Latest news with #Oct.7
Montreal Gazette
3 days ago
- Politics
- Montreal Gazette
Hanes: Disinformation and hate threaten to drown out lessons of history
Heidi Berger has spent the better part of the last decade trying to get Quebec to make education about genocide compulsory in schools. Now she finds herself caught between the lessons of history and the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, in a polarized political climate where the word genocide has been weaponized. 'It's tough times,' said Berger, founder of the Montreal-based Foundation for Genocide Education. 'It's very, very tough.' Inspired by her late mother's commitment to sharing the story of surviving the Holocaust, Berger started the organization to promote teaching young people about some of the greatest atrocities of the 20th century in order to prevent such mass murders from ever happening again. After much lobbying and nudging, a tool kit was developed three years ago for the Quebec Ministry of Education by pedagogical experts to help teachers delve into the difficult topic of genocide. It covers those that occurred in Armenia, Namibia, Rwanda and Bosnia, as well as the Holocaust, the Holodomor, when the Soviet Union starved millions of Ukrainians, and crimes against Indigenous Peoples. Although the guide remains optional in schools, it was nevertheless a major breakthrough in Berger's quest. Then Oct. 7 happened and put everything the foundation had accomplished to the test. 'What has really been so heavy on my heart is the obstacles to teaching about the Holocaust and genocide after Oct. 7,' she said. 'It's been challenging to give our presentations by children of Holocaust survivors to schools which previously welcomed us. I have to be honest: There are a number of schools who have cancelled scheduled presentations because they cite concerns that discussing the Holocaust or genocide in general may trigger emotions in their students. There's also a fear of reprisals from parents. And there's also a basic lack of training in how to mediate discussions on the topic.' Teaching about a subject as painful, sensitive and complex as genocide has never been easy, but it has become all the more difficult since Hamas terrorists attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing 1,200 and taking 250 hostage. The word genocide went from being an obscure term to a ubiquitous accusation chanted at protests against Israel for its ongoing bombardment of Gaza. Rhetoric has hardened on both sides, with some now referring to Hamas not just as a terror group but a 'genocidal' terrorist organization due to its explicit goal of wiping Israel off the map. Support for Israel's right to defend itself has waned as the war drags on and two ceasefires have faltered. More than 55,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to the Gaza health ministry, which doesn't distinguish between civilians and combatants. Apartment blocks have been levelled, millions of Palestinians have been displaced inside Gaza and there are frequent warnings that Israel restricting aid is pushing the population toward starvation. There's no doubt the human suffering is awful. But is it unlawful? South Africa brought a complaint of genocide against Israel to the International Criminal Court in The Hague. The ICC cautioned Israel about committing genocide and issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his defence minister, as well as the masterminds of the Hamas attack, who have since been assassinated. History will ultimately judge whether this is genocide. But in the meantime, the public has formed its own opinions, as sympathy for Palestinians grows and shock over the tragedy of Oct. 7 fades. In a new online poll by Léger conducted in early June, almost half of 1,100 Canadians surveyed — 49 per cent — agreed that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. And those views were solicited before Israel started bombing Iran to contain the existential threat of its nuclear program in a dramatic escalation of already tense hostilities in the Middle East. A closer look at the Léger poll shows that over 60 per cent of respondents who identify as Liberal, New Democratic, Bloc Québécois or Green party voters hold the view that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, compared to 37 per cent who declared themselves Conservatives. There is a deep split in public opinion despite the fact 46 per cent of respondents told pollsters they barely understood or had a poor understanding of the conflict. These findings illustrate the strong emotions surrounding Israel's pulverization of Gaza, but also the fallout from a social media shadow war playing out since Oct. 7. On Thursday, the Foundation for Genocide Education is hosting a fundraiser where journalist and author Warren Kinsella will speak about propaganda and hate in an age of disinformation. Kinsella, who recently returned from Israel, is writing a book and producing a documentary on the digital campaign 'to shape history, sway public opinion, and control the narrative surrounding one of the world's most polarizing conflicts.' Iranian-funded propaganda against Israel began well before Hamas's 2023 attack. But in November 2023, the New York Times uncovered a 'deluge of online propaganda and disinformation' spread by Iran, Russia and to a lesser extent China 'that is larger than anything seen before.' 'It's fascinating and surprisingly sophisticated what they did,' Kinsella said in an interview. Kinsella's talk will look at how anti-Israel attitudes, once the domain of the far right, have now been adopted by the progressive left. They have been strongly embraced by younger generations, who tend to see Israel's actions through the lens of their post-colonial, anti-racist values. Israel, meanwhile, has failed to tell its own story effectively, said Kinsella, once an adviser to prime minister Jean Chrétien, resulting in the Jewish community writ large being blamed for Netanyahu's war. 