Jew-Haters Roam the Streets but We Are Not Alone
Part Two of: One Year On
Today we at Canadian Zionist Forum are pleased to offer another in a series of articles we are running to mark the one year anniversary of the October 7 War. Other articles in the series have included One Year On: The Good, the Bad, the Ugly by Brian Henry and yesterday’s October 7 Changed Our Lives, by Fred Litwin. Today we have the second part of Brian Henry’s “One Year On”. Please check out Brian’s uplifting new article below.
October 7, 2024
Regarding things here in Canada, the most important thing to say is that Canadians support Canada’s Jewish community.
Image: Supporters of Israel in Toronto Rally to mark the October 7 anniversary. —————Source: Brian Henry
Yes, we witnessed the glee with which Israel-haters here in Canada greeted the news that 1,200 Jews had been murdered. We saw their jubilation at hearing 250 men, women, and children had been taken hostage. We saw their smug dismissal of reports of mass rape, of mutilations, of torture.
Sure, we knew the anti-Israel crowd was a vile bunch. But we were shocked. Even those of us who have followed this closely for decades were shocked at the depth of the hatred. Jew-haters literally danced in the streets.
Image: Samidoun Prisoners Network Poster calls for celebration of Hamas Atrocities ——————Source: Brian Henry
But we’re not alone. The large majority of Canadians have also been shocked.
By celebrating or at least excusing Hamas’s barbarism, the self-styled “progressive left” revealed itself as avatars of bigotry and hatred. As Jen Gerson put it in a widely read and widely shared column, it was “a real mask-off moment for the left, eh?” (here).
Normal Canadians don’t celebrate Hamas or Hezbollah or any other terrorist group. For example, the Abraham Global Peace Initiative recently completed a study on antisemitism in Ontario. Almost 80% of Ontarians “are concerned about attacks – including gunfire and firebombs – targeting synagogues, Jewish schools, and businesses (here).”
That doesn’t mean the remaining 20% approve of attacks on Jews. A few do – obviously. Many more will make excuses for those attacks, but some of that 20% simply regard anything short of a nuclear war as no big deal. So they can now go back to sleep, at least for the time being.
Moreover, more than 60% of people in Ontario “are alarmed by aggressive behavior from pro-Palestinian protesters.” And that’s despite most media doing their best to downplay how aggressive and hate-filled these protests are.
How hate-filled are these protesters? Well, if you haven’t been watching, perhaps start your reading here.
And if anything, the anti-Israel protests continue to become more radical.
On October 1, “pro-Palestinian” protesters (as the media likes to call them) ran amok in downtown Montreal, breaking windows, spray painting graffiti on store fronts, and throwing homemade firebombs at the police.
In Toronto, protesters carried signs calling for “armed resistance” and a speaker called for demonstrators to teach their children that the “Zionist entity is an enemy.”
Iran’s Press TV carried the Toronto protest live, to show how much support terrorism (supposedly) has in Canada. Correspondent Firas Al-Najim stood in front of a masked man waving a Hezbollah flag who said that Hezbollah is considered a terrorist group only because of the “Zionist lobby’s” influence. “We’re here to stand in solidarity with the Palestinian resistance,” he said, adding, “we’re not going to be quiet anymore.”
There have been a lot of Hezbollah flags at anti-Israel protests of late and also people carrying photos of the Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, to mourn his recent death.
On the upside, Toronto police charged two men with public incitement of hatred for waving Hezbollah flags (here). After all, Canada does list Hezbollah as an illegal terrorist group. Like Hamas, Hezbollah’s whole reason for being is to destroy Israel and kill Jews. You can see why the police agree that enthusiastic support for this bunch crosses the line.
In Ottawa, protesters gathered outside a Jewish community centre, housing a nursery among other services, and blocked all the entrances. They claimed to be protesting an event by Sar-El, the volunteers for Israel program (here), but in Arabic, speakers praised shaheeds (martyrs), jihad (holy war) and mujahedeen (holy warriors) (here).
Image: Protester praises terrorism outside Ottawa Jewish Senor’s Home —————Source: Brian Henry
They screamed a chant: “We want bullets and missiles … we do not negotiate with Israel except with the gun (here).”
A Jewish long-term care home sits across from the community centre, and police warned the seniors it wasn’t safe for them to go outside. Indeed, several Jews leaving the community centre were assaulted. As of yet, no arrests have been made (here).
At a Parliament Hill protest, a speaker proclaimed: “We will continue fighting until the Zionist entity crumbles, along with its accomplice the United States, and this country (Canada) crumbles to the ground.”
And of course, all the pro-Palestinian terrorism fan clubs are marking the one-year anniversary of Hamas’s attack on Israel with events celebrating Palestinian “resistance,” which is the word they use to describe mass murder, rape, and kidnapping.
Jews are also marking this day. One year on, Hamas continues to hold more than 101 hostages. Hamas continues to fire a few missiles into Israel, though nothing like the thousands of missiles it attacked with last October 7. And Hamas remains as committed as ever to its central purpose of destroying Israel and killing Jews.
But one year on, Hamas no longer has an army. Never again will it be able to commit an atrocity such as October 7.
And the people of Israel still live. Am Yisrael Chai. הַעוֹד אָבִינו חַי
Brief Update
We hope that our readers had a meaningful October 7 anniversary observance. We heard from our Aunt in Tel Aviv this morning with an update on what she is thinking as the war with Hezbollah keeps the country on edge. Many people in Israel were watching a ceremony yesterday to mark the anniversary, but the country was divided over which ceremony to watch. (We saw a portion of the official ceremony on i24 which is available on Rogers Cable in Ottawa.) Our father in Vancouver reported that the anniversary left him feeling out of sorts, unsure how to properly mark the day. Many folks here in Ottawa attended a ceremony at the Jewish community centre, which was organized by the Jewish Federation and the Embassy of the State of Israel.
As Israel dismantles Hezbollah’s leadership and pushes into the heavily fortified area they created along the border, our hearts go out to Israelis facing continuous barrages of missiles coming from the north. We are working on a longer article about the history of Israel’s wars in Lebanon. Look for it in the coming days.
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Thank you for your article. As a Jew, I am deeply disappointed in the police, and am full of fear when I hear about the Palestinian rhetoric and watch the news of the violence here. But as a Canadian, I know that rallies where Canada is the target of their chants and when Canadian flags are burned, Canadians also call for police action.
Let's start to call them rioters. Shrieking for murder and celebrating it while smashing windows and assaulting people is rioting.
I'm sickened that Canada is standing idly by and just watching the riots get bigger and more violent.