The Mayor of Mississauga, Carolyn Parrish, recently posted a picture of herself sitting with three virulent anti-Israel activists standing behind her.
These three — in particular, Ghada Sasa, standing with the keffiyeh on her shoulders — have not just denied the atrocities of Oct. 7 but have appeared regularly at protests harassing the Jewish community.
Parrish posted this tasteless picture shortly after she was criticized for defending a planned tribute to former Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in the city’s downtown square, which the organizers later cancelled on their own.
This past week Montreal mayor, Valerie Plante, blamed unnamed “vandals” instead of the anti-Semitic pro-Palestinian thugs for rioting, burning cars and smashing windows during a recent violent pogram-like protest in the city’s downtown.
In my own city of Toronto, the police — which have done little more than enable and inflame the Jew hatred on the city’s streets — arrested Rebel News journalist and founder Ezra Levant for standing on a public sidewalk by the Hamas supporters to film their vile and tasteless recreation of Yahya Sinwar in a chair just prior to being killed by Israeli forces.
The video of the police treatment of Levant and his arrest in which they accuse HIM of breaching the peace — which went viral in the U.S. and in Canada.
All this is to say that although I have covered the rise in anti-Semitism for years and wrote about it in my 2016 book, I have never seen the situation so horrific.
Over the course of the past year, Israel’s detractors have gone from blaming Zionists – as if they could separate Zionism and the Jewish people – to not caring one bit whether they flout their Jew-hatred.
It’s seen online, in boycotts of Jewish businesses, on our streets, attacks, taunts and bullying in our schools, leaving Jewish students and teachers terrified while our education minister does nothing.
From blaming the victim mentality by the police to the absolute enabling of the harassment and violence by the Hamas sympathizers, it is a terrible time for my community in Canada’s major cities — not to mention worldwide.
I have always remarked that most of our political “leaders” — save for a few notable exceptions — seldom show leadership during times of crisis.
In the case of the Jew-hatred, they’ve not just ignored it but allowed it to fester like a toxic cancer.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has been the worst offender, followed close behind by NDP leader Jagmeet Singh. Both have done nothing to stem the anti-Semitic behaviour of several of their MPs or that which we’ve seen repeatedly on the streets of our major cities.
Provincial politicians have not been much better. Aside from a few cameo appearances at Jewish events, Premier Doug Ford has remained silent, rarely condoning the violence on Ontario’s streets and certainly doing nothing to stop it.
His solicitor general, Michael Kerzner, has been even worse, considering he’s Jewish and represents the Jewish area of Toronto infiltrated by the terrorist sympathizers. Aside from his own cameo appearances and tweets, it would seem Kerzner has done nothing to condone the police forces (which he oversees) for their failure to arrest the hateful perpetrators using a variety of laws available to them.
And of course, there’s Toronto mayor, Olivia Chow, who seems to have no idea she is sitting on a tinderbox waiting to explode in the city she oversees.
While I have no direct knowledge of her directives, it would seem that the weak-willed Toronto police chief, Myron Demkiw, and his brass have been giving the message to stand down, make no arrests of the violent terrorist sympathizers (using the many laws available to them) and simply endeavour to keep the peace.
A few days ago, Chow was confronted by an angry bunch at an interfaith summit at City Hall for not doing enough (or anything) to stem the tide of anti-Semitism in the city.
After being interrupted a few times, she lectured the crowd as if they were five years old.
“If you do not believe in me, how do we build a path forward,” she said.
A path forward means having the political will to stop the violent protesters on our city streets and not allowing them to try to intimidate Toronto residents by bending down and praying at major traffic-congested intersections.
Chow, Ford and Trudeau — and their respective circle of politicians — only have themselves to blame for ignoring the hatred and thinking it might go away.
Are they waiting for a member of my community to get hurt? That’s where it is heading.
Perhaps they could take a page from Levant’s book and grow a spine.
Two days ago, the police issued a weak statement indicating that they would arrest anyone for breaching the peace.
This was countered by a pointed letter from Jewish criminal lawyer Leora Shemesh, who reminded police that their powers are not all-encompassing. She referred to a Supreme Court ruling, which stated that those attending a protest and doing nothing to incite can’t be arrested for fear they will incite the other side.
And on Sunday, Levant, along with 100 others who took back the public sidewalk where the Hamasniks have been gathering to spew their hate, was not arrested.
It seems all it takes is to push back.
Imagine what would happen if the police were instructed to arrest or find some other method (like water cannons used in other cities) to get these haters off the streets.
Imagine if our politicians had the political will to do what’s right.
Imagine if they behaved like leaders.
