First, they came for the Jews. Now, they are coming for everyone else. You were silent. You refused to speak. But we warned you: what begins with us never ends with us. We Jews may be the entry point, but we are not the final target.
This week, they burned the Canadian flag on the steps of the Vancouver Art Gallery. Brazenly and without shame, they proclaimed allegiance to Hezbollah and Hamas. In other words, they openly identified as terrorist sympathizers. Not only that, but they chanted “Death to Canada, death to the United States and death to Israel.” But are we listening? We often turn to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms to remind ourselves that freedom of expression is a fundamental right.
However, those who declare themselves to be friends of terrorism are not playing by our rules of peaceful citizenship. They are exploiting our laws to advance their agenda — to undermine our freedom and democracy. If you burn the Canadian flag and align yourself with Hezbollah and Hamas, you are no longer opposing just a minority Jewish population — you are challenging our country as a whole.
They have tried to silence Canadians by imposing a fabricated tool called “Anti-Palestinian Racism” (APR) to suppress those who speak the truth. Several weeks ago, they attacked me using this term for writing the truth about the history of Israel and the Palestinian people. I did not back down. Over the next few columns, I continued to shine a light on the darkness they were attempting to impose. They will try again, using this same tool, to justify their hate and allow the burning of the Canadian flag. But we won’t let them.
You should not be granted the right to hide in plain sight while you recruit impressionable youth to aid and abet terrorists, to incite hate and violence against Canadians — particularly the Jewish community — and to further the goals of terror organizations like Samidoun, an alleged pro-terror group that organized the Vancouver demonstration and is reportedly tied to designated terrorist organizations.
In Canada, you have the right to assemble and protest freely. But hate speech and violence motivated by hate are against the law. For too long, Canadians have turned a blind eye as pro-Palestinian groups blocking streets, calling for genocide against the Jewish people and denouncing our country. Even some politicians have enabled this behaviour by failing to support Canada’s Jewish community and appearing to side with terrorist sympathizers. Markedly, in Arab countries like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, you will not find protests supporting Hamas and Hezbollah. In Israel, I just visited campuses whose Arab students told me there are no protests against Israel and a mutual respect on campus exists.
At York University this week, a video sent to me by a reader captured a pro-Palestinian march through Vari Hall to mark October 7, where students chanted that resistance is justified. If you believe that murdering children and families in cold blood is “justified resistance,” Canada is not your home. It defies every Canadian value to think that in the name of Palestinian resistance, it is justifiable to rape and mutilate the bodies of girls and women.
If you were one of the students who smashed windows at McGill University this week while hiding behind a keffiyeh, Canada is no longer your home. If you have grievances with the democratic state of Israel, which is fighting for survival against Hamas and enduring a daily barrage of rockets from Hezbollah in Lebanon, take it up with Hamas and Hezbollah — do not attack this country.
The terrorist-supporting mob on our streets must be stopped immediately. If history has taught us anything from the Holocaust, it is that what begins with words always ends in violence. For over a year, Canadians looked away while the Jewish community was targeted. Now, our flag is being burned. From the Nazi book burnings of Torah scrolls and the works of Jewish academics, we know that those who burn books — or flags — will ultimately burn bodies.
It is time to reclaim Canada from those who seek to terrorize it. First, we must strengthen our hate crime and hate speech laws by reducing bureaucratic hurdles. Law enforcement must be empowered to act swiftly, making arrests and prosecuting hate offenders as decisively as they terrorize our communities. Second, we must acknowledge that terrorist groups are constantly forming. A dedicated task force should be established to identify and list such groups on our terror watchlist, freeze their bank accounts and place their leaders on no-fly lists. Third, we must be prepared to deploy our armed forces to counter increasingly violent rallies that threaten our nation.
Lastly, and most urgently, Canada must immediately stop funding terrorism by suspending funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, some of whose staff participated in the October 7 atrocities.
The burning of our flag should serve as a warning to all Canadians. If history repeats itself, they may have come for the Jews first, but rest assured—they will come for you next.
National Post