Anti-Israel activists charged after protest at Israeli-Canadian business

X / neveragainlive1

A York University PhD candidate and social justice activist was arrested and charged for leading a protest inside an Israeli-Canadian business.

Anna Lippman of the anti-Israel group Independent Jewish Voices was arrested by the Toronto Police Service (TPS) along with other protesters this past January, a release from the service states.

TPS says that Lippman, along with Desmond Cole, and Helene Furlottee-Bois were arrested after they unlawfully entered the Awz Ventures office near Yonge and Eglinton.

Hamas supporters and modern day Kapos (traitors) targeting and disrupting AWZ Ventures in Toronto which is an Israeli-Canadian Venture Capital Firm. This is vile antisemitism. pic.twitter.com/NuXeqSamjA

— [email protected] (@neveragainlive1) January 31, 2024

Lippman has been charged with forcible entry, mischief to property, failure to leave the premise when directed, being a member of an unlawful assembly, and being a member of an unlawful assembly while masked.

Furlottee-Bois was given the same charges, while Cole was charged with mischief to property, failure to leave the premise when directed, and being a member of an unlawful assembly.

Toronto police say there are "unique challenges" to anti-Israel protests, noting officers are "policing in an unbiased way."
Following this, Rebel News reporter David Menzies and Iranian regime critic Salman Sima were both arrested on the weekend.https://t.co/HusmT5DsD4 pic.twitter.com/kEmMMViwDH

— Rebel News (@RebelNewsOnline) April 8, 2024

Anti-Israel advocacy group World Beyond War Canada (WBWC) condemned the arrests, and claimed that the TPS were looking to stamp out any pro-Palestinian protests.

“Toronto Police Services once again on the wrong side of history as they continue to criminalize the Palestinian solidarity movement,” WBWC said in a post on X.

Today the Toronto Police have once again attempted to criminalize and silence the Palestinian solidarity movement by arresting three peace activists who drew attention to Canadian venture fund Awz' complicity in Israel’s ongoing genocide. 1/3 pic.twitter.com/M3R1CA8lpt

— World BEYOND War Canada (@WBWCanada) April 15, 2024

Their post states that they targeted Awz Ventures for being "an Israeli-Canadian venture capital firm that invests in Israeli high-tech security companies, including several partnering with the Israeli military, Israeli intelligence agency Mossad, security agency Shin Bet, and the Israeli military's elite cyber intelligence unit."

“The action at Awz highlights that we refuse to have Jewish safety used as cover for investors to profit from genocide and occupation,” Lippman claimed.

“Toronto police are today criminalizing us for calling attention to this company, whose business aids the surveillance and punishment of Palestinians. Our commitment to Palestinian life is unshakeable, and the TPS will never silence us,” said Cole, according to True North.

The three activists are all scheduled to appear in court later in May.