It is only Wednesday when I’m sitting to write this, but it feels like a very long week already…
This sentence is all I had time to write on Wednesday and now it is Thursday night. I will sacrifice literary aspirations for the sake of timely reporting. This post will be an illustrated list of events (in mostly chronological order).
The encampment at UBC emerged on on Monday morning, the first sunny day after a rainy week. It is populated by masked people, the invite says that masks are mandatory:
From the very early morning Monday, Charlotte Kates, the Samidoun leader, who only a few days earlier praised the October 7 massacre, was spotted in the encampment:
She was detained the next day. This is good news that bring me cautious optimism.
I could recognize many people in the encampment from other pro-Hamas protests, but some are actually students. Students take arts and crafts really seriously. The encampment fence is covered with handmade art. This art is a solid demonstration of absolute lack of knowledge of history or common sense.
One of the signs claims that students have never been wrong. Here are just a few cases when students were anything, but right. US Students rallied in support of Hitler, for segregation, and for the Islamic revolution in Iran:
More examples of criminally ignorant posters: claiming Uyghur support, while at the same time praising their oppressors - the communists:
Supporting Yemen, where millions are starving, women have no rights and people are executed for homosexuality. At the same time, claiming the support of the LGBTQ community:
Are Zionists somehow getting in the way of children in Yemen eating and women and gays having equal rights?
The protesters claim to be peaceful and oppose discrimination. At the same time they call for genocide of Zionists (ok, not all Jews are Zionists, but there is millions and millions of us, who are!)
The mainstream media reporters arrived fairly early in the morning. The “friendly” reporters, CBC, CTVNews, GlobalNews were welcomed inside the encampment, they stayed throughout the day. They interviewed fully masked terrorist cosplayers and never bothered to present an opinion opposing the hateful narrative.
Outside the encampment I noticed a person who looked familiar. This was Ezra Levant from RebelNews. He was walking around the fence, trying to film, and two masked personas were holding keffiyehs and trying to block his view. I recognized one of these masked women; she was one of the many blocking my “Hamas is a terrorist organization” sign the other week.
Ezra overheard me talking to a friend, asked “do I hear Hebrew”? Then I gave a quick interview:
I listened to the speeches inside the encampment. Same good-old hateful twisted narrative. They have their token indigenous people, they have their token Jews. Jews are good at many things, and unfortunately, they are good at propaganda too. They must think that if they try really hard to fit in with the mob, they’ll be the last ones taken to the gas chambers.
Two of my friends attempted to enter the encampment. One was asked whether she was a Zionist. She answered “I am Israeli” and was denied entry. Another was asked if he believed in Palestinian self-determination. He answered, "of course, coexisting peacefully with Israel" and was denied entrance too.
I thought to myself, what amateurs. And I went in:
On Monday evening, a group of students, faculty and community members, Jewish and allies, gathered to stand peacefully, strongly, and proudly at the campus. We brought Israeli and Canadian flags. We sang “Am Israel Chai" (the people of Israel live), "Evenu Shalom aleichem" (we brought peace), and "aTikva" (Hope - Israeli anthem):
On Tuesday, I felt adventurous, so I made a sign: “I am a Zionist, ask me a question” (the letter stencils are my most successful Amazon purchase this year). My friend, partner in crime, and a camera-person joined me on campus and we spent three hours walking around, including around the encampment. I was surprised by the amount of support and love we’ve received.
I had some interesting discussions too. I want to be like Rudy Rochman, “when I grow up”. While I am still looking for a volunteer video-editor to help me compile a video from our footage, here are some photos:
I used to be a very shy person. I became a software engineer so that I could stare at a screen and not talk to anyone. For many years I couldn’t even speak at team meetings. I barely recognize this person I’ve become, speaking to strangers and giving interviews. This new person is fun, I’ll stick with her.