'Israel has done a really, really crummy job of communications,' said Kinsella. 'Israel needs to tell a better story about itself.' Legitimate criticism of Netanyahu's merciless bombing of Gaza is sometimes misconstrued as antisemitism. But it shouldn't be. Even within Israel, there is visceral opposition and loud dissent. 'Enough is enough. Israel is committing war crimes,' former prime minister Ehud Olmert wrote in Haaretz on May 27. And in an interview with Israeli public radio, Yair Golan, a retired general and leader of Israel's Democrats party, said: 'Israel is on its way to becoming a pariah state among nations, like South Africa was, if we don't return to acting like a sane country. And a sane country does not wage war against civilians, does not kill babies as a hobby, and does not give itself the aim of expelling populations.' But this range of opinion is rarely heard outside Israel. Instead, practically the entire Jewish diaspora has been painted with the same brush — vilified, discredited and scapegoated. The conflict has unleashed an alarming tidal wave of hate toward both the Jewish and Muslim communities in Canada and around the world. But the scourge of antisemitism, which the New York Times editorial board recently characterized as 'the oldest hate,' has been particularly vicious. While Israel was still mourning its dead and counting the numbers of hostages taken, Hamas supporters celebrated the attack in the streets of Montreal and other Canadian cities. In Montreal, bullets have been fired at Jewish schools and firebombs tossed at synagogues. College and university campuses have become battle zones where Jewish students feel intimidated for showing visible signs of their identity, daring to defend Israel's right to exist, or demonstrating for the return of the hostages. In recent weeks, antisemitism has reached dangerous new levels. A young Jewish couple who worked at the Israeli embassy in Washington, D.C., were shot to death leaving an event at the Holocaust museum there. An arsonist firebombed the home of Pennsylvania's Jewish governor on Passover. An assailant in Boulder, Colo., attacked a crowd of protesters rallying for the release of Israeli hostages, injuring 15, including a Holocaust survivor. This violent turn is not only worrisome for the Jewish community, which was already feeling unsafe in Montreal as elsewhere, but also for democracy and society as a whole. As has often been pointed out when it comes to dark chapters in history: It starts with the Jews, but it doesn't end with the Jews. This is why education about genocide is so important. It teaches critical thinking skills and helps students identify the warning signs that lead to mass murder, which are classification, separation, stigmatization, dehumanization, justification and elimination. The foundation relies on the United Nations' 1948 definition of genocide, which is 'acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group,' including killing; causing serious bodily or mental harm; deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about physical destruction; imposing measures intended to prevent births; and forcibly transferring children. There is certainly room for discussion about how these criteria apply to both history and current events. But rational debate has become a struggle, Berger said. There were complaints after a recent presentation at one school where the foundation has long been sending the children of Holocaust survivors to speak. 'There was a small cohort of very vocal Arab-Palestinian parents who accused us and the principal and the board of governors of the school of us sending in representatives to platform pro-Israel views and to weaponize the Holocaust as a justification for Israel's actions in Gaza,' Berger said. 'We spoke to the principal after and we don't know if they're going to invite us back next year. Are they going to be afraid?' Other schools have also stopped calling or are saying 'no thanks' when the foundation gets in touch. Most painful of all, there has been a schism in the ranks of the survivors of other genocides who the foundation sends to schools as speakers. 'We had an Armenian presenter that we'd trained who went into schools to talk about her grandparents and the Armenian genocide. It was the only presentation of that kind anywhere. And she quit. She didn't want to be associated with us,' Berger said. 'We also had a Rwandan quit on us. Also a young Rwandan survivor himself, who quit on us, because we didn't want to say that Israel is committing a genocide because we don't believe it. In the meantime, we had a presenter who wanted us to remove the word genocide from our name.' Instead of bringing people together to connect the dots of the hate and discrimination that can lead to genocide, the Jewish community, which forged the template for 'never again,' is once again ostracized. Out of both necessity and circumstance, the foundation's focus has narrowed somewhat. 'We've had to shift more of our focus to educating about the Holocaust. Because when we go into schools to give presentations about the Holocaust, we talk about the history of antisemitism. And this is directly tied to the students' understanding of why and how this hate is resurfacing under the guise of anti-Israel protest and hate,' Berger said. 'What the problem is now in schools, we're told by teachers it's very cool for kids to be antisemitic. It's a very cool thing. And genocide is a very hot, controversial word now. It wasn't before, but it is now.' As disinformation, discrimination and hate threaten to drown out the lessons of history, Berger remains steadfast in her goal of making education about genocide mandatory in Quebec schools to honour her mother's legacy. 'Still to me that is the most powerful tool we have,' she said.
