Since the atrocities of Oct. 7, it’s been a rough couple of months for the Toronto Jewish community.
The past few weeks have been particularly frightening with the plethora of hateful, threatening protests in public and private spaces.
We saw police officers standing idly by as a mob of masked pro-Palestinian protesters harassed Christmas shoppers on Dec. 18 and a balaclava-clad man threatened someone in the crowd to put him “six feet under.”
The verbally violent protesters, not content to harass shoppers, have set up shop for several weekends on the overpass to Hwy 401 from Avenue Rd., right in the heart of the Jewish community.
The police, instead of informing them they are trespassing and forcing them to leave, have shut down the access to and from the highway at Avenue Rd. and let them continue their hateful diatribe.
After weeks of this – which has followed the targeting of Jewish businesses and disgusting online hate –Toronto’s Jewish community has had enough.
A petition has been launched to pressure Mayor Olivia Chow and the police chief to “enforce” the regulations set by council to deal with hate activities in the city.
Chow has been in way over her head from the get-go and, in her socialist fantasy to be friends with everyone, has enabled this hate to continue.
She continues to talk about Islamophobia even though the Toronto police’s own statistics – released in late December – show that antisemitic incidents are up 211% since Oct. 7 and represent 53% of all hate crimes that have been reported since the Israeli-Hamas conflict commenced.
The police have shown that Jew hatred outnumbers anti-Muslim incidents 3-1.
I might also note that police are dealing with a large number of “defund the police” types on Toronto council who are watching and waiting for them to do even one thing wrong.
Quite frankly, most politicians at all levels – Premier Doug Ford and his Jewish solicitor general Michael Kerzner in particular – have been long on talk and short on actions.
Toronto police are in a sense caught between a rock and a hard place, forced to walk a fine line because of our spineless politicians and our bleeding heart judges.
That said, videos of them standing idly by as the haters become more and more aggressive or even worse, delivering Tim Horton’s coffee and doughnuts to the protesters Saturday afternoon can’t help raise the ire of my community.
The optics are terrible, especially the coffee delivery and no matter, how well-intentioned, was not a bright move.
It makes most in my community think the police only serve to enable the antisemitic hatred.
Having said that, I spoke with Toronto police sources in the past few days, who assured me the police are concerned and “committed” and that Jewish community is physically safe.
An inside source, who preferred not to be named, recognized that they have indeed taken a beating on social media and the onlines videos have made them look “ineffective.”
He agreed that the coffee delivery was very bad optics.
He also indicated the situation at the Eaton Centre incident could have been better handled.
However, given that only seven police officers attended the scene – where there were a couple hundred protesters – they had to make a decision whether or not to use force and risk having a full-out riot.
The source added that the gentleman who received the threat didn’t want to lodge a complaint. Still the officers on the scene could have gotten names in an effort to identify the man who made the threat, something they are trying to do now.
“It’s still an active investigation,” he said.
The source added that they didn’t have the full support of Cadillac Fairview at the time to issue trespass orders but that the CEOs of Cadillac Fairview and Brookfield have since given the police authority to enforce the Trespass to Property Act and to initiate a shutdown of their malls, if things get unsafe.
He says they’re also asking mall management and other big properties to post clear signage that a baklava or keffiyeh is a disguise and not something permitted on their property.
“It will strengthen our ability to have some meaningful consequences,” he said.
The police source feels it is meaningless to give protesters at the Avenue Rd. a ticket for a bylaw infraction.
Mischief charges are a criminal offence and in my view, if convicted someone charged will at least have a criminal record.
Something is better than nothing.
Instead he believes the province needs to step up its game to make the hate crime laws less vague and more effective.
Hate crimes need to be an “indictable offence,” he says.
Right now, he said, police have to get consent from the attorney general to charge someone with a hate crime.
Most Crowns or lawyers don’t want the police to lay a charge “if they can’t prosecute or win,” he says.
“Let’s update the hate laws…at least give us the ability to act on (instances of hate) and then litigate,” he said.
The source says the recent fire at the IDF delicatessen was a “flashpoint and turning point” for police and they’re working full-time on it.
But as the source says, and I agree, the people in power either “capitulate or won’t take a side.”
The police, unfortunately, are caught in the middle.
“It’s frustrating but we’re committed even though our resources are stretched to make sure we’re on top of this,” he said.
“We don’t take the foot off the pedal.”
