On December 6, the Mayor of Calgary, Jyoti Gondek made a statement, in which she canceled her attendance at the yearly Jewish community Menorah lighting due to its "political intentions". This is a ceremony that marks the first night of Hanukkah and has been conducted at Calgary City Hall since 1989 and is traditionally attended by the Mayor of Calgary.
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I saw this statement on my social media feed when I arrived in Israel from Calgary to visit my family after the loss of my nephew, Ofek Rousso, who was a commando soldier and was killed exactly two months ago while rescuing dozens of families from the Hamas massacre in Be'eri, one of the villages surrounding Gaza.
There are no words to describe the disappointment and pain I felt as a Canadian citizen and a Calgarian myself to read the mayor's statement. To me, it was a pure example of a complete failure to hold a moral stance regarding one of the most horrific terror attacks to occur to the Jewish people since the Holocaust.
Let me be blunt. The attempt to address a Jewish holiday celebration in which the Jewish community declares that it stands with Israel in these horrible times as a "political" does not only show ignorance and a lack of common sense but may also hint at a sentiment of antisemitism.
First, Israel is not just another state. It is the state of the Jewish people and their homeland. It is the one tiny piece of land (just about 3 times the size of Banff National Park) that the Jewish people were exiled from and longed to return to for 2000 years. It is the only place in the entire world where Jews can rule and protect themselves.
Second, it is astonishing that the mayor found it suitable to say that "when a celebration of community is turned into something with political intentions, it goes against the mission to uphold diversity and inclusion". Should we remind the mayor that the only reason the 1200 victims of this massacre were slaughtered, beheaded, raped, and burned to death was that they were Jewish? Should we explain to her that the reason that 240 people, including toddlers and babies, were kidnapped, and put into tunnels under the hands of barbaric terrorists after murdering their parents in front of them, was only BECAUSE they share the same faith as their Jewish brothers around the world and in Calgary too?
In what world does showing sympathy and solidarity with people who have just experienced these atrocities is seen as a "political" stand? In what mind, this is something that should be boycotted and condemned?
Would the honorable mayor have the same approach if instead of Jewish solidarity with its people, it was a Canadian community somewhere around the world showing solidarity with Canadians if they were to be victims of such a terror attack, or if it was the Ukrainian community?
Finally, the mayor ends her statement by saying: "The killing must stop in Gaza because it is spreading division and hatred far and wide". As it turns out, Calgary's Mayor thinks that the "division" is an outcome of the Israeli attempt to eliminate a terror organization encounter (just like the Western world did against ISIS) that states in its original charter that it is a religious obligation of any Muslim to kill any Jew they encounter. It also turns out that the mayor knows exactly how it is possible to fight this terror organization (which hides behind civilians and its' spokesmen declared just recently that the October 7 massacre was only the first, and there will be "the second, the third, and the millionth"), without civilian casualties.
If the mayor had been more willing to educate herself with the facts, she would have discovered that Israel goes above and beyond to avoid civilian casualties even at the price of sacrificing many of its soldiers.
Unfortunately, as the mayor failed to acknowledge, Israel faces only two options: either to stop the war now and let Hamas remain in power to continue massacring Jews or fight it until it is destroyed. No nation would allow such a terror organization to remain in power right on its border, constantly threatening its citizens.
As it was made clear, Mayor Gondek feels very comfortable in attending the Jewish Hanukkah celebration when it serves her political image of being pluralistic and accepting in an "interfaith manner" but not when it comes to standing by one of Calgary's communities as it faces a time of grief, fear and rising antisemitism.
What a disgrace. What an insult. What a shame.
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