Quebec radio host slammed for comments on Jews

Gilles Proulx wrote that Jewish community can make any government ‘submit’ to its will

By JTA 20 August 2014, 5:14 am

Edit

Montreal Jews protesting the proposed Charter of Quebec Values, which aims to restrict public displays of religious faith. (photo credit: David Ouellette/JTA)

A veteran prominent Quebec radio host has come under fire for making derisive comments about the Jewish community.

The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs condemned Gilles Proulx for comments he made in a recent newspaper column but said it was “disappointed and troubled” by the lack of public outrage.

Proulx, 74, wrote that the Jewish community can make any government “submit” to its will.

In a later television interview, he said Jews have historically fueled hate and persecution against them, including in Spain and during the Nazi regime of Adolf Hitler. Proulx has previously made other allegedly hateful on-air comments about Jews, immigrants and other minority groups.

Others, though, dismissed him as an equal-opportunity bigot who should best be ignored. Academic Ira Robinson told The National Post that although Proulx’s comments were “particularly egregious,” they seemed part of a rising “trend” of acceptability for them in the province over recent years.