Two Toronto councillors are calling on city police to do their job during a contentious march taking place later this month.
In a letter published this week, Councillor Brad Bradford said he expects police to enforce the law during this month’s al-Quds Day rally — an annual anti-Israel rally that frequently serves as a venue for the hateful, genocidal rhetoric that’s become commonplace in the city.
“There’s a long history of concern around al-Quds day,” Bradford told the Toronto Sun.
“There’s a widely understood view that this is a hateful protest event that calls for the elimination of the State of Israel, and is often accompanied by protestors glorifying terrorists and waving Hamas flags.”
Typically observed on the last Friday of Ramadan, al-Quds Day has its origins in Islamist Iran.
It’s a day used by anti-Israel activists to call for the destruction of Israel and express support for Palestinians.
The Arabic name for the Israeli capital of Jerusalem is al-Quds.
In his letter, Bradford says al-Quds day is used as an excuse to espouse antisemitic rhetoric and chant genocidal slogans — actions he maintains go beyond controversial speech and into the realm criminal hate speech.
The Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas terror attacks touched off a worrying epidemic of antisemitism in Toronto, largely fuelled by anti-Israel and far-left activists.
Toronto Police have garnered intense criticism for their uneven enforcement at these hate rallies, starting with video of officers delivering coffee to activists illegally occupying a bridge, and most recently the release of a police podcast where two Muslim liaison officers praised the Oct. 7 attacks for triggering a spike on converts to Islam.
Bradford joins Coun. James Pasternak in his pleas with police to do their jobs, saying that Jew hatred in Toronto has become normalized.
“There’s an absolute absence of leadership in the administration across the board, and that starts at the top with the Mayor (Olivia Chow,)” Bradford said.
“There’s a view out there that we have police protecting these hateful mobs. When you see hundreds of folks taking to Toronto streets, shutting down intersections, blocking bridges, targeting businesses — that’s difficult for a lot of folks to understand why that’s happening.”
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