The latest round of anti-Israel protests has crossed a major line
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Canada used to be a nation of peace, order, and good government. Not anymore. You’d be hard pressed to find any of the three on the streets of Ottawa last weekend, at a Palestinian protest which glorified Hamas and its violent assault on Oct. 7.
“Our resistance attacks are proof that we are almost free,” one marcher said, to the cheers of the crowd. “Oct. 7 is proof that we are almost free. Long live Oct. 7, long live the resistance, long live the intefadeh, long live every form of resistance.”
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Free how, exactly? Free to be led by terrorists funded by the fundamentalist republic of Iran? Free to rape, murder and kidnap men, women, and children, and rejoice while filming the atrocities?
A state run by leaders who condone and commit such actions would not be free. They do not respect freedom. They are tyrants. They are fanatics. They will act the same way as the Taliban, as ISIS, as al-Qaida, as the ayatollahs. They will terrorize their own people to keep control.
I’ll tell you who else isn’t free these days: the citizens of Ottawa and other Canadian cities who want to go about their business without being intimidated by terrorist sympathizers. Canadian Jews who want to be able to send their children to school without fear of hatred in the classroom, or to attend synagogue without fear of it being vandalized.
Here’s a message our politicians should be delivering but aren’t: Not everything is about the Palestinians or the war in Gaza. My street corner is not about Gaza. My kid’s school is not about Gaza. The Ontario Legislature is not about Gaza. You don’t get to take over the entire public space and turn it into an arena for your grievance. And you certainly don’t get to turn it into a hate farm.
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Yes, Canada has previously fought for change in other countries. We led the charge to end apartheid in South Africa, we were on the ground for years defending women’s rights in Afghanistan, we have (finally) called out human rights abuses in China.
But these battles were fought by the agreed upon rules of engagement, including debate in Parliament, the UN, and other public forums. We didn’t have angry mobs taking over city blocks week after week and calling for harm to be done to another group. No one told people to “go back to Europe.”
This is not how Canada does things. We have rules. We have laws. You can’t break them just because you think you are right.
And before you berate this as a “colonialist” , “Eurocentric” or whatever other label you fancy, let me just add that it applies to everyone, whether they came here or were born here. From the Wet’suwet’en who blocked rail traffic in 2020 causing millions of dollars in economic losses, to the Convoy that occupied downtown Ottawa for three weeks in 2022, it seems that every aggrieved group thinks they have license to occupy public property and impose their issue on everyone else.
But the latest round of protests has crossed a major line. It is actively intimidating and directing hatred against Jews in this country. Its goal has nothing to do with improving life in Canada. It seeks to abolish the state of Israel and bully politicians in this country into embracing this cause.
A society functions when people accept a common baseline of behaviour and shared rules of engagement. It fails when a subgroup of people believes the end justifies the means, and that their end is the most important thing going.
When that happens, we need leaders willing to stand up and say: stop. And then act to make it stop.
Instead, what does our prime minister do? Puts out a post on X condemning hate speech. That’s it. As if that will return any semblance of law and order to our streets.
Here’s what Justin Trudeau should have done: broadcast a 20-minute address to the nation warning protesters to stop glorifying terrorism and inciting violence or they will be arrested. And if our laws are not sufficient to deal with this threat, strengthen them so they are.
“Anything goes” is not the Canadian way. It’s time people get the message.
Postmedia News
Tasha Kheiriddin is Postmedia’s national politics columnist.
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