Advertising Threats and Hate in Montreal

"We have seen the protests, we have seen all kinds of unlawful things take place in the city over the past almost year."

"And all that you're getting from Valerie Plante is 'this is not us, this is not who we are'."

"Well, clearly, you know that messaging is not working."

Mayor Jeremy Levi, Mayor of Hampstead, Quebec

 

"[Plante's] inaction and incompetence have allowed anarchy to spread and damage the reputation and security of Montreal, Quebec and Canada."

"I'm not acting as a candidate. I'm acting as an attorney. I'm continuing to practice law."

"This is not political, this is legal, and none of my politics infer my mandates, as it would be inappropriate."

"Failing which our client will take the appropriate steps in law to safeguard the interests of his residents."

"This is a law issue, nothing more than nothing less."

Lawyer Neil Oberman, Spiegal Sohmer Inc. law firm

Source: X

"The Plante administration must understand that it is must assume leadership in the fight against these dangerous and hateful actions", said Eta Yudin, vice-president for the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs in Quebec, criticizing Montreal Mayor Valerie Plante's lack of action in a matter that once again is being broadcast by a novel new means of expressing pro-Hamas groups' messaging in their campaign to delegitimize Israel and neutralize the concerns of the Canadian-Jewish population over threats to Jewish security in Canada.

Electronic roadwork billboards in use by the City of Montreal have been featuring anti-Israel messages in the past several days in an unexpected venue. The billboards have been configured to flash the slogans of the pro-Hamas crowd such as "Free Palestine", "Escalate Now", and "Globalize the Intifada". As an outcry has arisen from among the Jewish population, the mayor of Montreal demurred, stating that the billboards have nothing to do with the municipality, they are private property.

The mayor of Hampstead, a suburb of Montreal, has been led to threaten legal action against Mayor Plante for her lack of attention to the concerns of the Jewish community over the offending billboards. That their message fails to be of concern to the mayor of the city herself, is an offence against civil decency. Hampstead Mayor Jeremy Levi has been joined by lawyer Neil Oberman who was named in June as the Conservative party candidate for Mount Royal for the next election.

A letter composed by Mr. Oberman and sent to Mayor Plante addresses the issue whereby the electronic signs exhibiting the offensive illuminated message in not having been investigated and stopped by the municipality registers that the mayor has failed to serve the interests of her office, the city and its residents. For its part, the city contends the signs were vandalized, padlocks on panels broken, and original city messages overridden with unauthorized anti-Israel messages.

The signs, it was pointed out by a city spokesperson, belonged to a sub-contractor, they are not city property. "The City deplores this incident which unfortunately constitutes vandalism", he stated. Both Mr. Levi and his lawyer feel this to be an insufficient response since the messages constitute hate speech. While having received the letter and taken note of an impending lawsuit, Valerie Plante's office refrained from commenting on the letter's contents, referring enquiries to the city's communications department, itself devoid of any response.

Montreal officials say road signs were vandalized, with someone adding unauthorized anti-Israel messages to override the original city messages. Photo by Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs via The Canadian Press

 

 

Charitable Status: Financial Support to State Military Versus Terror Groups

"Our position is that it is unjust for the Canada Revenue Agency [CRA] to revoke a charity because a charitable object[ive] that it accepted almost 60 years ago is now no longer considered to be a valid charitable object[ive]." 

"It is simply unjust to close a charity supported by over 100,000 Canadians based on reversing a decision the CRA made in 1967."

Nathan Disenhouse, national president, JNF Canada

 

"In keeping with our mission of improving the quality of lives of Israelis, we have in the past funded projects of a charitable nature that indirectly involved the IDF. These projects were built on land owned by the IDF primarily for the benefit of children and youth. When it came to our attention several years ago that supporting these types of projects may not be in keeping with CRA policies, we stopped funding them."

"The last project we funded was in June 2016 and it was directed to the Hatzerim Airforce Base for a playground/soccer field for the children living on the base."

"To be clear, we no longer fund projects located on IDF land and JNF Canada operates in accordance with CRA regulations governing its status as a charitable organization."

JNF CEO Lance Davis

Israeli air force cadets toss their caps into the air during a graduation ceremony at the Hatzerim air force base in southern Israel in 2014. A Canadian charity that funds projects in Israel has faced claims that some of its charitable donations have gone to support projects on Israeli military bases in violation of Canadian tax rules. (Tsafrir Abayov/Associated Press)

 

The century-old Jewish National Fund has been advised by the Canada Revenue Agency that its charitable status in Canada is set to be revoked in view of the charity's financial support for Israel's military structure. In response, the Jewish National Fund has made it clear that its intention is to challenge that decision in a court of law. Its contention is that the rules of charitable donations have been altered by the CRA, and that after the organization's work had been approved for charitable status under those same rules 60 years earlier.

It  is more than slightly likely that this move by the CRA was developed in the wake of Jewish groups bringing to the attention of the Canada Revenue Agency, and to Canadian media, that there are Canadian Muslim charities in good charitable status with the CRA known to financially support terrorist groups abroad. There is an obvious difference between a state's military apparatus and that of a terrorist militia. The latter's purpose is objectively offensive, while the former's is, by necessity, defensive.

A state that has been forced by regional circumstances throughout its history, to build an army for the specific purpose of self-defense is certainly not to be conflated with scores of militias formed for the single purpose of destroying an internationally recognized, legitimate, sovereign state. Differentiating between the two; state military/non-state militias, legitimate fighting force and purposefully terrorist entities shouldn't be too difficult to determine even by third-state functionaries.

