High Alert for Canadian Jews in a Country Newly Steeped in Viral Antisemitism

"Within hours of the butchery that killed 1,200 people in Israel last year, protesters in Canada were taking to the streets in pro-Palestinian rallies that openly celebrated the slaughter."

"Soon it was thought acceptable in Canada to tear down posters showing Israeli hostages."

"Large-scale protests erupted on streets and university campuses and Jewish businesses, synagogues and daycare centres were attacked."

"Meanwhile the Liberals added to this fetid atmosphere with a foreign policy that was as inept as it was foul."

Michael Higgins, columnist, National Post

Hamas terrorists stormed the Nova festival on 7 October and murdered hundreds BBC/Nik Millard

 

Canada's Liberal-led government of prime minister Justin Trudeau has led the way in assuring Canadians of Middle Eastern descent and their surprising number of supporters from among the always simmering-beneath-the-surface sentiments of antisemitism in society that it would be perfectly within the new social contract to criticize the state of Israel for provoking Palestinians and their supporters to the point of their government in Gaza, recognized by previous Canadian governments as terrorists, enacting a modern-day pogrom of rape, torture and mass murder, compelling the Jewish state to conduct protective counter-measures during a state of existential threat.

Within the period of a year that followed the October 7, 2023 atrocities committed by Palestinian terrorists led by Hamas, the Trudeau government and its cabinet ministers have made it clear, both by implication and by overt statements and measures that in their considered opinion Israel is over-reacting to a mere 'incident' of victim-rage enacted by a captive population feeling itself oppressed, exploited and deprived of their sovereign rights by an occupying apartheid imperialist colonialism. Canada is not alone in this peculiar interpretation of a fellow democracy violently assailed by Medieval brutality, but Canada's level of complicity in finding fault with Israel, not the surrounding threats to its existence is outstanding in its mendacity and complicity with that violence.

Never has this government extended itself beyond boilerplate antisemitic condemnation. And never does Justin Trudeau mention antisemitism without adding Islamophobia as an equal evil, despite that it is Muslims in the majority with assistance from their non-Jewish left-leaning woke Canadian demographic who are engrossed in the vile displays of Israel-delegitimization while threatening the Canadian Jewish community and committing violent acts of criminal action against that community.

 

Large pools of blood stain a child's bunk bed inside a safe room in a home in Nir Oz, Israel, which was attacked by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7, 2023. Photo by Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Images

In the year that followed that mass atrocity of rape, mutilation, human butchery, hostage-taking and the portrayals of terrorists as liberators driven to express their frustration by committing unspeakable acts of depravity, no sincere condemnation has assured Canadian Jews that their government has their best interests in mind. Well demonstrated by the lack of interest, much less any effort at controlling the hundreds of anti-Israel, antisemitic, pro-Hamas rallies and demonstrations that have choked major intersections in Canadian cities in sympathy with the Palestinian drive to wrench Israel from the Middle East, its historical homeland.

 

But this Liberal government saw fit to support a UN General Assembly motion for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, overturning Canada's traditional balanced view of the historical details of the issue of Israel standing its ground on its ancestral land, which the Palestinians claim as their own, unwilling to recognize the authenticity and legitimacy of the Jewish state, arguing that the land -- all of it, from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea, is theirs and theirs alone, in a total re-write of history. 

 

A large crowd gathered at the Manitoba Legislative Building in Winnipeg Saturday as the one-year mark of the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas draws near.  Still from video

New export permits for military equipment destined for Israel from Canadian manufacturers were no longer to be issued, according to the Trudeau Liberals, who disapprove of the Israel Defense Forces' response to the Hamas atrocities in Gaza. Much less the need for Israel to put a halt to a year's-worth of daily rocketry from Lebanon aimed by Hezbollah at farming communities in northern Israel. And despite proof that UNRWA employees in Gaza represented members of Hamas, some of whom have been charged with taking part in the pogrom of October 7, Canada resumed its funding of UNRWA.

One of Hamas's top commanders was also an employee of UNRWA as a teacher,  using the UNRWA curricula that distinguishes them as anti-Israel propaganda posing as school texts. This is the same United Nations special refugee group for Gaza that keeps the Palestinians in refugee-mode, along with the descendants of the original 700,000 who fled or were forced out of Israel in 1948. Canada's minister of foreign affairs  reaffirmed "our support for UNRWA" at a meeting at the United Nations when she met with the Palestinian Authority prime minister Mohammad Mustafa.

