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They are in charge in Toronto and they know it.

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If Hamas supporters don’t want you to have your event, they will threaten, impede or physically stop it and there is nothing you can do about it.

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What happened in Yorkville on Tuesday not was not the first example of this and it won’t be the last.

The pro-Hamas advocacy mobs rule Toronto and GTA streets now. They are drunk with the power of that and are on a roll. They smell blood and they are thirsting for as much as they can drink.

Toronto Police, and York Regional Police, understand this better than anybody since their officers are being abused in it as much as regular citizens are.

The politicians at all levels have tied police’s hands and have let anti-Semitism grow to a point where they have lost control.

Anti-Israel protesters are in control. They do what they want, when they want, two whoever they want, and face little or no consequences.

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And the authorities have no answer for it.

This was already clear when just about 100 people were successful in blocking the entrances to the Art Gallery of Ontario on Saturday night, which led to the cancellation of the gala dinner between Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his Italian counterpart, Giorgia Meloni.

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Cabinet minister Ahmed Hussen even had projectiles thrown at him right in front of police.

The same masked-up protesters were successful at making life miserable for those attending a perfectly legal real estate seminar at a Jewish shul in Thornhill, have forced Oakville city council to suspend live meetings in favour of online gatherings for safety concerns, and Tuesday night they ruined the event at a restaurant in Yorkville attended by Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland and cabinet minister Ya’ara Saks.

They actually blocked and assaulted people trying to get in and many could not.

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Police were there in large numbers but unlike how they handled things during the 1967 Yorkville sit-in that saw dozens of people removed and arrested, they basically managed the situation until it died down and everybody went home.

No Emergencies Act from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau so far because these are not truckers protesting him or his policies but people chanting for “intifada” and removing every Jew from Israel.

While Trudeau has not acted to call out or slow down the protesters – many of whom are not Palestinian but from Marxist-Leninist anarchy groups – he has indicated Canada will reinstate funding to UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency) despite the fact that some employees are known to have participated in the Oct. 7, 2023 Black Sabbath that saw 1,200 Israelis murdered by Hamas as well as countless rapes, torturing and taking of 240 hostages – 134 of whom remain captive.

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This is what they were demanding so the optics are bad.

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It’s a dark time to be Jewish in Toronto.

About 75 members of the community went to Tuesday night’s Raptors game wearing sweaters with a Star of David and the slogan “release our hostages” in defiance of a move last month that saw two Jewish lawyers asked to cover the slogans up or leave.

This time, each person wearing the clothing were handed by a security a card that said “Your signage and/or clothing is in violation of (MLSE and Scotiabank Arena’s) policy and you are requested to remove or cover it so that it complies with our venue policy” and “failure to comply may result in ejection or a legal notice of trespass from the premises.”

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There’s no carding supposed to happen in Toronto, and no one has any right to tell somebody they can’t wear a T-shirt that calls for the release of hostages. People have Charter rights here. Such a sentiment is not a political statement. It’s a free country, even on private property.

Jewish community members hold the cards they were given by security during the Raptors game on Tuesday, March 5, 2024 over their clothing. SUPPLIED/TORONTO SUN
Jewish community members hold the cards they were given by security during the Raptors game on Tuesday, March 5, 2024 over their clothing. SUPPLIED/TORONTO SUN

Handing out what amounts to modern-day yellow stars to Jewish Torontonians for doing nothing wrong is a dark, unacceptable chapter in the city’s history.

Lord knows no authority figure would ever try something like that on pro-Hamas protesters who routinely occupy train stations, banks, book stores, hospital entrances, roadways, daycare centres, schools, restaurants or whatever they feel like.

Nothing happens to the Hamas supporters in any of those instances because they are in charge.

jwarmington@postmedia.com

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