The Ben Mulroney Show - Why is nothing being done about the Jew Hatred in Canada?

Episode Date: January 14, 2025

Why is nothing being done about the Jew Hatred in Canada? Guest: Brad Bradford, Toronto city councillor for Beaches-East York Guest: Richard Robertson, B'nai Brith Canada's Director of Research and Advocacy 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 back to the Ben Mulroney show. Mayor Olivia Chow was a guest on on Greg Grady's show just a few moments ago. And so much of the conversation revolves around the budget and the money that we send to City Hall and what they do with it. And I think it's the perfect opportunity to present a counterpoint to the mayor. And I have felt for a very long time that the most responsible counterpoint to the mayor and her agenda is Councilor Brad Bradford for the beaches East York. And Brad joins us now.

Councilor, welcome to the show. Thanks very much, Ben. Always good to be with you. Okay, so the conversation went directly to cutting costs and finding efficiencies. And here is what she said. Well, we are finding that our parks department can do better. The washrooms can be cleaner. Why is it that we have people that are doing the job and not performing. We are finding that community centres can be better used. Some of the pools and the programs that we offer can be better. So we are doing all of those things

and if you look at TDC for example, TDC, the ridership has gone up. So we have to have better services in order to catch up. I'm not quite sure what to make of that answer. Because the question was, have you found efficiencies and and talk to us about cutting costs? And she talked about pools and bathrooms. I don't know anything about the line items on a budget, but I have to suspect that those are quite literally drops in the bucket. Yeah, it's an interesting take from the mayor there. The reality

is her default instinct when it comes to the budget is to raise taxes raise fees across the board. And now this is the second year where we've seen that for Mayor chow and her administration. People understand that this budget proposal is triple the rate of inflation and it comes on the back of a record-breaking tax increase last year at the City of Toronto. And you know as well as I do, Ben, that there are families out there that are struggling to put food on the table. There are seniors on fixed income. And this all comes in the context of likely significant tariff increase that will increase the cost of goods across the board

for people right now. So even yesterday, you know, I heard from families I heard from residents in Toronto, that were really concerned about this. And I think Olivia Chow's, you know, seeming commitment to make Toronto more expensive. It has a lot of people waking up frustrated and concerned this morning. It's a more expensive city for sure. It's also a more hateful city, full stop. There is a lot more hate on the streets than I've ever seen in my 20 some odd years living in this city.

And we had two terrible disgusting examples of it yesterday, most notably the, the Jewish business that was vandalized in an attack where the words F Jews was vandalized, was scribbled all over the walls, as well as probably the most insidious and dehumanizing thing I've ever seen on the streets of Toronto where young children sat front row for what was essentially a theatrical display, like a circus meant to mock Jews across the street. What what do you say to our mayor who, by the way, I had her on Greg Brady's show months

ago, calling out behavior like this, and I got I got an evasion, I got a dodge. What do you say to her? Well, I mean, you got to stop being a bystander and you need to be an upstander. And there has been such a lack of leadership on this file that has allowed antisemitism to percolate and fester like an infection on the street of Toronto. And you know, it's not hyperbole. It's just look at the examples that you just gave, you know,

when you've got people spray painting F Jews and kicking in the doors and smashing up Jewish owned businesses. When you have, as you rightly described, one of the most disgusting examples of Jew hatred, the language being used to display the circus, the tent. This is about teaching kids to grow up with Jew hatred, with the hatred of the Jewish people.

It is so disturbing because we've seen this in history before and we all know where that led. And now I look around, I cannot recognize the streets of Toronto, of this city. It's not the Toronto that we thought we knew. And in moments like this, you have to be absolutely clear in your condemnation. We have to stand shoulder to shoulder with our law enforcement. And, you know, the mayor likes to often sort of fall back

on the idea that we don't direct the police. But the context of that is we don't direct the police who to charge and what to charge them with, but we certainly can provide direction and we need to ensure that our law enforcement understands that they are fully supported and and while it might be uncomfortable to watch protests cleared out of the center or to shut down this sort of the hateful mobs that have taken over our streets. Yeah, that's what needs to happen. Brad, Brad, tell me in this hypothetical that I'm gonna propose, what would debate be like in city council today if instead of a circus focusing on Jews across the street, it was a circus focusing on people coming out of a mosque?

Well, I gotta tell you, Ben, it would probably be different. And I I'm just I'm referencing that because I presented a petition, you know, from a multi faith coalition a few months back, about, you know, calling on an end for Jew hatred and the anti semitism that we're seeing on the streets of Toronto. And I stood up and I cleared my throat. And I read that petition into and calling on an end for Jew hatred and the anti-Semitism that we're seeing on the streets of Toronto. And I stood up and I cleared my throat and I read that petition into the microphone and I looked around the chamber and eyes staring down at the floor, navel gazing.