"The CRA assesses all concerns about registered charities against a clear regulatory  and risk framework designed to prevent bias in our decision-making process", responded the agency spokesperson Nina Ioussoupova. Which has led the Jewish National Fund to embark on a legal journey with the intention of proving that the tax agency erred in making its decision; that not only is there an evident bias in its decision-making, but it has upended its own prior agreement with the charitable status and purpose of the Jewish National Fund.

And nor is the JNF the only Jewish organization that has come afoul of the CRA's shift to de-registering charitable status for other Jewish groups focused on financial aid used for the building of military infrastructure for the Israel Defense Forces. Simply put, their case is that "Canadian charities are not allowed to fund foreign militaries", explained Mark Blumberg, a Canadian lawyer whose specialty is Canadian charity law. 

In any event, although the CRA decision means a loss of status as a registered charity for the Jewish National Fund, its supporters and donors comprised for the most part of members of the Canadian Jewish community, should be able to overlook the loss of charitable receipts used for income tax purposes, since as a taxable relief they don't amount to very much. The principle of supporting a dedicated military tasked to protect civilian life in Israel should represent sufficient philanthropic motivation.

On the other hand, since the Jewish National Fund has attested that since 2016 it no longer funded IDF infrastructure, something is definitely awry with Canada Revenue Agency's audit and the decision that arose out of it. Not revealed was whether Islamic groups in Canada appealed to the CRA to rescind the charitable status of the JNF on the basis of its having funded said IDF infrastructure, but it is not entirely unreasonable to assume that this kind of incitement did have a desired effect in retaliation for the spotlight on Muslim charitable groups sponsoring terrorism.

A JNF Israel webpage describes Canadian-sponsored projects on Bat Galim Naval Base and Palmachim Airbase in Israel. (KKL-JNF)

"Unfortunately, our overtures to have a dialogue in order to negotiate an agreement were rejected --- CRA officials refused to meet in person with JNF Canada officials throughout this ordeal -- and the CRA confirmed its intention to revoke on June 25th."

"[Our appeal intends to illustrate that the Canada Revenue Agency's findings are flawed; the federal agency's taxation arm's processes are unfair, that there] is a reasonable apprehension of bias in the audit."

Jewish National Fund letter: Nathan Disenhouse and JNF CEO Lance Davis

Alberta Wildfires, Rocky Mountain National Parks

"The feelings of loss and fear and loneliness must be overwhelming."

"We share the sense of loss with all of those who live in the town, who care for it, and who have helped build it."

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith

 

"Due to the ongoing fire conditions and our focus on the response effort, it is impossible to share information about specific locations and the extent of damage at this time."

"The accuracy of this information is critical because it has a direct impact on members of the community."

"We will share more information as soon as we are able to ensure its accuracy."

Jasper Park authorities

 

"Lightning strikes happened late in the day on Monday and they were accompanied by very, very strong winds and we already had significant drought conditions that have been building up through the summer."

"We're dealing with a fire that has flames that are about 100 metres above the tree tops. It is just a monster at that point."

"There are no tools we have in our tool box to deal with that. At that point, you get out of the way, you retreat and  you do what you can to protect communities and infrastructure."

Pierre Martel, Director, Fire Management, Parks Canada 

Jasper has been a popular tourist resort for decades (Tourism Jasper)

 

There are, as yet, no details of direct specific information of what has been destroyed in the Rocky Mountain resort town of Jasper, with its 5,000 residents' homes. On Wednesday, two fires near the town converged; for the time being it is known that structures have been damaged and destroyed, but how many and which they are is not yet confirmed. The fire has reduced air quality to the health-averse extent that even emergency crews were forced to leave.

Parks Canada has acknowledged that "significant loss" has struck the town, but was unable to confirm the extent of the damage -- while Jasper Park officials advise that the situation remains dynamic. Social media-posted photographs of the town reflected structures surrounded by sheets of living flame. By Thursday, there was a video of town streets slicked with rain, heavily overcast skies and burnt homes charred by unstoppable flames.

The mountain town with its magnificent geological and historical profile, recreationally famous for hiking, skiing, kayaking and biking, is in an area of animal species including elk, mountain goats, cougars, lynx, black bears and grizzlies. Its geological splendour is unrivalled as a gift of nature. That same nature now has issued a challenge to the very creatures nature herself designed to live in the mountains. 

 

The parks that comprise the Canadian Rockies' fame, Jasper included, were designated a World Heritage Site in 1984. 

 

The five thousand residents of the town, along with an estimated 20,000 tourists were directed to leave the area at a moment's notice late on Monday night when twin wildfires approaching from the south and north roared into view, cutting off escape routes leading in eastern and southern directions. 

 

While the long lines of vehicles snaking through smoke-and-fire-filled routes of escape from the inferno were approaching destinations in British Columbia, they were instructed to turn back, to find refuge elsewhere in Alberta -- evacuation centres in Calgary and Grande Prairie, in recognition that untamed wildfires in British Columbia left that province to deal with its own residents, with no capacity to aid those from a sister province.

Buckets and fire guards, reflecting desperate efforts to contain the fires, along with a plan to burn a path from the southern fire to the river and highway failed, as a result of raging, gusting winds' interference. By early evening on Wednesday the fire roared its entrance to Jasper, to begin its raging destruction of the town's structures.

 

Other provinces, which have experienced their own wildfire emergencies in the near past, are sending in their own resources for fire-fighting and rescue assistance. Two water bombers were sent in from Quebec, along with personnel. Ontario, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia have responded to the emergency unfolding in Alberta with personnel and fire-fighting materiel. 

"I write to  you [residents] today with profound sorrow as we begin to come to terms with the devastating impact of last night's wildfire that has ravaged our beloved community."

