In Toronto, vile anti-Semitism has been allowed to become normalized

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Toronto is a place where there are people who openly celebrate Iranian bombs being launched at Israel by igniting smoke canisters and chanting “Allahu Akbar.”

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Toronto is a place where there are people who would carve a swastika into the picture on a poster of a child who is being held by Hamas.

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Toronto is as place where someone was charged for allegedly directing hateful messaging at Jewish children about their parents.

Toronto is a place where police have to deploy temporary field command posts because of potential threats toward Jewish citizens.

Toronto is not an easy place to be Jewish.

Homes and businesses of Jewish people have been attacked or vandalized. Synagogues and Hebrew schools too. Jewish students don’t feel safe in universities and people concerned about the hostages taken on the Black Sabbath Oct. 7 in which 1,200 innocent people were slaughtered are cited when for wearing “Save Our Hostage” T-shirts at a Toronto Raptors game.

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“The continued occurrence of inflammatory and inciting protests across the city have only validated the concerns that Jewish Torontonians have for their safety,” said Richard Robertson of B’nai Brith Canada.

“There is no place in our society for demonstrations that glorify terrorism, foment anti-Semitism, and celebrate the diabolical Iranian regime.”

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But as MP Melissa Lantsman, deputy Conservative leader, said, this was not exactly surprising.

“It was never about a ceasefire,” she posted on X. “Support for terror against western democracy spilled into the streets of our country 6 months ago and governments across Canada did nothing.”

Historians will study this dark time in Toronto’s history the same way they do the Christie Pits riots.

But for Jewish people living here, that history is something they are enduring now. They live in fear.

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Toronto Police understand this reality.

“In light of world events, we continue to deploy officers in dedicated patrols around places of worship, schools and community centres,” TPS said in an X post. “There is a Command Post at Bathurst near Glencairn and officers are there to speak with residents. There are no known threats for Toronto.”

But many Jewish Torontonians tell me they feel they are under threat at any time. It’s just so wrong what has happened here. There has been so much anti-Semitism it has become normalized.

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None of it would be tolerated if it was directed toward any other religious or ethnic group. Nor should it be. This is something that has been pointed out for months by city councillors James Pasternak and Brad Bradford, MPP Goldie Ghamari and MP Marco Mendicino, who have all warned about this.

That said, there is appreciation for the deployment of the command post and on Sunday the one outside a Hebrew school on Bathurst was manned and operational.

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“The community is grateful for the sustained presence of the Toronto Police Service,” said Robertson. “The mobile command centres serve as a strong deterrent against those who wish to cause the Jewish community harm.”

But just the fact that such an action is necessary should be something of great embarrassment for Toronto which purports to be a place of diversity. The video shot by independent journalist Caryma S’ad shown around the world offering an ugly view of the city and country was picked up by many news outlets including the Jerusalem Post, which reported “the crowd erupted in celebration, and the protest leader led them in shouts of ‘Allahu Akbar!’ and bragged “this has come as a direct response to” Israel “bombing … multiple countries including Syria, Iraq, Palestine, Lebanon.”

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It’s interesting that what doesn’t get as much coverage is how respectful Toronto’s Jewish community is in their support rallies. You don’t hear hate there — something MP Kevin Vuong noted in his X post following attending a gathering at Sheppard and Bathurst on Sunday.

“Proud to stand in solidarity with Toronto’s Jewish community after the Islamic Regime in Iran’s attack on Israel … shame on those ‘peaceful protesters’ who romanticize terrorism and cheered for the Islamic regime on the streets of Toronto yesterday. This is what a peaceful rally looks like.”

jwarmington@postmedia.com

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