Toronto’s weekly rally in support of Israel, which has now run for 61 consecutive weeks and counting, turned into a more consistently chaotic scene this fall.
What was once a handful of people—and later dozens—waving Israeli and Canadian flags outside a shopping plaza in the heart of a Jewish neighbourhood at Bathurst Street and Sheppard Avenue has escalated into an ongoing Sunday counter-protest by pro-Palestinian groups, fuelling a competition between two sides for sidewalk space, chants, and sound systems.
By contrast, the organizers of weekly rallies in Vancouver and Montreal, taking the form of marches—while Winnipeg has a regular silent demonstration on a busy thoroughfare—told The CJN that their experience with counter-protests has mostly been a different one than in Toronto.
The weekly events support the return of the hostages, who were kidnapped into Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023, and the Israeli soldiers.
At the Toronto rally, which steadily swelled to draw around 100 attendees—although the pro-Israel crowd on Dec. 1 was estimated at over 250 people—Toronto Police Services (TPS) have largely managed safety concerns by keeping groups apart, even with two sides chanting at one another (and sometimes taunting, recording, or holding up signs at the opposing side). For the first rally of December, about 100 counter-protesters showed up.
A reminder to those attending Sunday's demonstration at Bathurst & Sheppard. pic.twitter.com/ojbjHJ9zeT
— Toronto Police (@TorontoPolice) November 29, 2024
The demonstrations started as a response to the ‘Day of Rage’ called for by Hamas leaders on Friday, Oct. 13, 2023. From there, it grew from a small contingent waving Israeli flags to the current weekly two-hour rally with amplified sound and a “shuk” with flags available for loan. At least 15 to 20 police vehicles were counted in the plaza and surrounding area on Dec. 1, including a mobile command unit and what appeared to be a black surveillance truck, with a roof-mounted camera.
Local bylaw enforcement officers were also seen with audio equipment, measuring decibel levels.
In addition, volunteer security outfits such as Magen Herut and Shomrim Toronto have been a consistent presence—in some cases helping police create physical space during dust-ups between pro-Israel and anti-Israel demonstrators.
Elected officials sighted at the Toronto demonstration have included Conservative deputy leader Melissa Lantsman, Liberal MP Marco Mendicino, Conservative MP Don Stewart, Toronto city councillor James Pasternak, and Ontario solicitor-general Michael Kerzner.
Solicitor General Michael Kerzner addresses weekly pro-Israel rally at Bathurst and Sheppard.
— Caryma Sa'd – Lawyer + Political Satirist (@CarymaRules) October 8, 2024
In reference to hostages, he says:
“There is no country in the world that would forget about their own.”
📸 Oct 6, 2024#cdnpoli #Toronto #Palestine #Israel #Gaza #ProtestMania pic.twitter.com/fCUXU5m5vj
Recent rallies have seen a number of arrests for breach of peace and obstruction of officers. One person was arrested and charged earlier in November in connection with stomping on an Israeli flag.
Back in August, one person was arrested and charged with assault after 88-year-old rally regular Joel Sacke’s Israeli flag was seized and he was thrown to the ground.
Tensions have continued to escalate since then. A few weeks ago, counter-protesters brought out an armchair in a symbolic gesture to the circumstances of death of the assassinated Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and imitated the terrorist leader.
David Menzies, a reporter with Rebel News, was arrested after his attempts to interview counter-protesters and refusal to remove a video camera from a police officer’s face who stood between Menzies and counter protesters.
Rebel News publisher Ezra Levant in turn led a counter-protest with some of his staff members, followed by his own arrest a week later on Nov. 24. A call-out to his audience followed for the Dec. 1 protest: Levant showed up early to stake out territory, and counter-protesters brought signs specifically taunting him.
TZC president Guidy Mamann at Rally for Israel #61 yesterday congratulating his daughter Hannah on her Aliyah planned for today. Mazel Tov Hannah!!!