"The destruction and loss that many of you are facing and feeling is beyond description and comprehension."

"Your resilience and strength have always been the backbone of our community. In the coming days and weeks, we will rally together, support one another, and begin the daunting process of recovery."

Jasper Mayor Richard Ireland

Islamist-extremist, Totalitarian Ideology in Germany

"[The IZH -- Islamic Center Hamburg --] promotes an Islamist-extremist, totalitarian ideology in Germany."

"[It and its suborganizations] also support the terrorists of Hezbollah and spread aggressive antisemitism."

German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser

 

"As the direct representative of Iran's 'Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution', the IZH disseminates the ideology of the Islamic Revolution in an aggressive and militant way and seeks to bring about such a revolution in the Federal Republic of Germany." 

German Interior Ministry statement

A German police officer stands outside the Imam Ali mosque on July 24, AP

 Police in Germany were authorized to raid 53 properties around the country affiliated with the Islamic Center Hamburg (IZH) along with five suborganizations scattered about Germany. The move follows searches that took place in November. The organization is now banned, accused of representing an "outpost" of Iran's theocratic government. Its purpose is to promote the Republic's leadership ideology of extreme Shiite Islamism.

Evidence gathered in the investigation, according to Interior Minister Faeser, "confirmed the serious suspicions to such a degree that we ordered the ban today". The blue-tiled Imam Ali Mosque in Hamburg -- the group's most prominent structure -- was one amidst the various Islamic Center Hamburg properties police raided early on Wednesday. Raids also took place in Berlin, along with six other German states.

It cannot be much of a mystery that the Islamic Republic of Iran has infiltrated Germany to such a degree. Turkey's Erdogan has also financed the building of many mosques as well in Germany, to serve the needs of the country's large Turkish-German population, originally brought to Germany as a labour force. That population is one that President Erdogan sees as one of his constituencies. 

 

Germany had a very large Muslim population even before it accepted a million migrants that had entered Europe in 2015. The result is a proliferation of mosques and a Muslim demographic that has its own ideas of religion and the law that applies, favouring Sharia over the German system of justice. The large presence of Muslims also gives countries like Iran and Turkey an influence on that demographic not necessarily to Germany's credit.

 

Germany bans Hamburg-based Islamic organization for supporting Iran, Lebanon’s Hezbollah  Anadolu Agency

Germany's domestic intelligence agency has long held the IZH under observation. In its annual report for 2023 it outright stated that it represents Iran's most important representative in Germany aside from the country's embassy. The group, founded in 1962, claims to have no reliable figures for the number of their members or supporters. Calls for the group to be banned in Germany surfaced years ago, but there was never any conclusive action.

 

Hans-Udo Muzel, Germany's ambassador to Tehran, was summoned by Iran's Foreign Ministry for a sound rebuke, in response to the mosque closure and the raids on other mosques affiliated with the Islamic Center Hamburg. 

German Police officers stage outside the Islamic Center Hamburg with the Imam Ali mosque on 24 July, AP

The Islamist Martyr from Alberta

"My 21-year-old son Zachareah was killed. I'm not able to talk now ... I'm processing."

"...Prayers pls."

"He was an empathetic boy. I'm confused."

Adam Quraishi, teacher, Cold Lake, Alberta

 

"May Allah ... give him [the] highest level of Jannah as he was a Mujahid!"

Facebook feed condolence

 

"I can't imagine the pain of losing a child, much less one this way."

"May Allah forgive him and accept him in paradise."

Facebook feed condolence message

Security guards confront a charging attacker at the entrance to Netiv HaAsara, an Israeli community near Gaza. Photo by X.com

Zachareah Adam Quraishi, born and raised in Canada, chose of his own free will to punish Israel for its military incursion into Gaza to pursue Hamas terrorists who had flooded into Israel by the thousands in a rehearsed, prepared mission to indulge in mass rape, torture, bloodletting, slaughtering all those they came across in southern Israel's farming kibbutzim and the Nova Music Festival close to the border of Gaza, on October 7. According to Zachareah and others like him who took part in anti-Israel, pro-Hamas rallies and encampments at Canada's universities, Hamas did no wrong in 'resisting' the 'occupation'.

 

He traveled to Israel on a visitor's visa he had acquired while in Alberta, and when there, rented a car and drove to southern Israel, to a farming village that had been attacked by Hamas terrorists and where twenty of its residents had been murdered. The traumatized village was being guarded by Israeli security personnel. There, at the village of Netiv Ha'asafa, Zachareah parked that rental vehicle, exited it with a knife and screaming "Free Palestine!" while rushing toward Israeli security guards with a knife was shot by the guards. 

A video released by the Israel Defense Forces show armed guards patrolling beside the fortified front gate of the community. They were alerted by the behaviour of the man who parked close by, then rushed forward toward them. His arrival in Israel the day before, as a tourist, ended with him as a terrorist, one whose intention was to stab Israelis to death. Israelis so accustomed to being accosted by knife-wielding Palestinians they readily recognize the symptomatic behaviour, to respond instantly. That response was Zachareah Adam Quraishi's death.

The father of this man who is one of five children his parents raised,  is a high school teacher with the Siksika Nation, one of Canada's many First Nation tribes. The Siksika Nation is from southern Alberta. Adam Quraishi maintains a Facebook page. Among other photographs of his children, their school graduation photos, there is one of a young man, resembling the face in the passport photograph of the attacker, that had been circulated by Israeli authorities.

Passport belonging to Canadian attacker Zachariah Adam Quraishi. Photo by Handout

Emerging Extreme Heat Patterns and the Elderly

"Older adults are one of the populations that we classically see as being more vulnerable to the effects of climate change, specifically to the effects of extreme heat."

