The Toronto police have the tools to put an end to the rampant anti-Semitism playing out on our city streets and at Jewish schools and institutions, a powerful forum heard last week.
But the police have chosen not to employ existing laws of which there are many.
They have instead used the excuse that the violent protesters have a right to freedom of speech, speakers told a crowd of about 200 at a Canadian Women Against Anti-Semitism event at Beth Torah synagogue.
”Freedom of speech has its limits,” argued criminal defense lawyer Mark Sandler.
”Police have the discretion to enforce existing laws but the balance is struck in the wrong direction (towards freedom of speech no matter how hateful).”
Sandler, who has formed a group called the Alliance of Canadians Combating AntiSemitism (ALCCA) post-Oct. 7, recently submitted a series of recommendations to the Toronto Police Services Board on how to deal with protests, demonstrations and occupations.
Believe it or not, a protocol does not exist.
In it, he says despite the emphasis by the police force and the city that there is zero tolerance for hate, “hate and intimidation (directed towards the Jewish community) is currently being tolerated.”
In spades.
While protesters believe “freedom of expression” trumps anything else and no restrictions can be placed on protests or what is said, the law says quite the opposite, he says.
Criminal enforcement measures which are not being used include:
- The requirement to get a permit to protest;
- wilful promotion of hatred against a particular group (Zionists and Jews);
- mischief to property (including wilful obstruction and interruption of the public’s right to use or enjoy a public property);
- mischief related to hate crimes against places of worship or schools;
- intimidation, violence and threats or blocking a highway;
- criminal harassment; causing a disturbance and disguising oneself to commit an offence (in masks and keffiyehs).
I’ve lost count of how many of these kind of offenses have occurred in Toronto, even recently — and about which the police have done nothing.
Never mind that only one man has been arrested so far in the slew of arsons and vandalism perpetuated on Toronto Jewish schools.
Or that protesters that have repeatedly taken over our streets are permitted to do so without a permit.
Let’s talk about the mass prayer sessions that have blocked traffic, the most recent being on busy Sept. 6 on College St.
The police have said that these prayer sessions are protected by the Charter of Rights.
What absolute nonsense.
These people were wilfully obstructing a busy street and the public’s right to use that street. I guarantee if all of them had been arrested, or their leaders were charged at least, it wouldn’t happen again.
They know they’re in charge.
Sandler also referred to the terrorist sympathizers who came into a Jewish neighbourhood in June and harassed innocent residents. A more recent example is the Jewish family harassed by masked thugs at the Toronto International Air Show over Labour Day weekend.
Only True North covered the incident. The lazy MSM was predictably silent.
”When we allow lawlessness on our streets, it just emboldens the next round,” said Sandler.
Coun. James Pasternak, who has fought an uphill battle against a council and mayor that has enabled anti-Semitism in Toronto, said quite bluntly that the mayor and council have to be “aligned” with the police.
In other words, they have to let the police know it is okay to arrest these people, which of course they have not done.
He said the Mayor Olivia Chow must realize this is not a Jewish issue.
”The optics of gangs marching on the streets doesn’t reflect well on Toronto,” he said.
The Hamas sympathizers also disrupted the opening night gala of the Toronto International Film Festival — with no consequences.
Pasternak suggested that if these rioters were charged under our current laws, they’d be bogged down in court and would have “less time to mobilize.”
He added that there has been a record level of shock in Toronto’s Jewish — and non-Jewish — community over the “silence” from the political class.
That’s not just Mayor Chow but Premier Doug Ford and of course, our Prime Minister, who has been intent on appeasing the terrorist sympathizers.
“People have become afraid to speak out for us (the Jewish community),” he said.
”Now in Toronto there is a fear of speaking out.”
Sandler told the crowd people in the non-Jewish community should be told their support is needed.
Alluding specifically to our negligently silent politicians, he said that this is not a question of “measuring votes.”
”This is a question of lawlessness which everyone abhors,” he said.
I thought of everything expressed at this forum as I watched the Hamasniks take over the downtown streets yet again over the past few days, praying and screaming as if they own the city.
With the anniversary of Oct. 7 a month away, it no longer makes me sad.
It makes me angry that our politicians and our police chief have no understanding of what it means to embolden this violence—and no guts to stop it.