— Toronto Zionist Council (@TorontoZionist) December 3, 2024
❤️🇮🇱❤️🇮🇱❤️🇮🇱❤️ pic.twitter.com/dYFEjeA99f
Guidy Mamann, a rally co-organizer and lawyer, told the crowd Dec. 1 that “we had a great rally today,” even with the surrounding restrictions.
“Thank you to all to the folks across the street,” he quipped into the microphone while the rally was ending.
“You’re not getting any closer to getting rid of us… [you’re] welcome to return every week in the winter, we’re not going anywhere,” said Mamann.
“These are free streets. You can come as often as you want… we’re going to be here. We’re going to be celebrating Israel.”
The state of #ProtestMania
Caryma Sa’d has also been documenting numerous local demonstrations, posting videos from protests. She says the size of the counter-protest grew from a small number to the current contingent averaging at least 20 to 60 or more people over the past two to three months.
The lawyer and journalist, whose #ProtestMania postings have grown her social media following over the past year—along with mainstream media attention—senses there may not be consensus between the weekly rally organizers about whether Levant is helping things.
“Rebel brought its own contingent, basically,” to the mid-November rally, following Menzies’ arrest.
“He made his point. And then the week following that, Ezra showed up again. That was the week that Ezra got arrested. He was escorted over to film that [Sinwar] chair. I don’t know exactly how it went awry,” although there is video of the arrest, she said.
Hamas activists have brought a chair & Yahya Sinwar cosplayer to further incite & disturb the peace at the Jewish neighborhood in Toronto at Bathurst & Sheppard.
— Leviathan (@l3v1at4an) November 24, 2024
Multiple people have told police the reference & they refuse to do anything about it.@PasternakTO @ezralevant pic.twitter.com/eUK4QmoxRr
For Dec. 1, “[Levant] did a call-out for community members to support his initiative,” she said, including those “fed up with seeing how things are being enforced, or whatever he put out in his call-out.
“They showed up earlier than the Palestine counter-protesters do, and they kind of marched over and set up on the opposite side of the pro-Israel rally, where the counter-protesters would otherwise have established themselves.
“This is the first time that they kind of staked the territory in advance, but really, I think of it as there being three different groups. There’s the pro-Israel and pro-Palestine, but a subset of the pro-Israel is this counter-counter-protest, the Ezra Levant group—and there’s some overlap in membership there, but not perfect overlap.
“Some people came out more in support of the values of ‘we should be able to walk freely without fear of being arrested,’” she says. There are also protesters she said she recognized from COVID-lockdown-era protests, a wave of demonstrations remembered for occupations of Ottawa streets and the Ambassador Bridge between Windsor and Detroit in 2022.
(She has also been criticized by pro-Palestinian protesters who’ve accused her and her camera operator of aggressions while filming demonstrations, to which she’s responded by sharing videos of the events in question.)
A video Sa’d posted from Dec. 1 shows police speaking with the counter-protester that some say was displaying a Hamas symbol on a flag they were wearing as a cape, though it isn’t clear if there was a request to put away the item.
“One of the counter-protesters did have a flag cape, and it looked like it was the Hamas emblem on there. A few [of the] regular protesters on the pro-Israel side recognized it and were denouncing it, [they] wanted to see consequences for her,” Sa’d told The CJN.
Daniel Bordman, Salman Sima, and Scarlett Grace call for counter protester to be locked up because her flag cape features the Hamas emblem.#cdnpoli #Toronto #Palestine #Israel #Gaza #ProtestMania pic.twitter.com/xg9Z7WvsUu
— Caryma Sa'd – Lawyer + Political Satirist (@CarymaRules) December 2, 2024
“From a legal standpoint, I don’t know that wearing a particular flag or emblem in and of itself is a criminal activity. I think that police in deciding how they were going to respond, their priority seems to be de-escalation.”
