"They sell their weapons to Israel, or to the Philippine government, to other governments that are carrying out genocide." 

"They fuel dictatorships, and every deal made here at CANSEC is a death sentence to a colonized person, to working people all around the world."

"This is their playground. This is their marketplace."

Rosie Lucente, spokesperson, Shut Down CANSEC campaign

 

"We take care of patients, we think about community well-being, we think about healing."

"What's happening behind us at this conference, CANSEC, is the buying and selling of weapons and technologies that fuel an industry of war, terror, and genocide."

Yipeng Ge, family doctor, Ottawa Healthcare Professionals for Palestine 

Anti CANSEC demonstrators tangle with police. The demonstrators were organized by Shut Down CANSEC,demonstrated against Canada’s largest weapons show held in Ottawa, May 28, 2026. Photo by JEAN LEVAC /POSTMEDIA

 

Held on Wednesday and Thursday of this week at the Cohere convention centre in south-end Ottawa, hosted by the Canadian Association of Defence and Security Industries (CADSI), this year's CANSEC arms trade show turned out to be the largest of its kind of the annual event yet held, bringing together those involved in the arms industry and those who are interested in their wares. 

 

There were about 20,000 registered delegates,  with 320 exhibitors and 100 delegations from 60 countries. In contrast, 2025 saw 285 exhibitors, and 2024, 265 companies displaying equipment and military systems. The trade show attendance is limited to the industry, military and government staff.

 

Also in evidence were some 200 demonstrators protesting the trade show, who gathered in front of the centre by 7:00 a.m. blowing whistles, banging drums and jeering at CANSEC attendees entering the conference. Minor tussles broke out between police and protesters when an attempt was made to block a crosswalk.

 

Banners held by protesters included one with the names of children purportedly killed in Gaza. Large images of Prime Minister Mark Carney, Minister of Foreign Affairs Anita Anand and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were carried by other demonstrators.  

 

Anti CANSEC demonstrators were organized by Shut Down CANSEC,demonstrated against Canada’s largest weapons show held in Ottawa, May 28, 2026. Photo by JEAN LEVAC /POSTMEDIA

 

There are brutal wars being carried out in many parts of the world, from Sudan to Yemen, Syria to Libya involving 45 armed conflicts taking place in the Middle East and North Africa. These are Muslim countries in their tribal, sectarian wars, killing, maiming, raping, displacing populations, creating humanitarian crises with malnourished children forced to live in tent encampments. The protesters have no interest whatever in the plight of the hundreds of thousands of people being killed, the millions displaced from their homes, the children dying. Their focus is entirely on Israel.

 

 

One tiny nation forced by ongoing attacks by terrorist groups backed by the very protesters who decry Israel's military, fighting the genocidal Muslim terror groups that target Israeli civilians and the Jewish state for total annihilation. That is genocide, yet these hate-indoctrinated minds whose brains have been completely addled by antisemitism inherent in their upbringing and convictions, relish slandering Israel for genocide against Palestinians, the very source of terrorist-central. 

 

Their rage against the manufacturers and purveyors of military equipment is entirely predicated on their certainty that all those arms are destined for the Israeli military. The only military with which these locked minds find fault with, for responding to lethal attacks geared to destroying their nation, with the due force required to put a stop to the never-ending acts of war it suffers from its neighbours. Although groups like Hamas and Hezbollah are on Canada's terror list, the pro-Palestinian protesters defend their deadly violence as acting from a just cause. 

 

Anti CANSEC demonstrators tangle with police. The demonstrators were organized by Shut Down CANSEC,demonstrated against Canada’s largest weapons show held in Ottawa, May 28, 2026. Photo by JEAN LEVAC /POSTMEDIA

 

The Liberal government's decision to respond to NATO's injunction requiring all its members to step up their defence spending by doing just that, represents the impetus of weapons manufacturers' anticipatory presence at a massive show where their offerings can be influentially showcased for future sales to a country that has authorized massive expenditures in military gear. In lock-step with Europe, North America realizes the threat to democracy and national security represented by Russia's President Vladimir Putin in his ambitions to enlarge the geographic reach of Greater Russia, emulating the late lamented USSR.

 

All countries of the world are aware of the need to 'walk softly and carry a big stick'. To own and stockpile weaponry that will assist their militaries in defending their nations against hostile nations' aspirations to territorial expansion. It represents the single most important, and mostly unused counterthreat to invasion by foreign forces that all nations are obligated by history to respect and prepare for. In Israel's case, it has never known peace with its neighbours, and not because the Jewish state did not yearn for that peace, but because since its re-appearance in 1948, neighbouring states threatened its presence and wrought wars they always lost.