"As we age, our ability to adapt to heat diminishes."

"Medications can amplify some of those heat effects."

Catharine Giudice, emergency physician, climate change and human health fellow, FXB Center, Harvard 

Source: National Climate Assessment

 

Climate change is real; global average temperatures have reached 1.2C above pre-industrial levels. We have experienced heat waves that are more frequent, more intense than just a few decades earlier. Excessive heat has seen school closures, led power grids to their limits, and taken vulnerable lives around the world. Even as the planet continues to warm, global humanity itself is aging. There were 1.2 billion people 60 years of age and older in 2021 and by 2050 it is estimated that number will increase by another billion, leaving older adults exposed to levels of heat more dangerous than at present.

In June of 2020, a heat dome struck across the Western U.S. and Canada with fatalities resulting that exposed a troubling pattern leading to the realization of the extreme vulnerability of the aged. In Oregon, 56 of the 72 people who perished of heat were aged 60 and up, while in British Columbia, those 60-plus accounted for 555 of 619 fatalities due to the crushing heat. In England a year later, June, July and August saw 2,800 deaths among those 65 and older due to sizzling heat.

The human body, confronted by rising temperature, is geared toward thermoregulating to avoid overheating. Sweat releases heat when it evaporates. "Older people don't sweat as much", states Deborah Carr, professor of sociology, Boston University, whose study is aging. "They have essentially a less efficient cooling system. So they're in extreme heat and don't sweat it out", she explained.

Increased blood circulation is another cooling body response to heat, drawing heat from deep within to the skin. "The heart has to sometimes pump two to four times more blood each minute than it would on a cooler day", explains Renee Salas, with the Center for Climate, Health and the Global Environment at T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Harvard. Although a healthy heart handles the pumping, people with heart disease and allied cardiovascular issues struggle to.

Medications treating  chronic health conditions such a diabetes, hypertension and lung issues which can inhibit the body's capability to respond to heat, also impair that response, by decreasing the ability to sweat or through increasing the need to urinate, which can result in dehydration. Research shows that by the time an elderly person feels acute discomfort as a result of high temperatures, their body may already be suffering.

Many elderly people don't rehydrate as often as they should and may also be on dehydrating medications, which could contribute to their higher risk of serious illness or death during heat waves. (Eric Gaillard/Reuters)

"Many susceptible people may not recognize when they are overheating, but another person can help identify a risky situation with some careful questions and observations."

"Check in as often as possible. At least twice a day and once in the evening when it is hottest indoors."

Sarah Henderson, scientific director, Environmental Health Services, B.C Centre for Disease Control

A Day of Mournful Remembrance in Argentina

"The years go by, but nothing happens."

"On these anniversaries, the government has very important announcements that never serve any purpose."

Diana Malamud, 64, member, Active Memory

 

"It's unbelievable that thirty years have passed since that cold morning of 18 July 1994, 30 years without a single person answering for this attack."

"We are speaking about October 7 here because the origin is the same: Iran."

"Always Iran is supporting terrorism, the common factor between AMIA and October 7 is the hate, the hate against Jews and also the hypocritical reaction of the world."

Amos Linetsky, head, AMIA (Argentinian Israelite Mutual Association)

People hold photos of bombing victims as sirens blare during a ceremony marking the 30th anniversary of the bombing of the AMIA Jewish center that killed 85 people in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Thursday, July 18, 2024. (AP/Natacha Pisarenko)

 Thursday marked the 30th anniversary of the truck bombing of the largest Jewish community center in Argentina in 1994, that killed 85 people and wounded another 300. Since that time, there has been no one named as responsible for the bombing. Those who know, however, point to Iran and its proxy militia, Hezbollah. In those three decades, governments have come and gone, each one pledging attention to the event, so that justice would be done. Nothing has come of any of those promises.

Argentina's new President, Javier Milei, the 11th leader in the 30 years that have passed, has renewed that pledge. That efforts will be vigorously pursued to finally bring the perpetrators of the mass killing to justice. He also signed new legislation so that July 18 was declared a national day of mourning in Argentina. Despite his obvious good intentions and his professed admiration for Israel and interest in Judaism, many Argentine Jews remain unconvinced.

 

The aftermath of the bombing at the Argentinian Israelite Mutual Association (AMIA) in Buenos Aires, Argentina, July 18, 1994. (AFP)

 

 

At the community centre which the Spanish acronym AMIA identifies, at 9:53am precisely a memorial siren wailed as it does on every year's anniversary of the dreadful event, reflecting the precise time to the very minute that the attack occurred. That signal commenced a day of speeches and solemn vigils.

In the audience at the community centre to show his personal support, President Milei held a portrait of one of the 85 victims of the bombing. The day previously the World Jewish Congress had hosted a conference, where the president denounced Iran as "the dark hand" behind terrorist attacks, ranging from Argentina, to Israel. 

In the certain knowledge that Iran had dispatched Hezbollah to execute the attack under the Islamic Republic's direction, Interpol disseminated notices for the arrests of several Lebanese and Iranian citizens accused of having been involved in the attack -- among them, Iran's interior minister. All of those represented by the Interpol notices remain free and at large.

 

The names of bombing victims and the Spanish phrase “Memory and Justice” cover a wall where a ceremony was held to mark the 30th anniversary of the bombing of the AMIA Jewish center that killed 85 people in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Thursday, July 18, 2024. (AP/Natacha Pisarenko)

The Jewish Entrepreneurial Spirit

"[The Big Shot podcast is] an archive and celebration of Jewish entrepreneurs who took risks, overcame the odds and created legendary businesses that changed the game." 

