PM says some pro-Palestinian protests cross line into hate, harassment

Pro-Palestinian protests that include hatred or harassing behaviour cross a line, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Thursday.

Trudeau said at a press conference in Toronto that he’s heard from many members of Canada’s Jewish community who have seen protests at synagogues and community centres and who now feel unsafe.

Nobody can be indifferent to the suffering in the Gaza Strip amid the Israel-Hamas war, and Canadians have a right to protest and make their anger heard, he said.

“This loss of civilian lives and the impact on Canadian families and people who are worried about their loved ones is entirely understandable.”

But Trudeau said he expects Canadians, including police, to act within the law and make sure everyone can feel safe.

“There are horrible things that we are seeing, but it is not who we are to take it out on our fellow Canadians,” he said. “Hateful or harassing behaviour, particularly against neighbours, is not what we do here in Canada.”

On Tuesday, Quebec’s Superior Court granted a Montreal synagogue and a Jewish organization an injunction barring some pro-Palestinian protesters from coming within 50 metres of their buildings.

A representative for the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs said the community sought the injunction after protesters surrounded a Jewish community centre on Monday, blocking people inside and chanting antisemitic slogans.

Sarah Boivin, a member of Independent Jewish Voices, said wthe protesters were passionately — but not violently — speaking out against specific events.

That included one event featuring members of the Israeli armed forces and another that she described as a “real-estate tour selling properties in illegal settlements in the West Bank.”