 

Pro-Palestinian students at an anti-Israel encampment on the campus of McGill University in Montreal. (Photo by Alexis Aubin / AFP)

 

It is under the Trudeau Liberals with its generosity of cabinet and caucus positions of Canadian Muslims that a decision to advance a Parliamentary committee motion on the issue of Palestinian statehood will be considered -- a motion that supports "the recognition of a viable and independent State of Palestine". Rewarding Palestinian lethal violence, earning Hamas's gratitude. When the reality is that the PA itself has no intention of recognizing the State of Israel, and no intention of settling for a portion of the geography that the United Nations in 1947 offered through their Partition Plan, accepted by Israel, rejected by the Palestinian leadership.

And nor is this Liberal government the least bit interested in curtailing the ongoing Palestinian protests throughout Canada that disrupts society at every level, and continues to harass and threaten the Jewish population in Canada's cities. There are criminal laws against inciting to hatred, none of which have been put into action to stop the Palestinian Youth Movement planning a one-year anniversary of October 7 -- honouring Hamas terrorists as 'martyrs' -- in Montreal at the Israeli consulate.

In Canada, the pro-Palestinian protests deny the realities of Palestinian terrorists committing mass rape and sadistic torture of Israeli girls and women. An investigation published in the New York Times described breasts cut off, nails driven into thighs, women raped and knifed simultaneously, severed heads of women used as trophies and footballs, and the videos taken live by the terrorists themselves "talking, giggling and shouting", raping women before "literally butchering them". Women were found dead by medics and rescue personnel; naked, with hands and feet tied.

The Nova festival was one of the sites of alleged sexual violence on 7 October   EPA

United Nations Corrupt Justice/Criminal Arms

"The State of Israel is committed to continue fighting to return its hostages and promise the security of its citizens -- wherever and whenever necessary -- including in Rafah."

"We will continue operating in accordance with international law wherever we might operate, while safe-guarding to the best extent possible the civilian population."

"Not because of the ICJ, but because of who we are and the values we stand for."

Benny Gantz, Israeli war cabinet member 

Troops of the Nahal Brigade operate in eastern Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, in a handout image published May 22, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)

 

There is no arm of the United Nations which has not been permeated with a solid antipathy toward the State of Israel. The entire mission of the United Nations; equality, peace and security for all,  has been perverted for decades with the steady infiltration of cadres of UN authorities and employees of the institution that harbour an ingrained message of antisemitic rejection, one that singles Israel out in every conceivable way to use it as the proverbial whipping-boy for all that may be wrong anywhere in the world; yet seldom in Israel.

In the direct wake of the International Criminal Court condemning Israel for its incursion into Gaza for the express purpose of routing and defeating its terrorist government in direct response to the Hamas terrorist attack in southern Israel that left 1,200 Israelis, mostly citizens dead, the Palestinian terrorists having taken body cam videos of devastatingly savage and psychologically sadistic rapes and accompanying mutilations, where infants, children, the elderly and infirm were all slaughtered, a second censure from the International Court of Justice followed.

 

There is no nation on Earth, self-respecting and committed to the defence of its population, that would not respond to the brutality, the depths of depravity committed and the horrors of invaders murdering their people as Israel has done. The terrorist group Hamas has refused to surrender any of the 135 hostages of the original 250 it had captured and brought back to Gaza. Maintaining them in the countless tunnels that honeycomb the Gaza Strip, they are abused and used as human shields knowing how Israel values the lives of all its citizens.

 

Israel's sworn intention to destroy the Palestinian terrorist ability to continue their barbaric attacks on its people includes not only the destruction of the stockpiled weapons in the possession of the terror groups, but their operatives as well. It is the least that any other country would designate their ultimate goal. Yet ostensible collegial Western countries choose to chastise Israel for placing the lives of Palestinian citizens at risk, even while the Israel Defense Forces take precautions no other military would undertake in similar circumstances.

