Canada braces for week of anti-Israel ‘Al Quds’ events

“I want to remind everyone that every reported instance of hate, including at demonstrations, is investigated,” she said. “This includes hate crimes, hate speech, hate signage and flags of terrorist organizations designated by Public Safety Canada.” She added that “we will not hesitate to arrest and charge anyone who engages in criminal activity.”

The press conference came after a request for such a briefing, outlining the police department’s plans to keep Jews safe, in a March 11 letter that Michelle Stock, a Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs vice president, penned to Myron Demkiw, the Toronto Police. (CIJA is part of the Jewish Federations of Canada.)

“Antisemitism in our city is at an all-time high, and the Jewish community is understandably anxious about the potential for increased violence,” she added.

Noah Shack, interim CIJA president, told JNS that “we’ve heard time and again over the last year that ‘hate has no place in Canada’ and ‘this is not our Canada’ and things like that.”

“The reality is that it’s becoming our Canada. It’s become our Canada,” he said. “We see in the streets terrorist flags waved proudly, the spreading of hate, the glorification of terrorists and we hear calls for the destruction of the Jewish people, to Jews to be ‘sent back to Europe.’ All too often it motivates, animates and turns into acts of violence and targeting our community.”

Canadian leaders at all governmental levels and those in law enforcement must make sure that Jews are safe in Canada, according to Shack. “Not just our community, all communities,” he said, “because this represents a fundamental threat to Canada.”

“Our expectation is that when laws are broken and people cross that line that there will be consequences and held accountable because ultimately, we all have a responsibility in this country to abide by the rules,” he said. “When we don’t enforce those rules, that line in the sand about what’s acceptable here in Canada gets erased.”

The first event, slated for Sunday, is an Al Quds Day “annual walk for Palestine,” which is scheduled to take place in downtown Toronto. A poster for the event states that “Palestine resists, Zionism ceases to exist.” There are also Al Quds protests scheduled to take place in front of City Hall in Calgary on March 28 and in Dorchester Square in downtown Montreal on March 29.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini established Al Quds Day in 1979, and rallies on the day have frequently called for the elimination of Zionists and Israel, and uniting against Israel.

Officers with training in hate crimes must be deployed during such protests, according to Shack.

“I don’t think Canadians think that these are acceptable—to have main arteries blocked for extended periods of time, not just inconveniencing local residents but impeding the ability of emergency vehicles transportation to function in our city,” he said.

“People have had enough of that, and I think when you’re looking at something like Al Quds, this one is clearly the product of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” he added. “It is an event that they have driven, that they support and that takes place worldwide.”

‘Festival of hate’

Matthew Taub, a Toronto-based Israel advocate, told JNS that he spoke to police about the rally last year and was warned not to attend. He was even told that he would be arrested for breach of peace if he attended, “which blew my mind,” he told JNS.

“Going to a counter protest is ‘breach of the peace,’ yet they allowed hundreds of pro-Palestinians to light smoke flares and scream at children during the Walk for Israel and none of them were arrested for ‘breach of the peace,” he said.

Taub charged that the Toronto Police Service have “equated both sides as being the same, from day one.” (JNS sought comment from the Toronto police.)

“The mismanagement in terms of not understanding antisemitism is a huge problem,” he said. “We’ve been told for so long to keep our heads down and don’t make waves. Unfortunately, our community needs to step up a lot more—whether we’re quiet or noisy, the world hates us.”

“We have to let our politicians, elected officials, our city and police know that we’re tired of it,” he added. “We helped build this city. Jews came to Canada in the early 1700s, and we’re not going anywhere.”

Salman Sima, a former political prisoner in Iran, told JNS that he was arrested last year at an Al Quds protest. Sima wore a Canadian flag on his shoulder and bore a sign stating that “Hamas is a terrorist organization.”

“I am a former political prisoner, who seeks justice and freedom and does not want an Islamic takeover in Canada. It was my duty to protest,” he told JNS. “Despite the fact that they were chanting for jihad, they were chanting for genocide, they were chanting ‘from the river to the sea,’” police “came to arrest the only person with Canadian flag.”

“My friends joked that if I could manage arrest in Iran, I can manage arrest in Canada,” said Sima, who was released without charges after five hours. He told JNS that he was told he was detained for his own safety.

“This is a festival of hate,” he said of the Al Quds rally. “This is a matter of foreign interference with ties to the IRGC, with ties to terror organizations, and these are Hamas sympathizers in the streets of Toronto.”

‘Glorify terrorism’

Canadian officials denounced the events. Michael Kerzner, the solicitor general of Ontario, wrote that “year after year, this day has been used to glorify terrorism, advocate for the destruction of the sovereign, democratic State of Israel, promote antisemitic ideology and intimidate the Jewish community.”

Kevin Vuong, an independent member of the Canadian Parliament, wrote on Friday that “we have heard from Islamic leaders that Al-Quds Day is not a religious event, but a political event glorifying terrorism.”

“No one knows their religion better than them, we should listen to them,” he stated. “I hope Premier Ford follows through on his promise to ban it.”

Goldie Ghamari, a former member of the Ontario Provincial Parliament, wrote that the upcoming events are “horrifying.”

“Al-Quds Day is a fake ‘celebration’ created by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in 1979. The IRGC is a listed terror entity in Canada,” she wrote. “Why are Toronto Police protecting an Islamic terrorist celebration in Canada? This isn’t normal.”

Responding at the ballot box

In response to a query last year from James Pasternak, a Toronto city councilor, asking if anyone was charged with breaking the law at rallies between Oct. 7, 2023 and March 19, 2024, the clerk, Paul Johnson, said that no one was charged during that period at any political rallies or protests.

Al Quds Day was held on April 6 last year in Toronto, and it drew speakers associated with the terror groups Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and Samidoun. (Washington and Ottawa designated Samidoun a terror group last October.)

Khaled Barakat said during the protest that “we here today are sending our salute to every worker in Gaza, every nurse, every teacher, every doctor and every fighter who’s carrying his gun,” according to CIJA. It added that he also praised the Hamas leader Mohammed Deif, whom Israel killed last July, and Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, whom Israel killed in September.

According to CIJA, both Hezbollah and Islamic Republic flags flew at the Al Quds rally in 2023, and there were also signs with swastikas.

With what is believed to be a call for a federal election over the weekend, Shack, the interim CIJA president, told JNS that Canadians “have an opportunity to share their concerns with candidates and to make their opinions known at the ballot box.”

“This is an issue that, again, is not just something that impacts Jewish Canadians,” he said. “This is a fundamental problem for all Canadians, and it needs to be addressed.”