🇨🇦 Under PM Carney: A Frosty Place for Jews

And a word about the Houthi direct hit on Ben Gurion airport this morning

Editor’s Note:

I woke up this morning to learn that a Houthi ballistic missile hit the Ben Gurion Airport compound. There were no fatalities, but the latest reports indicate that several people have light to medium injuries and one is seriously injured.

The missile struck Ben Gurion after 9 am this morning, landing in an orange grove on the airport grounds; a stroke of good fortune. The airport was closed for 90 minutes and regular operations resumed. Well, sort of. Several foreign airlines - including the Lufthansa group and United Airlines - that had recently resumed flights into Israel have already announced a pause.

We’ll wait to see how this latest little disaster unfolds. Minister of Defense Yisrael Katz is thundering that we will hit those who attack us “seven times harder.” Early in the day there were rumbles about slamming Yemen, hard, but it seems that the White House has asked Israel to refrain from attacking immediately, likely concerned that this could complicate their ongoing negotiations with Iran regarding its nuclear arsenal.

Stay tuned.

This dispatch today was really intended to share with subscribers my latest piece in the Jewish Chronicle (U.K.), which was published on May 1, a few days after the Canadian federal election. (But I could not overlook the airport incident.)

What might the win of Prime Minister Mark Carney mean for Canadian Jews and Israel?

It’s not exactly uplifting stuff. Below, we have published the first few paragraphs. To read the entire piece, the link will take you to the JC site.

Since the results of the Canadian federal election were confirmed early Tuesday morning, my phone and message apps haven’t stopped buzzing. Many Canadian Jews are so concerned about their future that they are planning to leave—for good.

Canadians are much more like Europeans than their U.S. neighbours. We are, by and large, more conservative in lifestyle. We tend to go to university close to home and often return to raise our families near the childhood nest. We just don’t move around a lot.

Among the many conversations I’ve had since Monday was one with an old friend from high school in Toronto, who married a woman from Montreal and did the reverse migration (it’s much more common for Montrealers to move to Toronto for language and opportunity). He loved it there for decades. His children—now in their late 20s and early 30s—all speak French, which was not the norm for my generation. Compared to Toronto or Vancouver, Montreal is far more affordable and liveable. But yesterday, my friend said they were done. They’re pulling up stakes and moving everything—including a highly profitable business—to the U.S. Two of his three children are marrying Americans, and he’s urged them to secure citizenship ASAP. He’s not alone.

In my home community of Toronto—where around 225,000 Jews live—concern about the future is off the charts. On a recent visit ahead of the elections, nearly everyone I spoke to voiced grave concern about what would happen should Prime Minister Mark Carney prevail. Now that he has, some are inquiring about aliyah. Others are exploring options in the U.S. Few expect to remain in Canada long-term.

Hysteria? Or prescience?

Thanks for being here. More podcasts and written pieces coming very soon.