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AGAR: Recent shootings show what happens when hate goes unpunished

Those who spread that hate see little if no official pushback

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Hate has no place in Canada, we are told. 

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We increasingly hear this from police spokespeople and politicians as they respond to incidents of hate crimes. 

AGAR: Recent shootings show what happens when hate goes unpunished Back to video

But hate does have a place in Canada. It’s Toronto. 

In the space of less than a week bullets were fired through three different synagogues in the city and adjacent area, while earlier an Iranian owned business was attacked in the same fashion. 

In one case, there were people inside the synagogue, so do we face the horror of realizing that it is only a matter of time before someone is injured or killed? 

Hate has always been with us. The attack by Hamas on Israel on October 7th, 2023, did not create the hate. It was such a vicious action that it got world attention and released criticism and hate toward Israel before Israel had had time to react. 

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Where is the punishment? 

Those who spread that hate saw little if no official pushback. People out on the street spreading hate were facilitated by the police as legitimate protesters. 

Those of us who saw it and said, “Give them an inch and they will take a mile,” were either criticized or worse, ignored. 

Toronto’s Mayor Olvia Chow showed a disturbing propensity to care very little what happens to Jews, foregoing chances to show solidarity and that continues to today. 

The best she can do, which is the approach of too many, is to send out a shallow, trite statement. 

On the social media platform X, Daniel Debow illustrated how politicians and other leaders handle a crisis. 

Form a statement by choosing any two: 

( ) antisemitism has no place in Canada 

( ) this is not who we are 

( ) we must work together to combat hatred 

( ) we stand with the Jewish community. 

( ) I’ve directed appropriate police to consult and redouble efforts 

Lawyer and activist Caryma Sa’d may have been to more protests in Toronto than anyone, videoing evidence of what takes place. Time and again, she and her videographer have been attacked by protesters, while police keep their hands in their pockets. Does that embolden the protesters? 

Shootings an example of hate pervading our community

At first, in 2023, when I defended the Jews against hate, people contacted my radio show to say they were not against Jews, they were against the Israeli government. Protesting a government is generally seen as legitimate. 

But it was easy to see that wasn’t true, based on their words, and the fact that they chose to protest not at the Israeli embassy, but in Jewish neighbourhoods and to attack Jewish-owned businesses. 

So, while bullets fly with increasing regularity in the city fewer people who write to me to justify their antisemitic rhetoric even bother to pretend anymore. 

They have been getting away with more and more and they are reaching for that mile of hate. 

There is no doubt that it could be difficult for police to find those who are doing the shooting, but the condition that exists today in the city was built over two and a half years of facilitation and apathy. 

Let’s call it what it is. Terrorism is being perpetrated against Jews, and at times others as in the Iranian example, on an increasing basis. 

Sadly, hate has a place in Canada. That place is Toronto. 

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