By Harvey Oberfeld
January the 22nd, 2016
They are stories Canada’s and even Europe’s left-wing media consistently ignore or play down because they don’t fit their ideological prejudices and agendas:
In France, less than two weeks ago, prominent Jewish politician Alain Ghozland was found murdered in his suburban Paris apartment … riddled with stab wounds.
Ghozland, a member of the Republican party, was active in France’s Jewish community. His father, Haim Ghozland, was one of the founders of the Paris suburb Créteil’s Jewish community and served as deputy mayor. Wednesday police arrested two suspects … but it is still unclear whether the murder was a hate crime.
However what IS clear and established by authorities is that, in 2014, there were 164 VIOLENT anti-Semitic attacks against Jews in France …. and that doesn’t include hundreds of other reported incidents where Jewish citizens had insults and threats hurled at them or where Jewish institutions, synagogues and even cemeteries were desecrated with graffiti.
In Egypt (our ally), Christians have been regularly attacked, many massacred, their churches burned (can’t find stories of anyone EVER being arrested) , thousands have been forced to move from their homes, have even been harassed and had deadly confrontations with the Egyptian army, and the government refuses to recognize any conversions from Islam to Christianity.
In Iraq, more than 1,000 Christians have been killed by Muslim mobs/militias ….. hundreds of thousands of others were driven from their homes and are now in refugee camps; in Saudi Arabia, anti-Christian persecution is enshrined in law: not only are Christian (or any other kind of non-Muslim) churches or temples banned, but even private Christian prayer is against the law; and in Iraq and Syria, several thousand more Christians have been slaughtered … and more than 500,000 have fled those countries to save their lives.
The list of active, actual persecution of Christians and Jews overseas is a very long one … and it is growing … not getting smaller.
Where is the media in detailing this?
Yes, there have been occasional quick, passing stories … usually just after a major attack or massacre or church destruction etc. but NOTHING CLOSE to the sustained sympathetic, DAILY stories and closeups of Muslim communities and individual families suffering in world conflicts … to the point of outright advocacy for Canada and the West to intervene on their behalf.
Why have suffering and persecuted Christians and Jews NOT received the same sustained coverage by our major media (like CBC ‘s The National, BBC World News, Al Jazeera) of their communal fears and persecution and individual suffering and loss ????
Where is the federal Liberal government and Prime Minister Trudeau’s compassion and welcome mat for them?
We haven’t seen Trudeau or the Immigration Minister or the Governor General appealing on their behalf or promising Canada’s support or at any airport welcoming persecuted Christians and Jews fleeing hatred and death overseas … as they have done for Muslim refugees.
I have no objection … indeed, I support the government’s decision to offer safety and residence to legitimate Muslim refugees from conflict zones.
BUT Canada’s Welcome should be PUBLICLY extended to Christians and Jews who are suffering from persecution and violence overseas too.
And there’s NO SHORTAGE OF PROOF of how that is happening right now as you read this.
News reports just this week revealed how German Jews are no longer feeling safe: being subjected to violence and threats , deteriorating security from extreme right-wing groups, holding demonstrations disguised as “anti-Israel” protests, but where there were shouts of “Hamas! Hamas! Jews into gas!”
The arrival of a million Muslim refugees and migrants in Germany are already causing new problems … leading to Jewish leaders recently encouraging German Jews “to look less Jewish” when walking in Muslim-populated neighbourhoods of Berlin.
In France, escalating attacks Jews in Marseilles led to calls by community leaders for Jews “not to wear skullcaps until better days”.
Increasing numbers of Jews in France and Germany are now looking for safe, welcoming to go. Many of them …well educated and Western culturally adapted…have already left for Israel.
The numbers of Jews seeking safe haven from Europe now are not large , but there are reportedly more than 100,000 Christians who have fled Arab lands to avoid death, discrimination and persecution in those countries … not just by terror groups but legally sanctioned by barbaric governments as well.
Canada should throw down the same welcome mat for the Christians and Jews that it laid out for Muslims.
But that will ONLY happen if the media starts telling their stories … and our politicians start listening and caring about them as well.
Harv Oberfeld
Mr. Oberfeld echos my feelings exactly. When I see all the Muslim refugees they are bringing into Canada, providing them with food, medical care and a roof over their heads, I think of 1939 when Canada and every other country turned away thousands of Jews, fleeing Nazi Germany and certain death. I weep.
Gosh Harve, I HOPE that picture of the baby was just staged. And, even if it is, I know that these animals are doing this kind of thing. When will the world wake up and realize that ISIS is the greatest threat to world humanity since the National Socialists of the 30’s.
Every media person and Justin Trudeau should read this. Well said Harv. Thank you for writing the story.
CBC, BBC and other state broadcasters, being the left-wing propaganda units they are, are too prejudiced by their own ideology to care. The bleeding-heart talking heads on-camera are busy appealing to viewers of the nightly news to show compassion to the refugees (some of which could have Islamic terrorists travelling undercover among them, trying to sneak into our countries with the intent of waging terrorist campaigns), but they couldn’t care less about non-Islamic refugees fleeing religious persecution because the talking heads are prejudiced by anti-Semitic and anti-Christian bigotry.
Al-Jazeera, meanwhile, is too busy dealing with the impending closure of its American propaganda wing. To that, I say good riddance. Few people wanted to watch that channel anyway because AJA isn’t even a legitimate “news” channel, it just does what its parent channel does – spew Islamic terrorist propaganda, anti-Semitism and attacks on the West.
Mr. GQ Trudeau, like other left-wing politicians, also couldn’t care less about the plight of non-Islamic refugees and their persecution by Islam and the Left. In Trudeau’s case, he’s still basking in the adulation being heaped upon him by his acolytes and sycophants in both his Liberal caucus and the mainstream media.
The anti-Israel “protests” (in fact, public displays of anti-Semitism) are actually being staged by extreme left-wing groups, because anti-Semitism is a hallmark of the Left, just as it is with Islam.
It’s true that Nazism (one of the three totalitarian ideologies the Left has thrown in with over time, alongside Communism and Islam) was a threat to world security during the 1930s and into WWII. What also needs to be remembered is that Communism has been a threat to the world since its origins from Marxism (at least over 100 million lives lost to date due to Communism attests to that), as has Islam since its foundation (270 million lives lost and counting due to Islam). The Left, however, doesn’t care because any ideology that is an enemy of Christianity, Judaism, democracy and freedom is an ally of theirs.
Amen for this article.
Great story and so true about our media (or lack thereof). However the government we have is the one the majority wanted and they will do as they please, … not what is right.
Harv, you forgot Hutus, Tutsis, Kurds, Punjabis and assorted other persecuted groups.
how do you feel about “boy blunder” now harv.?
Mark should have a better understanding of the role of the media: it’s part of the role of those who report and especially those who critique to raise issues and questions about those they cover … politicians in particular. It’s too early to say whether electing Trudeau was a “blunder” and certainly not just based on his high-profile welcoming of Muslim refugees. But since you asked, I SO FAR think Canadians made the best decision … especially for journalists: getting rid of a dictator-type, who refused to take questions or held press conferences or let public officials answer even basic queries without getting permission (and talking points to push) and made FOI almost impossible and/or very costly.