Disturbing views of Israel on display

When a survivor of the Holocaust rose from her wheelchair to address a rally for the student encampment at the University of Toronto, there was applause and awe.

- ROSIE DIMANNO

Wow, a real-life Jew who'd lived through the horror, supporting their protest against the university administration. It was their starturn get.

By all means, listen to her; she's earned it. But neither she nor anyone else can speak for the six million dead, six million who can't be trotted out and seemingly are scarcely remembered by the forces aligned against Israel - a nation founded by Zionists so there would always be a safe place in the world for Jews. The memory of their massacre has dimmed, as has the Oct. 7 slaughtering raids into Israel by Hamas and its civilian hangers-on.

Israel is not safe from Hamas, it is not safe from Hezbollah, it is not safe from Iran and it is very much not safe from a global surge of demonization that accuses the sole functional democracy in the Middle East of committing genocide, apartheid and deliberate famine in Gaza.

That is an argument that can certainly be mounted and has been in international courts, on university campuses and by countries that have formally recognized Palestine as a sovereign state. The Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement - which, by the way, was condemned by Canada's Parliament in a 229-51 vote in 2016- is the impetus for the U of T encampment, now into its 27th day.