On Sunday, Nov. 24, journalist and Rebel News Co-Founder Ezra Levant was arrested after silently filming a pro-Hamas demonstration in his Jewish neighborhood in Toronto and refusing to cross the road.
“I’m refusing to leave because I’m a Jew, and I’m a citizen, and I’m your boss,” Levant told the police. “And I don’t leave because you say Jews aren’t allowed on this side of the street.”
The officer replied that Levant was under arrest for breaching the peace, while protestors called out “loser” and “Zionist.”
According to Levant, every single Sunday since October 7, 2023, a group of 100 pro-Israel, pro-Canada people wave flags at the same spot and call for the release of the hostages held in Gaza.
“For the last month, pro-Hamas protestors have driven into our Jewish neighborhood and set up a counter protest on the other side,” Levant told the Journal. “They chant antisemitic slurs and hold up swastikas. It’s really awful.”
This time, they did a reenactment of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar’s final moments when the IDF killed him.
“It was bizarre and macabre,” Levant said. “I was absolutely disgusted. The police were just standing around.”
The journalist, who describes himself as a free speech libertarian, stood on a public sidewalk, taking photos and filming the Sinwar display. The police told him to cross the road, but he would not. As Levant detailed on X, one officer then pushed him away.
“Another officer, named Macduff, said if I didn’t go to a special ‘free speech zone’ they’d set up far away, I’d be arrested,” he wrote. “I told him Canada was my free speech zone, I was a citizen and taxpayer, and I would not get off the sidewalk.”
According to Levant, the police then handcuffed and searched him and took him to the back of their car. He was put in a jail cell, where he had to wait for a few hours to learn his fate. Ultimately, he was released.
“It was completely unconstitutional,” Levant said. “Hamas protestors don’t get to veto who can be on a public sidewalk. It’s bad enough that there are foreign entities in Canada who are agent provocateurs. It’s gross that the police are now their concierge.”
There are a few reasons Levant believes he was treated this way.
“It’s the path of least resistant for the police,” he said. “What’s easier? If you arrest Hamas protestors, you’re in for a riot. But the police do not have the power to arrest someone just because other people are threatening them.”
There is also what Levant calls “woke policing” going on.
“You have police commissioners and chiefs who realize in some places that demographics have changed,” Levant said. “In Toronto, there are 400,000 Jews and 2 million Muslims. Politicians have altered their stance. They’re fine with antisemitism.”
“Politicians have altered their stance and are fine with antisemitism.”
Since Oct. 7, there has been an alarming rise of antisemitism in Canada; it has increased by 670% according to the Israeli ministry, with shocking incidents of shootings at Jewish school buildings.
Levant said that unlike in America, where there are pro-Israel, pro-Jewish politicians on both sides of the political spectrum, “in Canada, our entire cabinet and political class is overwhelmingly antisemitic. Pierre Poilievre, the leader of the Conservative party, has been very good, but that’s about it.”
The lesson that the journalist learned from this incident was that “Jews have to stop being passive and quiet. We cannot be pushovers. We need more muscular Jews – not in terms of violence – but we need to be assertive and not let them steal our rights.”
Levant is working on a lawsuit against the Canadian police force. Rebel News already has seven lawsuits against the Canadian government.
“We are very active when it comes to holding them accountable,” he said. “[Prime Minister] Trudeau hates us and has banned us from attending press events. He’s obsessed with us because he doesn’t control us. We’re one of the few media companies in Canada that’s independent, since almost all the others are taking government funding.”
Though the antisemitism in Canada has gone up, Levant plans to stay and keep reporting on the news.
“My family has been here for 120 years,” he said. “I’m not leaving because some thugs just off the airplane think this is Gaza. I will help turn things around in Canada.”
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