"We're proud Jews, who want to celebrate our culture and show the world how much they can gain from our experiences."

"That's what Big Shot is all about."

"Big shot is about reminding people of all that they can learn from Jewish culture, just like we can learn from all cultures. This happens to be our culture, and we want to share it with everyone."

Big Shot co-host David Segal, Jewish entrepreneur, David's Tea

"[The episode live-taped at the conference] was a celebration of someone that started from humble beginnings in Montreal and created one of the most iconic companies in Canada."

"[That setting] wasn't the right venue [for a protest]."

"A lot of proud Jews have gone into their shells a little bit and are not necessarily as proud and as vocal. That's not who we are."

"We are proud of who we are. We are proud of what we built. And I think Big Shot is a celebration of these stories now more than ever before."

Harley Finkelstein, CEO, founder Shopify e-commerce company

Heather Reisman, founder and CEO Indigo Books and Music, interviews with Shopify president Harley Finkelstein and David Segal, an entrepreneur, during a live-taping of their podcast Big Shot on July 12, 2024 at Startupfest in Montreal. Photo by Izzy Salant.

 

Nothing shy and retiring of people whose bold enterprise, innovative spirit and willingness to gamble on the potential of ideas whose creative function represents their future success in establishing companies offering unique services that will become popular with the consuming public and eventually skyrocket them to success, fame, and corporate wealth. Providing a public service of great acclaim and in so doing benefiting society through their services.

Jews, particularly successful, enterprising members of the Jewish community, are not given to ostentation nor to kvelling triumphantly in public about their level of success. Put it down to a genetic memory when in ages past and in fact to the present, popular rumour would have it that all Jews are wealthy, pushy, scheming and money-mad. When it was obvious that to be too visible was to invite lashback, resulting in anger, jealousy, threats and violence. Out of sight, out of mind.

Even out of sight, if you're a Jew,  unfortunately, you're never out of mind of the members of a public that subscribe to antisemitic propaganda. At one time, public authority figures commonly used the Jewish presence as a handy scapegoat, convincing their public that it is the Jews that are responsible for everything that goes wrong, diverting attention from their poor governance to old canards victimizing Jews. 

 

At the present time, with antisemitism skyrocketing, that ancient racist hatred feeds on itself as it escalates -- and governments who pledge equality among their populations, don't need to inspire hatred; they just ignore it, if it's Jews that are the target. Jews were the target of the Palestinian terrorist gangs that flooded into Israel on October 7 to indulge in a chaotic melee of torture, rape, mutilation, mass murder and hostage-taking. Palestinian sympathizers and  Islamists have, since then, demonized Israel and Jews internationally, setting a standard for maleficent slander.

On July 12, a Montreal gathering called Startupfest, with hundreds of venture capitalists and entrepreneurs in attendance, greeted guest Heather Reisman, founder and CEO of Indigo Books and Music as she spoke of her three-decade-old bookstore chain to the conference of 400 attendees. A man interrupted the taping after 20 minutes to shout at her the accusation of "funding a genocide" against Palestinians. 

 

He was stopped by a security officer as he attempted to rush the stage. The heckler claimed he had been assaulted when the security guard tackled him to arrest his intention.

 

On the 85th anniversary of Kristalnaucht, Indigo books was vandalized by protesters who claim it has connections to Israel. Photo by Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center (posted on X)

Months ago an Indigo downtown Toronto store was vandalized with the same charges of 'funding a genocide' levelled against Reisman by a group of employees of York University and a York sociology professor. Jews make easy targets for bigoted racists. Latent antisemitism in a civilized society is easily rekindled by inciters who infiltrate society in the form of Islamists who have migrated to Canada through immigration, study visas or illegal entry as economic migrants whose focus is slandering Israel and Jews, boosted by the October 7 Palestinian terrorist attack on southern Israel.

"Do you want to know the truth?", Reisman shot back as the man was being escorted out of the chamber. "The truth is we fund education for kids without parents." Following the production, Reisman explained her invitation to the protester to engage was based on the fact that he was "spouting something that wasn't true. I'd rather engage with people. Maybe you bring a few people around [to reason]".

 

Human Rights Watch Verification

"Palestinian fighters [aka terrorists] committed killings,  hostage-taking, and other war crimes, including the crimes against humanity of murder and wrongful imprisonment." 

"Across many attack sites, Palestinian fighters [terrorists] fired directly at civilians, often at close range, as they tried to flee. They hurled grenades, shot into shelters, and fired rocket-propelled grenades at homes."

"They set houses on fire, burning and choking people, and forced out others whom they shot or captured."

"They took dozens hostage and summarily killed others."

Human Rights Watch report

The al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, take part in a military parade to mark the anniversary of the 2014 war with Israel, near the border in the central Gaza Strip, in July 2023. A Human Rights Watch report published Wednesday says Hamas and at least four other armed groups committed war crimes during their Oct. 7 attack on Israel. (Mahmud Hams/AFP/Getty Images)

 

Human Rights Watch had investigators on the scene in southern Israel just days after the horrendous October 7 mass slaughter of mostly 1,200 civilian Israelis. They meticulously examined evidence in abundance at the various border-vulnerable kibbutzim, and at the site of the Nova Music Festival for obvious clues on the dread inhuman performance of terrorists they still insist on characterizing as 'fighters'. 

 

Despite a richness of irrefutable evidence, backed by the videos taken by the perpetrators of the savage carnage and interviews with many concerned as witnesses, it has taken HRW nine months to produce a report.

