You, the public, must be more vigilant and aggressive by your e-mails, your letters to the editor, your phone calls, your cancellation of subscriptions, your refusal to patronize advertisers. You should establish, in each of your communities, honest reporting response groups to call to account offending dishonest media. And you must become politically active to demand government policy consistent with fairness to, and support of, the only beacon of democracy in a swamp of hate and violence and terrorism — the state of Israel.
Don’t think that you are powerless. Always remember, as it has been truly said, that all it takes for evil to triumph is for a few good men — and women — to remain silent. We are witnessing the most virulent, vitriolic and vicious explosion of anti-Semitism, rivaled only by the rise of Nazism and its anti-Semitism in Europe in the middle 1930’s. Left unchecked, it will consume all freedoms, for every attack of anti-Semitism in the history of mankind has always been a forerunner to the destruction of liberty in other sectors of human endeavor, not just for Jews.
Therefore, I appeal to you: Do not repeat the errors of your parents and grandparents who passively and complacently witnessed government indifference to the rise of genocide in Europe during the 1930’s. It is time to vigorously and vigilantly become activists.
As for me, I do not intend to be silent. I have carried on a love affair with media all my adult life, and I have also been a staunch supporter of Israel. At this time, the appropriate position should be to stand tall in support of honesty in reporting, as well as for the right of Israel to exist and to take whatever actions it needs to battle its savage attackers — and to demand that our media and our politicians act with honor in this quest.
But the question for you, my friends, is, What are you personally going to do about it?
(Adapted from a speech given to the Israel Bonds Gala in Montreal on Oct. 30.)
