A festive and defiant rally for Israel
Thousands mark anniversary under heavy police presence
Under grey skies and drizzle, thousands of joyful celebrants took part in a pro-israel rally on Tuesday, with recorded drumming and upbeat music heard for blocks around Place du Canada.
There was a heavy police presence, with members of the Montreal
police tactical squad on standby near the square at Renélévesque Blvd. and Peel St.
As supporters of Israel waved flags, danced to festive music and posed for family selfies, police kept pro-palestinian protesters behind orange tape across the street, at Dorchester Square.
The rally and the protest went off without a hitch.
“It's joyous because Israel has been able to survive and thrive for 76 years," said Renna B., a rally attendee who declined to give her last name.
“And we are a country that loves life. We do not worship death and we feel very badly for every death that occurs, whether it's an Israeli or a Palestinian. We just want peace.”
The pro-israel event comes as a war rages between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, and as pro-palestinian protesters occupy encampments at Mcgill University and the Université du Québec à Montréal.
Speakers at the rally praised the crowd for standing together in support of Israel.
On a large screen mounted beside the stage, videos of celebrities and dignitaries, including Israeli President Isaac Herzog, were played for the crowd.
Herzog noted that Israel's 76th year was marked by tragedy, an apparent reference to the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel that sparked the war, but “it reminds us of our core qualities and the power of our people to stand up against hatred.”
Speakers included Consul General for Israel Paul Hirschson and Hampstead Mayor Jeremy Levi.
Conservative Member of Parliament Melissa Lantsman told the crowd Israel has the right to defend itself in its homeland. She said that if elected, the Conservatives would put Canada-israel relations at the top of the agenda. She called pro-palestinian encampments at Montreal campuses “outrageous.”
Tribute was paid to Liberal MP Anthony Housefather for his continued support for Israel and Canadian Jewish communities.
Via Twitter, Housefather, who helped initiate a parliamentary committee study about antisemitism on campuses, said he attended “to celebrate the state of Israel, the people of Israel.”
Speakers thanked a long list of politicians from various parties and levels of government, as well as leaders from a dozen ethnic community groups in attendance.
Among the Israel supporters was a contingent of Filipino Montrealers carrying the flags of Canada, Israel and the Philippines.
The annual event commemorates Israel's Independence Day: May 14, 1948.
“This year marks 76 years since the Jewish people rose as a phoenix from the ashes of the Holocaust just three years earlier and created not only the Middle East's single democracy but a vibrant, thriving society that has contributed so greatly to the family of free nations,” the Jewish Unity Partnership, which organized the event, said in a statement.
Organizers told The Gazette about 150 private security personnel, including hired guards and volunteers, were to be on hand. Montreal 4 palestine, a pro-palestinian group, had urged its 35,000 followers on Instagram to stage a protest to denounce Israel at Place du Canada.
It said Israel's “`independence' is our Nakba, our catastrophe — and has no right to be celebrated,” accusing Israel of being a “genocidal apartheid state” that ”slaughtered countless Palestinians.” The group urged supporters not to engage with those celebrating Israel, “as our goal is to disrupt, not confront.”
Nakba refers to the mass displacement and killing of Palestinians during the 1948 Arab-israeli war.
More than 300 pro-palestinian protesters waved flags and chanted slogans at Dorchester Square.
“While you're dancing, we are mourning, while you're laughing, we are mourning,” protesters chanted.
Several Palestinian supporters were ultra-orthodox Jews from a sect that opposes the existence of Israel on religious grounds. One of them was heard chanting: “Judaism, yes; Zionism, no — the State of Israel must go!”
Some people at the Israel rally faced the pro-palestinian demonstrators waving flags while others continued to celebrate behind them. “We are here to say we need a ceasefire now, the war should be stopped as soon as possible,” said Tarek Taha, the director of the Palestinian Cultural Centre of Montreal, and one of the pro-palestinian demonstrators.
Canada is a free country, he said, and both sides have the right to share their views in public, adding that dialogue is always important.
“We don't have a problem with the people across the street, we're all Canadian, we're all Québécois, we have a different point of view right now,” he said.
Taha said he understands where Israel supporters are coming from, but that he wants them to think about those who have been killed in Gaza, at least 35,000, most of whom are women and children.
Many of those at the pro-palestinian counter-protest were Jewish, Taha said, adding he hopes Palestinians and Israelis can live “side by side in peace. At the end of the day, we'll have peace, but we need to convince (Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu to stop the war.”
A child arriving at the Israeli event in a chartered bus yelled “f-off ” at the pro-palestinian protesters. Later, three teenagers with Israeli flags briefly entered the Palestinian side but were quickly moved along by police.
The last speaker at the Israel event was Rabbi Reuben Poupko of the Beth Israel Beth Aaron Congregation.
He reviewed Israel's history and ended by criticizing those who would cut off arms to Israel now.
President Joe Biden has said the U.S. would not supply offensive weapons that Israel could use to launch an all-out assault on Rafah, a Palestinian city in southern Gaza.
“Eighty years ago, in the war of independence … there was an American arms embargo,” Poupko said. “It didn't stop us then and it's not going to stop us now.”
In response, the crowd chanted “Bring them home,” referring to hostages taken during the Oct. 7 attack. More than 100 hostages are thought to still be in captivity.
As the rally wound down, there were prayers for the safe return of the hostages and a moment of silence. That silence was broken by chants of “free, free Palestine” from across the street.