BREAKING: Jewish cabinet minister dismisses concerns after terrorist attack on synagogue
Normally, a terrorist attack like this would be top of the news. But it’s Canada, and the antisemitic crime wave has become normalized.
I just got back from the Toronto synagogue that was attacked by gunmen last night.
Just hours after Temple Emanu-El hosted a celebration of Purim, the Jewish holiday, gunmen pumped it full of bullets. It’s now cordoned off as a crime scene.
Normally, a terrorist attack like this would be top of the news. But it’s Canada, and the antisemitic crime wave has become normalized. For three years, Jewish synagogues, schools and businesses have been the target of a violent onslaught. One nearby synagogue has been vandalized ten times in a row. A Jewish girls’ school has been shot at three times.
On a weekly basis, mobs of pro-Hamas extremists walk through residential communities in Jewish neighbourhoods of Toronto, screaming epithets at any Jewish families they see, all under the watchful eye of Toronto Police, who do nothing.
Scratch that: sometimes the police bring coffee and donuts to the Hamas protesters. Oh — and sometimes they arrest our Rebel News journalists for reporting on their misconduct.
As I was wrapping up my report from the synagogue, Michael Kerzner walked out. Kerzner is Ontario’s Solicitor General, which means he’s in charge of police. He’s the one who sets policy. And for the past three years, Kerzner’s policy is to turn a blind eye to antisemitic crime, from assault to harassment to trespass to uttering threats, all of which occur on a weekly basis.
A couple of years ago, after one of the shootings at the Jewish girls’ school, I asked Kerzner why he wasn’t willing to charge anyone with existing laws that are on the books — such as a Criminal Code provision making it illegal to harass synagogues or other places of worship.
Kerzner’s answer was so gross: the first thing he said was that he wears a Jewish yarmulke, as if that somehow answers my question and excuses his pro-Hamas policing. The second thing he did was to shift the blame to the federal Liberals, when again, he is the politicians in charge of Ontario police.
I think Kerzner might have forgotten about that interview, because when I pressed him again today, he literally said the same thing: I shouldn’t worry about this new act of terrorism, because he wears a yarmulke.
And I should stop asking him why Hamas protesters walking through Jewish residential areas aren’t charged, because, after all, he’s working with the federal Liberals, or something. What an embarrassment.
The blame here belongs to the terrorists. And it also belongs to the media who have normalized antisemitic crime, and the police who refuse to do anything.
But the blame also rests with cowardly politicians like Michael Kerzner, whose main job is to set police policy, and he has chosen a policy of allowing antisemitic crime to run unchecked. And of course his main job, politically, is to tell Jews to be quiet and not complain — after all, he points out, he’s wearing a yarmulke. What a disgrace.
Kerzner is the Solicitor General. He sets policy for every police officer in Ontario. And he has decided to normalize weekly antisemitic crime festivals. And who better to do that, than a yarmulke-wearing Jew.
Kerzner answers to Ontario Premier Doug Ford. And just like Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow, and Prime Minister Mark Carney, they can all do the math: decades of mass immigration from Third World countries has brought millions of antisemites into Canada. And if the price of winning those votes are a few synagogue shootings, that’s a price they’re willing to pay.
Ezra Levant
Rebel Commander
Ezra Levant is the founder and owner of Rebel News and the host of The Ezra Levant Show. He is the author of multiple best-selling books, including Ethical Oil, The Libranos, China Virus, and most recently, Trudeau's Secret Plan.