 

That the International Court of Justice's order that Israel halt its military offensive immediately, in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, it has no capacity to enforce the order and Israel will not accept the court's jurisdiction. Yet both the courts' judicial and prejudicial interventions slamming Israel and supporting the Palestinian 'cause' prejudice unjustly Israel's flagging global reputation. 

"The International Court of Justice's decision opens up the possibility for relief, but only if governments use their leverage, including through arms embargoes and targeted sanctions, to press Israel to urgently enforce the court's measures."

Balkees Jarrah, associate international justice director, Human Rights Watch

 

"[Fears the court expressed earlier this year about an operation in Rafah have] materialized. [Israel must] immediately halt its military offensive [in the city and anything else that might result in conditions that could cause the] physical destruction in whole or in  part [of Palestinians there]."

Nawaf Salam, ICJ president

Two weeks ago, Israel began disseminating evacuation orders as military operations began on the city's edge. The IDF says an estimated million Palestinians have since left the immediate area as Israeli forces press deeper within. Rafah is considered the last and ultimate stronghold of Hamas, where four of its divisions are sheltering, and it is there as well that Israel expects the bulk of the Israeli hostages may be found.  

Judges arrive at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to rule on South Africa's request on a Rafah and wider Gaza war ceasefire, in The Hague, on May 24, 2024 (Nick Gammon / AFP)

Corrupting the Function of Unions

"I put up my hand, and I said I would like to speak to the fact that what you're wearing is a political statement, and it makes me feel very uncomfortable."

"And then, before I really could get any [more] words out, she mutes me."

Unidentified union member, fearful of repercussions

"Part of Israel's military occupation, apartheid and genocide ...is the erasing of cultural symbols such as the keffiyeh."

"Intimidating and harassing individuals for wearing traditional cultural clothing is a form of racism ... we do not tolerate racism in union meetings."

"Without resistance there is no union. A union is about caring for each other and struggling together for better. When you stand up to injustice I want to be there with you, because together we have the courage to never back down. I hope to serve as your Member At Large. And, let's never forget -- free Palestine!"

"Yes, I believe that Palestinians should be free from occupation, free from living under apartheid, and free from genocide and I will always stand for that. Being a union leader, when you are seeing people being massacred, that is a time when you need to open up your mouth and speak and say that is wrong -- just like I stand with the rights of workers -- I will always stand by the rights of oppressed people."

Canadian Union of Public Employees Toronto chapter union 905 president Katherine Grzejszczak

 

"Our union president speaks of inclusive spaces, but without Jewish perspectives."

"When the person who was supposed to represent us all wears clothing that has roots linked with terrorism, we do not feel safe or represented."

"Her personal views should not represent our union views."

Unidentified Union member, fearful of repercussions

In this screenshot from a video meeting, Katherine Grzejszczak’s laptop can be seen adorned with a large Palestinian flag sticker.

Toronto area CUPE 905 representing 6,000 municipal government and library workers across York Region held a video conference on remote-work policies on April 17. They were greeted with an unusual sight. Union president Katherine Grzejszczak's laptop facing the audience had a large Palestinian flag sticker facing the audience. One member responded by altering their own display picture with an Israeli flag. In the video Grzejszczak is first seen wearing a black T-shirt, then changing to a flowing red keffiyeh.

Upon which when one union member protested the sight of the union president swaddled in the keffiyeh, she responded: "We're not allowed to talk about anything political." The protester responded: "By you putting on that scarf, you're making it political". The response from the union president was to mute the protester. "We're all very afraid of the repercussions", one union member confessed in a journal interview.

Later at a follow-up meeting Grzejszczak brought forward a motion to fund her candidacy for another position with the union. Her campaign emphasized the concept of "resistance". CUPE 905 members who wee taken aback by the situation said that after the October 7 atrocities committed by Hamas they are still awaiting any reference by her to the hostages taken by Hamas, on the terrorist attacks on Israeli civilians, much less steadily rising antisemitism in Canada. "I don't feel it's a safe place for Jewish people", a source stated.

 

A woman wears a keffiyeh during a rally in support of Palestinians. The scarf's ubiquity in anti-Israel protests since Hamas’s October 7 attacks has made it a divisive symbol for many of Israel’s supporters. Photo by Thomas Coex/AFP via Getty Images

A female participant at the meeting who was herself wearing a black keffiyeh pledged her support for the president's candidacy, elaborating at some length on the importance of Free Palestine and the history of the conflict, as she saw it. "I was silenced for this topic. She is being political. Why is she not being muted?" asked the union member who had protested and had been muted as a result. She was thereupon once again muted. 

