The Ben Mulroney Show - The vitriol towards Jews was always going to end in violence. It's time to for our leaders to step up

Episode Date: May 22, 2025

Guests and Topics: -The vitriol towards Jews was always going to end in violence. It's time to for our leaders to step up with Guest: Ayelet Razin Bet Or, an Israeli expert on international law and human rights, who was also friends with Sarah Milgrim one of the victims of last night’s targeted attack If you enjoyed the podcast, tell a friend! For more of the Ben Mulroney Show, subscribe to the podcast! https://globalnews.ca/national/program/the-ben-mulroney-show Follow Ben on Twitter/X at https://x.com/BenMulroney Enjoy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Get 50% off lens upgrades in the Specsavers Spring Sale. Hey, I can upgrade my kids! You chill, Mom. I'll load the dishwasher. Awesome! Exclusions apply. I'll load the dishwasher. Awesome! Exclusions apply. See Specsavers.ca for details. Offer ends soon. Welcome to the Ben Mulroney Show. Thank you for joining us on this Thursday. It's, um, there's, well, there's some sad news that we've got to jump right into.

There's, normally the story of two young people falling in love at the place they work is, it was puts a smile on my face, you can see it. And you can hear it. And this the idea that two people could find themselves and go to a place where they both love working and find each other and, and build a life together that way is beautiful. Yesterday, two such people, two young people, were shot and killed in Washington, D.C. They were staffers at the Israeli embassy, Yaron Lashinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgram. They were leaving an event that was promoting peace

in the Middle East, and a gunman opened fire on four people hitting these two young people and they died. And it should be a warning for a place like Toronto, to be honest. Like we gotta call it what it is because I heard this story last night, this morning. And I thought we're setting up the ground conditions to do the exact same thing here for someone, for someone to escalate and for another person to lose their life.

I know it as sure as I'm sitting here. So to discuss this, we're joined by Ayelet Razin Bet-Or, an Israeli expert on international law and human rights, but also someone who is friends with Sarah Milgram, one of the victims of last night's targeted attack. Ayelet, thank you so much for being here. Thank you for having me, and thank you for your strong words, which is exactly, I think, what we should learn

from this horrific terror attack on Sarah and Johan. Well, first, allow me to say, I'm so very sorry for your personal loss. We'll talk about the larger implications in a moment, but tell us a little bit about your friend, about Sarah. So Sarah was, first of all, a colleague. And if you would have known her, you would have understood how she sneaks into your heart, in every heart of any person that she met.

I am a criminal lawyer since October 7. What I've been, my mission that I took upon myself was to learn and research and advocate for the victims of the sexual violence of October 7th and captive. And that's how I met Sarah. Sarah was my contact person in the embassy in Washington and she took it upon herself to make sure that the story, these voices, these victims stories will not be forgotten. And she was the one who made all the arrangement and the coordinated, the important meetings and briefings

that I did in the Senate, in the State Department, in the White House, and all these places. So that was really something she took upon herself. She was passionate. She was passionate about the work. It was, she was, and she also, she joined the embassy after October 7th because she felt the rise

of the ugly head of anti-Semitism. And she combated it, not in violence, but in diplomacy, in that peaceful making. Again, this was something that was very important, telling the facts, right, telling the story. And that's the way she fought anti-Semitism, which eventually brought to her murder. And let's talk way she fought anti-Semitism, which eventually brought to her murder. And let's talk about the murder. The person who is alleged to have perpetrated this awful crime

was heard shouting, free Palestine, free Palestine. So we know it was targeted. Let's assume that they have the right man in custody, and there's no reason to suggest otherwise, but this was targeted, they were targeted because they're Jews. And look, when you hear something like that, it gives far more credence to the concern that protestors shouting from the river to the sea or globalize the Intifada, those aren't just words. They are motivational. or globalize the Intifada, those aren't just words. They are motivational.

They are gasoline on a fire. If somebody has it in their heart that they feel that they can do something for their cause and those words are rattling around in their head, I think it makes it more likely that somebody is going to pick up a gun and do some damage. Exactly. And Canada has suffered, Jewish and Israeli Canadians have suffered grave terror attacks by anti-Semites. And this is something it's important to say, this is not

a sporadic murder of Jews. It's a peak in an escalation of violent crimes against Jewish people around the world, in Canada, in the United States, also in Europe and Australia, all over. also in Europe and Australia all over. And it is legitimized. It's something that is, you know, normalized by freedom of speech and freedom of protest and not enough is being done, obviously. Oh, I would say almost nothing is being done in this city. We're currently at our city council in Toronto,

debating a bubble bylaw, which would be one of the most watered down bubble bylaws in the country where protesters could be as close as 20 meters from a school or a synagogue or a children's school or residential homes. So to me, we're not doing anything. 40% of the total hate crimes in Toronto are perpetrated against 3% of the population.

So we are not doing nearly enough. But I will say one thing, another reason that I was concerned when I read this story, Ayelet, is protesters in this city descend quite often on the same intersection of Young and Bloor. And yes, it is the most, it's the most it's

the busiest intersection in Canada, but it's also a stone's throw from the entrance to the Israeli consulate. That is not by accident and my fear is the people who work there will be targeted. You're very right, but it's not only the people in the embassy, because the result of the murder, I means that this freedom of protest, this freedom of speech has brought to the, you know, complete, you know, Jews not being able to practice their right to pray and to be together because there is a danger. Tell me which other group, ethnic group, religious group is constantly under a threat and in such ways that they can't wear a kippah, they have to wear hats

to camouflage themselves, not their symbol, the Magan David. I was in Britain, they told me you need to have an Uber name. You can't have this Hebrew Jewish name that you have. You haven't needed an Uber name. I went to synagogue. They told me to ask to get off a few blocks before so I won't be targeted by the taxi drivers that I'm taking, it's a constant threat. It is unsafe to be a Jewish person these days,

not in Israel and not all around the world. We've been talking about the fact that the police in the city of Toronto have not stepped up and drawn a line in the sand and said, across this line, you cannot cross. And the pushback is, well, we as the police, we don't want to escalate. And I've been saying since the beginning,

if the police don't escalate by arresting, then the protesters will escalate by being emboldened to take it one step further the next time. By pushing the line. Yeah, exactly. The next murder is not a question. It's not an if it's a when it's a when and usually after these kinds of things, it's very inspiring. And it will be very shortly after in Europe and Australia or in Canada. And I have to say that Canada is had a very long series of violent crimes,

very violent crimes, compared to the world, especially in Toronto even, if I'm not mistaken. No, you're right. Against Jews. This has not been a good time for the city of Toronto in terms of how it stands up for the Jewish Torontonians. But I let Razeen Bet-Oor, thank you so much for joining us. Thank you for allowing us to remember Sarah.

And I just hope that it's on your own. And I hope this serves as a warning for cities around the world. We appreciate you. Thank you very much. A wake up call. Thank you. Thank you very much.

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