This is, after all, a group that bills itself as a neutral observer of violations of human rights that often feels compelled to link Israel with human rights abuses. The jaundiced eye of those working with and for Human Rights Watch have had no excess of affection for the State of Israel in the many instances where their blatant antisemitism comes to the fore. 

However, beloved of the left 'progressives' their conclusions of Palestinian terrorist groups having committed sadistic barbarism beyond the imagination of sane and humane minds will to a degree, have the influence of a trusted source. That in and of itself is a positive, given the racist, anti-Jewish bias that has evolved in politically left circles, and exploded in the aftermath of the October 7 Hamas-led incursion of thousands of Palestinian terrorists into Israel.

 

Israeli soldier at Memorial site in Re'im, southern Israel  Photo: Jim Hollander, UPI

 

The human rights group that has pilloried Israel in the recent past for "apartheid and persecution" despite the clearly obvious fact that millions of Palestinians have citizenship in Israel with the right to vote for their own candidates to sit in the Knesset, that everyone in Israel, has the right to worship (or not) their own religious devotion, and is viewed as equal under the law, makes their claims beyond ridiculous. 

That oldest of racist slurs against any ethnic/cultural/historic/religious group has been reawakened with a fury. And it manifests itself at a time when Jews in Israel were attacked by relentless haters, following a well-rehearsed script of antisemitic determination to extinguish as many Jewish lives as possible,while simultaneously executing a pre-planned scheme of terror, humiliation, torture, mutilation and murder, aimed at families, the elderly, children and infants, women and men who had before the event exhibited sympathy for their neighbours.

Palestinian terrorists move towards the border fence with Israel from Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on October 7.

Said Khatib/AFP/Getty Images

Courting Controversy for Publicity

"[The running shoe was designed more than 50 yeas ago and was] worn in sport and culture around the world."

"We are conscious that connections have been made to tragic historical events -- though these are completely unintentional -- and we apologize for any upset or distress caused."

"As a result we are revising the remainder of the campaign. We believe in sport as a unifying force around the world and will continue our efforts to champion diversity and equality in everything we do."

Adidas spokesperson

 

"Thoughtless actions like this only embolden Israel haters and anti-Semites ahead of the Paris Olympics scheduled to start next week with an Israeli delegation that has already been repeatedly threatened with violence."

Sacha Roytman, CEO, Combat Antisemitism Movement

Adidas advert featuring Bella Hadid  Adidas

 

• "How can a company say they hate Jews without saying they hate Jews I wonder..." X
• "First Kanye and now another antisemite to celebrate the Munich Massacre? You hate Jews and learned nothing..." X
• "This is not a mistake, it's by design..." X

"At the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, 11 Israelis were murdered and taken hostage by Palestinian terrorist group Black September."

"For Adidas to pick a vocal anti-Israel model to recall this dark Olympics is either a massive oversight or intentionally inflammatory. Neither is acceptable." 

American Jewish Committee

A sport shoe first launched at the 1972 Munich Olympics is being re-released by German sportswear company Adidas. Its advertising campaign for the new release has earned the company an avalanche of criticism, mostly from Jewish groups, but also from the state of Israel itself, citing the company's insensitivity -- whether inadvertent or deliberate, to draw attention to its campaign -- as egregious. 

The company advertisement, released on Jul 15 read: "First unveiled in 1972, the introduction of the SL72 sneaker was the spark plug that initiated a paradigm shift in the realm of running shoes." Grandiose language for a running shoe, and totally inexcusable in its context of signing a contract with a Palestinian-American supermodel, notorious for her antisemitic opposition to Israel. 

Dazed and Confused Magazine posted on X its take on the launch: "First introduced as a runners' shoe for the 1972 Olympic games in Munich", which brought swift responses from social media users concerned over the choice of individual contracted with to represent the campaign lead. Since October 7, Bella Hadad has been seen to speak out about Palestinian rights. Jewish advocacy groups such as Stand With Us, accuse her of antisemitism.

That she has shared Instagram posts carrying misinformation relating to the Israel-Hamas War has not endeared her to Jewish and Israel advocacy groups. Following the release of four Israeli hostages from Gaza, she shared a post, since deleted, that hostage Almog Meir Jan had been given a birthday cake by his captors. In fact, it was later confirmed that he and others had been abused and were malnourished.

Gotham GC Images

Comments through social media from critics of the company's choice lead for the relaunching of the SL72 sneaker overwhelmed the company. The Munich Massacre that took place at the 1972 Olympics occurred when eight Black September terrorists infiltrated the Olympic village, taking11 Israeli athletes and coaches hostage. All eleven Israelis, as well as a German policeman were ultimately murdered by the terrorists. 

Ahead of this summer's Paris Olympic Games, a small memorial ceremony has been planned to honour the Israeli victims of Palestinian terrorism. It is only too ironic that the Adidas advertising campaign for the shoe that dated to the Munich Massacre was to be led by a Palestinian-American whose politics align with those of the terrorists who committed mass murder, then and now.

In the end, under a steady barrage of criticism, Adidas made the decision to part business company with the supermodel; whether mission accomplished or genuinely regretting their lack of attention to vital details.

It's Not Over 'Till It's Over...University of Windsor Capitulation

"Protesters, many of whom were living full-time in tents on university property for two months or longer, have packed it in at the University of British Columbia [both the Okanagan and Point Grey campuses], University of Ottawa, Western University and University of Waterloo." 

"At the University of Guelph, administrators issued a notice of trespass to the campers ... a move that likely signals the school intends to imminently seek a court injunction."

"University of Waterloo President Vivek Goel issued a statement on July 6 that the university would retract its legal proceedings against the protesters once they vacated the private property -- which they did."