Additional members of the union expressed their own feelings of frustration over a labour forum purportedly dedicated to public-sector workers in York Region being diverted by its president for personal political reasons, to focus on a conflict occurring thousands of miles distance from Canada. "It's so bad that  you can't even concentrate on labour because this is ongoing, all the time", another union member reported.

 

Grzejszczak’s pitch to members centres on the concept of “resistance.”

 

"What we did in the Ontario legislature was make sure that our Jewish members and our Jewish constituents feel safe and able to debate with merit rather than props [when the Speaker of the Legislature banned the keffiyeh's presence in the chamber]."

"I would suggest that, given the class action lawsuits that I've seen crop up against the province as a result of antisemitism in some of the unions, union leaders should be more cognizant of the harm that they may be doing to people's mental health."

Ontario MPP Lisa McLeod

Canada's Resurgent Antisemitism

"Specifically, I'd like to hear from someone who wants a ceasefire/is finding it hard to be pro-Israel right now OR someone who supports the war despite the high cost of civilian life -- and how their personal lived experiences inform those views."

"Please let me know if you might want to write something along those lines, and if so, what would your take be."

CBC programming editor

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Ottawa

Canada's publicly-subscribed Crown corporation, a kind of government-allied news and entertainment source for which the public's tax dollars are dinged well over a billion dollars in upkeep yearly has a viral infection. It is often referred to as DEI (occasionally DIE) where Jews are placed within a racial hierarchy of white colonial oppressors. Critical Race Theory has its impact with the CBC, itself a colonialist-inspired stepchild of the United Kingdom's BBC, itself also a victim of that very 'progressive-woke' infection where antisemitism is freely and guiltlessly bandied about.

"Antisemitism has had a long sordid history in this country [Canada] and, for some it has always been hidden just below the surface. There was a reprieve after the guilt induced by the atrocities of the Second World War. But it is ascendant again, and surprisingly, its adherents are proudly so. Who are the purveyors of antisemitism?"

"Obviously, first are the radical Islamists importing their ancient historic Jew-hatred based on their particular interpretation of the Qur'an."

"There is the radical woke left which has, since Israel's underdog defeat of the combined armies of Jordan, Egypt and Syria in 1967, viewed Israel as an oppressor."

"Allied with those forces [of DEI, etc.], are universities and colleges, which have been temples of wokeness for years."

"The last group which I believe has been responsible for rising antisemitism are irresponsible media."

Howard Levitt, Levitt Sheikh LLP

 

The CBC, like its auntie BBC has been presenting news in a format geared to present Israel in the dim light of aggressor in its invasion of Gaza with the intention of destroying the operations instituted by the terrorist group that governs Gaza following Hamas's barbaric attack on southern Israel, where its terror operatives on October 7, launched a sordid bloodbath of civilians complete with gang rape, torture, mutilation and hostage-taking while triumphantly videoing the savagery of their sadistic, murderous rampage.

 

Shocked tones of outrage at Israel's search for and destruction of Hamas's tunnel networks, located within, under and around hospitals, schools, universities, apartment complexes emanate from the CBC on a regular basis, while condemnation of Palestinian terrorist groups like Hamas, the PLFP, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, Iran's IRGC and the Islamic Republic for violently inciting and provoking Israel's military to respond resulting in often unavoidable civilian Palestinian deaths have placed most legacy media and certainly the CBC in league by default with Islamist terrorism.

 

Hamas is never described other than as a self-defense group, of 'activists', never as terrorists although they are listed as such on Canada's terror list, as is Hezbollah and other infamously Jewish/Israeli-death-dealing Palestinian organizations. When the CBC swiftly condemned and accused Israel of bombing a hospital, killing hundreds of Palestinians, it has never since apologized after the truth was revealed that the bombing resulted from a terrorist missile gone afoul in a misfire.