Sa’d says she’s observed TPS de-escalate other situations, including officers asking attendees with items bearing Jewish Defence League (JDL) symbols to put them away.
A Hamas supporter today at Bathurst and Sheppard wears a Hamas flag. The Toronto Police was notified and took no action but last week Toronto Police took action against a Jewish man waving a Jewish Defence League flag. Hamas is listed as a Terrorist Organization not the JDL. pic.twitter.com/L1JnbICoXo
— Israel Now (@neveragainlive1) December 1, 2024
“I have seen [TPS] ask people to put, for example, JDL flags away, and I’ve seen compliance with that. Sometimes it’s as simple as… without intervening by laying a charge, can we just de-escalate the situation by addressing whatever it is that’s causing people to be angry? I’ve also seen someone arrested for… stomping on the Israeli flag, and he didn’t [stop after police warned him], and then he was arrested,” said Sa’d.
Some of the protesters and counter-protesters who now face off weekly across Bathurst Street had previously been doing so at the Avenue Road and Highway 401 overpass demonstrations and counter-protests early in 2024, before TPS chief Myron Demkiw banned those demonstrations, Sa’d said.
The prolific protest-watcher says there may be a sort of “resigned coexistence” between rival groups.
“Some of these people have been protesting against each other for over a year, and watching each other’s social media, seeing each other appear on each other’s social media… seeing themselves both appear on my social media or other people who are covering this… I think [that provides], sometimes, a different perspective,” she said, though she adds that it depends on the individual.
Growing pressure on city hall
Sunday rallies also became the focal point for outspoken members of the city’s Jewish community who have advocated for Toronto mayor Olivia Chow to take a stronger stance on antisemitism, which has skyrocketed since the Oct. 7 attacks. In the past year, there have been shots fired at synagogues and Jewish schools, increased hateful graffiti, and several disturbing incidents, including an assault on a parent outside a Chabad of Midtown pre-school in November.
Kehillat Shaarei Torah in North York, which has been vandalized or attacked at least six times since April 2024, reported a new attack on Dec. 2, with apparent graffiti and damage to a lawn sign.
Kehillat Shaarei Torah #Synagogue Vandalized by Pro-Palestine Activists, #Toronto, #Ontario, #Canada
— TRACTerrorism (@TracTerrorism) December 4, 2024
Read more: https://t.co/a06vN80vT4 pic.twitter.com/69yzzo0VsB
Chow was called out and her remarks were interrupted during an appearance at a summit on antisemitism at City Hall on Thursday. Eynat Katz, one of the organizers of the weekly rally, invited the mayor to join them by attending on Sunday, Dec. 1.
“We have been standing there, 60 weeks, the longest running, peaceful rally,” said Katz, who live-streamed the summit on social media. “I ask you, I ask you to join us this Sunday at noon, that’s it. Just show up. You don’t have to say anything. Just stand with us.
“We have been on that corner peacefully for a year, and about four weeks ago, masked protesters” began to counter-protest more consistently, Katz told the mayor while recording. “There’s a failure in the law right there, how they can run around, chanting … just calling for the destruction of Israel, taunting us across the street.”
Mayor Olivia Chow acknowledges Rebel journalists' arrests, refuses to stand with Jewish residents
— Rebel News (@RebelNewsOnline) December 2, 2024
Chow stressed that as mayor, she has no authority over who the police choose to arrest.https://t.co/8SrhUaWbXb
The mayor entered after the summit had already begun, following deputations from Indigenous, Christian, and Muslim community allies of combatting antisemitism, and victims of antisemitic hate crimes in the city, including one incident linked to the pro-Israel rallies.
At one point, Chow explained to an apparently underwhelmed number of largely Jewish constituents about the recently announced five-year commitment to funding more police officers.
Chow pointed out the hundreds of new graduates of the police college in 2024, and—as her remarks became a back-and-forth with community members particularly upset about things like the masked Sunday rally counter-protesters—explained that no elected officials can direct the police to enforce the law.