 

Now that those neighbours, for the most part, have finally accepted the fact that Israel lives and will always live on its ancestral geography, some among them prepared to live in peace and trust, it has been left to the fundamentalist totalitarian ideologues of Islamist diehards dedicated to jihad to continue to violently harass, threaten and attack the Jewish state. Forcing that Jewish state to retaliate and to destroy those continued threats against its sovereign rights and its peoples' safety. The 'pro-Palestinian' Jew-haters decipher reality and historical accuracy in their warped minds to suit the venom of their hatred. 

 

Anti CANSEC demonstrators were organized by Shut Down CANSEC,demonstrated against Canada’s largest weapons show held in Ottawa, May 28, 2026. Photo by JEAN LEVAC /POSTMEDIA

 

Anti-Military Protests Now Embrace the Anti-Israel, Pro-Palestinian Movement

"Freedom of expression has reasonable limits to protect citizens, property and businesses from disruptive or unlawful [events]."

"Identity-concealing clothing and masks [and] dumping paint on the roadway, [while demonstrators were also] observed filling disposable water bottles with paint, which they reportedly were to be used to target police officers [cannot be countenanced]."

"At this time, 12 people have been arrested for mischief and assaulting police. There have been no injuries reported."

"People are still being processed, and the incidents are being looked into. This will take some time. As of now, a woman is being charged with assaulting police and disguise with intent. She is being held in custody and will appear in court tomorrow."

Ottawa Police Service statement

 

"People are aware that the weapons companies that are arming the genocide are at the EY Centre, so there is definitely the motivation to come out and protest."

"[Some of the arms manufacturers exhibiting supply weapons to Israel for its Gaza operations]."

'Shut Down CANSEC' co-organizer, Brent Patterson

 

"We’re here because this is Canada’s biggest weapons fair and we know the companies in this building, the military representatives in this building are responsible for some of the worst war crimes on the planet." 

"We have a vision for Canada that is not based on dropping bombs around the world, that is not based on partnering with Israel and its attacks on Palestine."

"We’re demanding a foreign policy from Canada that, yes, is separate from the U.S., but is also separate from U.S. warmaking and from its allies’ wars."

Rachel Small, with World Beyond War

 

"These arrests had taken place after numerous hours of negotiations through our police liaison team with their representatives and with those individuals themselves to move back onto the sidewalk, as opposed to on the roadway."

"Our east investigation detectives are currently working on that file [assault on trade show attendee] right now."

Ottawa police Duty Insp. Scott Pettis 

A protester holds a baby doll covered in fake blood at an attendee arriving at the Canadian Association of Defence and Security Industries annual defence industry trade show CANSEC, in Ottawa, on Wednesday, May 28, 2025. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press)

After the Ottawa Police Service's liaison team "made numerous attempts to have the protesters co-operate", demonstrators were cleared outside the CANSEC military trade show in Ottawa. A dozen protesters were arrested and charged with "mischief and assaulting police". Outside Ottawa Police Service headquarters, another demonstrator was arrested later, for "causing a disturbance". 

Nice to see Ottawa Police in action, upholding lawful assembly, but moving in to remove those individuals whose actions went beyond mere civil disobedience. This event was treated somewhat differently than myriad similar protests that have taken place in Ottawa over the past 18 months, focused solely on castigating Israel as a war-mongering 'genocidal' state for responding to the Palestinian terrorist assault on southern Israel on 7 October 2023.

 

Those demonstrations, where protesters increasingly made it plain they were supporting the Hamas terror group, proscribed in Canada, but obviously supported and even venerated as a freedom group, bent on 'liberating' Palestinians from Israeli occupation, while denying the Palestinian groups like Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the PLFP and Fatah are terrorist groups guilty of indiscriminate slaughter and grisly savagery in their hatred of Jews 'occupying' their very own ancestral lands the Palestinians identify as theirs alone. 

While there is a police presence at these demonstrations where masked and keffiyed participants scream invective at Jewish Canadians, shout 'globalize the Intifada', and 'From the river to the sea' with its implied message of destroying Israel and extinguishing Jewish lives in another 'Final Solution', there has been no restraining or protective police action, even when mobs of Muslims squat on the streets and intersections in mass prayer sessions.