 

According to a columnist in the Toronto Sun -- Warren Kinsella -- the CBC struck a committee to oversee its Israel coverage. Which did not include Jewish journalists who point out that their takes of the situation through their journalistic reports are routinely ignored at the CBC. Months ago, the CBC opened its publishing portals to "deeply personal essays" relating to what it meant to be Jewish and Canadian in today's Canada, welcoming Jewish Canadians to add their voices to its coverage.

A Canadian Jewish writer -- Shawna Cohen -- responded by submitting a personal essay relating to just that required topic. The response from the CBC was to ask her specifically for sentiments other than what she had written. She may not have been surprised that the CBC editors rejected her original essay, outlining for her what their expectations were should she be interested in re-writing the essay from a different perspective and re-submitting it.

"As a Jewish person, I feel I have a responsibility to let you know that the specific angle CBC is searching for is dangerous and narrow-minded. The Jewish community is feeling extremely unsafe -- in Canada and beyond."

"Rather than providing writers with an opportunity to share how and why Jews are feeling this way, CBC has reverse-engineered the narrative. It is specifically seeking out a rare breed of Jew who doesn't support Israel and/or is willing to negotiate with a terrorist organization. Taking this approach only contributes to anti-Israel propaganda."

"To be honest, I was reluctant to pitch my story to CBC because of its established record of anti-Israel and anti-Zionist bias. From your response, it is clear that CBC does not welcome genuine opinions or perspectives that are not viewed through its own narrow, sociopolitical lens. This reality is unconscionable for a publicly funded broadcaster that considers itself the voice of a nation."

Shawna Cohen, Toronto writer

Protesters wave Israeli flags and hold placards in front of Big Ben at the Houses of Parliament in central London on Nov. 26, 2023 during a demonstration to protest against antisemitism. Photo by JUSTIN TALLIS/AFP via Getty Images)

Betraying Israel, Rewarding Terror

"Our NDP motion does not mean Canada would be recognizing Hamas."

"Hamas is a terrorist organization and it is not the government of Gaza. In fact, it is far from it."

"This was supposed to be a motion that aligned with international law, aligns with Canadian policy. So we're hopeful that we will have some support from the Liberals and we're certainly seeing more movement from them over the last few days."

"[Canada's official position that there should not be movement toward recognition until after final-status talks between the two parties is] an excuse."

"This is a moment in time where we need to come up with a better solution for peace in the Middle East." 

"I don't believe that stopping killing children, the end of the bloodshed, the end of starvation, getting humanitarian aid to innocent people, getting the conflict to stop so that we are, we are able to move toward something that's more peaceful and just for Israelis and Palestinians, I don't think that's rewarding Hamas."

NDP Member of Parliament Heather McPherson

The House of Commons passed a softened NDP motion on Monday night that no longer calls for the federal government to officially recognize Palestinian statehood after last-minute amendments brought in by the governing Liberals.

In mid-March, in the Canadian House of Commons, parliamentarians saw members of the New Democratic Party wearing keffiyeh scarves, putting forward a motion that would recognize a Palestinian state. This is the sentiment of the Liberal-government-supporting NDP; that Palestinians deserve a state of their own, one they've yearned to achieve for close to 80 years, while simultaneously using every opportunity they can muster to denigrate and violently attack Israel. Israel, apparently, is the aggressor as an 'occupier' forced to defend itself from deadly Palestinian attacks.

Palestinians view themselves as victims of a catastrophe that occurred when the United Nations in 1947 offered a solution to Jews and Arabs in the area of the Middle East historically from the age of the Roman occupation, called 'Palestine'. Both Jews -- whose ancestral land it is, dating back thousands of years -- and Arabs -- who claim the land to be their heritage, though they migrated there in fairly modern history -- reacted differently to the UN's Partition Plan. Although the area offered represented a modest part of Judaic geography for a nascent State of Israel, the Jews gratefully accepted.

Palestinian leaders rejected the very idea of sharing the land they claimed for themselves with Israel, and launched violent attacks against Jewish towns. When Israel declared itself an independent state in 1948, surrounding Arab nations assembled a joint military to counter Israel's declaration, while sending Jews who had lived for generations in Arab and North African countries into exile, some 800,000 who then mostly gravitated to Israel, while the 700,000 Arabs calling themselves 'Palestinians' left as refugees, some voluntarily with the intention of returning once Israel was vanquished and others forced out.

