"Multi-culturalism" does not work

as some sort of panacea for all our prejudices and ignorance.  I am more than ever convinced of that.

Another synagogue was damaged over the weekend. This time there were people in it who should have been enjoying a Shabbat meal. Instead of that they had to leave hastily out of a rear entrance. There were children present.

They have caught someone they believe to be the perpetrator but what sort of punishment will he get? An acquaintance here suggested, "A slap on the wrist. He will come up with some sort of story about a relative in Gaza."  It is likely both the perpetrator and the acquaintance share some prejudices even if they do not appear to do so.

In another instance a business owned by a Jewish family was damaged in the belief they are somehow involved in providing weapons to the Israeli Defence Force. Apparently the perpetrators believe they have some sort of right to harm a business here because of a war on the other side of the world. They believe they have some sort of right to do that even though they had no actual proof for their claims. Even if they had proof this was no way to go about it. There are other (much more effective) ways to protest.

For months there have been "protests" here about the war in Gaza. They have had a great deal of media attention. Yes, there have been protests against the Russian invasion of Ukraine, about the attempt to obliterate the nuclear facilities in Iran and more. We do not however hear too much about those or the much smaller protests and concerns about human rights abuses in China. We get told about the appalling conditions in Sudan and Somalia and Yemen and there are references to "rebels" when the media mentions these conditions. Protests about these things may not even reach the news or, at best, they are a thirty second clip of a small number waving placards outside an embassy.

But the other protests are apparently part of our "multi-cultural right to protest". Really? Is there such a right? Are such "protests" really a right conferred by our "multi-cultural" society.  Many, I suspect most, of those who attend such protests do so out of a desire to protest. It is "exciting". It gives them an adrenalin hit. If they were actually offered a free trip to Gaza to fight they would not want to go. It is easy to protest from a distance, especially when full possession of knowledge of the actual situation would harm their firm belief in what is "right".  We believe there is some sort of democratic right to voice our opinion in this way. Perhaps there is but it should be informed by facts. It is not a "multi-cultural" right to divide and harm.