Toronto’s current mayor has yet to attend a rally at Bathurst and Sheppard.
Deputy Mayor @MikeColleTo, Councillor @BradMBradford and I hosted a press conference and vital Interfaith Summit on Antisemitism and Hate. We were proud to have community and faith leaders here at city hall to share their outrage over the hate that is gripping the city. Thanks to… pic.twitter.com/oQT7SeoU80
— James Pasternak (@PasternakTO) November 28, 2024
Views from Vancouver, Winnipeg and Montreal
Three other weekly rallies in Canada haven’t seen the same escalation of anti-Israel protest activity at their events, even while protests have closed Montreal colleges and caused property damage
In a collective podcast interview with The CJN Daily—which also featured Toronto’s Guidy Mamann—organizers in Montreal, Vancouver and Winnipeg said that their cities’ rallies have helped unite communities, and given people a chance to connect that they often didn’t know they needed.
According to organizer Daphna Kedem, the Vancouver event is strongly aligned with the message from the families of the hostages. Kedem says each week the rally has a theme, such as a recent focus on the international day for the elimination of violence against women. In addition, sometimes friends and family of Ben Mizrahi attend, in honour of the locally raised 22-year-old who was killed at the Nova music festival. The weekly event often includes an information table.
“It’s really surprising. Some people don’t even know that there are 101 hostages,” said Kedem. “Besides the rally part… [this is] where [people] can come and ask questions, because they see so much leaflets and false information, even stickers around town saying so many things… so I think it’s important.”
At all the rallies, organizers direct participants not to engage with counter-protesters, if they appear, and to leave any safety issues related to confrontations to police.
“This would not be the time that we can change hearts and minds… [in] a two-minute conversation, or yelling at one another, so it’s obviously not the right time,” said Kedem.
“We are in Vancouver downtown. There’s a lot of interaction. There’s a lot of questions. There’s a lot of people engaging,” she said.
Kedem says the rallies have received members of hostage families at the weekly events, though not frequently. One powerful moment, however, was when Yasmin Magal, the Canadian-Israeli cousin of hostage Omer Neutra, marched alongside the Vancouver group.
“We marched the streets of downtown Vancouver, and it was so powerful, and it was so touching for her. That was the peak of all the 60 weeks we had, because it was close to home.… it was the actual feeling that it is happening, she’s here with us, and we are trying very hard, and we are doing our best to be there with them and for them, and it was a very powerful march.”
Neutra was confirmed dead in Gaza Dec. 2 in an announcement by the Israeli military. He was killed in the fighting on Oct.7, and was not a hostage as had originally been thought. His remains had been brought to Gaza by Hamas.
At the weekly silent rally in Winnipeg, which is heavily supported and promoted by the local Jewish federation, organizers control the signs that are handed out. In sub-zero temperatures, sometimes the event runs much shorter, however, organizer Michel Aziza says they’ve never had fewer than 150 people, and average anywhere from 200 to 500 attendees per week over the course of more than a year.
Organizers in several cities, including Toronto and Winnipeg, noted the number of community allies who support the weekly hostage-focused Israel rallies.
“There are so many other communities [coming to support us] week after week,” including Yazidis, Filipinos, and Iranians, said Aziza.
“We may think we’re alone, but we’re not alone, and we may think that we don’t have a lot of support out there, but we do have a lot of support out there.”
Michal Bental, a Montreal organizer, recalls that a visit at one rally from the parents of Shani Louk, a German citizen who was murdered in the Nova attack and her body dragged to Gaza, made for a powerful moment.
“It created this closure, with the people who see all these photos [of hostages, and Oct. 7 victims] all the time… and suddenly they see the real people [for whom] this tragedy is so close to their hearts, and you realize that this is real,” said Bental.
“So for us, it’s really important to create these kind of closures, and engagements with different people. It helps people to keep the interest in what we’re fighting for.”