It almost made people uncomfortable. And I think about that question, what if this was a different identifiable group? What if this was a petition about Islamophobia or anti-black racism? We would all be there. Transphobia, we'd all be there to sign that and to be there in solidarity. But sometimes for some elected officials, when it comes to Jewish people, they get uncomfortable and they need to ask the question, why are they uncomfortable with that? And so I think it does seem to be different with Jewish people.

There is a double standard here in the city and it's totally unacceptable and it's getting out of control. And my big concern is for those families and those people of that community that somebody's going to get hurt. Yeah. I don't understand what it is because if I saw this video of somebody doing that outside of a mosque or installing themselves across the street of the Pride Parade or during the St. Patrick's Day Parade

or during Carabana, I would be equally disgusted. And I don't understand why other Torontonians can be situationally hypocritical and say, I would be marching in the streets to demonstrate my disgust over what I saw if it happened to group X, Y or Zed. But when it comes to the Jews, I sit silent. I do not understand how that hypocrisy can exist inside the souls of Torontonians. The hate across the board is outrageous. And here's another example. I've been pushing for safety zones around places

of worship for many months now. The mayor and our allies have worked hard to downplay that, to kill those motions. But even at our meeting in December, the mayor and the allies tried to downplay anti-Semitic hate crimes, saying, well, well, Council Bradford, those are not hate crimes. Those are just reports of hate. And, you know, we all know that hate crimes take time to work their way through the judicial system before they officially land and are characterized as a hate crime. And that's why we use language like hate incident.

But again, imagine if we were talking about transphobia or Islamophobia, they would not be parsing words to say, well, that's not a hate crime, that's just a hate incident. But again, when I talk about anti-Semitism, it's like, well, Council Bradford, those are just reports. And it may be sick. Like I cannot believe the double standard from some of the the folks in elected office and so called leadership positions here in the city of Toronto. It's disheartening, it's disgusting, and it has to stop. Well, look, you know, you refer to inaction, but inaction in this case has been has been

has been occurring for so long that it is in and of itself a type of action and it is action in the wrong direction. It is allowed these the is given this hatred space and room to grow when people say, oh, we don't have a place for this in the city. No, we've made space for it. We've cleared out a lot of space so that this hatred can grow. The anti-Semitism is like a cancer. It grows cell by cell and gets bigger and bigger until it starts to take over.

And it feels like we're along that journey over the past 16, 17 months. And we literally just saw on the streets that they're passing the baton to a younger generation. They're indoctrinating the next generation. So this is something we're gonna have to deal with next time. You're right, it is growing in terms of the numbers, but it's also growing in terms of the generations. I'm gonna have to leave it there, Brad, but I really thank you so much for coming on the show

and thank you for being a voice of reason in a world that just feels like it's sorely lacking some. And thank you for being a voice of reason in a world that just feels like it's sorely lacking some. And for your support in these efforts as well. Take care. I keep hearing anti semitism has no place in Canada. I've been hearing it for a long time. But when the people in power seed the moral high ground and walk back from where they should be pushing back. You leave a lot of open space for anti semitism.

And anti semitism like a virus spreads real quick. And we are living in a country where we've left we've given the space for anti semitism to run amok. This has not been a good week for people who stand against anti semitism. And we're going to go through a few of those stories with Richard Robertson from B'nai B'rith Canada, the director of research and advocacy. Richard, welcome to the show. Thank you so much for having me on, Ben. So the first the first story is that the His But Terrier Khalifa conference has been cancelled.

B'nai B'rith says it's been cancelled following its advocacy and engagement with senior officials and law enforcement and concerned Canadians. And I think it's great that it's been cancelled. But why didn't the government force their hand and cancel it themselves? You know, I was reading that the federal public safety minister David McGinty issued a statement saying that this organization has a history of glorifying violence and promoting anti semitism and extremist ideology and supporting terrorist group Hamas and Hezbollah entirely contrary to Canadian values and asked them to

scrap their conference. He asked them politely, please stop. And and they did so. But I think it would have sent a much stronger message if they'd used every tool in their toolbox to make sure that this organization knew they were not welcome. And I completely agree with that, Ben. It's unfortunate in a sense that it had to come from the grassroots, from community organizations who were able to put pressure on the government to make statements like the one you just referenced and on the his buta career organization itself to cancel their conference. If the government doesn't have sufficient tools in its toolbox to end hateful events like this and to stop them

proactively from happening then our government needs to take a long hard look at how it can create such tools via legislation. I also hope then that this will serve as an impetus for a review of his Butacharier based on the letter put out by Associate Minister Ben Dayan and Minister McGinty. It's clear that our government is aware that his Butacharier is an organization that has a history of supporting terrorism and they should be a listed terror entity in this country. Well, yeah, and I don't think that should be a very heavy

