“Normal” is defined as the “typical, usual, average state of affairs.” People often confuse what is normal for the way things should be. But when dealing with Israel and the Jewish people, in too many cases, what is accepted as normal is definitely not as it should be.
For example, the U.S., the EU, Canada and other countries have provided billions of dollars of funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) – the organization dedicated to ensuring that the Palestinian people are perpetually classified as refugees. Palestinians are the only group of displaced people who have been provided with refugee status for more than the time that would be required to resettle them. They are the only group to which refugee status has been accorded to multiple generations of people, which has seen the number of refugees receiving support increase from about 650,000, to over three million.
UNRWA has become an industry unto itself, which employs many and is paid for by our tax dollars. The existence of UNRWA prevents the resettlement of the Palestinian people, who thus remain a thorn in the side of the Jewish state. U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley recently revealed the truth of the matter and cut American funding to UNRWA. Some would call this normal, but it shouldn’t be.
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Also seen as normal is a torrent of anti-Israel resolutions generated by the UN each year that accuse Israel of all kinds of atrocities, while countries that actually commit such atrocities are ignored. That is accepted as normal, but not as it should be.
The idea that Western countries are obliged to take in refugees, especially from Syria, is also seen as normal. But many of those who have been chosen to come to Canada are not the people who are most at risk – the Christians and Yazidis. What is also normal, but not as it should be, is the expectation that this group of refugees, who have been taught from birth to dislike or despise Jews, are going to suddenly stop feeling that way when they land here.
It is seen as normal that anyone criticizing political Islam – also called Islamism, or radical Islam – is regarded as Islamophobic. It is also seen as normal that words like “Islamophobia” are being used, despite having an imprecise definition. It has become normal to portray Canadian Muslims as Canada’s primary victims, notwithstanding the fact that other groups are the subject of much higher levels of racism, particularly us Jews. This is not as it should be.
“ALSO SEEN AS NORMAL IS A TORRENT OF ANTI-ISRAEL RESOLUTIONS GENERATED BY THE UN EACH YEAR”
A senior member of our community recently represented the Jewish community at a conference on racism. He had to fight to even have Jews recognized as being the victims of racism, notwithstanding the fact that statistics show that we are the most attacked racial group per capita by a large margin.
It has also become normal that the federal government feels it’s justified in denying funding to organizations that may have differing opinions on controversial issues, such as abortion.
And, of course, it is not seen as normal, that the most powerful country in the world should have the option to locate its embassy in the capital city of its strongest ally in the Middle East.
I could go on. So could you. We are far too inclined to accept what is normal for what should be, particularly as it relates to the Jewish people. We must be vigilant in calling out and opposing these double standards.
