Michael Taube: Police inaction is allowing hate to fester

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Hamas’s violent Oct. 7 attack against Israel has led to pro-Palestinian demonstrations of varying sizes around the world and a significant increase in antisemitism in Canadian cities, on a scale not witnessed since the end of the Second World War.

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Toronto has experienced several pro-Palestinian demonstrations in front of the clothing chain Zara at the Eaton Centre shopping mall. It led to a tense verbal jousting last month between a masked demonstrator and passers-by, with the protester yelling, “I’ll lay you out on the floor” and threatening to put an unidentified individual “six feet deep.”

There’s also been a multi-day pro-Palestinian protest at the Highway 401 overpass located at Avenue Road and Wilson Avenue. Notably, the area is not the site of any consulates or political offices, but is home to a sizable Jewish community.

A Jewish-owned business, International Deli Foods, in north Toronto, was set on fire on Jan. 3. The fire at the deli — which is also situated in a sizable Jewish neighbourhood containing several synagogues, schools and businesses — is being investigated as a potential hate crime.

Montreal has also seen an explosion in antisemitic incidents. There have been many pro-Palestinian demonstrations on the streets. In October, an imam was cheered on by a large crowd as he called for the extermination of the Jews and asked Allah to “kill them all.” A Jewish school was hit by gunfire on more than one occasion, and a synagogue and Jewish community organization were firebombed.

Montreal has become so bad that my fellow National Post columnists Rahim Mohamed and Barbara Kay have called the city “an epicentre of anti-Jewish hatred” and a veritable hotbed of “Islamist antisemitism.”

In Vancouver, Palestinian supporters were caught on camera going on an antisemitic rant on a SkyTrain, accusing two Jewish women of supporting terrorism and genocide. A pro-Palestinian demonstration in Calgary in November led to the arrest of a person for uttering an “antisemitic phrase” and causing a disturbance.

I would be remiss not to mention Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek’s disgraceful snubbing of the menorah lighting at city hall during Hanukkah because she discovered they were going to — God forbid — discuss Israel. Gondek’s decision wasn’t violent or draped in a bigoted remark. Nevertheless, it added fuel to the fire in an already tense situation between Jews and Palestinians in her city.

There’s more, but you get the idea.

One of the main reasons why antisemitism has intensified in Canada as of late has been police inaction. That’s regrettable. I’ve always been a strong supporter of our police officers, who put their lives on the line to keep our communities safe. Unfortunately, they’ve handled the majority of these physical and verbal confrontations in a timid and passive fashion.

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators who either make hateful remarks or threaten violence against others have been largely left alone by our men and women in uniform. (Other than meaningless noise bylaw tickets, which were handed out recently to protesters in Ottawa.)

As for pro-Israel counter-demonstrators, who don’t typically hide under masks and are more identifiable, at least one has been arrested for allegedly threatening protesters who had invaded her neighbourhood.

Why have the police in cities like Toronto and Montreal allowed rage, hatred and antisemitism to run amuck? Some likely reasons include: concerns that the levels of violence could escalate if they get involved, accusations of police brutality and the fear of being sued by demonstrators and observers. The public relations nightmare that would surely follow weighs heavily on the police’s collective mind.

At the same time, police officers can’t sit back and let these existing problems continue to fester. Things will only get worse before they get better. Pro-Palestinian demonstrators who encourage or engage in violence and hatred will also get more emboldened as they realize that Canada’s hands of justice are tied in large knots that would have given the great magician Harry Houdini pause.

As a final point, some political commentators and columnists are starting to compare the rising levels of antisemitism to what happened at the Freedom Convoy demonstrations in 2022. “You can’t oppose (or favour) clearing out the Ottawa road occupiers, and now take the completely opposite position with the pro-Palestine road occupiers,” the Toronto Sun’s Warren Kinsella wrote on Jan. 3. “It’s illogical, it’s inconsistent and it’s unfair.”

He’s right, albeit with one caveat: the two events are rather different. No matter what you personally thought about the Freedom Convoy, it primary focused on opposition to government restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic. There were some bad elements, to be sure, but it wasn’t specifically about racism or hatred.

The pro-Palestinian demonstrations since the Oct. 7 massacre, however, have too often expressed support for the bloodthirsty terrorist organization Hamas’s long-term plan to kill Jews and annihilate Israel. While this may not be the overarching reason why everyone joins these demonstrations, they have been plagued by hate and are turning increasingly violent.

This will only end when police inaction against rising levels of antisemitism in Canada turns into police action against the violent and hateful pro-Palestinian protesters who are making our communities unsafe.

National Post