`A very different tone this time,' Canadian Jewish leaders warn
Rocks were thrown at pro-Israeli demonstrators in Montreal. Masked men waving Palestinian flags surrounded and beat a lone middle-aged Jewish man near Toronto's Nathan Phillips Square. And Jewish communities in western Canada are reporting roving vehicles seeking out “Jews.”
Conflict in Gaza is always apt to stoke ill will against the Canadian Jewish diaspora, but ever since a new round of fighting broke out in late April, Jewish leaders are reporting that anti-Semitic hatred has taken a particularly sinister turn.
“There is a very different tone this time,” said Adam Zepp, an engineer and lifelong member of the Edmonton Jewish community. In a YouTube video, Zepp described being in front of his parents' home over the weekend when two men in a black Audi yelled “free Palestine!” before asking “do you know if any Jews live here?”
Rocket attacks from Gaza have killed nine Israelis to date. Israeli airstrikes have killed an estimated 200 in the Gaza Strip.
Toronto Police laid two charges — one for assault and another for bringing a weapon to a public meeting — following a pro-Palestinian demonstration that drew more than 5,000 people to Nathan Phillips Square outside City Hall on Saturday night. A widely circulated video showed 64-year-old Greg Nisan of Thornhill, Ont., being surrounded and struck by masked men as he attempted to leave the area. The Canadian Jewish News reported that Nisan received seven staples and seven stitches.
In Montreal, demonstrators kicked in the windows of the building housing the Israeli consulate and in a separate incident a video posted by Journal de Montreal reporter Francis Pilon showed demonstrators carrying Israeli flags fleeing Dorchester Square to escape what Pilon identified as rocks thrown in their direction.
The video was circulated by Montreal-area Liberal MP Anthony Housefather with the note “this is NOT the Montreal and Canada that I know and love.”
The Centre for Israeli and Jewish Affairs posted images of protest signs in Toronto equating Israel with Nazi Germany, as well as a photo of an SUV spotted driving around the campus of Wilfrid Laurier University flying an Israeli flag desecrated with swastikas.
The Toronto violence prompted condemnations from both Mayor John Tory and Ontario Premier Doug Ford. “Any violence against our city's Jewish community or members of any other community in Toronto is absolutely unacceptable,” wrote Tory on Sunday. Ford said the behaviour “is totally reprehensible and should be investigated by the police.”