Antisemitism in Canada digest #59

1. Canadian Federal elections were announced this week. They’ll take place on April 28, and everyone, including the NDP is in full campaign mode. The only political issue Kate Crothers, NDP candidate for Bay of Quinte, Ontario, reflected on in her social media is Gaza. She accused Israel of genocide and endorsed a protest at Picton cenotaph. Protesting in support of terrorism in front of the memorial of the Canadian fallen heroes is morally bankrupt.

Another NDP Caucus member, Desjarlais Blake, participated in a Drag Queen show. He often attends events wearing a keffiyeh, but this time he must have left it at home.

An NDP door-knocking volunteer has been heard saying: "Arabs tried to create a pan-Arab state. And they weren't able to because Israel is kind of in the middle. So I totally understand why the Arabs would want Israel to disappear. Americans clearly want Israel to be there cause it creates chaos in the region."

More than 100 candidates for Canada's federal election signed to support the "Vote Palestine" platform. The platform includes BDS, arms embargo, Anti-Palestinian Racism, recognition of the Palestinian state, and support for terrorism-affiliated groups. The majority of those who signed are NDP candidates, several Greens, and several Liberals. Not a single Conservative.

A Conservative candidate invited a Rabbi to put a Mezuzah on his office.

Former Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, former Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister, and current Minister of Transport, Omar Alghabra, a known antisemite and terrorism supporter, has reposted The Economist article titled "Israel’s expansionism is a danger to others." People accusing Israel of expansionism should look at a map, then zoom out and look again.

Note to Vancouverites: there is a municipal by-election of two city councilors. We have only two candidates supportive of our community. Others are socialists and antisemites, several were endorsed by Gabor Mate himself. If you are a Vancouver resident, please, vote on or before April 5.

2. Update from last week. The Hamas and Hezbollah supporting Senior Talent Acquisition Partner at CIBC, Mohammad Kallas, has lost his job.

Maria Fakhouri, an Ottawa-based Registered Psychotherapist, posts “Long Live The Resistance. I Love You,” pictures of Hamas terrorists in uniform surrounded by children, and images praising Yahya Sinwar, the former Hamas leader. It is possible that some of her clients find it to be an advantage.

Shawarma Jerusalem has opened in Metro Vancouver. They claim their business started in Palestine. My friend asked whether Jews were welcomed in the restaurant and was blocked.

A Muslim woman in Toronto complains that no employer would hire her because she wears a black burqa and you can barely see her eyes. Then she brags that she got into the trading and investing online business and offers to teach other burqa-wearing face-covering Muslim women to make easy money online. She sounds like a fraud.

3. Prayers in public places continue, for example, on Friday night at Nathan Phillips Square, a central tourist spot in Toronto. Or blocking a major street in Toronto during the day. But this week, Islamophobia has gained some ground. Sometimes it only takes a brave Canadian with a loudspeaker playing rock, who refuses to lower the volume for the prayer. Only one for now, let there be more.

In other cases, it’s the Canadian Islamic Leader, known as the “Imam Of Peace,” who condemned Al Quds Day in Toronto.

4. Al Quds is the annual pro-terrorism, anti-Israel hatefest. Instead of shutting it down once and for all, the police prepared to help protesters block traffic, keep counter protesters away, and look out for hate speech.

Here is a quick list of chants and speeches that took place during the Al Quds day and aren’t considered hateful by the TPS:

• “What we need is revolution, Intifada revolution”

  

• “Toronto To Gaza We Need An Intifada”

• Calling Israelis “cancer”

• A video showing an Israeli rally playing the Canadian anthem and a comment from the terrorist-supporter: “Zios playing a Canadian anthem, which is a genocidal anthem in itself.” The term “Zios” was coined by the former KKK leader David Duke.

• “Our politicians are all bought out anyways. Our political officials get their funds from AIPAC and from B'nai Brith and from other Zionist institutions, so they'll serve Zionism more than they'll serve Canadians.“

• A protester wearing a Hamas headband

• “We learned from one of the oldest Palestinian freedom fighters of all time, that man called Jesus, to stand up for the truth.”

Ok, this last one isn’t hateful indeed; It’s just stupid.

Yves Engler, on the other hand, demands that the Toronto police investigate a Jewish school whose alumni go to serve in the IDF.

Notable mention goes to the woman carrying a "Humanity devastated Zionist Collaborated ISIS & IDF activated Al Quds Toronto" sign. Punctuation is a challenge.

Near Union Station in Toronto, an autistic man was passing by the pro-Hamas rally; he had an episode triggered by the loud noise and pushed a woman who was yelling into a megaphone. He was attacked by the protester, hit on the head with a megaphone, and pushed out of the crowd. The attacked man’s head was seen bleeding; later in the hospital, it was confirmed that he suffered a concussion. But the police did not provide first aid, and neither did they make an effort to find and detain the attacker.

Luckily, Leviathan, an online activist account, identified the attacker from all the available video footage. The ball is in the police’s court now.

