( Breitbart )
An anti-Israel student protest in the Canadian regional center of Mississauga which featured antisemitic chants is the subject of a hate-crimes complaint filed by a local Jewish organization.
Global News reports video from the rally appears to show a protester chanting an antisemitic slogan in Arabic, “Palestine is our country and the Jews are our dogs,” as others repeated the insult along with other chants.
Canadians chanting “the Jews are our dogs” in anti-#Israel protest. No, not Iranians, or Palestinians, or any other nationality…Canadians. Antisemitism, 2020 pic.twitter.com/d2YZKqK7VE — Emily Schrader – אמילי שריידר (@emilykschrader) July 8, 2020
Sauga for Palestine, the group that organized the rally at Celebration Square, describes itself on Facebook as a group of “students passionate about Palestine … who want to make a statement against Israel and its illegal practices.”
The mayor voiced her concern at the display in the immediate aftermath of the event and said the matter had been referred to local police:
I stand with our City's Jewish community in strongly condemning these hateful and disturbing antisemitic comments. Hate has no place in Mississauga. We're a welcoming city that promotes unity, understanding and acceptance. Those who seek to divide us are not welcome here. https://t.co/fD7FF5TYy8 — Bonnie Crombie (@BonnieCrombie) July 8, 2020
“The display of antisemitism in Canada’s public squares is totally unacceptable. Opposition to Israeli policy can never be used as an excuse to demean Jews as ‘dogs’ or to threaten violence against them,” was the response from Michael Mostyn, chief executive officer of B’nai Brith Canada.
“We have reached out to the high school attended by one of the rally’s organizers, and hope to visit at an appropriate time in order to educate students about the dark places to which rhetoric of this sort can lead.”
According to an April 29 report by Peel Regional Police, Jews were the most targeted religious group for hate crimes in the region in both 2018 and 2019, despite constituting just 0.22 percent of the total population as of 2013.