 

Police closed Uplands Drive near Ottawa's EY Centre for more than two hours Wednesday as demonstrators protested the annual weapons fair. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press)

War protesters representing various anti-war groups are accustomed to protesting at events such as the annual conference of military and government personnel, diplomats and weapons-manufacturing representatives. Adding slanderous accusations against the Jewish State as a war-mongering country with an agenda to wipe out neighbouring Palestinians is a newish twist, as is the presence of masked, keffiyeh-clad anti-Israel groups intent on smearing Israel by attributing to it the kinds of lethal savagery that Palestinian terrorist groups have perfected against Israel, causing the state to respond to a declaration of war.

 

Canada's new government has pledged a commitment to rebuilding the wan and feeble Canadian military, at the ongoing demands of NATO and in particular of U.S. President Donald Trump, that it step up its military preparedness in an increasingly hostile world where China, Russia, North Korea and Iran present singly and as a conspiratorial quartet, threats against the democratic world order. Over12,000 people were expected to appear at the CANSEC conference with its 285 exhibitors highlighting the latest  technological advances in military hardware. 

A rally was previously held on May 1 at the Canadian Association of Defence and Security Industries offices calling for CANSEC to be cancelled. A conference attendee was assaulted in the area around the conference, coming away with minor injuries and treated on scene by paramedics. 

Speaking before the CANSEC audience of military contractors, Canada's Defence Minister David McGuinty informed gathered contractors that globally countries are swiftly adjusting to a fast-moving, global threat environment. He discussed the new government of Canada's plan to join ReArm Europe, a major European defence procurement pact to rearm and build up domestic defence industries. 

"The lessons that we're seeing that through the brutal war in Ukraine and the loss of countless lives unnecessarily by the illegal invasion of Russia ... show us that we need to be prepared for potential future threats."

"ReArm Europe is one of those ways of diversifying portfolios, and I think it'll probably be good for Canadian business."

Royal Canadian Airforce Commander Lt.-Gen.Eric Kenny

Police keep watch as protesters yell and gesture toward attendees arriving at the annual CANSEC trade show at Ottawa's EY Centre on Wednesday. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press)

Threatening Canadian Jews

"Mr. Trudeau, we accuse you and your government, through your actions and inactions, of having contributed to the antisemitism we see running rampant in Canada today. You have permitted it to fester and rage like a fire burning out of control. Your indifference and relative silence in response to antisemitism contribute to the marginalization and isolation of Jews in Canada and their erasure for the public square."

"We accuse you and your government of abandoning Canadian Jews in our time of great peril. Your failure to speak out against the attacks on Jews, the threats to Jewish schools, the targeting and vandalism of businesses and the desecration of Jewish cemeteries and places of worship is incomprehensible."

"Your moral failings have contributed to what we regard as the explosion of Jew hatred in Canada."

"Your government's inaction and appeasement toward Hamas supporters achieves nothing but embarrassment and shame for Canada on the world stage."

"We have passed an awful milestone in our long  history by allowing members of Parliament to shamefully accommodate radicals and stand with terrorists."

"Canada's honourable and longstanding record of support for the cause of freedom, justice and against all forms of hatred and antisemitism has been ineradicably stained by the actions of your government."

J'Accuse...! An Open Letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

Palestinian supporters hold a rally in downtown Toronto on Oct. 9, 2023. (Evan Mitsui/CBC)

 

Hundreds of disruptive, hate-filled protests have roiled Canadian cities in the past five months in the wake of the mass murder of Israeli civilians who were raped, mutilated, burned to death when Palestinian terrorists led by Hamas and joined by the PLFP and PIJ along with ordinary Palestinian civilians flooded across the border from Gaza to Israel to raid border villages and jubilantly record their sadistic savagery in killing children, babies, women and the elderly, celebrating the success of their 'victory' over the 'enemy'.

The protests were not to express outrage that such barbarity could occur against defenceless civilians by a neighbouring population, but to champion the very terrorist hordes that had perpetrated the shocking mutilation, rape, and slaughter of Jews. Crowds of pro-Hamas celebrants who shouted 'Intefada!', 'From the river to the sea!' and 'Final Solution'. All slogans with a readily identifiable meaning representing a hate crime against an identifiable group.

Jews represent a small minority ethnic/religious/cultural group within Canada, roughly 400,000 in number; about 1% of the population. The Jewish presence in Canada dates back before Confederation. From much later years forward Canada has amassed through immigration, refugee and migrant entries a much larger proportion of Muslims from the Middle East and North Africa to the point where Toronto, Canada's largest city, is ten percent Muslim. There are close to two million Muslims living in Canada, representing 5% of the population.

"On that Saturday [March 30], police arrested a man for allegedly driving a truck with people riding in the bed of the vehicle. They said the man was charged with stunt driving."