5. What is evident from the aftermath of the attack is how coordinated the protest organizers are in removing the injured man from the crowd. Protest organizers at UBC are not as well trained, but they are trying: “make a U formation” commands one of them, when they try to prevent my friend from filming their activities.

I saw this “U formation” thing in a video from an encampment somewhere in the US. My understanding is that it is illegal to completely surround a person, but the U formation is almost equally efficient in isolating a person and restricting their freedom of movement. The organizers who harassed me at the UBC rally a day earlier didn’t worry about legality as much. They also didn’t shy away from declaring their support for “the resistance,” aka Hamas.

Last week, UBC students voted for a 2-day strike for Palestine. They aren’t great in math, so the chaos began earlier and lasted longer. Every day, they hold a hunger strike, and every day, they have an Iftar dinner. On Tuesday, they stormed the Koerner Library building, where the UBC President’s and administration offices are. Instead of calling the police and getting the mob dispersed, the administration evacuated the building.

Just to summarize: Samidoun-affiliated non-student organizers instigate disruptive and near-violent protests on campus, and neither the UBC administration nor the police lift a finger. I reported the incident to University RCMP. The first thing the officer asked me: “Are you identifiably Jewish?” Then he explained that they “do not take sides.” It is a hard choice, indeed between a side that supports terrorism and another that opposes it. I wonder if in homicide cases they avoid taking “sides” too. And finally, he advised me: “We want you to be safe, you should just stay away from them.”

On Friday, a couple dozen terrorist-cosplaying protesters at UBC blocked the entrance to the Alumni Centre building while the board of governors was holding a meeting. The building was locked from the inside by security. The protesters drummed and screamed into megaphones, calling the governors “agents of genocide.” Police declared them peaceful, stood nearby and observed. My friend was filming, and the campus security demanded that she leave.

Pro-terrorism protesters at Western University in Ontario chanted, "Whose damn campus? Our damn campus," and it seems that the police and campus security across Canada agree with them.

Toronto Metropolitan University hosted Mohammed William Shalalfeh on campus and financed the event through the Student Initiatives Fund. Shalalfeh is a PYM leader, a Hamas supporter, and a regular at the pro-terror marches in Toronto.

IJV holds an exhibition at the library in SFU downtown. As expected, the exhibition smears Israel and glorifies martyred Islamic university educators. We can only wonder what they were teaching: tunnel digging 101 or maybe shaheed vest DIY courses.

The Winnipeg West End Cultural Centre (WECC) is scheduled to host a concert that platforms openly antisemitic performers and fundraises for the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund (PCRF) — an organization with well-documented ties to terror-linked groups, including Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and the PFLP.

Yale University professor Jason Stanley is leaving the U.S. for the University of Toronto. He decided to move because he considers the US government’s attempts to curb the violent pro-terror, antisemitic anarchy at Columbia University to be a rise of an autocratic regime and he prefers the Canadian environment where jihadists can harass Jews without interference.

A librarian in a Toronto school was wearing a keffiyeh, the symbol of Palestinian terrorism. A Jewish child complained to the office and is now facing suspension. Toronto teachers union advocates “for the right of educators to safely express cultural solidarity, including wearing items such as keffiyehs or watermelon pins.” I wonder if anyone would dare advocate for educators cosplaying KKK.

6. Busy week in Canadian courts. A man from Vaughan, Ontario was found guilty of two counts of assault for spitting on the Jewish couple walking home from a synagogue. He also did a Nazi salute.

Yahyia Meddah was convicted for defying an order to remove Nazi symbols from his property in Saint-Bernabe-Sud, Quebec, and for contempt of court for not complying with the town's earlier demand to remove Nazi Hakenkreuz signs.

Waisuddin Akbari, from Newmarket, Ontario, was found guilty of threatening death and property damage. He stated he would "plant a bomb in every synagogue in Toronto" and made threatening remarks about Jewish people.

But no worries, the courts will not run out of work any time soon. Goldstruck cafe in Toronto was vandalized for the second time in one week and third time this year.

Hamas supporters in Toronto mark Kosher and Israeli food products in major shopping stores with BDS stickers. Instead of removing the stickers, I suggest labeling all food products as ones to boycott and help them with the hunger strike.

In Vancouver, the city is decorated with posters asking to report Islamophobia. It’s either a trap or an IQ test.

7. Former Wikipedia executive, Katherine Maher, who famously said in her TED talk that “our reverence for the truth might be a distraction that’s getting in the way of finding common ground and getting things done” testified in congress this week.

She suffers from mild amnesia, but her old tweets came to hunt her. For example, this one: "I do wish Hillary wouldn't use the language of 'boy and girl' - it's erasing language for non-binary people."

This explains why Wikipedia’s strong anti-Israel bias is not necessarily antisemitic. Wikipedia was just led by stupid people devoted to harmful ideologies. I cannot decide whether this thought is optimistic or scary.

8. Last but not least. I’m organizing another pro-Israel march. If you are in Vancouver, I hope to see you on April 6, at 11am. If you have friends in Vancouver, please share with them. We are stronger together!