December 7, 2023
Doris Strub Epstein
We watched with disbelief and horror at the massive rallies that erupted in every major city across Canada following the savage invasion of Israel by Hamas. Under the guise of being “pro-Palestinian,” these rallies are hotbeds of genocidal antisemitism. They advocate for the annihilation of the Jewish State, cheer Hamas’s brutal murders, rapes, torture, and kidnapping of Israelis as “resistance,” while spilling over onto our streets with bolder and bolder acts of harassment and aggression toward Jewish institutions, business, and schools.
Hamas, a listed terrorist organization in Canada, is not a liberation movement; it is not interested in peace with Israel or Palestinian self-determination, or the well-being of its citizens. Its primary purpose is the destruction of the Jewish state.
Hamas is an openly anti-Jewish genocidal movement that aims to establish its version of Islam over the entire globe, which means murdering every single Jew on earth, starting with those in Israel. They also want to destroy the US and global Christianity, but Jews are their current priority.
Academics are complicit in their silence or active participation. According to the National Post, not a single academic department has denounced Hamas’s anti-female, anti-human bloodbath. University campuses have become hotbeds of antisemitism fueled by pro-Hamas supporters. Jewish students feel unsafe: they fear wearing attire that identifies them as Jews.
Antisemitism has metastasized into our public school boards. Eight teachers, five Jewish, told the National Post that working at the Peel District School Board was “distressing” even before the attack on Israel. But since Oct. 7th, matters have escalated. Then, they feared for their livelihood; now, they” fear for their lives.” Some principals have been “stoking animosity toward Israel and Judaism in classrooms and social media,” they said.
Even before October 7, Jews were the most targeted group for hate crimes in Canada. Since, there has been a “staggering” increase in Toronto, said Chief of Police Myron Demkiw. The situation has become so bad that Canada’s newly appointed antisemitism envoy is tripling her staff to handle “the moment of crisis.”
In Dollard des Ormeaux, a Montreal suburb, pro-Hamas activists firebombed a synagogue and a building across the street housing a Jewish organization. In Outremont, shots were fired into a local yeshiva. Police are stationed outside all Jewish schools as a protective measure.
A Jewish high school in Toronto was recently evacuated because of bombing threats. CEO Indigo Bookstore’s owner, Heather Reisman, received death threats, and Indigo was defaced with red paint. Three of the participants in this attack were academics.
The Giller book awards were interrupted by a handful of anti-Israel protesters shouting slogans when winner Sarah Bernstein was announced. A video shows a subway car hijacked by a group wearing keffiyehs, shouting hateful genocidal slogans, yelling “f… the Jews,” and waving Palestinian flags as the passengers sat cowering in their seats.
In Montreal, an Imam led prayers for the violent eradication of the ”Zionist aggressors” at a Stop the Genocide in Gaza rally, one of many organized by the Palestine Youth Movement, ((PYM), a group that praises the October 7 massacre and calls for continued violence against Israel.
The Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM), active in both Canada and the US, has been the most prolific organizer of pro-Hamas rallies. In just hours after the attack, they marshalled the first wave of celebratory “All Out for Gaza” marches that sprouted in all of Canada’s major cities.
Their numerous rallies have included displays of the swastika and children leading open calls for “intifada.” Flags from ISIS and Afghanistan were seen flapping in the winds. Whereas PYM events are posted as ceasefires or peace rallies, the group is blatantly open about their support for Palestinian terrorism and their ultimate goal- to see Israel violently destroyed.
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, a Vancouver headquartered group, is also behind many of the “pro-Palestine “massive rallies. It was founded and led by Khaled Barakat, a man identified by Israeli and Palestinian sources as being among the leadership of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), one of several terrorist entities in Gaza with a history of kidnapping and murdering Israelis.
Samidoun was listed as a terrorist organization by Israel in 2021. Germany did the same this month amid a nationwide crackdown on “pro-Hamas” organizations. But in Canada, Samidoun has federal nonprofit status and raises funds, which are likely being funneled to the PFLP, according to sources in Israel.
Toronto4Palestine is a regular organizer in the Toronto area. On their Instagram page, they called the October 7 terrorist attacks an act of “heroic resistance.” The group has also engaged in Holocaust denial. Shortly after October 7, on their Instagram post, they said Jews were “lying” about the attacks, adding, “Is it possible that if they are lying about these events and creating a false genocide, it is likely they may have lied about certain details of a previous big genocide that may have occurred?”
As well as the shock, hurt, and outrage experienced at the surge of antisemitic attacks and the public glorification of a terrorist entity for the first time in the history of Canada, Jewish citizens are wary and frightened in a way they have never been before. They are afraid to go to Jewish places or send their children to Jewish day schools. They are conscious about having typically Jewish-sounding names. Many removed mezuzot from the doorposts of their homes so as not to become targets of attack.
Germany’s response to the Hamas attacks and subsequent rise in antisemitism has been to shut down all Palestinian rallies. High schools have banned the keffiyeh and the Palestinian flag.
In Canada, there has been no serious attempt to stem the skyrocketing antisemitism. Supporters of Hamas ideology and extremism are becoming bolder, more public, and more violent by the day. Hate crimes against Jews are becoming the norm rather than the exception.
In one of the most blatant incidences of hypocrisy ever witnessed in Canada, our Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who invoked the Emergency Act and labeled the Freedom Convoy activists as Nazis and a threat to democracy, has done little while the hate fests prevail, advocating violence against the Jewish people.
Mere statements of condemnation are futile. Action is now critical. We must enforce our existing Criminal Code prohibitions on “violence, intimidation, and incitement of hatred against an identifiable group.”
Freedom of speech is not unlimited. We do not have the freedom of speech to holler fire when there is none. Freedom of speech does not give carte balance to lies, intimidation, and harassment. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms permits reasonable limits on free speech. The Criminal Code of Canada provides us with the tools to combat hatred.
Municipalities can stop these hate rallies by simply invoking “disturbing the peace” or gathering without a permit.
We urge Canadian political leaders to enforce our laws to the fullest extent, to arrest and convict these criminals who have altered the very idea of what it means to be a Canadian.
As former Canadian Minister of Finance Joe Oliver wrote, “Otherwise, antisemitism will run rampant, threatening human rights and the rule of law – some of the core values of Western civilization.”
Doris Strub Epstein is co-Chair, CIJR, Toronto branch