Liberal Mental Health and Addictions Minister Ya’ara Saks fled a campaign picnic in her York Centre riding after being surrounded by anti-Israel activists demanding she sign a petition calling for an arms embargo against Israel.
Members of York Centre 4 Palestine and Jews Say No to Genocide, along with other anti-Israel activists, “shut down” Saks’ campaign picnic at noon on Sunday after she refused to sign a petition calling for a two-way arms embargo on Israel.
A video posted by YC4P shows Saks calling the Israeli-Hamas war “tragic,” but activists who surrounded the MP claimed that Saks only views the conflict as tragic when it comes to Israeli victims.
The YC4P representative who spoke in the video claimed that Saks had ignored requests to meet for ten months despite Saks saying the YC4P representative could strike up a meeting and that the picnic was not the correct avenue for the conversation.
“I understand, but you have been ignoring me and many other constituents who have been trying to get a hold of you for ten months,” the YC4P member said. “To this day, you have not said anything.”
When asked to sign the petition, Saks’ said she does not sign petitions as an MP.
“Government members – as a minister, we don’t sign petitions,” Saks said. “I will say the humanitarian crisis is tragic, but we do not sign petitions as ministers.”
In the video, the group showed several MPs, mainly from the NDP, who have signed the petition.
The group noted that Canada has authorized over $28.5 million in military exports to Israel since the Hamas-led Oct. 7 massacre, with plans to add $95 million more in military exports by 2025.
The protesters’ tone shifted when Ya’ara handed back the petition and started walking away, avoiding the activists.
Saks’ security detail linked arms and created a perimeter around the minister while protesters chanted, “Blood on your hands! Blood on your hands!” As she fled to her vehicle, protesters pursued, chanting, “Israel bombs, Ya’ara Saks pays, how many kids have you killed today?”
Saks posted a statement regarding the incident on her Instagram account on the same day.
“Hurling antisemitic slurs and intimidating our York Centre community will not help Israelis and Palestinians, who desperately need a ceasefire. Peaceful Protest is a right. Perpetuating antisemitic rhetoric is unacceptable. Hate will never be tolerated,” she said.
“We all want a ceasefire. We all want hostages to be released, for Hamas to lay down its arms, for international law to be respected, for civilians to not be used as human shields and for the escalating violence in the region to end. The only way forward is a safe and secure future for Israelis and Palestinians and a lasting two-state solution.”
David Cooper, the vice president of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, denounced the protesters’ actions.
“No politician – regardless of their political affiliation – deserves to be harassed and intimidated in carrying out their respective duties,” he told True North in an email.
Salman Sima, a former political prisoner and survivor of torture at the hands of the Islamic regime in Iran, believes the incident was a consequence of policies and actions taken by Saks to placate both sides in the Israel-Hamas conflict.
“Wherever MP Ya’ara Saks goes, she is humiliated. Antisemitic mobs empowered by her boss, Justin Trudeau, harassed her at her BBQ campaign. This is the direct result of 9 years of Justin Trudeau,” he said on X. “Ya’ara Saks thought by shaking the hand of Mahmoud Abbas, a Holocaust denier, voting in favour of Hamas and sending hardworking Canadian tax payers’ money to UNRWA -she can make jihadists in Toronto happy and save Trudeau. She was wrong.”
Last month Jewish community members booed Saks during a conference at the Pride of Israel synagogue.
“She cannot play both sides. Look at how police and security miserably escorted her,” he said with the hashtags #HonkHonk and #DeportHamas.
A reference to Saks’ claiming that people saying Honk Honk in support of the Freedom Convoy in Ottawa was an acronym for “Heil Hitler.”
Saks did not respond to True North’s requests for comment.
