By Avi Farnhaus
There’s a pothole at the corner near my house that’s been repaired three times. I know because I’ve driven over all three versions of it. The first repair lasted a few months. The second lasted until winter. The third one is already starting to break apart. Every spring the city patches it, every winter nature wins, and every year my property tax bill arrives right on schedule. That’s probably why I laughed when I read that Montreal city council is discussing divesting from Israel. Not because it’s funny, but because it’s absurd.
A few days ago, I was standing outside talking to one of my neighbours, we weren’t discussing geopolitics. He was complaining about the construction project that seems to have swallowed half our street. Another neighbour was worried about whether her son would be able to afford a home anywhere near where he grew up. Last winter, most of our conversations seemed to revolve around snow removal, parking restrictions, taxes, and the eternal mystery of where all our tax money goes.
Then I visit the news site and discover city hall is debating Israel.
I am Jewish, so maybe I’m supposed to have a stronger opinion than most people. And I do have opinions, lots of them, but that’s beside the point. What strikes me is how far removed this all feels from what municipal government is supposed to be doing. When I think about city hall, I think about roads, garbage collection, zoning regulations, permits, parks, transit, and the thousand little things that make a city function. The last thing I expect is Montreal debating the Middle East. Truthfully, I certainly don’t think about Montreal playing a meaningful role in solving one of the most complicated conflicts on earth.
Yet somehow here we are.
The supporters of this motion will say it’s about ethical investing. Fair enough. People are entitled to that argument. But if the goal is ethical investing, then I find myself wondering where the broader conversation is. Why this country? Why now? Why this issue? Those questions don’t make someone a blind supporter of Israel. They make them curious.
As a Jew, I can’t pretend the context doesn’t matter. If this debate were happening ten years ago, I probably would have shrugged and moved on. Today is different. Today Jewish schools have security guards, synagogues have security cameras, community events have police officers standing outside. Friends of mine think twice before putting certain things on social media, some are more careful about wearing visible Jewish symbols than they used to be. None of that means criticism of Israel is anti-Jewish. It isn’t.
But it does mean that when politicians decide to make Israel the focus of another political campaign, many Jews aren’t going to experience it as just another policy discussion. We don’t live in a vacuum. We live in the real world, and the real world has changed. Maybe that’s what bothers me most. Not the motion itself. Not even the politics behind it, it’s the feeling that city hall is looking past the city.
My neighbour’s taxes are going up, another neighbour is worried about crime in the area, a local business near me closed its doors not long ago, the road outside still looks like it lost a fight with winter. These aren’t theoretical problems, they’re the things people talk about while walking their dogs, standing in line for coffee, or waiting for the bus. Montreal has plenty to keep its elected officials busy, the fact that they’re spending time debating Israel tells me less about Israel than it does about the strange priorities that seem to have taken hold at city hall.
Maybe they’ll pass the motion, maybe they won’t, but I guarantee that the pothole will probably still be there in the morning.
