which is also fleeing, ironically, to the NDP.
00:48:32.000So he's pleased nobody by refusing to defend what's right and defend and, like Warren said, speak out against incidents of domestic hatred and violence against the Jewish community that are happening here on a daily basis.
00:48:46.960And that's the result of it, because people feel they have license.
00:49:16.020When you're trying to make everybody happy, or at least not to hurt anybody, you end up hurting everybody.
00:49:23.540And that's the problem with the kind of positioning that just Trudeau has taken, especially the last few weeks.
00:49:31.820He is trying to walk a fine line, but that line is so fine that he ends up stepping on both sides, and that's the position that's not, I don't think it's sustainable, to be honest.
00:49:45.100And, you know, if Justin Trudeau was taking a principal position and sticking to it, it would be one thing.
00:49:53.820But he's wavering, he's waffling, he's trying to be both things to both sides.
00:50:01.100And it's not working, and I think that's problematic for him.
00:50:06.520But, you know, at the same time, to be fair, there was some ruffle inside the Liberal caucus about this issue.
00:50:16.600But it's happened a couple of, like I would say two months ago.
00:50:20.080And since then, I think people have kept, you know, have stayed pretty much united in the party.
00:50:27.240So maybe that's why he's doing it this way, to make sure he doesn't lose control of his caucus over this issue.
00:50:32.560Tasha, you mentioned a by-election coming up.
00:50:37.720I know I didn't have it on our list today, but there is a by-election coming up on June 24th.
00:50:41.640Just given the nature of this situation that we are seeing right now, kind of playing into the polls, obviously,
00:50:47.380do you think that's even more important for the, or an even more important measuring stick for the Liberals heading into the next election in Toronto-St. Paul?
00:50:56.140Yeah, this by-election is happening in a riding where there is a significant Jewish community.
00:51:00.340And the Conservatives have put forward an excellent candidate.
00:51:05.400I mean, full disclosure, I know him personally.
00:58:58.000Yeah, I think it's a potential big issue because it's compounding the other problems that they have.
00:59:05.960And frankly, the excuse that this was for a religious reason to, you know, to accommodate Diwali is laughable because you could have moved it up.
00:59:31.960I think it's a good move because the one thing the NDP needs to do is establish some contrast, some daylight between them and the Liberal Party.
00:59:40.220And they found an issue here where the government moved in with a bill, a bill that the NDP was working on with them, but they didn't have knowledge of this clause.
00:59:48.680But it's been months now since that bill's been tabled.
00:59:51.840And finally, right before the first debate in the House, the NDP said, we're moving an amendment on this because we don't think it's fair to make that move, to allow these 80 MPs to get their pension by delaying the election.
01:00:05.860So I think the Liberals will have no choice but to remove this clause from the bill if they want it to go through.
01:00:13.100Warren, does this just kind of add to that messaging that, you know, well, the Conservatives picked up on that, that Justin Trudeau is out of touch.
01:00:18.940Does this, you know, just add to that messaging?
01:00:22.900And like, I got to say, I was shocked by the response of the NDP.
01:00:28.500Like, you know, I know politicians in Ottawa like to say, you know, they're there for the greater good and so on.
01:00:35.720I remember Preston Manning and his Reform Caucus.
01:00:40.080Remember, they were on Parliament Hill that time, and they had pigs, people wearing pig masks, sticking their head in a snout and saying they'd never take the parliamentary pension.
01:00:51.720Every single one of them, including Manning, did, who was living in Stornoway at the time.
01:00:56.620So, like, you know, they say one thing and do another.
01:01:00.780Like, the NDP following through on this, I was like, wow, like, this really hits a lot of members, 80 of them, in the pocketbook.
01:01:09.800It is, you know, for those members who have been sitting there in the back benches twiddling their thumbs for six years, this is a big, big deal.
01:01:17.780I thought Trudeau was doing it to avoid a caucus revolt.
01:01:21.840I'm wondering now if some of them start to speak up on his leadership now that they're not going to be getting the pension.
01:01:30.180I guess, Tasha, you know, particularly during the affordability crisis that we've been having right now, is this just not a good look for the Liberals?
