A group of protesters that included high school students chanted “Jews are our dogs” during a July 4 rally in Canada against Israel’s possible annexation of portions of the West Bank.
B’nai Brith Canada released a statement on July 8 stating that the protest, which took place in Mississauga, Ontario, featured 100 protesters; one of the co-organizers was a high school student. Several other high school students also attended. The protests featured chants in Arabic that included “Palestine is our country and Jews are our dogs” and “martyrs by the millions march to Jerusalem!”
Canadians chanting “the Jews are our dogs” in anti-#Israel protest.
No, not Iranians, or Palestinians, or any other nationality…Canadians.
Antisemitism, 2020
https://t.co/d2YZKqK7VE— Emily Schrader – אמילי שריידר امیلی شریدر (@emilykschrader) July 8, 2020
B’nai Brith Canada announced in its statement the Jewish organization has filed a hate crimes complaint against the protesters.
“The display of anti-Semitism in Canada’s public squares is totally unacceptable,” B’nai Brith Canada CEO Michael Mostyn said in a statement. “Opposition to Israeli policy can never be used as an excuse to demean Jews as ‘dogs’ or to threaten violence against them.”
He added: “We have reached out to the high school attended by one of the rally’s organizers, and hope to visit at an appropriate time in order to educate students about the dark places to which rhetoric of this sort can lead.”
Toronto’s Centre for Israel Jewish Affairs (CIJA) Chair Barbara Bank similarly said in a statement, “There is a lot of room for legitimate discussion about the State of Israel and the politics of the Middle East, but our community will not accept the use of Israel as a pretence to call Jews ‘dogs.’ This is not just offensive. Hate directed at Jews and other communities has a toxic impact on our city, province and country. Hatred that starts with words all too often ends in violence.”
She also called for Canadian lawmakers to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of anti-Semitism, which states the delegitimization and demonization of Israel is anti-Semitic.
Jaspal Gill, interim director of education at the Peel District School Board, condemned the “hateful, anti-Semitic comments” at the protests.
“At this time, we are unable to confirm that any of the youth involved attend Peel District School Board schools,” Gill said. “Anti-Semitic comments like the ones made are simply unacceptable. We must, as a society, be unequivocal in our condemnation of anti-Semitism and discrimination in all its forms.”
