Michael Higgins: Toronto terror charges reflect a country that let the evil of antisemitism go unchecked

Is it really any wonder that three Toronto men who allegedly hunted women and targeted the Jewish community were using the very same tactics as Hamas?

On Oct. 7, 2023, it was Hamas who hunted Israeli women, raped them and killed them in a sickening display of violence that left 1,200 people dead. Within hours, there were people in Canada who took to the streets to celebrate the brutality.

And they are still celebrating because politicians, police and academics have given them licence to “globalize the intifada” and to chant slogans that call for the destruction of Israel and Jews. And if these “demonstrators” just happen to be in a Jewish neighbourhood, well it’s all legitimate political protesting, right?

For two years, Canada has pandered to people who care nothing for this country and whose only purpose is to demonize Israel and foment hatred against Jews. These vile people have been supported in the halls of academia and by a host of young people who have been brainwashed into believing that they are helping to stop a genocide.

Police could have laid any number of charges – hate crimes or intimidation, for instance – to stamp out demonstrations that moved from legitimate protest to illegally glorifying terrorism. Instead, they tried appeasing these people with Tim Horton’s coffee.

And when police do propose charges, lawyers get in the way.

Police recommended charging Charlotte Kates with willful promotion of hatred and public incitement of hatred after a Vancouver rally in April 2024 where she praised the Oct. 7 attack as “heroic and brave” and described Hamas as resistance fighters.

The rally, where people chanted “Death to Canada” and burned the Canadian flag, was videoed, so the evidence is there.

However, as of August this year, the B.C. Prosecution Service had still not charged Kates, the international director of the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network. Samidoun was finally listed as a terrorist organization by the Canadian government in October last year.

A request for an update on Kates from the Prosecution Service had not been answered by press time.

Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow said the city’s police chief, Myron Demkiw, told her that a “lawyer at headquarters” had told police not to “bother” to charge people accused of antisemitism because there was little likelihood of conviction. Demkiw later denied saying that.

It doesn’t really matter who said what. The reality is that whether it’s prosecutors or police, incompetence and inaction have allowed antisemites to own the streets.

Former prime minister Justin Trudeau lost much of this country’s Jewish support for his failure to tackle antisemitism and for his perceived bias against Israel.

“Shame on you Justin Trudeau,” was the verdict of B’nai Brith Canada.

Just two months ago, Jewish leaders gathered on Parliament Hill to demand the government do more to combat the rising tide of hatred against Jews.

“The Government of Canada must act decisively to confront the alarming rise in hate threatening Jewish Canadians and Canada’s inclusive, democratic society,” said a press release that urged more investment in community security; strengthening the Combatting Hate Act; closing gaps in anti-terror laws and holding Hamas and the Palestinian Authority accountable.

Meanwhile, college campuses across this country became rife with antisemitism, anti-Israel, pro-Hamas sentiment.

Last December, a report from Parliament’s justice and human rights committee, Heightened Antisemitism In Canada And How To Confront It, stated plainly, “Antisemitism in Canada has reached a crisis point. Jewish schools, community centers, and synagogues are being targeted by gunshots and Molotov cocktails. Swastikas are openly displayed, while mezuzahs are torn from the doorways of Jewish residences. Chants glorifying terrorist violence against Jews are heard on streets and campuses, without consequence. Jewish students are afraid to go to class.”

A year later and matters are only worse.

After the Bondi Beach attack Sunday that left 15 dead, the Canadian government’s Integrated Threat Assessment Centre said a violent attack against Jews in Canada was a “realistic possibility.”

Then Friday came news that three men had been arrested and charged for crimes against women and the Jewish community in Toronto. The men allegedly tried to kidnap women from the street with plans to sexually assault them. One of the men was also charged with ISIS-linked terrorism offences, including a plot to commit murder.

The father and son who committed the Bondi Beach massacre were inspired by ISIS (Islamic State) ideology.

“Our intelligence officials have made it clear that the ingredients that were in place in Sydney are also in place here in Canada,” said Noah Shack, the CEO of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, on Friday.

The extremism that “fuelled mass murder on the beach in Sydney is present here in the GTA and Canada and it is time for Canadians and Canadian leaders in particular to wake up before it is too late.”

But it is already too late.

It is shocking and deeply disquieting that antisemitism is so rampant and rooted in Canada that we have become a country that cannot say Bondi Beach could never happen here.

The best, or the worst, is for us to meekly acknowledge that it will happen, and probably soon. How pathetic is that?

What a shameful thing for a country to have to accept that it cannot protect its citizens. But that is the evil place where antisemitism has taken us.

National Post