01:01:41.500Again, it goes to the sense that there's just no consequence.
01:01:44.540There's no one, you know, running the show here.
01:01:47.780It's interesting to see how it breaks down in terms of those 80 people, because six of them are NDP MPs.
01:01:53.300So the NDP has, you know, a fairly substantial portion of their caucus, 22 Liberals, 19 Bloc, and 32 Conservatives.
01:02:00.840Now, the Conservatives probably aren't that worried because of the polls, but for everyone else, maybe less the Bloc, you know, it's an issue.
01:02:09.700And I think that this, you know, the government was tone deaf, tone deaf to sort of bury it.
01:02:14.960They buried it in a bill about voting, right?
01:02:17.780Oh, of course we want people to vote more, but this is ridiculous.
01:02:21.000Moving the election date and sort of just sliding it in there, it looks even worse than if you were honest about it and said, oh, we want to move the election date.
01:02:29.440Yeah, and Diwali is happening, but you could back it the other way, as was pointed out.
01:02:35.360Lots of fodder that the government's going to have to fend off when the House returns here.
01:02:42.020Just a couple of minutes left, I wanted to get your guys' thoughts on South of the Border, kind of a bonus political question this morning.
01:02:47.220But we're watching the Trump hush money verdict come through this week.
01:02:50.100Obviously, he was found guilty on 34 felony counts.
01:02:52.500And I don't know, just as political watchers yourselves, I just kind of watch you in awe of what's going to happen next.
01:03:00.720I think Donald Trump is right in a sense of, you know, the voters are going to be the ultimate poll in November.
01:03:04.760But what do you just make of this whole unprecedented situation?
01:03:08.360Well, I think it's just sad that, you know, the United States is the choices they have on offer for their president include a convicted felon.
01:03:17.300You know, it's not, I sort of blink at this and wonder what things have come to, because people will still vote for him.
01:03:25.500Some won't, perhaps, but I think most of his voters look at this as like he painted it, which is, it's a setup, it's the courts are being used against me, it's lawfare, essentially.
01:03:37.420It's the worst thing that can happen to democracy, because you lose faith in the institutions.
01:03:41.400Yeah, he had all the greatest hits out this week.
01:03:43.640Carl, just is watching from afar, just so what were your kind of takeaways from watching this go down this week?
01:03:47.840Well, what's terrible about what's happening is that it doesn't disqualify him, and I'm not saying legally, I'm saying in the political opinion.
01:03:57.900The fact that the Americans have lost faith in their institution to the point where a man can be convicted 34 times, not once, not twice, 34 times,
01:04:10.200and still be, you know, riding high on the poles and being, a few days from being officially nominated as this party's candidate for the presidency,
01:04:20.480that's the problem, that's the dangerous slope we're in, where if the Americans have lost faith in their institution,
01:04:28.040the institutions that are there to safeguard a democracy and their freedom, and in fact think that they are somehow corrupt,
01:04:33.900and there's a plot, and it's the Democrats, and this and that, it can lead to a very dangerous situation down the road.
01:04:41.040And I'm really worried about what's happening, because frankly, anywhere else in the world, in a democracy that's working,
01:04:48.420a guy that's convicted, like Donald Trump was convicted, would be eliminated, he would have been eliminated just for being charged.
01:04:54.820And the fact that he's able to just continue, get money, have his party on board, to me, that's scary.
01:05:01.900Well, it made me kind of think back to the political reaction we did see,
01:05:04.560a swift political reaction against the former President Bill Clinton for his, what would be, you know, an affair,
01:05:09.620an affair that was consensual, and obviously paid a huge political price for that,
01:05:15.380but just to kind of see the difference between the two kind of reactions right now.
01:05:19.100Warren, just a last word to you, just your kind of takeaways from watching this kind of unfold south of the border this week.
01:05:24.220I thought it was awesome, I was so, so happy.
01:05:28.340I worked for Biden, I worked for Hillary, I was so happy.
01:05:33.360But what guys like me think, and, you know, people who support the Democrats and work for them,
01:05:39.400and mega-Republicans think, it doesn't matter.