November 2023: An Israeli soldier helps to provide incubators to Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza. Photo: Screenshot

We tend to think of today’s antisemites and Israel-haters as the masked protesters trying to intimidate Jewish students on university campuses, or perhaps the professors who sympathize with Hamas and refuse to recognize Israel’s right to exist.

But there’s another kind of person who lurks beneath the surface, who cleverly knows how to spew hatred about Israel but remains outside the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism. They might even be soft-spoken and are usually supportive of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Yet, in a moment of weakness — perhaps after they’ve been watching the horrible images coming from Gaza — they can’t help themselves and take to social media.

This was the case with the artistic director of a small independent theatre company in Montreal, who in January 2024 posted an open letter to members of Parliament on his Facebook page.

It started on an empathetic note: “My stomach churns as I write to you on what should be a peaceful Saturday morning … I cherish all members of my community. I value mutual understanding, empathy, dialogue, creative solutions and facing conflicts from a starting point of love and an attempt to listen to and understand each other.”

Adding a measure of protection, he continued: “I wish to be clear. I have many dear friends that are Jewish, and many that are Israeli … The people of Israel are NOT their government.” (But in a democracy, yes, many of them are. And even amongst those critical of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, almost all Israelis support the war against Hamas in Gaza — which is a war for Israel’s survival.)

And then the artistic director let it rip: “Israel is actively annihilating the people of Gaza … The government of Israel needs to be BETTER than HAMAS.”

“They have shockingly pulled the wool over our eyes as they unapologetically destroy families and blindly and recklessly murder and maim innocent civilians.”

“Under Netanyahu, Israel is quickly becoming a … pariah state, and they are undeniably enacting genocidal atrocities upon the entire population of Gaza.”

Yes — he not only falsely accused Israel of genocide, but charged the country with “pulling the wool” over the eyes of the global population — an antisemitic trope that literally goes back hundreds of years.

I’m sure we’ve all seen such posts from people who we might know — or thought we knew — but what happens when these comments come from the person who is your employer or supervisor? What if you yourself happen to be Jewish or Israeli?

And what happens if, after working for this institution, you suddenly find yourself demoted, sidelined, or not having your contract renewed?

Unfortunately, that is exactly my situation.

I’ve served this theatre company as the director of new play development and an associate artist for the past four years. My responsibilities as an independent contractor included chairing a five-person jury for a competition to select the best new plays by Quebec playwrights, as well as running a youth playwriting contest, which I initiated, and trust they will let me continue.

The news of my removal from jury duty came via email on October 23.

“There is a long list of folks around town that have very little work and creative outlets at the moment, and I feel it’s the right thing to bring in a fresh new jury for this year’s competition,” it read. (In the past, the other four jury positions were rotated.)

By that logic, shouldn’t the artistic director step aside in order to give other unemployed artistic directors an opportunity?

This isn’t about money. Theatre will never make anyone rich. In fact, I was instrumental in securing a grant from a pro-Israel foundation to fund my position. (Apparently, Israeli money is still acceptable.)

Is it possible that all this is a coincidence? Absolutely. But my issue is hardly an isolated case.

Recently, in Maryland, an Israeli tech worker at Intel was fired after complaining about his boss’ hateful Israel bashing, and is now suing the company. On the other side of the coin, numerous teachers and professors — even some with tenure — have been fired for their anti-Israel hate speech because they can no longer be trusted to remain objective in assessing their Jewish and Israeli students. It’s even happened at the highest levels of power: The Wall Street Journal reported last week that a longtime special advisor on genocide at the United Nations had her contract terminated because she refuted the position that Israel’s campaign in Gaza did not meet the definition of genocide.

It took me less than five minutes to uncover the artistic director’s diatribe. I searched back on his timeline, looking for any other mention of “barbaric” countries, but couldn’t find any. No mention of Russia’s completely unjustified or provoked invasion of Ukraine, or dozens of other wars raging around the globe. Nothing about Canada’s involvement in Afghanistan, Syria, or the present war in Sudan that has seen up to 150,000 civilians killed.

He didn’t even mention the atrocities against Israeli civilians that took place on October 7. In fact, on Oct. 8, he posted an ad for his upcoming play.

I’m not an advocate for censorship, but there’s a larger question here: how can the leader of a company or organization publicly make damning, hateful, inaccurate and out-of-context statements about some of the most complicated matters of the day and remain objective about hiring or firing employees — especially when they’re members of groups that the leader publicly maligns, like myself.

Interestingly, when I brought forward my concerns about the artistic director’s statement to the company’s board of directors, suggesting that he should at least acknowledge that his criticisms of Israel may have gone too far, my request was unanimously rejected.

Montreal was recently rocked by violent protests laden with antisemitic overtones that made headlines around the world.

That hate didn’t arise from nowhere.

Oren Safdie is a playwright and screenwriter.