Hamas Admirers masquerading as "Pro-Palestinian"

Olga Goldberg

"I [stood] on the north side of College [Street]. They were on the south side of College. So all of College was between us."

"They started telling me 'get the f--- out' of there, and I told them 'please show me your face, let's talk about this. The next thing I know someone punched me out."

"They stomped on the flag; they ripped up the piece of paper [and[ stomped on the piece of paper."

"I just want to clarify the fact that I was a full street away from this. I'm a 56-year-old, 5-foot-3 little chubby woman. I wasn't waving anything."

"I was standing on the street holding an 8x10 sign, and I was assaulted in broad daylight, on a Sunday afternoon, in front of Queen's Park."

"I was born in Russia; my family moved here [to Canada] as refugees to escape antisemitism. This is not the Toronto that I grew  up in."

Olga Goldberg, Toronto resident

Attending a rally to mark Cyrus the Great Day -- an Iranian unofficial holiday -- at Queen's Park on Sunday, Olga Goldberg, a Canadian-Israeli, was punched in the face by pro-Palestinian protesters and now calls on officials to "wake up" to antisemitism in Canada. The rally she attended was a show of unity by Iranian and pro-Israel supporters, until it was cut short by police citing safety concerns when a large pro-Palestinian demonstration began to move through the area.

The woman decided to walk a short distance from the Ontario Legislature building to watch the march pass by. She remained on the opposite side of the road from where the demonstrators were. On her breast pocket there was a palm-size Canadian flag and in her hands was a photograph of Mia Schem, being held hostage by Hamas, a friend of her daughter's.

 

Olga Goldberg holds up a poster of Gaza hostage Mia Schem, her daughter’s friend, who was kidnapped by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7

 

Suddenly she found herself "quickly surrounded" by some of the demonstrators, all of whom wore kaffiyehs which covered the bottom halves of their faces. One of them ripped the paper sign from her hands, the photo of Schem, the word "kidnapped" appearing on it, while another grabbed the flag out of her pocket. 

Police officers surrounded her after the attack, asking if she wanted to press charges, but she was unable to identify her assailants. Toronto police have stated that the incident is being "actively investigated by the service's hate crime unit". The attack, said Ms. Goldberg, left her "speechless"; she now calls on politicians and the police to "wake up" to the growing problem of antisemitism in Canada.

She has heard, she said to the media, of people changing their names when they call for Uber rides, of homeowners thinking of  removing the mezuzah from their doors, and of Jewish businesses being vandalized. A 132 percent rise in hate-related calls have been reported in Toronto to police since October 7, following the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel.

 

Just outside Toronto a hospital network has described one of its doctors having received an antisemitic death threat last week. The doctor, according to Trillium Health Partners, received the threat at "non-hospital  work premises", but it immediately increased security at its two hospitals in Mississauga and its health centre in Etobicoke.

A Toronto rally in solidarity with Israel had to shut down early due to a large anti-Israel march. Organizer Salman Sima says in Canada "If you honk for freedom, they're going to close your bank account. But if you honk for Hamas terrorists, police [are] going to protect them."