When the Palestinian refugees entered neighbouring Arab states they assembled in refugee camps with the aid of the United Nations. And since the invading Arab militaries failed to achieve their objective to destroy Israel left no option for the Palestinian refugees to return, they were refused citizenship in the Arab countries they had migrated to. The intention being to keep them as a festering sore of discontented victims dedicated to ongoing violence against the Jewish State.

Since the ghastly October 7 invasion of southern Israel by Hamas terrorists resulting in a heinously savage massacre of Jewish children, women and men and the hostage abduction of hundreds of children, men and women by Hamas, taking raped and mutilated women, alive and dead, back to Gaza, a number of polls taken by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research have revealed how Palestinians both in Gaza and the West Bank feel about their prospects of statehood, a statehood they could have had in 1948 had they not rejected it then, and multiple times since then when Palestinian leaders rejected every peace initiative Israeli negotiators offered.

 

 

When the poll asked about how to "break the stalemate", 55 percent of Palestinians supported confrontations and armed intifada", and 45 percent chose "unarmed popular resistance". Asked to make a choice of a method to end Israeli occupation and establish an independent state, 39 percent of Gazans chose "armed struggle" over "negotiations". And since the October 7 massacre a March 20 poll saw a strong wish to have Hamas continue control of the Gaza Strip once the current conflict is resolved.

"If it was up to you, which of [these[ would you prefer to see in control of the Gaza Strip?" In Gaza, 52 percent of respondents chose Hamas; significantly greater than the 21 percent who wanted the Palestinian Authority to rule -- under someone other than its current President, Mahmoud Abbas. Asked how satisfied Gazans felt with the Hamas performance and its leader Yahya Sinwar, a total of 62 percent were satisfied, with 52 percent satisfied with Sinwar.

The poll established that should elections be held now, 34 percent of Gazans would vote for Hamas, the second choice was Fatah, the party of the ruling PA in the West Bank. An earlier survey, post-October 7 held by the Arab World for Research and Development found close to 60 percent of Gazans held a positive opinion of Hamas. Still, when McPherson addressed Parliament with her motion, she claimed Gazans do not support Hamas, and Canadians "were horrified on Oct 7 by the vile terrorist attack on innocent civilians in Israel by Hamas terrorists".

 

March 18, 2024 - "We've given the Liberals our red lines," says NDP foreign affairs critic Heather McPherson ahead of a vote on the opposition day motion brought forward by her party. The non-binding motion calls on the Canadian government to take a number of actions in response to the war in the Gaza Strip, including "officially" recognizing "the State of Palestine." Plus, we have reaction from Liberal MP Anthony Housefather, who is calling the motion a "huge slap in the face" for Canada's Jewish community.

 

One would expect Canadians to be repulsed by the slaughter of 1,200 people, the raping and gang-rape of women before they were murdered, the tortured men, women and children, the mutilated bodies and kidnapping of 250 people. These horribly epic events had ample proof they occurred since the Hamas terrorists proudly took videos of their vile, sadistic actions, and circulated them on social media.  Among Palestinians who had not seen the videos, 87 percent said Hamas committed no atrocities on Oct.7

Among those who had seen the videos, 81percent claimed no atrocities were committed by Hamas. Four of five Palestinians who had watched the videos must have felt the atrocities were just desserts for Israelis, with Hamas behaving quite acceptably against an enemy by its barbarous atrocities against civilians. Canada, and its governing parties, the Liberals and the NDP, are anxious to recognize Palestinians' state aspirations, preferring to believe they would accept a two-state solution and peace, despite ravening pro-Palestinian crowds protesting the Israel response to October 7, with cries of "From the River to the Sea!", "Intefada!", and "Final Solution!".

"[Canada's Jewish community is feeling] demoralized and intimidated [as it grapples with a spike in antisemitism]".

"[The motion] rewards Hamas [because it creates] a false equivalency between the State of Israel and the terrorist organization Hamas."

"Canada should be standing with Israel. Canada should be defending the right of Israel to fight back against a terrorist organization. We should not be passing motions that make a terrorist organization equivalent to a democratic state."

Liberal MP Anthony Housefather

Relatives mourn at Kibbutz Beeri  Aris MESSINIS / AFP