“With this mayor, the media should be asking about only one issue” by Yaakov ben Avraham

 

I’m all too familiar with the two slogans that frame the pro-Hamas, antizionist propaganda campaign. They’re chanted everywhere from Canada to Australia. But I can hear them every Sunday just a few blocks from my house at the intersection of Bathurst and Sheppard.

There’s no consulate at the corner or any MP’s office. It’s just a Jewish neighbourhood, which is what brings the antizionists here, because this isn’t normal politics; it’s a hate movement.

Slogan number one: “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” or in short form, “Free Palestine.”

Between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea lies the State of Israel. The meaning of the “Free Palestine” chants heard at every pro-Palestinian demonstration is perfectly clear: free “Palestine” of Israel, wipe it off the map. On October 7, 2023, Hamas demonstrated the preferred means: massacre the Jews, every one of them, man, woman, and child.

Few anti-Israel demonstrators explicitly call for mass murder, not even the ones who openly celebrated the October 7 massacre or who literally danced in the street. As for those who may pick up the butcher knife themselves, they don’t advertise. But the antizionists all glibly excuse the murder of Jews. This is the clear meaning of the second slogan heard at their demonstrations: “By any means necessary.”

Rape, kidnapping, and murder, sexual mutilations, torture, and executions of whole families one after the other – this is what Hamas deems “necessary” – this is what antizionists excuse.

Sure, many university kids don’t know what river or sea they’re chanting about. Likewise, many writers and artists who sign open letters calling for Israelis to be cast out of humanity don’t understand the words they mouth; they’re just chasing the hatred du jour.

But Olivia Chow, the mayor of Canada’s largest city?

She can’t claim naiveté, especially as she’s been around leftist politics for decades. The “Free Palestine” crowd are her people.

So, when Olivia Chow called out “Free Palestine” at this June’s Pride Parade, she knew she was calling for death to Israel. At best, she might claim to be pandering to the haters in her base.

But imagine there were a movement to murder gay people that had massacred 1,200, perhaps in New York’s West Village and taken another 251 hostage. Imagine Toronto held many supporters of this movement and that restaurants, shops, and schools in Toronto’s gay village at been shot at dozens of times.

Suppose also that Constable Marc Pinizzotto was shot and killed while executing a search warrant connected to these imaginary anti-gay attacks – rather than in connection to the many shooting attacks on synagogues, Jewish schools, and the US Consulate, as actually happened. 

So, this imaginary anti-gay hate movement is responsible not only for uncountable murders abroad but also, allegedly, of a police officer here in Toronto.

Imagine also this anti-gay hate movement had the slogan: “Free the village” and Mayor Chow had shouted this slogan to oblige a hate group supporter.

She would be pilloried across the media, denounced by politicians and forced to resign. If she ran for re-election, the media wouldn’t let up. She’d want to talk about anything else, but reporters would ask, “Ms. Chow, do you support the murder of gays?”

Canadians don’t excuse people who support hate movements. With one all too obvious exception: a significant number of Canadians are fine with Jew-hatred dressed up as antizionism.

The National Post and the Toronto Sun (same media group) reported Chow’s words, and their columnists had much to say about them, none of it complimentary.

A Globe and Mail editorial, “Thoughts and prayers, Canadian Style,” pointed out that most politicians will say a few empty words when a synagogue or Jewish bakery is shot at, but fail to even name antizionsim as the hatred fuelling these attacks.

As for Mayor Olivia Chow, she’s "failed even more spectacularly," says the Globe. Yes, she says she’s dismayed when a Jewish school gets shot at, yadda, yadda, but she skips Jewish events and yells “Free Palestine” at the Pride Festival. "Through her actions,” the Globe says, “[she’s] shown where her sympathies lie."

And Chow continues to skip Jewish events. Recently, she took a pass on a debate about the orgy of antisemitism engulfing Toronto organized by Jewish Lawyers of Canada. The two other leading candidates in Toronto’s mayoral election were there – Brad Bradford and Chris Alexander. But not Chow.

Chow happily stands in front of a mic to declare that targeting the Jewish community is “despicable.” But she won’t stand in front of actual Jews. Jew-hatred is the one issue Chow dreads being confronted on.

By and large, the media seems willing to give her a pass. The Toronto Star and the CBC have never even noted Chow shouting the “Free Palestine” slogan.

Possibly, they’re instinctively shielding a politician much of their staff support. But I fear the real problem is that, like Chow, they’re sympathetic to antizionism. They’re okay with people hating Israel, Israelis and “Zionists.” They, too, are chasing the hatred du jour.

And it’s despicable. Because when the Mayor of Toronto shouts, “Free Palestine,” she’s encouraging others to go ahead and use “whatever means necessary.”

In Belleville, we saw this almost play out when a terrorist attempted to murder the Jews attending services there on the eve of Yom Kippur. Only the heroics of Constable Jeff Smith saved us from a mass casualty event, and now Jeff Smith still lies in the hospital suffering from multiple gunshot wounds.

I’m not suggesting Olivia Chow desired this outcome. Our homegrown antizionists prefer the terrorists to murder and rape far away; doubtless it feels less real that way. But Ms. Chow’s the mayor of Toronto. She can’t play at extremist politics. Real lives are at stake.

Constable Jeff Smith 

See the GoFundMe page for Jeff Smith here.

***

Yaakov ben Avraham is a writer, editor, and creative writing instructor who lives close to Bathurst and Sheppard in Toronto. He's writing under his Hebrew name for security reasons. This piece previously appeared on The Canadian Zionist Forum.