lift. Richard, they are already banned in Bangladesh, China, Russia, Pakistan, India, Germany, Turkey, the UK, Kazakhstan, across Central Asia, Indonesia, and every single Arab country except Lebanon, Yemen and the UAE. What are these countries seeing that we don't? Well, then I think that this is just another example of Canada except Lebanon, Yemen and the UAE. What are these countries seeing that we don't? Well, Ben, I think that this is just another example of Canada being late to the game and it's time for our government

to put our national security first and to be a leader in identifying groups that are a threat to our nation or to global security and to act accordingly as a result. Well, Richard, that was a grenade where the pin wasn't pulled. And fortunately, we don't have to deal with the spillover of the damage that something that toxic could cause. But that doesn't mean that we're not living with some

some some really vile reaction, anti semitic action. There was an Ontario business that was vandalized very recently. There was a kosher food caterer in Markham, Ontario, was vandalized with words like F Jews scribbled on the walls and so much damage to the storefront. At some point, what does an organization like Benet-Breath do withith do with something like that? The men, there are pictures of the men, their faces are covered. I don't know that there's much that we can do, but I'm sure you guys have tools available to you

to move the ball down the field. We most certainly do, and we will continue to assist law enforcement and to provide them with whatever information we can to help in their investigations. But more importantly, Ben, as a society, we need to identify who is causing this hate. Our sister organization in the United States, the ADL, came out with a really interesting survey today, their Global 100 survey, which identifies attitudes of antisemitism around the world.

Unfortunately, nearly half of respondents around the world were seen to harbor antisemitic attitudes, but in Canada, the respondents actually scored quite well. Only 8% of respondents were seen as harboring antisemitic attitudes. And when we take that number, Ben, and we review it with what we're seeing, the day-to-day

incidents of anti-Semitism that are occurring across the country, it's a fringe radical minority that is holding our Jewish community hostage and that's really tearing apart the fabric of our society. And we need to identify that radical fringe, the 8%, and we need to, we need to ostracize them from our community because hate has no place in Canada. And that takes me right back to where we started the conversation, which was the people in positions of authority have ceded the moral high ground.

They have let, they have let this fringe, loud, toxic minority take over that space. They haven't fought for that space. And I believe that were those people noble enough to fight for that space. I don't believe that that fringe minority would be as emboldened to be as loud as they are today. I agree, Ben, it's time for our leaders to take a stand into to embolden the silent majority. Canada is a proud nation with a proud history of values that

that represent tolerance that represent inclusion. And it's time for that Canada to fly its flag. Richard, what happens to a community, like families and people who depend on a business like this? What happens to them when when they see firsthand the damage of an antisemitic attack? Well, this is a community that's been trying to close wounds since October 7th, since the October 7th attacks in Israel and every single time that there's another incident of antisemitism, it just adds to the collective trauma. This is a community that's feeling increasingly unwelcome here in Canada. And we've we've

we're well past the tipping point. And so we're now dealing with a community that doesn't feel safe, that doesn't feel included. And it's a really unfortunate situation, Ben. We've seen a lot of disgusting anti-Semitic attacks. One of the most disgusting and dehumanizing things I think I've seen in Canada was on social media yesterday when families gathered with young kids to watch Jewish protesters on the other side of the street, but through what looked like a circus tent

to imply that they were wild animals or a freak show. And the fact that they were, this dehumanizing, this dehumanizing tone was being taught to the next generation is frightening. It was disgusting. Dehumanizing is the correct term. And what's most upsetting is that the protests that they were trying to make a mockery of and to defame has been going on for well over a year.

For over a year, it was a peaceful protest where members of the Jewish community came together to grieve and to celebrate their heritiv and to stand in solidarity against hatred. And unfortunately, over the last several weeks, the protest has been corrupted. We've seen displays of glorification of Hamas terrorists, of Yaya Sinwar himself. And now we saw this real circus show, so to speak, Ben.

And it only adds to the diabolical nature of it, that it's corrupting what was a beautiful, wholesome, peaceful grassroots protest. And Richard, I've got to wonder, you know, to our leaders who stayed silent when they saw that, I wonder what they would say if that same circus paradigm were applied to a pride parade or to St. Patrick's Day parade, or to the Caribbean festival, I suspect they would they would they would be up in arms. And yet today they remain silent.

And that's what part of the narrative that has to change then we as a society have a strong history of standing up against hatred and standing up against anti semitism should be no different. Richard Richard Robertson, the name Brits Canada's director of research and advocacy. Thank you for your time today, sir. Thank you for having me then. against anti-Semitism should be no different. Richard Robertson, Benet Brits Canada's Director of Research and Advocacy. Thank you for your time today, sir. Thank you for having me, Ben.

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