Avi Benlolo: Hatred on our streets abetted by Hamas terrorist-supporting politicians

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“Glorifying our Martyrs” and “Free Palestine” were graffitied on a bridge this week in Forest Hill, one of Toronto’s prominent Jewish neighbourhoods. It was a veneration of the so-called Hamas “Martyrs,” who murdered, raped, and mutilated 1,200 Jews on Oct. 7, and took 254 people — many of whom have been murdered and sexually assaulted while in captivity.

At Toronto’s Cedarvale Park, someone drew swastikas on posters hung on lampposts calling for the freeing of Israelis kidnapped by Hamas. Days prior, at Nathan Phillips Square on April 7, a pro-Hamas activist used a megaphone to disparage Jewish children who were peacefully there with their parents to calling for the release of the approximately 129 Israeli hostages still held by Hamas.

He screamed at them, “you have no religion. You crawled out of the earth  Tell them (their parents) to crawl back in. That’s where you belong. Your parents are going to hell.”

In the Greater Toronto Area, it’s becoming clearer that Hamas sympathizers are living next door or sitting on the subway next to you. They are living among us, propagating their hate and promoting their violence. Police have already cited hundreds of rallies and protests which have cost the city some $12 million, in addition to the growth in arson, targeting of Jewish communities and businesses.

Last week, six Toronto city councillors endorsed these pro-Hamas rallies — ostensibly supporting ridiculous concocted pro-Palestinian days like the so-called Land Day and by extension (one assumes) the Iranian-backed Al Quds Day by putting out a statement called, “Protecting the Right to Protest in Our City.”

Their statement says, in part, “freedom of assembly is a protected right in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. In these difficult times of heightened tension in the world and Toronto, these rights must be protected as part of our democratic society.” In other words, Toronto is your doormat. Do with it what you will, even if it requires you to verbally abuse children.

It’s this lax attitude that has given rise to pro-Palestinian groups crossing the line between free speech and hate speech and between peaceful assembly and violent assembly. Scuffles with police officers who are striving to maintain peace have become commonplace, as political leaders are taking up the Palestinian cause.

Now politicians and schools are also discussing observing a “Nakba Day” — if only it included the truth that Arabs rejected the UN’s two-state solution in 1948. Instead, our schools and government will adopt the false narrative that Jews evicted Palestinians from their land. They won’t say that Jews are the indigenous peoples of the land of Israel.

It’s not just a municipal problem, however. Commiserating with Hamas instead of an allied democracy (Israel) is par for the course federally in Ottawa. By announcing the re-funding of the United Nations Relief Works Agency (UNRWA) after its staff allegedly participated in terrorism, our own government is looking the other way when it comes to terrorizing Jews in the Middle East.

It sends the wrong message: why should terrorizing them at home be any different? The government is on our side, say the Hamas activists.

Last week, my organization, The Abraham Global Peace Initiative, released a major report demonstrating the problematic behaviour by UNRWA — in fact, arguing for its dismantling rather than for renewed funding. We pointed to four major areas that must give every Canadian cause for concern:

First, UNRWA perpetuates distress and the refugee status of Palestinians. Second, UNRWA schools have become incubators for incitement. Third, UNRWA personnel have been accused of terrorism and fourth, UNRWA has failed to take measures to rectify these practices.

Canada has stringent anti-terrorism laws and sanctions related to terrorist entities. Canadians are not permitted to participate, facilitate, instruct, or harbour terrorists. Given the accusations levelled at UNRWA, our laws must be applied in the spirit of the concerns that would apply to any person or persons engaged in terrorism in our country.

If even a single dollar facilitates Hamas terror activity through UNRWA (and our report indicates it does), any funding of the agency contravenes our own laws.

But there’s a subtle yet significant shift happening in Canada. Ordinary people are awakening and actively seeking to counter the increasing divisiveness, hatred, and violence on our streets through civil and political action. They reject the erosion of our core values rooted in civil discourse and decorum. Canadians are becoming more aware, and for those attempting to undermine our moral principles, this serves as a clear warning that we will not be silenced.

National Post

Avi Abraham Benlolo is the Founder and CEO of The Abraham Global Peace Initiative.