Montreal Jewish Community Denies Charge of “Holocaust Exploitation”

By John Dirlik

A prominent law professor infuriated members of Montreal's Jewish community when he told students at a week-long Holocaust symposium that some Israeli and Jewish leaders have exploited the Nazi catastrophe and deliberately exaggerated the extent of modern anti-Semitism.

Constitutional lawyer Julius Gray, who also teaches law at McGill University, told a seminar on Holocaust denial that the memory of the Nazi catastrophe is used as a tool to keep the Jewish community united and "to keep people in the fold." He charged that Jewish leaders, like leaders of many other ethnic groups, "create a martyrology...this feeling of injury, that we must stick together."

Gray, who is Jewish and lost a grandfather in the Holocaust, also advocated that the lesson of the Holocaust should be universal in that "evil lurks in all of us." The Holocaust, he said, should be taught in schools "in the same breath as Rwanda and Cambodia" rather than as a strictly "Jewish subject."

"What is happening is a fake alarmist mentality."

Challenging conventional wisdom, Gray dismissed reports by some Jewish organizations that modern anti-Semitism is a serious problem. "What is happening is a fake alarmist mentality," he said. "The truth is that if you look around Canada today, you'll find a society with zero anti-Semitism." He said that black people in North America suffered more discrimination than Jews, and that color of skin—not religion—was a far greater obstacle for many young people in today's society.

Although none of the students at the lecture disagreed with Gray's suggestion that the Holocaust and the specter of anti-Semitism are manipulated as instruments to unify the Jewish community, a storm of protest erupted when his remarks were reported the next day on the front page of Quebec's only English-language daily, the Gazette. Outraged Montreal Jews called synagogues, Jewish organizations and radio talk shows angrily denouncing Gray and his views. Mike Cohen, spokesman for the Canadian Jewish Congress, said that "in the many years I've been at the Congress, I don't remember getting this many phone calls from irate members of the community."

Because of the number of complaints, the Canadian Jewish Congress and the Montreal Holocaust Memorial Centre issued a joint statement distancing themselves from Gray. "It should be on the record today that the organized Jewish community does not agree with the sentiments of Julius Gray," said Cohen.

Despite the uproar, the Montreal lawyer did not retreat from his position. "I stand by what I said. I don't think it was offensive," insisted Gray, who appeared on several radio talk shows where he fended off accusations of having "desecrated the memory" of the dead and "trivialized the horrors" of the Holocaust. In three different talk shows, Gray reiterated his position that anti-Semitism was an "artificial problem" in North America and that the lesson of the Holocaust should be "to prevent it from happening to other people."

Gray conceded to his critics that the Holocaust was in fact "unique," but stressed that the lesson derived from any genocide is that "behind every human endeavor, there is the danger of horror." His explanations, however, clearly failed to satisfy some callers who, in voices quivering with emotion, denounced him as a "turncoat" and a "quisling."

Anti-Abortion Group Cancels Lecture on Muslim "Threat"

An anti-abortion group holding its annual conference in Montreal cancelled one of its lectures entitled "Understanding the Muslim World View" after meeting with Islamic leaders. A Human Life International (HLI) spokesman told the 150 delegates who came to hear the speech—originally titled "The Muslim Threat"—that the lecture by Fr. Winfred Pietrick would be postponed out of "respect for the Muslim community."

The president of HLI later told the Washington Report that the topic of the lecture might have been better described as "The Muslim Challenge," and that it would be addressed in coming issues of the group's newsletter. Fr. Mathew Habinger said the decision to cancel the talk was taken not only out of sensitivity to Muslims, but also because of the "hostile climate" surrounding his anti-abortion group's presence in the city. "It became clear this was not the time or the place to address these concerns," said Fr. Habinger.

A day earlier, following a mass at Montreal's Roman Catholic cathedral, a procession of the anti-abortion group was pelted with eggs and bottles by a large and angry crowd of demonstrators. The protesters jeered and hurled insults at HLI's positions on abortion and homosexuality, and accused HLI of anti-Semitism.

The anti-Semitism accusations stemmed from a 1987 article by founder Fr. Paul Marx, who wrote that "the same segment of the Jewish community that accuses the Pope of insensitivity to the Jewish Holocaust not only condones but has more or less led the greatest Holocaust of all time, the war on unborn babies."

B'nai B'rith compared HLI's charge that Jews are disproportionally represented in the pro-choice movement to the "blood libel" of the Middle Ages, and unsuccessfully lobbied the Catholic archdiocese to deny HLI the use of the Montreal basilica.

HLI spokesmen termed the charges of anti-Semitism "irresponsible and reckless" and held a press conference where one of the members, Rabbi Yehuda Levin, denied the accusations.

Visa Granted to Algerian Filmmaker

An Algerian filmmaker credited the lobbying efforts of her supporters in Canada for reversing a decision by immigration officials to reject her request for a visa.

Hafsa Zinai Koudil, who now lives in Tunisia, was initially denied a visa to show her film in Montreal when Canadian immigration officials in Paris said they feared she would seek political asylum.

The decision was reversed after supporters in Quebec expressed their outrage, and Koudil screened her film, "Le Demon au Feminin" about a woman who was tortured in Algeria for refusing to wear the Islamic headscarf.

Upon her arrival in Montreal, Koudil said Canada's initial refusal to grant her a visa only strengthened the hand of militants in Algeria. "By saying no to me, they turned their back on democracy and helped the fundamentalists," she said.

Despite what she termed as her "humiliating" treatment by Canadian officials, Koudil expressed gratitude to the Canadian people. "Thank you for your great support—it was the flame that drew me to Canada," she said.

John Dirlik, a free-lance writer from Quebec, writes on Canadian and Middle East affairs.