LILLEY: Canada’s Jewish community feels like it is under assault

Is it safe to be a Jew in Toronto, or Canada, these days?

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It’s not a question I can answer; I’m not Jewish, but many readers and friends are expressing unease, fear, and anxiety over what they are seeing.

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Just over two weeks ago, we saw the horrific terrorist attacks that Hamas launched against Israel. Since then, we have seen an explosion of anti-Semitism that is leaving many Jews in this country feel less than welcome.

We’ve had politicians issue statements blaming Israel for what happened, union leaders celebrate “the resistance” that carried out the Oct. 7 slaughter and prominent student groups state that they stand with Hamas. At public rallies, there have been endorsements of Hamas that couldn’t be more explicit.

“How intense is the spirit to get free? How deep is the spirit to get free? How beautiful is the spirit to get free that Palestinians literally learned to fly hang gliders?” Harsha Walia, the former head of the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association, asked during a protest in Vancouver this past weekend.

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If you were a Jew in Canada, would you feel safe with people celebrating that Hamas used hang gliders to fly into music festival to rape and murder young people just because they were Jewish, or presumed to be Jewish. What if you were a parent sending your children to a public school where teachers posted support of Hamas to social media.

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“Individuals in these roles have to be held to a higher standard, and this cannot be tolerated of leaders in our schools and communities,” one Jewish mother wrote via email.

She was responding to posts on social media by Toronto District School Board teacher and guidance counsellor Derik Chica. Chica had posted the ridiculous claim that the atrocities carried out by Hamas, the ones they proudly broadcast, were, in fact, carried out by the Israeli Defence Forces.

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It’s not true, like much of what Chica posts, but it has an impact on students and parents. Despite being asked, the Toronto District School Board offered no comment on Chica’s posts, neither did the Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation, which has Chica as a member of its executive.

On Wednesday, a student at Toronto Metropolitan University wrote to describe the protest that took over part of the campus at what was once Ryerson. She described how what started and was described as a “pro-Palestinian” rally quickly turned.

The event started at the student centre before moving into the campus buildings, where other students and faculty were harassed. Despite that, she said, neither police nor campus security intervened.

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“During the march, participants vocalized slogans such as ‘Settlers go back home’ and ‘The IDF can’t run and hide,’” she wrote.

This from the school where 74 law students recently signed onto an open letter to say that they stood with “all forms of Palestinian resistance and efforts toward liberation.” This means the law students who signed the letter have indicated that they agree with rape, torture, murder, and kidnapping.

Making that kind of declaration may see those students have a difficult time being called to the bar, being hired by law firms, some of which have reached out to ask for the names of the signatories. In fact, a letter signed by nearly 100 lawyers was sent to TMU to ask for action to be taken against the students.

TMU and the Lincoln Alexander School of Law declined to comment despite being asked several times.

We’ve seen stories of Jewish owned businesses being targeted, of people being harassed for having a mezuzah on their door – one friend told me they are so concerned they want to take it down, but their spouse won’t let them. Another friend, a completely secular Jew, told me they are looking over their shoulder these days in ways they’ve never done before.

That so many Canadian Jews are feeling uneasy, under threat, doesn’t bode well for Canadian society.

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