OTTAWA — Jewish seniors were left fearing for their safety after an anti-Israel protest descended on a local community centre across from a long-term care facility in Ottawa’s west end last week.
Dozens of people gathered outside of the Soloway Jewish Community Centre last Thursday to protest an event happening on the campus aimed at recruiting volunteers to go to Israel. The location of the protest was directly across from the Hillel Lodge, a long-term care facility housing seniors.
According to David Sachs, a community relations and antisemitism specialist working for the Jewish Federation of Ottawa, the protest went on for several hours with a heavy police presence. He also said the protest was loud and disturbed community members inside of the campus at the time.
Those disturbed were not limited to those in the community centre and long-term care facility. The community centre campus includes a gym, school and nursery. Parents were called to pick up their children due to fears that the protest would turn violent or dangerous.
Sachs said that the event was deeply traumatizing for many community members that were present.
“At one point a group of senior citizens were trying to leave and were warned by police that it might not be safe for them to try and leave. It was very upsetting to see a group of senior citizens confronted with the fact that it is unsafe to be identified as a Jew on the streets of Ottawa,” he said.
The protestors spent several hours outside of the community centre using speakers and megaphones to protest the event occurring on the campus. Among the chants was a rallying cry including the lyrics “we want bullets and missiles and go back to Europe” in Arabic, according to a translation by The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs.
Directly across from where protestors were shouting and chanting was the Hillel Lodge. The long-term care facility houses 121 residents and according to Ted Cohen, the CEO of Hillel Lodge approximately 60 per cent of the residents have a form of dementia. Some residents of the facility are survivors of the Holocaust.
“We were the site of the protest. I can’t imagine in any world that a place where frail elderly people are trying to live their lives is a place for anybody to protest. These folks need peace and quiet and to be able to live their life,” said Cohen. “I saw residents, quite scared and trying to understand what was going on, wanting to be reassured that they were safe.”
According to Cohen many of the residents would usually be sleeping by the time the protest ended and that added to the stress and confusion that they faced.
Adam Sirota was at the gym in the community centre at the time of the protest. Afterwards, an older woman asked him to escort her to her car because she was afraid of the protests outside.
“She asked us specifically, can you wait until I’m inside the car and have driven off. It wasn’t ‘can you just walk with me make sure I’m safe?’ She was genuinely scared for her safety,” he said.
While Sirota was walking the woman to her car he was hit in the back with a flagpole. While the blow wasn’t enough to significantly harm him, it still shocked him.
It wasn’t the only reported instance of physical harm done to those leaving the community centre. According to Sachs some community members had diapers thrown at them when attempting to leave the centre.
An elderly man attempted to drive away from the campus and his car was swarmed by protestors, said Sachs.
“When he left his car was swarmed and attacked by these masked protesters. They were banging on his car, terrifying him, damaging his windshield and putting dents in his car,” said Sachs.
Sirota said it was unacceptable that this kind of harassment went unpunished.
“The fact that they wanted to protest doesn’t take away from it being a community space with a nursing home, child-care and a school,” said Sirota. “I found it absolutely unacceptable that it was allowed to happen to this extent and that they were able to come to a Jewish community space and harass anyone coming or going.”
National Post
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