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump blames Biden policies in Saudi address
President Trump on Tuesday blamed former President Biden for foreign policy stances that he argued strained partnerships in the Middle East while speaking in Saudi Arabia to a group of government and business leaders. 'The Biden administration's extreme weakness and gross incompetence derailed progress towards peace, destabilized the region and put at risk everything we worked so hard to build together,' Trump said, calling the Biden administration 'hostile' toward the Middle East. While speaking at the Saudi-U.S. Investment Forum, he praised Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for what he was able to accomplish over the last four years under Biden and said that his predecessor had the 'worst administration in the history of our country.' Trump also said when Biden lifted sanctions on Iran, 'they laughed at him.' 'They laughed at our leader and they're still laughing at our leader. They thought him a fool and they made nothing but trouble ever since, including the funding of Oct. 7,' Trump said. He decried Biden for removing the foreign terrorist organization label on the Houthis in February 2021 and repeated his claims from the 2024 campaign trail that the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel wouldn't have occurred if he were president. The president also reiterated calls for Saudi Arabia to join the Abraham Accords, which were established in his first term. 'I think it'll be a tremendous tribute to your country, and it will be something that's really going to be very important for the future of the Middle East. I took a risk in doing them, and they've been an absolute bonanza for the countries that have joined. The Biden administration did nothing for four years,' Trump said. 'We would have had it filled out, but it will be a special day in the Middle East with the whole world watching when Saudi Arabia joins us.' Biden in 2022 said he strongly supports the Abraham Accords as a way to integrate Israel in the Middle East. The former president famously greeted the crown prince with a fist bump in 2022 ahead of their meeting in Jeddah. The trip to Saudi Arabia and face-to-face meeting was controversial given Biden previously condemned Saudi leadership on the 2020 campaign trail over the killing of U.S.-based Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018. Trump has blamed Biden for a slew of issues in various speeches for the nearly four months he has been in office. He spent the week marking the 100th day of his second term blaming Biden for a wide range of economic issues and mocking him. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Netanyahu: Freeing hostages is ‘important' but ‘supreme goal' in Gaza is ‘victory'
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said defeating Hamas remains his primary objective in Gaza, while adding that returning hostages still held by the militant group was 'a very important goal.' Netanyahu, addressing an Independence Day event in Jerusalem, said Israel had 'many goals' in its war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, according to The Times of Israel. 'We want to bring all our hostages home. We've so far brought back 147 alive, and 196 total,' he said. 'There are another up to 24 alive, 59 total, and we want to return the living and the dead.' 'It's a very important goal,' Netanyahu said. 'The war has a supreme goal, and the supreme goal is victory over our enemies, and this we will achieve.' Netanyahu's comments come as Israel's military has returned to the Gaza Strip, with ceasefire talks seemingly stalled. Hostage families told The Hill this week that President Trump's upcoming trip to the Middle East made them hopeful of a breakthrough. The Hostages and Missing Families Forum said Netanyahu's comments were alarming given the condition of previously released captives. 'Prime minister, the return of the hostages is not 'less' important — it is the supreme goal that should guide the government of Israel,' the group said in a statement, according to CNN. 'The families of the hostages are concerned.' Many in the region are facing the threat of starvation, as Israel continues to throttle humanitarian aid from entering the territory. 'Blocking aid starves civilians. It leaves them without basic medical support. It strips them of dignity and hope. It inflicts a cruel collective punishment. Blocking aid kills,' Tom Fletcher, the United Nations's emergency relief coordinator, said Thursday. Netanyahu's comments echo some of the recent remarks from the hawkish far-right leaders of his governing coalition. 'We need to tell the truth — bringing back the hostages is not the most important goal. It is, of course, a very, very, very, very important goal,' far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said last week, according to CNN. 'But anyone who wants to destroy Hamas and eliminate the possibility of another Oct. 7 must understand that in Gaza, there can't be a situation where Hamas remains present and intact.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
