Indigo bookstore vandalism sparks debate over definition of antisemitism

For author and political activistNaomi Klein, red paint and posters plastered onanIndigo book store in Toronto, accusingthe chain's founder Heather Reismanof "funding genocide" for her support of Israel, had nothing to do with the fact that she's Jewish.

"That's an outrageous slander,"she saidat a rally this week in front one of the bookstores in support of the 11 people charged in the incident.

Instead, Klein said, Reisman was targeted for her supportof a program that provides free tuition for soldiers who serve in the Israel Defence Forcesbut which critics say is an inducement to getnon-Israeli Jews tovolunteerin theIsraeli military.

"Whoever engaged in this activism was protesting the CEO of Indigo's political activity. Not her identity. Not her religion."

It's a position also takenby theJewish Faculty Network, a group ofprofessors across Canadaconcerned that legitimate criticism of Israel is being labelled antisemitic.

'Vile antisemitic attack'

But Reisman's Jewish background, say some members of the Jewish community, is exactly why she was targeted.

The Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies described the vandalism as "a vile antisemitic attack."The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs compared it to the Nazi-incited riots ofKristallnachtback in November1938.

Meanwhile, the case is being treated as a possible hate crime because"the victim was specifically targeted because they are (or are perceived to be) Jewish, which meets the criteria of an identifiable group," a Toronto police spokeswoman told CBC News.

But whatever one's take, the incident suggeststhe challenges that may comewith both defining antisemitismand when anti-Israel actions or sentiment cross the line from legitimate protest to hate.

Dov Waxman,director of the UCLA Younes & SorayaNazarian Center for Israel Studies, says it's important to recognize that there is no consensus about whencriticisms of Israel cross that line.

"That's long been a subject of debate and disagreement," he said. "And I think that that's really intensified over the last few weeks."

Amy Spitalnick, CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, agreesthat it hasgotten particularly complicated since Hamas's attack on Israel and the subsequent rise in both criticism of Israel and direct antisemitism that has targeted Jews in a variety of ways.

She says her organization has repeatedly disagreed with Israeli policies and that it's totally appropriate for anyone to engage in such debate,whether in response to the war in Gaza or more broadly.

What's been happening since the war started, however,is that some criticism of Israel has becomeexplicit antisemitism, she says.

"The most obvious manifestation of that is the way or the ways in which Jews are being held collectively responsible for the actions of the Israeli government."

"We're seeing this in attacks on Jewish institutions, Jewish businesses, Jewish individuals," she said. "That is antisemitism. Plain and simple."

Shimon Fogel, CEO of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, also questionshow an individualor business because of someconnection to Israelmerits being targeted because of the policies of its government.

"Playthat out using different labels," he said. "I'm opposed to a Canadian policy. Therefore, I'm going to target somebody who identifies as a Canadian for abuse or hate?That's a ludicrous proposition."

Antisemitic impact

Holly Huffnagle, the American Jewish Committee'sU.S. directorfor combating antisemitism, says a remark might not be intended as antisemitic, and that person might not bean antisemite.

"But the words, or what's being said, could have an antisemiticimpact. And that's really what the focus should be," she said.

For example, using the word "holocaust"to describe what the Israelis are doing to the Palestinians inGaza.

"We see a lot of that Holocaustdistortion which I argue is actually aform of antisemitism weaponizing the genocide of the victim group against them."

Dr. Phillip Bergerof Toronto, whorecently co-wrote aletter on behalf ofDoctors Against Racism and Antisemitism, says he recently saw a photo of a banner atan anti-Israel demonstration that said: "Supporting Israelis like supporting the Holocaust."

"How can one debate whether that's antisemitic or not?" he said.

WATCH | Scotiabank and other companies facing consumer boycotts:

Pro-Palestinian activists call for boycott against Israeli-linked businesses

9 months ago

Duration 2:07

Pro-Palestinian activists are calling for a national day of action and boycott against businesses tied to Israel's actions in the occupied West Bank and Gaza. Supporters of Israel call the movement antisemitic.

Berger says it's perfectly fine to criticize Israeli policiesthat that is not antisemitic but adds he believes many Jews in Israel and beyond feel threatened like they never have since the founding of the state of Israel.

"And it seems that only for Jews are they supposed to fight a deathless war with no destruction," he said.

"And who is to determine proportionality? Why is it only for Jews that the argument of proportionality always comes up?"

Alejandro Paz, who is on the steering committee ofthe Jewish Faculty Network, sayshe doesn't believe the definition of antisemitism has becomemurkier since Oct.7. He said "there's nothing antisemitic" about protesting what some suggest is "genocide in the making" in Gaza.

He also says it's "demonstrably false" for some organizations to sayit's antisemitic touseterms like "apartheid" or "decolonization" or "settler colonialism" todescribe Israeli policies.

Michael Bueckert, the vice-president of Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East, says he believesthatpeople who've been involved in the work on Palestinian rights are very attuned to the history of antisemitism, how it operates in society and different potential pitfalls.

"People are always making these arguments about Palestine activismthat people are forced to learn about what antisemitism is and are very keen to distinguish between talking about Zionism as a political ideology versus Jewish Canadians, for example," he said.

"And in making those necessary distinctions and not holding average Jewish Canadians responsible for what Israel does and all sorts of things."

Bueckert arguesthatpro-Israel voicesconstantly tryto conflate the issues of criticism of Israel with antisemitism,rather than distinguish them.

He said businesses that are boycotted or targeted only if there's a direct link to the oppression of Palestinians, and that it's"really critically important that our activism doesn't tend to target Jewish people as such, that it's really important that that their strategy and ethics involve."

Waxman, the UCLA professor, says targeting such businessesgets tricky when targeting a business owner who is Jewishbut also an outspoken supporter of Israel.

"What's tricky is that because most Jews support Israel, thesekinds of protests and actions end uptargeting Jews and making Jews therefore feel unsafe and insecure.

"So they have the effect of creating an environment in which Jews feel unsafe and vulnerable, even if they're not actually motivated by antisemitism."