OP-ED: From the UN to Casa Loma, Jew-hatred grows unchecked

Sue-Ann Levy writes, "It has become so volatile for Jews in Toronto that when my wife and I attended a Beit Halochem tribute to IDF soldiers, we were surprised to see no screaming Hamasniks there."

Author: Sue-Ann Levy

It has become so volatile for Jews in Toronto and the anti-Semitism so intrusive that when my wife and I attended a Beit Halochem tribute to injured IDF soldiers Thursday night, we were surprised to see no screaming Hamasniks there.

Perhaps they wore themselves out harassing Jews at an event at Casa Loma Tuesday night (more to come on that).

Too bad because they had plenty of fodder, or at least faux fodder to scream about.

The event featured four IDF soldiers celebrated for coming back from near death at the hands of Hamas. One young lady was shot 12 times on Oct. 7 while on duty at Israel’s southernmost command post.

All of them spent months convalescing and having to learn to walk again.

It was quite remarkable.

The other appearance was from a remarkable woman — Rachel Etri — dubbed the “Cookie Lady” for convincing five terrorists not to kill her or her husband on Oct. 7 by giving them (stale) cookies and coffee.

She cried as her son, Evytar Etri (an Israeli police officer) who accompanied her from Israel, read a tribute to her.

That wouldn’t have mattered to the protesters, who have made it pretty clear that it’s not Israelis or Zionists they’re after. And it has absolutely nothing to do with free speech.

Any Jew will do.

It is a rare Jewish event now that doesn’t feature a screaming mob of terrorist sympathizers — emboldened and more out of control after 19 months of pandering by Toronto’s anti-Semitic mayor and our weak-willed police chief.

Most, from what I’ve seen, have absolutely no clue what they’re screaming about — at least about the nuances of the Mideast conflict —and appear to be mouthing the propaganda fed to them by terrorist sympathizers who get them involved, or their radical professors (if they’re still in school), or their unions or by like-minded haters on social media.

Trouble is, the great unwashed who are protesting have ramped up their in-your-face attempts at intimidation and taunts of “baby killers,” “inhuman” and “Death to the Jews.”

The lackadaisical approach by Toronto police and the way police Myron Demkiw and his brass have pandered to these evil people have made it easy for them.

When my wife and I arrived on Tuesday night for a fundraiser in support of the Abraham Global Peace Initiative — which fights terrorist threats and exposes anti-Semitism — they had taken over the streets of a residential neighbourhood.

There were about 100 cops on site — an overtime bill easily of $40,000 or more for the evening—but the cops were having a hard time managing the scene.

That was particularly because there was no space between the lawful and the lawless. Mayor Olivia Chow and her council Marxists have taken so long to approve bubble zones, that wasn’t even an option Tuesday night.

Several masked protesters surrounded our car screaming at us. We were subsequently forced to park off-site because the cop cars had taken up all the spaces and wend our way through the mob.

Some of them recognized me and shouted out my name several times.

The police stood and watched.

We spoke with some of them after the event and got the feeling they’re fed up with it too.

But they’ve gotten their orders from on high.

In any event, the haters claimed they were there to protest the appearance of Gilad Erdan, former Ambassador to the UN from 2020 to 2024.

They claimed he’s an Israeli “war criminal” — although all I heard in Erdan’s speech was an articulate analysis of why the UN has become so corrupt and anti-Israel.

He said the United Nations now has 56 member countries that are non-democracies and human rights violators with the same voting rights as the United States or the UK.

”The arsonists have taken over the fire house,” he said. “The UN has become a weapon in hands of terrorists and dictatorships.”

The UN has been “weaponized” to try to tie Israel’s hands while they defend our enemies,” he said.

Their one sole purpose is “to wipe Israel off the map,” Erdan added.

”The UN is a house of lies,” he said, noting that Israel represents 1/10th of 1% of the world’s population but receive 70% of the UN’s condemnations.

By contrast, Iran was invited to chair a human rights council.

Saudi Arabia leads the Commission on the status of women, he says.

And not one human body has condemned Hamas to this day, Erdan said.

He added — to cries from the terrorist sympathizers outside — that the more these people try to destroy Israel, the stronger they become.

He noted that anti-Zionism — the modern form of anti-Semitism — has reached a “boiling point.”

He added that anyone who supports terrorists should be held to account — including our own Prime Minister Mark Carney.

“When Hamas celebrates your statement (as they did last week with Carney),perhaps it’s time to check your moral compass,” he said.

Mr. Carney you say you want peace, why are you rewarding the very terrorists who slaughtered 1,200 people, who raped, tortured … why are you pressuring the victims to stop defending themselves?”

The poison we saw outside Casa Loma Tuesday night is a direct result of flames that have been fanned by Carney, Premier Doug Ford and Chow.

It’s only about the Jews. It’s always been that way.