The Blogs: A Perspective from Canada… A Tale of Two Films

A Perspective from Canada… A Tale of Two Films

Last week I watched two films: The Road Between Us at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) and the classic Fiddler on the Roof. Their plots could not be more different, yet stripped to their essence, both tell the same essential story: the peril of being Jewish.

Our history is a chronicle of persecution. We are not a proselytizing people; we do not seek conquest or conversion. We are commanded to respect the laws of the countries in which we live. And yet, across time and place, those very countries eventually turned against us. Often it was when societies faced economic or political stress that Jews were scapegoated, expelled, or worse.

Fiddler on the Roof captures this cycle of upheaval and exile. Against the backdrop of a family story, we see an epic tale of the tenuousness of Jewish life in Europe. A lesson that explains why so many Jews now live in North America and Israel, and so few remain in the former Pale of Settlement.

And if The Road Between Us is about the fragility of Jewish life in the Middle East, the conclusions are very different from those of Fiddler. In the killing grounds of Israel’s Gaza border communities, we see a story of awe-inspiring courage as two Israeli parents mount an against-all-odds mission to rescue their son and his family on October 7th. In one remarkable couple, we see a microcosm of Israel: a society of families who want nothing more than to love and raise their children in safety.

And unlike in Fiddler, no one is dependent on a czar’s whims for that dream to be realized. In coming home to their ancestral land, the Jews are prepared to defend themselves from neighbours who raise their own children to aspire to murder a Jew.

But these clear moral distinctions seem increasingly lost on many who should know better, from film festivals to Parliament Hill. Walking into The Road Between Us at TIFF, I was struck not only by the film itself but by the environment surrounding it.

TIFF had initially resisted screening the movie, relenting only under public pressure – and then granting it just a single showing. The theatre was ringed with police, the security line was long, and demonstrators gathered outside to protest Israel. As we waited to see a film about parents doing everything they could to save their family from murderous terrorists, someone shouted “shame” at the Jews in line. And when the movie ended, another crowd was already lining up for a different film – with no police presence, no protests, no jeers. The contrast could not have been clearer.

What began as a political conflict has metastasized into an ideology. “Palestinianism” is not just about Palestine anymore. It has become a pretext for chaos and extremism in Western democratic societies, fueling hate and threatening our own security and freedoms. Our governments look on, paralyzed, as democracy itself begins to fray.

Meanwhile, Canada directs its outrage not at Hamas or Qatar, but Israel. Minister of Foreign Affairs Anita Anand’s threat last week to “evaluate” ties with Israel over its strike in Qatar is only the latest example. While the minister’s staff later walked back the arguments, suggesting it was evaluating how best to secure a ceasefire and release the hostages, the damage was already done.

The level of emotional anger toward Israel when Israelis target terrorists is something that should baffle all Canadians who believe our foreign policy should be anchored in moral clarity. Why the obsessive focus on Israel’s every move? And why the lack of outrage toward the (far too many) regimes that massacre their own people, impoverish millions, and export terror abroad?

Perhaps the reason is rooted in the same thinking that causes Pride parades and tennis tournaments in Canada to be cancelled in response to the actions of anti-Israel extremists. When the mob shows up, capitulation is an easy temptation. And with it, an excuse that makes it satisfying to avoid standing up for basic decency.

Out of safety, it’s best to cancel any event that doesn’t disavow Israel. Out of concern that things could get out of hand, it’s best for police to give protestors the space (in largely Jewish residential neighbours) to scream at children passing by.

And rather than deal with Qatar’s systemic support for terrorism and the safe haven it provides to Hamas leaders, it’s best to focus moral outrage at Israel over “sovereignty” issues. As though Qatar isn’t violating the fundamental rights of Israelis with every dollar it delivers to Hamas to murder Jews. It is telling that there were no such hysterics over sovereignty when American forces entered Pakistan to take down Bin Laden – a development Ottawa greeted at the time with “sober satisfaction”.

European governments have long indulged in moral posturing toward Israel, condemning Israel at every turn while doing little to confront terror sponsors or authoritarian regimes elsewhere. That approach has yielded neither peace in the Middle East nor security in Europe itself. Prime Minister Carney should resist the temptation to follow Europe’s failed playbook.

Because if Canada were surrounded by genocidal enemies, I would hope that we would fight relentlessly for our families, our democracy, and our very existence. But perhaps such hopes are misplaced in a world that seems to nostalgically cherish the Jews of Fiddler on the Roof while chastising the Jews of The Road Between Us.

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Sheryl Saperia is CEO of Secure Canada, a non-profit organization dedicated to combating terrorism and extremism, and strengthening Canada’s national security and democracy.