Thousands of pro-Israel demonstrators gather on Parliament Hill in a show of solidarity
The rally takes place as reports of antisemitic acts in Canada spike
Thousands of pro-Israel demonstrators from across the country gathered on Parliament Hill Monday to show solidarity with the country as it takes on Hamas in Gaza — and to call for an end to antisemitism in Canada.
The crowd heard from a range of speakers, including prominent Jewish Canadian politicians, religious leaders, non-Jewish allies and embattled students from Canada's universities.
All of them had a similar rallying cry: Canada must stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Israel as it confronts a militant group bent on destroying the Jewish state.
They also urged all levels of government to harden their stance against antisemitism, which has flared up in Canada since Hamas's brutal attack on innocent Israeli citizens on Oct. 7 and the resulting military response.
There have been dozens of police-reported hate crimes in recent weeks. Jewish-Canadian-owned businesses, including Indigo Books, have been targeted and vandalized by protesters and agitators.
Monday's event in Ottawa was nearly derailed after 17 buses failed to show up in Toronto to ferry would-be rally-goers to the event, according to a statement from the UJA Federation of Greater Toronto.
The Jewish group said the buses were paid for in advance and confirmed before Monday's scheduled departure.
They failed to show up and the subcontractor has refused to provide any explanation, said Adam Minsky, the UJA Federation's president and CEO.
The UJA scrambled to arrange alternative transportation for the protesters. The organization says it fears hate is behind the bus cancellations.
"We were shocked," Minsky said in a media statement.
"Given the absolute silence of the subcontractor and with no other explanation, we are driven to the view that this shameful decision is intended to disrupt our peaceful rally out of hatred toward Jews."
Minsky said something similar happened in the U.S. last month when hundreds of pro-Israel protesters were left at Washington's Dulles Airport after bus drivers allegedly staged an impromptu walkout. That left protesters stranded instead of taking part in a huge rally in the nation's capital.
"What happened today is sickening and outrageous. We will respond aggressively with every legal and public affairs tool at our disposal," Minsky said, vowing "strong, decisive actions against this company."
Orr Gubbay, a student at Carleton University in Ottawa, said he and other Jews don't feel safe on campus.
Gubbay, who wears a kippa, said he's visibly Jewish and that's made him the target of attacks and taunts from other students.
"I face significant security concerns that I would not wish upon anyone," Gubbay said to the crowd.
The university has set aside a "safe space" for Jewish students so they can avoid abuse on campus, he said.
"I am deeply troubled — this act of faith has come to be politicized," he said, referencing his religious headgear.
Israel's Ambassador to Canada Iddo Moed said the "homeland of the Jewish people has come under threat not only militarily but ideologically."
Moed said "social justice warriors" have spread falsehoods about Israel that have prompted a backlash in Canada and elsewhere.
"Israel does not oppose the Palestinian people. Israel opposes the terrorist organization known as Hamas," he said.
Moed said Hamas must hand over all the hostages it abducted during its violent incursion.
That prompted cheers from the crowd: "Bring them home. Bring them home. Bring them home."
Israeli officials say 137 people are still being held hostage in Gaza.
Another 105 were freed during the recent temporary truce in exchange for the release of 240 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons. Most of those released on both sides were women and children.
An estimated 1,200 Israelis were killed the day Hamas militants launched attacks from Gaza.
'Our sorrow is deep'
More than 15,500 Palestinians have been killed in the nearly two months of bombing since then, according to figures from the Hamas-run Gaza health authority.
Raquel Look's son Alexandre was murdered by Hamas on Oct. 7 while he was at a music festival near the Gaza-Israel border.
"Our heroic, brilliant angel was taken from us, murdered in the senseless and brutal Hamas terrorist massacre," she told the crowd assembled in Ottawa.
"Our sorrow is deep and immeasurable but today we want to channel this immense pain into a call for action. Please let us honour his memory by standing up against the forces that seek to destroy Jewish and Canadians values we hold so dear."
She said the attack should serve as a "wake-up call to our politicians."
"We must take a tough stand against terrorism, antisemitism and against Jew hatred," Look said.
Liberal MP Anthony Housefather, who recently returned from a solidarity trip to Israel, said he's "angry" about the current state of affairs.
He said "as soon as Hamas murdered Israelis, people started making justifications" by downplaying the attack as some sort of act of resistance.
He said the United Nations has treated Israel differently than any other member country.
Antonio Guterres, the UN secretary general, enraged many Jews and Israelis when he noted that Hamas's assault "did not happen in a vacuum" — a comment that was seen as an attempt to justify the militant group's violence on that tragic October day.
"This is not 1943. I'm grateful that Israel exists and has an army to fight back against those who launched this pogrom," Housefather said, using a word originally used to describe violent anti-Jewish campaigns in eastern Europe in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Nate Leipciger, a 95-year-old Holocaust survivor, said he sees echoes of the Second World War in today's antisemitic violence.
Synagogues were attacked and defaced during that time, just as they have been in Canada and other Western countries in recent weeks, he said.
Such attacks are meant to intimidate and silence the Jewish community, he said.
He said Israel's enemies are "fighting not only with arms" but are engaged in a "psychological war" that includes spreading propaganda and "false narratives" about the country's war campaign.
"We stand proud with Israel as Jews and Zionists," he said. "We are here and we will not be defeated. We in the diaspora are not powerless. We shall fight."
Deputy Conservative leader Melissa Lantsman said she will keep up the pressure on the Liberal government to stand with Israel in its fight.
She suggested the government has wavered.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has urged Israel to exercise "maximum restraint" in its campaign against Hamas.
"It was easy to be pro-Israel when this first happened and its much harder now, and now we see who they really are," Lantsman said.
She said it's shameful that some Bloc, NDP and Liberal MPs have called for a ceasefire in region.
"This isn't over until the 137 hostages come home," she said.
"It's not over until the organizations who purport to stand up for women's rights recognize that the brutal sexual violence and rape of Israeli women is not resistance — it's barbarism and there's no defence of this."
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