"Things have taken a darker turn at McGill, where it has emerged that the urine-drenched, rat-infested encampment consisted of not just students but also -- primarily, even -- of homeless persons. One man was arrested after a campus security guard was ... assaulted by a protester. Multiple instances of vandalism occurred, and two ... drug overdoses occurred inside the encampment since July 6."

Amy Hamm, journalist, National Post

"Windsor has fallen. Hamas rules. Reading this proclamation is surreal. It took me back to 1930s Hungary."

"The first Jewish laws were directed at universities. It's why my mother was not allowed to study medicine."

"It's what my film Sunshine is about."

Robert Lantos, film producer

University of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario by Ken Lund

 

Is it fear, cowardice, a wish to mollify, that leads some university administrators down the path of conciliation over illegal, disruptive and inherently violent demonstrations targeting Israel and Jews?

Or might it be that such arrangements are a reflection of their own biases? We will never quite know since anyone in the position of making such decisions will not willingly out themselves as antisemites, leaving conjecture to rue the day.

The University of Windsor appears to have collaborated with the Windsor Liberation Zone Team over the encampment leadership demands which, when acceded to, would see the anti-Israel tent camp swarming with antisemites finally decamp. Although not one of the more fulsomely crowded and attended of such encampments, those students who did adhere to the hate-Israel message managed to persuade the university to agree with its demands.

And so the 'demonization, defamation and destabilization' of the State of Israel received the university's approval (in the alliteratively descriptive words of Avi Benlolo of the Abraham Global Peace Initiative). An agreement that saw the University of Windsor agree to "not pursue any institutional academic agreements with Israeli universities until the right of Palestinian self-determination has been realized". No acknowledgement, needless to say, that universities in Gaza have been useful to Hamas as weapons storage depots.

 

But the agreement between the university and the pro-Hamas group idolizing a terrorist ensemble on Canada's own proscribed terrorist list, doesn't end there. For the agreement also calls for "establishing or re-establishing institutional relationships with Palestinian universities", while sundering relations with Israeli universities. 

The agreement goes further, to ensure that the school's "responsible investment policy" will take account of a United Nations database of "companies whom it has identified as engaged in illegal Israeli settlement enterprise in the occupied Palestinian territory". A page right out of Nazi Germany's targeting European Jewery in its campaign excluding Jews from academic institutions. 

Nor is that the completion of the agreement which continues on to address "anti-Palestinian racism". A charge of racism against Palestinians which do not represent a race, but rather a political movement. When in reality it is hate crimes that see the Jewish community in the majority of cases, and their persecutors are none other than Palestinians and their supporters who label themselves victims of racism.

Just as other  universities that have been encumbered by encampments leading to unfortunate incidents of verbal and physical violence and certainly disruptions of university scheduling of classes and  commencement ceremonies, the University of Windsor had the freedom to look at a series of measures available to clear the encampment without resorting to accepting terms set by radical students and their non-student leadership. 

York University took a decisive step to dismantle the encampment on their campus. Filing for a court injunction was eminently possible, demonstrated by the actions of the University of Toronto. A lawsuit could suitably have been launched against the protest organizers, taking the example of the University of Waterloo which resulted in the encampment on their campus being removed. Alternately and perhaps as a last step, law enforcement could have been called in to clear the encampment, a model from McGill University's solution.

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators are shown at the University of Windsor on Monday, May 27, 2024, in the "Liberation Zone" set up on campus. Photo by Dan Janisse /Windsor Star

Who Was Thomas Matthew Crooks?

• 5:10 p.m. Crooks was first identified as a person of interest
• 5:30 p.m. Crooks was spotted with a rangefinder
• 5:52 p.m. Crooks was spotted on the roof by Secret Service
• 6:02 p.m. Trump takes the stage
• 6:12 p.m. Crooks fires first shots

"While Crooks was making his way to his shooting position, Secret Service agents were listening to radio traffic about a suspicious person police were looking for and heard local law enforcement talking about some sort of confrontation involving police, the sources said."

"Butler County Sheriff Michael T. Slupe told ABC News that he was informed by other law enforcement officials that a Butler Township police officer searching for the suspicious person was vaulted onto the AGR building's roof and briefly confronted the gunman, who turned his weapon to the officer, causing him to retreat back down. Shots rang out moments later."

ABC News

 

 Bit by excruciating bit, details are emerging about the Saturday evening shooting in the assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump at the Butler, Pennsylvania election campaign rally, when 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks was identified as the shooter and as the FBI is laboriously investigating, while its specialists "continue to analyze his electronic devices". 

It was explained that the shooter's residence and vehicle were searched, and close to a hundred interviews took place, questioning law enforcement personnel, attendees at the rally, along with other witnesses to fine-comb sources for details of interest. Photos and videos shot at the scene are also being thoroughly reviewed.

 

Prior to the Saturday shooting Crooks went to a shooting range where he was a member and there he practised firing. He was known to have gone to Home Depot where he bought a ladder and 50 rounds of ammunition from Allegheny Arms and Gun Works in Bethel Park, Penn. He had with him a rifle bought by his father in 2013. Following his purchases, an hour's drive north took him to the rally site.

 

An "Improvised explosive device" was found on inspection of his car trunk, a Hyundai Sonata. An unidentified official described the device as having been connected to a receiver with wires, and a remote control detonator was in Crooks' possession. "That suggests the gunman may have been planning to set off an explosion remotely, and investigators are considering the theory that he may have been planning a distraction during the shooting."