"While officers were seizing the truck, police say demonstrators became "aggressive and assaultive" toward the officers. Several arrests followed, and two women were charged with assaulting a peace officer with a weapon. One woman allegedly used a flagpole as a spear, while the other is accused of throwing horse manure at officers."

CBC report

Organizers of a pro-Palestinian demonstration in Toronto on March 30 where seven people were arrested say officers used excessive force against protesters, an allegation firmly rejected by police. Still from video, CBC

Arabs and Palestinians among them have organized events and rallies that demonize Israel and persecute Canadian Jews. They represent a formidable voting bloc, and there are now, under the prime ministership of Justin Trudeau, a large number of Members of Parliament of Muslim heritage, a good number of whom are in the Liberal caucus, with some appointed to influential Cabinet posts. The demographics and voting patterns constrain meaningful action against illegal, threatening, increasingly violent pro-Hamas protests and actions threatening Jews.

The great numbers of Muslims guarantee that many Canadian cities now have a substantial number of Jew-hostile groups igniting latent antisemitism from among the general population of those inclined to racist fear-mongering. Everywhere and anywhere now, Jews realize that some of their neighbours are insensitive to their vulnerabilities as a minority in a growing environment of social hostility. Much less that in their neighbourhoods, living on the same streets are those who view Jews as anathema.

Six Toronto city councillors last week gave support to pro-Hamas rallies, including the annual Al Quds Day events initiated by the Islamic Republic of Iran which publicly vocalize Iran's intention of destroying Israel. These councillors produced a statement: "Protecting the Right to Protest in Our City: freedom of assembly is a protected right in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. In these difficult times of heightened tension in the world and Toronto these rights must be protected as part of our democratic society."

 

The federal government under Justin Trudeau, given direct and compromising evidence that UNRWA employed hundreds of Palestinian Gazans in its operations, some of whom are also members of groups like Hamas who are listed on Canada's terror list and that among them were individuals who took direct action during the murderous terrorist raid of October 7, taking part in the butchery, the rapes, the destruction and the abduction of hundreds of children, women and elderly as hostages taken to Gaza, decided to continue funding UNRWA.

For this current government of Canada, it has become glaringly clear that terrorizing Jews in Israel is of little concern, and what's more to the point, is that threatening and violating the civil rights of Canadian Jews is also of no concern to Justin Trudeau's government. This government flouts its own anti-terrorism laws and sanctions, among them that Canadians are forbidden to participate, facilitate, instruct or harbour terrorists.

People take part in a pro-Palestinian rally in Montreal, Saturday, Nov. 25, 2023. Photo by THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes

No Tolerance in Germany for Antisemitism

"One thing is particularly important to me."

"As a result of the German crime against humanity of the Holocaust comes our special responsibility for the protection of Jews and for the protection of the State of Israel. This responsibility is part of our identity today."

"Anyone who doesn't share our values can't get a German passport. We have drawn a crystal clear red line here."

"Antisemitism, racism and other forms of contempt for humanity rule out naturalization."

German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser 

Several hundred people demonstrate under the slogan "Stop the genocide in Gaza! Stop the occupation of Palestine!" in Frankfurt city center.

Andreas Arnold/picture alliance/Getty Images

 

Germany, almost uniquely among Western liberal democracies has chosen to crack down on the post-October 7 atrocities-driven celebrations that have broken out led by the Arab, Muslim, Palestinian diaspora settled in the West. Groups dedicated to censoring Israel for the slaughter carried out by Hamas terrorists, claiming they were liberators of Palestinians oppressed by Israel, despite Palestinian lethal violence against the presence of Israel and Jews on ancestral Judaean heritage land, contested by Arab Palestinians as their own.

It is a criminal offence in Germany, punishable by incarceration, to question the Holocaust; racist, antisemitic statements are not viewed with moral equanimity in the country that committed the worst human rights excesses in modern history. A situation compounded by the fact that Germany accepted through immigration of a workforce, refugee intake and illegal migration, the largest contingent of people from the Middle East and North Africa of any European country.

 

A demonstration in support of Israel was held in Munich at the city’s synagogue. Germany’s chancellor has announced bans on activities including burning the Israeli flag and lauding Hamas crimes. Photograph: Michaela Rehle/Reuters

In response to the 'protests' of genocide being committed by Israel in its military incursion into Gaza for the purpose of destroying the terrorist Hamas Gaza government that carried out a one-day campaign of pillage, destruction, mutilations, mass rapes, endless slaughter of children, women and men on civilians in southern Israel in communities bordering Gaza, it is not the terrorists who are acknowledged as the genocidaires, but Israel, in defending itself against such savagery.