New York Post
01-05-2025
- Politics
- New York Post
Defeating Hamas is more important than freeing Gaza hostages, Netanyahu says
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that defeating Hamas is more important than freeing the remaining 59 hostages in Gaza, angering the captives' families. Speaking at the annual Independence Day Bible Contest in Jerusalem, Netanyahu said Israel was committed to saving the hostages after 573 days in Hamas captivity, but claimed that there was something more important for Israel to complete. 'That is a very important goal,' he said of freeing the hostages before adding,' the war has a supreme objective. And that supreme objective is victory over our enemies. And that is what we will achieve.' 4 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed defeating Hamas was more important than freeing the 59 remaining hostages in Gaza. via REUTERS 4 Netanyahu is facing increasing pressure to agree to a deal to free the hostages, who have spent 573 days under Hamas captivity. Saeed Qaq/NurPhoto/Shutterstock The speech marked the first time Netanyahu has explicitly described the hostages' safety as a secondary goal of the war, which he has been long accused of by the captives' families. 'Prime minister, the return of the hostages is not 'less' important – it is the supreme goal that should guide the government of Israel,' the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said in a statement. 'The families of the hostages are concerned.' The forum said the controversial remarks fall out of line with what the 'majority of the Israeli public' wants, accusing Netanyahu of emboldening Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich. Smotrich garnered backlash last week when he insisted that the hostages come second to defeating Hamas. 4 The families of the hostages slammed Netanyahu's remark as out of line with what the rest of Israel wants. Getty Images 'We need to tell the truth – bringing back the hostages is not the most important goal,' Smotrich said. 'It is, of course, a very, very, very, very important goal, but anyone who wants to destroy Hamas and eliminate the possibility of another Oct. 7 must understand that in Gaza, there can't be a situation where Hamas remains present and intact.' Protesters in Israel continue to criticize Netanyahu's decision to end the cease-fire deal with Hamas, leading the Jewish state to return to war with fears growing over the fate of the hostages. While Israel believes that only 24 of the 59 hostages are still alive — including American Edan Alexander, of New Jersey — the figure came into doubt when Netanyahu's wife, Sara, was overheard on a hot mic saying that 'fewer' than 24 hostages are still alive. 4 Netanyahu's wife, Sara, caused uncertainty to erupt when she was caught on hot mic saying that less than 24 hostages were still alive. Hungarian Defence Ministry/AFP via Getty Images The remark spurred further backlash against Netanyahu as the captives' families demanded to know the truth of what their government knows, and why the prime minister's wife would have access to such sensitive information while they knew little about their loved ones' statuses. 'You sowed indescribable panic in the hearts of the families of the hostages – families already living in agonizing uncertainty,' the forum said. 'If there is intelligence or new information regarding the condition of our loved ones, we demand full disclosure.' As the well-being of the hostages and their importance comes into question, there have been little developments made at the negotiating table. Hamas has repeatedly refused to release any more hostages until Israel commits to a permanent cease-fire deal, which Netanyahu has repeatedly rejected, insisting that no deal can be reached if it includes Hamas' continued existence.
