3 RAYS OF LIGHT

In dark times, three small signs of encouragement suggest hope for a turning point away from moral oblivion.

Fred’s dealing with a lot of anger right now.

In dark times, you need to take whatever rays of sunshine you can find.

I have been pleasantly surprised with three very recent developments.

To be clear, these “rays of sunshine” are the absolute least we should expect.

However, in a world turned upside-down, in which moral clarity seems more often absent than present, these small illuminations of goodness are worth celebrating.

The first one happened last night, at the Democratic National Convention, in Chicago.

Jon Polin and Rachel Goldberg, parents of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, an American-Israeli hostage who has been held for 311 days in Gaza, spoke from the podium before thousands of delegates. (Watch the powerful video here.)

Anti-Israel protesters (and, presumably, some genuine humanitarians who are as concerned about civilians being killed as others are about scoring points off the dead) are protesting outside the convention. Meanwhile, the convention itself — now in its final day — has successfully avoided what some had feared would be an ideological battleground around the conflict between Israel and Hamas.

The packed stadium was breathless when the parents took to the stage to share their emotional, heart wrenching story of the past 10 months. At least one CNN commentator noted that he wasn’t certain of the response the couple would receive.

Speaking this morning, hours after their presentation on the convention floor, Goldberg and Polin expressed how uplifted they were by the seemingly unanimous surge of empathetic support they received. They too weren’t sure whether they would be welcomed. (Watch that video here.)

I was certainly apprehensive. Would delegates give this moment the basic human decency and respect this family, all the hostages and the Jewish people worldwide deserve? The answer, apparently, was an overwhelming yes. The delegates welcomed them warmly and engaged in a powerful chant of “Bring them home!”

(I do not want to politicize this moment — and I hope, if you choose to comment, you do not take the opportunity to tar the entire Democratic Party or the larger left with the extremism of a few “Squad” members. Just don’t.)

I want to be clear here: That overwhelmingly positive response was the least that humankind should be able to expect. But the world is lacking in humanity right now. We are literally seeing people celebrate October 7.

And so these small surprises, these rays of human decency, are a good thing.

Here in my country, the leadership of Canada’s largest trade union, the Canadian Union of Public Employees, this week called on their organization’s national vice-president (who also serves as president of the union’s largest chapter, in Ontario) to resign his national role after despicable social media comments.

On October 7, Fred Hahn posted “Palestine is rising, long live the resistance.” That is how hideously loathsome this person is. Then, during the Paris Olympics, the creep shared on social media a video of an athlete with a Star of David on his arm, leaping off a diving board — but instead of landing in an Olympic swimming pool, he turns into a bomb and, instead of a splash, the result is an air strike (presumably on Gaza).

Hahn was given until noon Eastern time today to respond to calls for his resignation. Apparently he is digging in his heels and refusing to resign. But that, frankly, is irrelevant. If you know anything about the history of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, and the Canadian trade union movement more broadly, you would understand the absolutely revolutionary impact of their national executive making a statement like they did this week.

I can hardly express my jaw-dropping disbelief that senior members of the national union went out on a limb to do the right thing about one of their own senior leaders behaving in a manner incompatible not only with the values of trade unionism, but with humanity itself. I never thought I’d live to see the day.

A third ray of sunshine has come in the aftermath of yet another moral debacle — this one in my own community.

Capital Pride, the organizers of the annual pride festivities in Canada’s capital city, Ottawa, released a wildly biased, hysterical, anti-Israel statement ostensibly in solidarity with Palestinians but, of course, doing nothing but repeating anti-Israel and arguably antisemitic nonsense on steroids.

In response, elected officials, community organizations, individuals and, notably, several sponsoring funders have pulled out of the “festivities.”

Again, this is the least that should be expected of decent people — to not be associated with radical, extremist, violence-supporting movements.

Whoa, wait! Did I just accuse individuals and groups that are calling for ceasefire and draping themselves in peace flags “violence supporting”?

Yep, I did.

The only way that peace and Palestinian self-determination will ever come is through a negotiated peace settlement. The more we villainize Israel, the less possible it becomes for Palestinians to negotiate with them. By egging Palestinians on to expect the maximalist objectives — “From the river to the sea,” for example — we do not advance peace. We ensure continued war.

This is what makes this so despicable: the very people who are self-righteously claiming the mantle of peace, coexistence and world harmony are the very one who are actually advancing violence, intolerance and war! (As I said in a recent screed that got me some delicious feedback, there are few things that disgust me more than people who perpetuate war and hatred masquerading as advocates of coexistence and peace.)

Where the bright light comes, where the rays of sunshine can finally be seen, is in these relatively small signs that the topsy-turvy world has not unanimously lost its mind.

A convention filled with progressive-minded Americans standing in empathetic solidarity with the family of a Hamas hostage.

Leaders of Canada’s largest trade union finally calling out one of their own for despicable antisemitism.

Erstwhile supporters letting Pride organizers know that promoting intolerance and hatred against Israel — and, in the process, isolating and targeting Jews — is not going to be tolerated.

These are small — really, very small — victories.

But, in a time of profound disappointment in the human capacity for decency, little things like this stand out.

May they be the thin edge of a new wedge, drawing our society back from the abyss of inhumanity and toward basic goodness.