The German leadership has formulated a measure to weed out antisemites who plan to seek citizenship in Germany, that fits with its commitment to Israel and the Jewish presence in Germany. A catalogue of over 300 questions which citizenship test questions will be drawn from to comprise appropriate test questions is awaiting final approval. The German magazine Der Spiegel reported on the nature of some of the questions: 

• What is a Jewish house of prayer called?
• When was the State of Israel founded?
• What is the reason for Germany's special responsibility for Israel?
• How is Holocaust denial punished in Germany?
• Who can become a member of the approximately 40 Jewish Maccabi sport clubs in Germany?

The German state of Saxony-Anhalt months earlier prepared a commitment for the "right of the State of Israel to exist" as a requirement for naturalization. Antisemitism and pro-Palestinian declarations and protests have seen Germany crack down on their viral messages of hatred for Israel and provocations against Jews which have proliferated at this time of conflict in Gaza when the Israel Defense Forces mounted a ground assault in retaliation against the horrors of October 7.

 

Strictly monitored speech policies have been enforced on pro-Palestinian protests. Events scheduled to take place at Museum shows, book talks and allied art events have been cancelled. To pass the 33-question citizenship qualifications applicants for German citizenship must answer at least 17 multiple-choice questions correctly within an hour.

 

Over 2,000 antisemitic incidents have been logged by German authorities, prompting leaders in Germany since the October 7 barbarity, to call for improved enforcement of the nation's antisemitism laws.

 

A demonstration in support of Israel was held in Munich at the city’s synagogue. Germany’s chancellor has announced bans on activities including burning the Israeli flag and lauding Hamas crimes. Photograph: Michaela Rehle/Reuters

"Antisemitism has no place in Germany."

"We will do everything to oppose it.We will do this as citizens, and as bearers of political responsibility."

"This includes enforcing existing laws."

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz

Justin Trudeau's Canada

"He uses his professorship as a way to influence by promoting hate speech and disinformation about Israel. He calls Israel an 'apartheid state committing genocide'."

"I strongly urge you to stop this professor before his words turn into a dreadful act that is completely in your hands to stop today."

Unnamed complainant fearful of personal repercussions

 

"Hatred is predicated on destruction. Hatred against identifiable groups therefore thrives on insensitivity, bigotry and destruction of both the target group and the values of our society."

"Hatred in this sense is the most extreme emotion that belies reason, an emotion that if exercised against members of an identifiable group, implies that those individuals are to be despised, scorned, denied respect and subject to ill-treatment on the basis of a group affiliation." 

Canada's Chief Justice Brian Dickson's ruling in R v Keegstra, 1990

Pro-Palestine protesters march through the streets of Windsor, Ont. Photo by TAYLOR CAMPBELL/WINDSOR STAR

Canadians have seen no end of Palestinian-Canadian and 'pro-Palestinian' supporters coming out in full force since October 7, both celebrating the terrorist group Hamas's butchery of Israelis, rapine and abductions of children and the elderly, and calling for the world community to stop Israel's military response in Gaza. It is well enough known that it was not only Hamas operatives that raided Israeli border towns and villages wreaking sadistic savagery on a surprised and unprepared citizenry, but that Palestinian civilians, some of whom had been engaged as temporary farm workers who also took part in the carnage.

For months the demonstrations have continued, blocking streets, appearing before foreign embassies, universities, government offices, government representative regional offices, and anywhere else the crowds shouting 'gas the Jews' and 'intefada' among other violent threats feel they are entitled to intrude upon. School board meetings have not been immune to these mobs, and nor have shopping malls and Christmas markets. Yet no arm of government has made a move to stop these actions. And when, in police presence, masked men threaten people, there has been no response.

Since the most authoritative response must always emanate from the federal government itself, giving clearance to other levels of government and ultimately police, the complete lack of response from the Liberal government of prime minister Justin Trudeau has set the stage for the protests and their violent messaging to continue. Antisemitism has become a viral menace within Canadian society. Unchecked it will lead to violence in excess of the firebombing of a synagogue and Jewish community centre and parochial school.

 

 

There are some instances where those with the moral courage to deny the slanders thrown about that threaten Jews, are left to their own devices when they are penalized. As in the instance of a lecturer in marketing at University of Guelph-Humber. An investigation was launched for a social media post by Paul Finlayson who responded to a Palestinian supporter he labelled a "pro-Nazi zealot. You stand with Palestine means you stand with Hitler. You don't want peace, you want dead Jews". He finds himself suspended from his position with the university.

