Toronto (October 8, 2024) - Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center (FSWC) is aghast at yesterday’s protests in several Canadian cities where demonstrators openly glorified last year’s Hamas massacre in Israel of 1,200 people and the kidnapping of 250 others and openly called for more acts of mass murder.  

Yesterday, on the first anniversary of the terrorist onslaught in Israel, people in several Canadian cities extolled the October 7, 2023 slaughter and engaged in flagrant hate speech and anti-Canada, anti-US and anti-Israel incitement. In Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver, protestors praised Hamas and Hezbollah, both of which are officially listed by Canada as terrorist organizations, having killed of thousands of people.

The protests, which took place on public streets and university campuses, included the ripping and burning of Canadian and Israeli flags, and loudly applauded cries of “We are Hamas and We are Hezbollah,” “Death to Canada, Death to the United States and Death to Israel!” and “You will carry out October 7 ten times more.” At McGill University in Montreal, demonstrators also vandalized campus property.

With such alarming actions at anti-Israel protests growing in intensity, FSWC is stepping up its demand of both police and lawmakers to take urgent action to confront the public glorification of terrorism and ensure those who laud terror groups and call for more violence face legal consequences.

On October 1, FSWC, CIJA (Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs) and B’nai Brith Canada sent a joint letter to Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada Arif Virani urging new legislation to combat the growing scourge in Canada of terrorist glorification and incitement to terrorism. The Attorney General has still yet to respond.

"Public celebrations of the October 7 atrocities that took place across Canada yesterday were a chilling and dangerous display of hatred and support for terrorism,” said Jaime Kirzner-Roberts, FSWC’s Senior Director of Advocacy and Policy. “Watching individuals on Canadian streets openly praise the brutal murder of innocent civilians and call for further violence is appalling and should be unequivocally condemned. We urge authorities to take swift and decisive action against those inciting such hatred and violence. This is not only a threat to the Jewish community but an affront to Canada's core values of tolerance, democracy, and peace."

Watch the demonstrations here.