The Power of Hate Laws in Canada

"[Western countries have seen] radicalization and the glorification of terrorism lead to violence against Jews in the Diaspora."

"Now on the second anniversary of the October 7 Hamas terrorist attack, it pains me to learn of a series of events planned in cities across Canada to commemorate the 'martyrs' of October 7."

"[Any attempt to] honour or legitimize the perpetrators of such violence is not only deeply hurtful to Israelis and Jews everywhere but also stands in direct contradiction to the fundamental values of democracy, decency, and respect for human life." 

"All Canadians -- regardless of background or beliefs -- are urged to stand up against hate in any form. Let us unite in condemning these commemorations and ensure that Canada remains a place where hate, violence, and the glorification of terror have no place."

"Canadian leaders from all parties and levels of government [are invited to] join in rejecting messages of hate and  remembering the victims whose lives were stolen on October 7."

Israeli Ambassador to Canada Iddo Moed 

Talia Ben Sasson, right, hugs Ayellet Tzur as they attend a rally in support of Israel in Montreal, Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2023. (Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press)

 

"We made them think that Hamas was busy with governing Gaza, and that it wanted to focus on the 2.5 million Palestinians [in Gaza}, and has abandoned the resistance altogether."

"All the while, under the table, Hamas was preparing for this big attack."

Ali Baraka, senior Hamas official

 

"When you think they can't sink any lower, they do."

"I had to wait three weeks for Alex's body to come home, and it was a hell I don't wish upon anyone."

"[He dropped the phone] and we heard what we later found out was him fighting with the first terrorist. He actually managed to disarm the first one."

And then we heard shots, lots of shots, and sounds of grenades." 

Raquel Look, Montreal

 

"Today, yes, today, our people resume their revolution, rectify their path and return to the plan of liberation and the establishment of the state through blood and martyrdom ..."

"Today is the day of the great revolution that will end the last occupation and the last racist apartheid regime in the world."

"To the brothers in the Islamic resistance in Lebanon, Iran, Yemen, Iraq, and Syria, the day has come when your resistance joins the people of Palestine."

Hamas military leader Mohammed Deif  

On October 7, 2023, after years of preparation, four thousand Hamas operatives, joined by another 2,000 other Gazan Palestinians -- some of whom knew well the farming communities in southern Israel, employed there as farm workers - stormed through the barrier separating Israel from Gaza, with clear instructions to rampage through the kibbutzim and farming villages to kill, to rape, to pillage, to burn families alive in their homes, to torture children forcing them to watch their parents being slaughtered or parents forced to witness their children being killed before they too were murdered. 

 

A notebook of instruction was found on  the body of one dead terrorist with quite specific instructions: "Kill as many people and take as many hostages as possible". Videos and photos posted to social media by Hamas on that very day reflected sadistic savagery that most people would recoil from with utmost horror and repugnance, but whose commission was a matter of pride to the terrorist group. The horrors perpetrated on Jewish Israeli citizens, their Arab Israeli counterparts, and foreign farm workers were deliberately recorded while the slaughter was unfolding.

 

A nearby music festival had drawn the attendance of thousands of young Israelis in a celebration of life and music and comradeship. Terrorists arrived at the Nova music festival where carnage reigned, with Hamas terrorists hunting down desperately fleeing young women and men, attempting to escape imminent death. A huge open space, there was no place to hide and take shelter. Women and men were raped and murdered. Some fled to nearby shelters followed by the marauders who shot through the flimsy walls, and threw grenades, while some were set afire to consume the victims in flames.

 

One of those victims was Alexandre Look who was visiting Israel and attended the Nova Music Festival in Re'im. 33-year-old Alexandre lived and worked in Mexico. On October 7, Alexandre phoned home as he was leaving the festival, informing his mother a terrorist attack had interrupted the festival. With some of his friends, he had driven to a shelter some 15 minutes' distant. Finally, as the terrorists approached the shelter he told his mother "There's a lot of them, Mommy, I can't talk now", dropping the phone.

 

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators at an encampment at McGill University in Montreal, Saturday, April 27, 2024. (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press)

 

On the second anniversary of the massacre, social media posts in Canada advertised events at a number of universities; Concordia, McGill and University of Toronto among them, planning to glorify the October 7 attacks, while Jewish communities everywhere commemorated the worst pogrom since the Holocaust. "We remember our martyrs, we honour their legacy, and we continue the fight for a free Palestine", one Instagram post for the University of Toronto Mississauga read.

 

Another account titled "Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights McGill" posted a notice for an October 7 rally at Concordia's Hall Building: "It is time for students to take action in support of Palestine and its resistance", read the post. The Canadian Security Intelligence Service last year gave warning that the Israel-Hamas war has led to a spike in "violent rhetoric" from "extremist actors", that could incite violence in Canada. And so it has. 

 

Police stand between counter-protesters and a protest encampment in support of Palestinians during the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas at McGill University’s campus in Montreal. (Peter McCabe/REUTERS)

"Just days ago in Manchester we saw how pro-Hamas extremism is fuelling acts of horrific violence against Jews."

"In response to these rallies celebrating Canadian-listed terrorist groups on Canadian campuses and other public spaces, authorities must be vigilant in ensuring that anyone who breaks the law is held accountable."

"At all levels government must act to end the mass incitement happening in our country."

Noah Shack, CEO, Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs Canada  

It doesn't seem too much to ask of government. A government that has, to the present, chosen to see nothing amiss, and so does nothing in response to clearly illegal levels of marauding antisemites who incite to violence, illegal under Canada's hate laws and its recognized list of terrorist entities whose flags are flaunted at these pro-Hamas gatherings that never hesitate to wreak public disruptions of civil life much less engage in criminal acts of property defacing and damage to public buildings.