And then there is the individual who wrote to the administration of Sheridan College in Brampton, Ontario to report online posts produced by Dr. Wael Ramadan, professor of project management at the Pilon School of Business at Sheridan College. The complainant wrote that Ramadan posted "hateful rhetoric about Israel", recognized as antisemitic, making the individual feel 'unsafe'. At Canadian universities and colleges the new rule is anything that makes anyone associated with academia feel 'unsafe' cannot be countenanced. An exception is made for Jews feeling 'unsafe'.

Professor Ramadan is an ardent supporter of the Palestinian 'cause', a harsh critic of Israel, which he names an "apartheid state" that commits genocide, urging a boycott of companies that conduct business with Israel. He helped to publicize a worldwide strike in support of Gaza, following the October 7 atrocities committed by Hamas in Israel. "The dehumanization of Palestinians using fake news and atrocity propaganda is weaponized by apartheid Israel and the U.S. government to incite emotion against Palestinians", he writes.

 

 

So, evidently the carnage wrought by Hamas on Israel during the October 7 atrocities are a mere figment of an evil mind's imagination, attributing such inhumane acts to Palestinians. These Palestinian supporters claim there is no evidence, that these are events entirely contrived or carried out by Israel in an effort to paint Palestinians as monsters when clearly they are freedom fighters. That the 'freedom fighters' took pride in their atrocities to the extent that they recorded them and posted the videos on social media platforms is evidently negligibly immaterial.

End the Siege on Canadian Jews Now!

"The most sacred duty of any government is to provide for the security of its citizens. No government could let these obscenities go unpunished and retain t he trust of its people."

"Hamas knew full well the reaction its murderous rampage against innocents would provoke. They knew and didn't care. Indeed, it is the reaction they sought. They chose to put the lives of the two million people of Gaza they claim to defend in mortal danger in a deliberate, nihilistic attempt to set the Middle East on fire."

"Why would they do this? It was not to increase the likelihood of a Palestinian State. It was not to improve the lives of the people of Gaza. So, why? Because these are terrorists in the purest sense of the word, for whom the senseless violent act satisfies the strategic objective, killing Jews."

"Hamas knew something else. They knew they could count on a legion of apologists who, while decrying attacks on Jews here at home, are prepared to accept attacks on Jews in Israel as deserved."

Former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators, including a large crowd at Parliament Hill in Ottawa. (Rebecca Kwan/Radio-Canada)

 

At Concordia University a table draped with an Israeli flag and where photos of Israeli hostages were placed resulted in anti-Israel protesters screaming, uttering threats and resorting to physical violence. Yanise Arab, a humanities professor at University of Montreal whose specialty is "dominance and resistance in the Arab world", hurled an insult at one of the Jewish women manning the table: "Go back to Poland, sharmouta!" he shouted. (In Arabic 'sharmouta' is the word for 'whore').

 

A woman screaming obscenities at Jewish students went viral with 2.4 million views because she shouted 'kike' at a Jewish woman. The woman was later identified as a 29-year-old using they/them pronouns. These incidents have been occurring all over Canada, 'activist' pro-Palestinians confronting Jewish students, threatening and abusing them, bringing the conflict between Israel and Hamas directly to Canada in virulent confrontations.

 

A day ago bullet holes were discovered in the doors of two Jewish schools in a suburb of Montreal, two days after an overnight firebombing of a Montreal synagogue and the nearby offices of Federation CJA, a Jewish community organization. The message is clear and clearly violently antisemitic. Canada's prime minister responded with "We condemn this antisemitic violence in the strongest possible terms. This hatred has no place here in Montreal, in Quebec or in Canada."

The October 7 terrorist attack on southern Israel when Hamas operatives broke down the protective border wall and streamed into towns and villages in the early morning hours mutilating infants, shooting at civilians, murdering families at breakfast in their homes, raping girls and women, and in that one day of horror slaughtering 1,400 people in Israel, most of them civilians. Another 240 children, women, teens and soldiers were taken hostage into Gaza. That was a direct invitation to Israel to respond.

The protests by those claiming to be pro-Palestinian and demonstrating just how virulently antisemitic and anti-Israel they are, have been loud and adamant that Israel was responsible for the carnage created by the sadism of the Hamas terrorists. And Palestinian Canadians and other Muslim groups in Canada are making ti clear that while they're championing Hamas for its 'victory' over Israel, they're holding Canadian Jews responsible for the plight of the Palestinians under the Israel Defense Forces onslaught to destroy Hamas.

