Categories: In the News

Memo to George Lagogianes: It’s the ISRAELI Consulate, Not the JEWISH Consulate

CP24 reporter George Lagogianes is reporting from the protests outside the Israeli Consulate near Bloor and Avenue Road. He keeps alternating between calling it “the Israeli Consulate” and “the Jewish Consulate”. For his benefit, I now present a quick primer:

  • An Israeli is a citizen of the country of Israel.
  • A Jew is a member of the Jewish ethnoreligious group.

While Israel is a Jewish nation-state and three-quarters of Israel is Jewish, not all Jews are Israelis. According to Wikipedia, there are about as many Jews in the United States as there are in Israel.

Here’s a Venn diagram that should simplify matters:

Calling it “the Jewish Consulate” is like referring to the American Consulate as “the Christian Consulate” or the Indian Consulate as “the Hindu Consulate”. People at the homegrown TV news station of one of the world’s most multicultural cities should know better.

Joey deVilla

View Comments

  • While this person's terminology is incorrect, the error is easily understood. Israel portrays it's interests as being one and the same with Jewish interests. Moreover, a plurality of Jews both in Israel and elsewhere believe this to be the case.

    Or to put it the other way, how long would it take a TV commentator to be shouted down if they had the audacity to say that there was something non-Jewish about Israel.

  • The state of Israel was created to be a homeland for Jews. It is likely the only state in the world that exists explicitly to be an exclusive home for one ethnic group. It has, however, always had people of other ethnic groups such as Arabs that are voting citizens. The majority of the government, composed mainly of Jewish parties, continues to explore ways to ensure a Jewish majority in Israel. The big problem being that other ethnic groups have much higher birthrates than Jews. It ends up being a fine line between ensuring the survivability of your ethnic group and reducing the democratic/human rights of other ethnic groups.

Recent Posts

Maybe don’t vote for the Hitler party this Tuesday

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnsBI4YxwIs If you’re voting in the U.S. midterm elections this Tuesday, last week’s Last Week…

4 days ago

I can take “Buy a synthesizer at the Tokyo Roland Store” off my bucket list!

While in Tokyo, I had to make at a stop that I’ve always wanted to…

6 days ago

Sunday picdump for Sunday, October 18

It’s Sunday, and it’s time for another “picdump!” Here are the memes, pictures, and cartoons…

3 weeks ago

This Tokyo burger place’s ideas are intriguing to me and I wish to subscribe to their newsletter

I’m heading to Japan soon, and while researching places to go near Gotokuji, the temple…

4 weeks ago

Sunday picdump for Sunday, October 11

It’s Sunday, and it’s time for another “picdump!” Here are the memes, pictures, and cartoons…

4 weeks ago

Tampa Bay deal of the day

If you’re looking to get into the erotic waffle business on a limited budget, there’s…

1 month ago