LEVY: Avi Lewis drags the NDP deeper into radicalism
Sue-Ann Levy writes, "There is no doubt that Lewis’s words have served as a dog whistle to all the Jew haters on the radical left."
Newly elected NDP leader Avi Lewis stood on stage after his win while the flag of the non-existent country of Palestine flag waved gaily behind him.
There were no Canadian flags seen whatsoever.
But that’s no surprise.
Lewis is a proud self-loathing Jew —what we commonly call a useful idiot for terrorists, someone rabid in his disdain for the Jewish state.
As so aptly described by former NDP strategist Ryan Painter, Lewis has turned the party into something vastly different from the wide tent embraced by the late Jack Layton.
The anti-Semitism that has pervaded the party is about to turn highly acceptable under Lewis, who, since Oct. 7, has used “genocide” and “apartheid” almost obsessively to describe the Jewish state.
As Painter notes, Lewis repeatedly says the Jewish state’s “very existence” and “right to self defence” is the problem, along with the Israel lobby, instead of the Hamas charter calling for the death of Israelis and Jews worldwide.
Lewis, a silver-spooned socialist, has insisted that he comes from a long tradition, a multi-generational tradition of anti-Zionist Jews — in other words a family of Jews opposed to the Jewish state.
Lewis, a younger version of self-loathing Jew Bernie Saunders, clearly includes in this his grandfather, David, who was anything but.
His grandfather, David Lewis—leader of the NDP from 1971-75 —is likely rolling his grave.
Lewis was not only supportive of the Jewish state, but he also had close ties to Golda Meir and Simon Peres.
He was a strong supporter of Israel’s labour movement, had a strong connection to the Jewish people and did extensive work for Holocaust survivors.
His son, Stephen Lewis, former ambassador to the UN in the 1980s and leader of the Ontario NDP in the 1970s, switched from being pro-Israel during that time (casting Israel as a refuge for those experiencing ongoing anti-Semitism) to calling Israel a “rogue state” following the atrocities of 10/7.
Last fall, at 88, he protested from his wheelchair in Scarborough, calling out a non-genocide in Gaza.
It would seem that Stephen Lewis and his wife kowtowed to the barrage of Jew hatred by insisting they’re on the side of those who have a death wish against Jews. Stephen Lewis passed away on Tuesday after a battle with cancer.
Former legacy media left-wing journalist, Michelle Landsberg, recently renounced her firmly held Zionist beliefs, organizing at age 85, Women in Black protests against the alleged genocide in Gaza.
I witnessed one last summer at the corner of Bloor and Yonge Sts. in Toronto and was sickened.
When you have a rabid Jew hater and pro-Iran activist, Samira Moyheddin, extending congratulations, you know you are on the wrong side of history.
Landsberg also wrote a column in her former newspaper about the fact that she has turned her back on Zionism.
I’m sure the Toronto Star was only too happy to have a Jew say so.
Perhaps Avi’s greatest partner in anti-Zionist crime is his wife, author Naomi Klein, who has made anti-Zionism her raison d’etre in the past 15 years.
Last year, the self-loathing Jew spoke at a Passover street seder in NYC during which she appealed to all those who want to wipe Israel off the map.
In a highly offensive speech to those of us who are committed Jews, she called Zionism a “false idol.”
She claims in her horrid speech that Zionists have taken this “false idol” and turned it into a “weapon for ethnic cleansing and genocide.”
Klein, who used the uplifting story of Passover to spread her dogma, has also publicly supported the Palestinian-led BDS (Boycott, Sanctions and Divestment) movement against Israel since 2009.
She has contended that Israel exploits a “trauma industry” to justify human rights abuses and expansionist wars.
There is never any mention in her anti-Israel dogma about 10/7 or the repeated attacks on Israel from all sides and borders, or the fact that Israelis are indigenous to the land on which they live.
Of course not.
I have a hard time understanding these self-loathing Jews, except to say that they are useful idiots for those who want to eradicate my community.
But clearly, Jews are no longer welcome in the NDP, as CIJA said in a statement:
“This weekend’s convention was a stark reminder of how far the party has drifted from its roots as the voice of Canada’s working class and trade union movement. Canadian Jews helped build that movement. Today, many are made to feel they no longer belong in it. At a time when antisemitism has reached a crisis, the NDP has become a hostile place for the vast majority of Jewish Canadians who want to fight for progressive values. 94 per cent of Jewish Canadians support the existence of the State of Israel yet have been pushed out.”
I heard a speaker say something very amusing but true recently– namely that the only thing their loyalty to a death cult will buy them is a “window seat” on the train.
She was referring to the boxcars used to carry thousands of Jews to their deaths at Auschwitz during the Nazi regime.
There is no doubt that Lewis’s words have served as a dog whistle to all the Jew haters on the radical left.
As Painter says, the mask is off. Jew hatred will be part of the party’s identity.
I’m guessing that other than a select few Jew haters like CUPE’s former head, Sid Ryan, and the leftists who marched with Landsberg last summer, working people will no longer find themselves welcome in this very narrow tent.
What Lewis and his family of self-loathing Jews don’t realize is that they are doomed to completely destroy the federal NDP.
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