That this can all be taking place in a liberal democracy is more than a trifle disconcerting to the Jews experiencing the verbal and at times physical attacks by Hamas defenders. Prime Minister Trudeau has made some boilerplate statements meant to convey how measured he is in his condemnation of these un-Canadian acts of intimidation by one group of Canadians against another. 

"[The rise in antisemitism Canada has witnessed in recent weeks is] terrifying. Molotov cocktails thrown at synagogues, horrific threats of violence targeting Jewish businesses, targeting Jewish day cares with hate. This needs to stop, this is not who we are as Canadians."

"[Also troubling is the] rise of Islamophobia we're seeing across the country."

If there have been incidents targeting Canada's Muslim population in Canada, they're difficult to determine, because none have been reported in the news. If one thing can be guaranteed, it is that Islamic antisemites love to portray themselves as victims, at the very time that they're victimizing Jews; they turn the issue inside out to claim they've been targeted by the "Zionist lobby" merely because they have vented their spleen at Israel's 'occupation' and the slopover has targeted Canadian Jews.

This prime minister is tolerant of unsupportable abuse against Jews whose vote has traditionally gone to the Liberals. But his eye is on the far larger Muslim-Canadian population whose vote Mr. Trudeau feels he cannot afford to offend and lose at the ballot box. So protesters who hold up signs recalling Nazi death camps can be overlooked. While no Jewish protests have taken place outside of mosques or Palestinian businesses, shouting mobs in front of synagogues and boycotts of Jewish businesses is just business as usual.

This prime minister was quick to infer that Israel bombed the Al-Ahli hospital, that it was "absolutely unacceptable", and against "international law", even when Israel argued it was not involved, yet this prime minister preferred to believe the lies promulgated by a terrorist group rather than that of a Democratic ally state. Even after Canada's Minister of Defense issued a statement categorically assigning responsibility to Hamas's allied terrorist group Islamic Jihad, no apology slipped out of Mr. Trudeau's hasty tongue.

"In Gaza, as elsewhere, international law must be upheld by all. This includes humanitarian law. Even wars have rules", says this prime minister, offering a lesson in humanitarian law to a country that practices it as matter of course through its unassailable system of equality and justice while coping with ceaseless violent attacks from its neighbours. "Israel has the right to defend itself, but the price of justice cannot be the continued suffering of all Palestinian civilians", the man intones, with no expectation that those who rule the West Bank and Gaza may be ultimately responsible for the suffering of the Palestinians.

Canada's Jewish community is itself under siege. Canadians of all ages are threatened, and the result has been uncertainty as Canadian Jews are left concerned with their safety in a country they have viewed as their home for hundreds of years. This is a prime minister who cast himself as a leader for whom human rights applied equally in a just society that was his goal to achieve. No one realized at the time that he meant specifically that the rights of 'feminists', the LGBTQ-2 community, Indigenous, Black and people-of-colour were his concerns; Jews need not apply.

Tomorrow, on Remembrance Day, a day dedicated to the solemn dedication of the memory of those who fought and died for our freedom, Palestinian Students for Justice have arranged for yet another massive protest. Israel and Jews will once again be their targets. The Second World War targeted Jews with genocide, the pro-Palestinian, proxy for pro-Hamas champions will call once again for the obliteration of Israel in justice to the Palestinians, and here in Canada, Canadian Jews will again be threatened. And as usual, their prime minister will do nothing about it.

"They [protesters] actually jumped on to my car. They were banging on my windows, they were laying on the hood of my car and they were trying to prevent me from moving. I’m sure I’m on many pictures now on the Gaza Strip or wherever."

"There was no security around to help and I felt very, very unsafe."

"I then went into my Manitoba meeting and (Winnipeg Conservative MP) Marty Morantz, who is of Jewish descent, had been walking there and of course he felt more unsafe than I had and later we heard at our meetings that there were probably a dozen members of the House that had also been under attack."

"And when they had asked PPS (Parliamentary Protective Service) over at the House why they weren’t being given any help the answer was, we don’t have enough staff. They seemed to have enough staff to stop all the hot tub parties and barbecues when we had some friendly protesters here and now they don’t have enough staff when many of us feel very unsafe."

Senator Don Plett, 10 November 2023

The Enemy Within, Undermining Democracy At Will

"Allah, take care of these Zionist aggressors."

"Allah, take care of the enemies of the people of Gaza."

"Allah, identify them all, then exterminate them. And don't spare any of them."

