The Ben Mulroney Show - Where is the leadership in our Country on the Hatred towards Jews

Episode Date: May 23, 2025

Guests and Topics: -Where is the leadership in our Country on the Hatred towards Jews with Guest: Melissa Lantsman, Deputy Leader of the Conservative Party of Canada 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

Welcome to the Ben Mulroney Show. Thank you so much for joining us. Very glad to have my next guest joining me. In any other situation, I would have a raft of questions about politics and what to look forward to in the next Parliament. But that is not germane to the conversation we're going to have today. Please welcome to the show Melissa Lansman, Deputy Leader of the Conservative Party of Canada. Melissa, thanks so much for joining us today. Thanks for having me. And I'm sure we have plenty of time to talk about what's going on in parliament. Yeah, what happened to all the elbows?

We'll find out about where, the elbows are under the golden dome now, but we'll talk about that a little bit later. I wanna talk to you about really the state of play for Jewish Canadians, Jewish Torontonians, and what seems to me like a chain of events that I'd love to break down with you. So, you know, we had the Canadian government coming out alongside our allies in France and the UK

with a very stern condemnation of Israel and its prosecution of the war with very little mention of Hamas's responsibility. That was followed by the targeted assassination of two Israelis on the streets in cold blood of Hamas's responsibility. That was followed by the targeted assassination of two Israelis on the streets in cold blood of two young people in Washington by somebody screaming, free, free Palestine.

Then Benjamin Netanyahu accuses France, Britain, and the UK of emboldening Hamas. Then we have a beefed up bubble bylaw in the city of Toronto that could have gone the other way, emboldening Hamas. Then we have a beefed up bubble bylaw in the city of Toronto that could have gone the other way, but instead, I think because of all this, fueled almost probably guilt by those who have been doing nothing on the file to protect Jewish Torontonians.

And now we've got a walk for Israel, which is scheduled for Sunday, and a worry that counter protesters are gonna blockade it. So I wanna talk about all of that with you. Do you see the chain of events as I do? Yeah, look, I think you forgot a couple of things. I mean, you've gotta reevaluate your politics when a listed terrorist organization,

one that we recognize in Canada, thanks you for your stance on the issue. And don't forget that this comes after 19 months of a community feeling entirely terrorized in their neighborhoods, in their synagogues, in their schools, in their businesses, with a complete abdication of responsibility from every politician at every level of government, including our police, and our unions, and it's all coming to head now. Yeah, it's, it's, it's, but it was disappointing is, you know, with a change in government, I was hoping for a change in tone, a change in position, but it's very much in keeping with if not worse than what we saw under the previous government. Yeah, look, I think you have a big departure from what was Canada's longstanding position

with a democratic ally. You now have a government actively, you know, soaking this uh... this this fuel and looked at the news yesterday of the of the two innocent uh... you know bystanders your own lashinsky and sarah uh... melgrim in washington d this is the this is the consequence uh... the tragic consequence of the relentless falsehoods that have been uh... been propagated by the government itself in Canada and governments around the world and those who say that these things are understandable because of a war on the other side of the country.

There are effectively two Jews that got shot at close range outside of a Jewish building, outside of a Jewish event and you have people in this country, in our own orbit, saying that this is understandable. If you don't see this as antisemitism, then I'm not sure there's a way forward. Well, yeah, I mean, I saw a video yesterday, or I saw it this morning, I guess there were some people having a vigil

outside of the Israeli consulate here in Toronto, which is ground zero for so many of the protests, by the way. And a woman, I guess, on her way to the subway could not contain herself screaming expletives to the people who were mourning the passing of two innocents by equating it with the war on the other side of the world. And even if you take the Hamas numbers as legit, which they are not, for somebody to walk out of their way to disparage and insult the memory of two people had nothing to do with that war,

tells you how far we have to go to bring these two sides together. No doubt. And it is all in a calculation to win a few votes or be popular at the faculty club or in the worst case scenario hide behind the hatred under the convenient guise of what's becoming much more socially acceptable, which is a new form of antisemitism that we haven't seen before. And this is, this puts the Jewish community in deep peril

and there's not a single day that goes by where you don't have a conversation with somebody in that community or that lives side by side or that is an ally of that community who says, is there a future here in Canada for this community? And that is a shocking it's a shocking revelation. Will you be in attendance at the Walk with Israel this weekend in Toronto?

Yeah, and I suspect you might be too. Yes, I am. These cowards and these mobs of protests in our streets. And those who, you know, fire gunshots into schools and fire bombs into buildings will never silence my voice on parliament. And I know that it won't silence the many thousands of people that will be at that walk. We will walk with pride

and we certainly will count on law enforcement to keep that as safe as possible. Melissa, do you think that the police will be motivated to show that they care just a little bit more about enforcing a law at an event like this today than they otherwise would have been had two people not been gunned down by a pro-Hamas terrorist? Look, I think in where I'm at in York Region, I think we've had police, you know, effectively do their jobs and we've seen a whole lot more action than we've seen in Toronto. I'm not going to opine on what the police will do, but if history is any example, we have seen these lawless mobs get away with breaking laws,

and the lack of enforcement around that has led us to these things like bubble legislation in municipalities across the country. And I suspect we'll see more of that, but that's only because of the abdication of responsibility from law enforcement and from politicians across the board. But there is a wild card, but that's only because of the application of responsibility from law enforcement and from politicians across the board. But there is a wild card, and it's reported in Toronto Sun, that not only are anti-Israel protesters planning to attend the walk, but they posted an internet meme suggesting that those behind last year's pogrom attacks after a soccer match in Holland are going to be participating. Now that just might just just be bluster. But you know, if there is any chance that that level of violence is actively being courted and imported into Canada, surely that's that's breaking some sort of some sort of law.

That level of violence is is already here. It's already in our midst. If you're a parent of a school who's been shot at not once, not twice, but three times, you know that violence is here. If you're one of the businesses that have been vandalized, you know that kind of violence is here. If you have been sitting on a patio in downtown Toronto, trying to make your way through smoke bombs and genocidal chants, you know that kind of violence is already here.

The question is, is what are politicians and what are law enforcement going to do about what's already here? Yeah. Well, listen, Melissa, as always, your voice on this issue, your courage on this issue is vital. And I'll say it one last time. I don't think it needs to be said,

but I reject the binary view that to stand with the Jewish people of Toronto or Canada in any way demonstrates a lack of empathy for the innocent people of Palestine. I reject that worldview and I'm not playing that game. And I thank you very much. You've never played that game and I know that this community appreciates your support so much. Well, I'm going to show that support on Sunday at the Walk with Israel. And maybe I'll text you before because otherwise I don't think I'll see you in that sea of blue and white. I'll see you there.

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