 

Before Secret Service snipers on a roof neighbouring the one Crooks was crouching on, he was able to get off several shots -- an estimated eight in total, including the first one, that grazed Trump's ear --until he was shot and killed. Those shots fired from the roof killed one person at the rally -- Corey Comperatore, a 50-year-old engineer and firefighter -- shot in the head, while two others were critically wounded.

 

Bethel Park is a quiet suburb of Pittsburgh, south of where the Saturday rally took place. Crooks lived there with his parents and he worked at a nursing home. He graduated with an associate's degree in engineering science from the Community College of Allegheny County in western Pennsylvania in May. "Like all Americans, we are shocked and saddened by the horrific turn of events that took place", stated the community college.

 

High school yearbook and graduation photos of Thomas Matthew Crooks

 

According to a former classmate who asked to remain anonymous, Crooks was reserved, seldom discussing politics at school and seemed centre-right and moderate. Hearing that Crooks was identified as the gunman, the classmate texted Crooks that he was sorry that someone attempted to impersonate him. When he later saw the photo of Crooks on the roof of the building where he was fatally shot, he understood why he received no text back.

Despite having ample access to Crooks' family and friends, his phone and those of some people he communicated with, investigators find themselves with scant information that might point to a motive for his actions. According to FBI officials, there is no evidence of any ideology that drove Crooks to commit such an act of violence. 

Police block roads around the home of Thomas Matthew Crooks in Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, on Monday, as the FBI continues its investigation into the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump.    Rebecca Droke/AFP/Getty Images

 

Shutting Down Terrorism's Cheerleaders in Canada

"Due to the presence of human waste, a rat infestation, discarded syringes, a large amount of rotting food and garbage, and other potentially dangerous and unsanitary conditions within the site, it was necessary to use heavy machinery to remove parts of the camp for the safety of all involved."

"For the same reasons, it will be necessary to excavate and replace a layer of contaminated soil on the site."

McGill University statement 

"[The encampment was] a heavily fortified focal point for intimidation and violence, organized largely by individuals who are not part of our university community."

McGill University President Deep Saini

"[The encampment site is in a] deplorable state [and the school will be restoring the area]."

"We condemn the acts of vandalism committed by the demonstrators before leaving the site, which add to the already considerable damage around Tabaret since the encampment was set up and continue to generate  huge costs for the University."

"The Ottawa Police Service is on-site to assess the situation, including the damage."

University of Ottawa President Jacques Fremont

The site of the former pro-Palestinian encampment at McGill was bare on Thursday July 11, 2024. Photo by John Mahoney /Montreal Gazette

After over ten weeks of encampments at McGill University in Montreal and University of Ottawa, dismantling proceeded and it appears that the wave of university pro-Hamas, anti-Israel protests have concluded, until such time as the organized groups of Palestinian supporters hatch some new schemes to roil the social landscape in Canada as they have also done throughout the United States. 

 

Dozens of police in riot gear patrolled McGill University's downtown campus while security forces and excavators took to the encampment dismantling at the school's lower field. Protesters were escorted from the encampment, in their black-and-white checkered keffiyeh scarves. At University of Ottawa, protesters took down their tents at night and by the following morning only a few empty tents, tarps, blankets, wires and debris remained.

 

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators have ended their encampment at the University of Ottawa where they called on the school to divest from companies they say have ties to Israel and the conflict in Gaza. (Gabriel Le Marquand Perreault/Radio-Canada)

At the stairway to Tabaret Hall, protest signs were left, reading: "The children of Gaza will haunt you". A week earlier protesters were cleared out of a two-month-old encampment at University of Toronto. A judge had finally granted the university's request for an injunction to permit police to step in to remove and arrest those who defied the order to leave.

"There were acts of intimidation, harassment, damage to property, occupations of university buildings, clashes with the police and an assault on one of our security guards."

"On top of that, recently we learned that the people in the camp were not McGill people anymore, but mainly exterior activist groups."

"And the people who were sleeping in the camp were actually mainly unhoused people."

Fabrice Labeau, vice-president of administration and finance for McGill University

At McGill, private security firm Sirco had been hired to dismantle the encampment, after consultation with their lawyers, given escalating dangers associated with the camp. Protesters were given warning that if they failed to leave voluntarily they would be forcefully removed from the campus. According to a Montreal police spokesman, one person was arrested for assaulting a security agent.

Streets leading to the encampment at the lower field were cordoned off by police in riot gear, blocking access. Waving Palestinian flags, a crowd of demonstrators gathered by the police line. Others lined up before construction equipment brought in to remove tents and debris. There was even a construction crane and bulldozer on site.

 

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators began removing tents, posters and flags from Tabaret Lawn on Tuesday, but some vow to return. (Gabriel Le Marquand Perreault/Radio-Canada)

 

Demands by campus protesters that universities stop investing in anything connected to the Israeli military, and to cut academic ties with Israeli institutions were not met by the universities. "This is not the end at all. Students are more motivated than ever to keep fighting", McGill student and encampment spokesperson Zaina Karim warned.

Raihaana Adira and a few other pro-Israeli students attempted to secure a court injunction against the protesters mere days after the occupation of the university camps began, only to have their request rejected in Quebec Superior Court.

"I think this is a great first step. However, I fear there's still going to be a lot of violence and antisemitism on campus. And I think that just because they take away the encampment does not mean that they're taking the embedded hate against Jewish students at McGill away."

"[McGill needs to keep having meetings with students] to repair the damage done on both sides."

Raihaana Adira, McGill student

The Roddick Gates at McGill University's downtown Montreal campus remained closed Thursday July 11, 2024, one day after the pro-Palestinian encampment on the campus was dismantled. Photo by John Mahoney /Montreal Gazette