Do I Have Dual Loyalty?

I will be going out on a limb and get controversial here. I have invested 2 centuries on the topic of Israel and Human Rights. While I can comfortably say that most Western Jews do not have such a deep love for Israel, unfortunately, I would sound very dishonest if I said that I don’t have dual loyalty for both Israel and Canada.

But I want to explore Dual Loyalty a bit here, if you don’t mind. When my first baby was born, I instantaneously fell in love with her. I actually never felt this intensity of love for anything in the world. Now, this is something you will only understand if you are a parent. Before my second Daughter was born, I was legitimately concerned about how I could have this kind of love for another person. Yet somehow, my heart (or brain, if you want to be an unromantic stickler) made space for another tiny creature.

In reality, I love Israel and have a deep connection to that country and the people. But here’s the shocking thing (or maybe not so shocking): I also really love Canada. I’m actually obsessed with my hometown Montreal, and anyone who knows me would tell you that I’m like a tour guide for this city where I can get pretty intense. I had so many opportunities to leave in my line of work, and I chose not to.

I support Canada, I promote Canada, and I believe that sometimes I show deeper passion for my city and country than most people around me. And I resent that people use Dual Loyalty as a tool to degrade someone. Somehow I should be ashamed of it.

I also find a bit of a double standard regarding this question of Dual Loyalty.

I’m very confident that many other ethnicities love their country of origin or ancestral country as much as they love their home country. And if that country were under continuous threat of genocide, they would also support it and lobby for it even more than the Jews. You can see it right now with the Ukrainian community. And while most reasonable leaders support Ukraine, I’m confident that if any international leader ended the support, his Ukrainian community would drop him in a second. The same with Italian-Americans, Japanese-American and even Arab-Americans.

It shouldn’t be a big deal, but as usual, because it is the only Jewish State, It has become a big deal. They had to turn us into spies and enemies. This is an antisemitic trope, did you listen, Illan Omar?

Knowing that fact, many people have the following question for me. If both countries would fight each other, which army would you join or support? Well, it is not a black or white answer that one would think, and it needs to be broken down a bit.

If in this crazy hypothetical situation, Canada enters into a war with Israel, the first reason why this might happen is the Canadian government would agree with the Palestinian leadership or any other regime of that time, that Israel should not exist.

In my analysis, this is not a declaration of war, it is a declaration of genocide against my ethnicity, and it’s no different than Germany loving Jew who would support any opposing army that would replace Hitler.

Knowing that fact, I would support the Israeli army, no question asked. If Canada attacks Israel, because Israel suddenly is run by a lunatic dictator that threatens the world, I will support Canada to replace that asshole. These are the only 2 scenarios that I can imagine at this moment, and as you see, both results are related to wanting better for both countries.

Coming soon…

Coming soon…