Video clip, Imam Adil Charkaoui, "Stop the Genocide in Gaza" rally, Montreal

"This is a call for violence against Jews."

"It does nothing to advance peace in the Middle East. Such hate has no place in Quebec, in Canada, nor anywhere."

"It contributes to rising antisemitism and must be condemned."

Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs

"[The speech incited] hate and violence [and law enforcement must take notice]."

"It's not my place to tell [police] how to do their job, but inciting violence is not allowed."

Quebec Premier Francois Legault

Adil Charkaoui's speech has drawn broad condemnation from politicians like Premier François Legault and groups like the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs. (Adil Charkaoui/X)

 

Prior to the 9/11 attacks in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania, RCMP and CSIS investigators had observed Imam Charkaoui carrying out credit card fraud for the purpose of funding overseas terrorism. An intercepted telephone call in 2000 alerted investigators to the man discussing "seizing control of a plane for aggressive reasons". At least two former members of Charkaoui's Centre Communautaire Islamique de l'Est de Montreal (Montreal East Islamic Community Centre) had been arrested in 2015 as they attempted to reach Syria to join ISIS.

More recently, leaders of Quebec's four major political parties saw fit to call for the controversial imam to be investigated for possible hate crimes in the wake of having delivered a prayer that called for the extermination of "Zionist aggressors" during a pro-Palestinian demonstration that took place in downtown Montreal over the weekend. He addressed thousands of demonstrators gathered at Place des Arts, taking part in a worldwide day of pro-Palestinian protests against the Israel Defense Forces bombing Gaza.

This, in response to the terrorist Hamas barbaric incursion into southern Israel on October 7, which left over 1,400 people dead, and over 240 others abducted, taken into Gaza to be used as hostages. Girls and women had been raped repeatedly, so violently their pelvic bones cracked before they were murdered. Infants were killed by rampaging terrorists who murdered entire families in their homes, lighting others on fire where live inhabitants burned to death. The savage atrocities perpetrated by the Hamas operatives were recorded for posterity, their own videos of the carnage recording their pride of accomplishment.

Imam Charkaoui posted a video clip of his speech in Arabic on social media, bringing the event to the attention of the public. An Arabic language program director at the Institute of Islamic Studies, McGill University, was asked to view the video to confirm its translation content and Shokry Gohar reported: "We attest that we did not find the prayer calling for the elimination of all Jewish people (i.e. there was no generalization at all.) In the video clip, the prayer was limited for calling of the elimination of those who are waging war against the people of Gaza."

In 2003 Charkaoui had been arrested under Canada's security certificate system when authorities alleged him to be a terrorist, trained in an Afghanistan camp. The case was dropped in 2009 because authorities were unwilling to reveal their sources. For the past twenty years allegations and police investigations linked him to Islamist groups such as al-Qaeda, the Taliban and Islamic State. And despite all of this he was somehow granted Canadian citizenship. The 2003 charge by Canadian intelligence agencies identifying him as an al-Qaeda sleeper agent saw the security certificate withdrawn for fear intelligence sources would be revealed.

Around 2015 Charkaoui founded the Quebec Collective Against Islamophobia. He testified at a 2015 Quebec National Assembly hearing as an 'expert' on Islamophobia. Reuters, the year before, cited him as an expert on a purported rise in "Anti-Muslim bullying" in the wake of an Islamist terror attack on Parliament Hill.

Two years ago, while Canada evacuated former allies from Afghanistan on the heels of the Taliban takeover, Charkaoui issued social media posts praising the Taliban as religious warriors who chased out foreign "invaders. Men, women and children can finally know liberation", he wrote.

"The only solution is the end of the occupation. [The] Zionist entity [could be destroyed in 24 hours were it not for [traitors] in the Arab world staying their hand]."

"The Zionist entity has lost the battle of public opinion ... it is therefore normal that the Zionist narrative would change."

"In brief, the strategy of the Zionist lobby is to attack -- via biased and amoral journalists -- all those who denounce genocide."

"It [speech] contains no hates or calls to violence; on the contrary, it was a clear condemnation of the violence, war crimes and crimes against humanity executed by the Zionist army of occupation."

"[I did not say the] kill them all [prayer was mistranslated] only that it was directed at] Zionist aggressors committing what I consider to be a genocide."

"The word Jew was never used in my speech, nor in my prayer. It was a prayer for judgement."

Adil Charkaoui

Journée de chasse mémorable. Al hamdoulilah.
لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا أَنْتَ سُبْحَانَكَ إِنِّي كُنْتُ مِنَ