Yahoo
28-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Five Things Pete Hegseth Could Learn From Israel After Oct. 7
The world changed on Oct. 7, 2023. Too many in Washington are still thinking like its Oct. 6. That day made one thing painfully clear: Wars are no longer fought only with tanks and jets. Our adversaries are moving faster than our procurement cycles - using commercially available drones, pickup trucks, bulldozers, motorcycles, and ATVs - to devastating effect. They dont wait for approval chains or perfected systems. They innovate on contact. In Israel, we paid a horrific price for this lesson. We wont let it happen again. As the U.S. looks to deter tomorrows war - not the last one - Israel offers more than cautionary lessons. We serve as a crucible for how modern militaries must adapt - fast. As a country where nearly every citizen serves, and where the frontline is so close, we are building, deploying, and refining technology under real battlefield pressure. Secretary Hegseth is right to call for acquisition reform. We live that urgency - and we believe these five lessons from Israel can help accelerate change. Speed isnt a feature. Its a prerequisite. When the enemy is iterating fast, insistence on perfection is a liability. The wars of tomorrow will be fought with the tools we have today. A solution that works today is more valuable than one thats still in testing in 2030. Yet Americas acquisition machine still moves like its in peacetime, and integration is always one step away from done. We need modular systems, rapid deployment cycles, and real-world stress testing. The goal isn't just deployment speed - its iteration speed. Deploy, learn, update, repeat. Iteration under fire is what wins wars. Because in war, there is no staging environment. Warfighters know best. Doctrine matters, but no plan survives first contact. The best feedback doesnt come from specs or slides, it comes from the field. Soldiers are more thanjust operators - theyre frontline system co-designers. We built Kela Systems after Oct. 7, and as veterans ourselves, we understand that solutions must start with feedback from the field. The U.S. may not have Israels soldier-to-citizen ratio, but you can still build systems that learn from every mission, every failure, every use. Give warfighters the ability to shape their tools - and the tools will improve faster than any roadmap. Open systems or dead ends? Closed systems protect revenue. Open systems protect lives. When Hamas attacked, it wasnt just their use of commercial drones that shocked us, it was how quickly they repurposed tools never designed for warfare. Our experience shows that relying on a single platform - or assuming one company has the complete answer - doesnt just inflate costs but also, crucially, creates fatal blind spots. No single vendor can move as fast as an open ecosystem. No closed system can adapt to the chaos of modern warfare. Open architecture, plug-and-play interoperability, and real-time data-sharing arent nice-to-haves - theyre the difference between responsiveness and irrelevance. If the U.S. enters its next fight with a vendor-locked technology stack, it wont just be expensive, it could be fatal. Not collaborating is the privilege of an Oct. 6 mindset - and we cannot afford to live in the past. Rethink command. Reimagine how we fight. Strapping smart, new tools onto old frameworks wont cut it anymore. When AI and computers live at the edge, decisions should too. After Oct. 7, Israel didnt just field new systems - we rewrote the playbook. We collapsed the distance between boots-on-the ground insights and real-time decision making. We relied less on central command, moved faster with real-time data, and built for tempo over hierarchy. The U.S. must do the same. Its not just about a tech upgrade; its a shift in mindset. By changing the way units coordinate, maneuver, and engage, we can build new habits and trust structures, and reimagine Concept of Operations (CONOPS) to reflect the true speed of war. The future is hybrid - and thats not just about drones. Todays battlefield is a blend of physical and digital, old and new. Enemies tunnel beneath borders while spoofing GPS signals. They jam satellite communications and livestream their attacks. The future wont be won by shiny new platforms - it will be won by systems that integrate legacy and next-gen hardware and software, human and AI. Building a future, together Oct. 7 was more than a wake-up call - it was a preview. In Israel, the Iron Dome has protected our skies. But todays threats dont stop at borders - from autonomous weapons to cyberattacks. Thats why President Trumps Golden Dome concept matters: Its about moving first, not reacting last. But big investments alone wont win the next war. Without speed, integration, and real-time adaptability, even the best platforms will arrive too late. In Israel, were already iterating under fire. We dont have it all figured out, but we constantly learn and adapt. Were your early warning system. Secretary Hegseth, youve called for a faster, stronger, more lethal force. Come see what that looks like in action - where software meets soldier, and systems adapt in real time. The next fight wont wait. Neither should we. Hamutal Meridor is co-founder and president of Kela Systems.
