We Can’t Guarantee Your Safety

As a Jewish activist who has attended numerous demonstrations in Toronto over the years,  I've heard this statement from police "We can't guarantee your safety." all too often. 

It's a dangerous way of thinking. The premise can be legitimate. If there are thousands of rowdy demonstrators protesting something in an area and just a few people who wish to counter their protest, there might be a case where the police might institute that policy of not allowing those few people to counter protest because the police would not be able to protect them from a massive crowd. 

The problem with this is twofold. 

First, where does one draw the line? If the bigger crowd is rowdy and explosive (ie. violent) then they will always have the upper hand. All one has to do is threaten violence when demonstrating and they will de facto be the only ones permitted to protest.  

Second, it gives the police an easy way to abrogate their responsibility to protect the public. They can pick and choose which people to protect and which people must lose their ability for free speech. Of course their policies come from our political leaders who give them direction. 

In Toronto, Canada, as is the case with most cities in the world, there are laws pertaining to protests. Protestors/demonstrators cannot trespass for example. In many cases a permit is required. Stopping traffic is usually illegal. Most important is they must be peaceful. We've all witnessed many rallies that occur all around us where all of these laws are broken, time and time again without any consequences. 

In 2021 during our Covid lockdown in downtown Toronto city hall, tens of thousands of pro-'Palestinian' demonstrators protested and took over most of our downtown core. At the time our mayor instituted laws prohibiting gatherings of more than 8 people. They also insisted on social distancing (minimum 6 feet between people was the rule). Worse still was the violence committed by these brutal protesters. There were many peaceful, counter protestors who were violently injured. I was there and witnessed the entire shameful and scary event. I was part of a small group of pro-Israel counter demonstrators. Soon we found ourselves sandwiched between 2 groups of 'pro-Palestinian' protestors numbered in the thousands. Their group grew exponentially within minutes as Arabs from as far as London Ontario were being bussed in every 10 minutes. A thin line of police separated the groups. At the start of the protest, the cops put a steel barrier between us. But later the 'pro-Palis' broke the barrier and surrounded us. I asked a cop why are you allowing them to surround us? He answered that there weren't enough police. I told him to call in more. I saw the fear in his eyes. They were scared. In short order they escorted us out of there to safety where we all quickly dispersed. We had to hide any identifiable decals of who we were. (Ie. no Israeli flags, kippot, etc.) There were no consequences for the 'pro-Palestinian' protestors. Not a single arrest. No comment from our mayor, city councillors or the mainstream media. Unless you were downtown at the time, you wouldn't have even known about it.

I posted about this when it happened: Leon's: The World is Upside Down  I realized then and there that our society in the West was in big trouble. While most of us were asleep at the wheel, Islamists had taken over our country. Our government gave them a pass. Instead of doing their job and keeping us safe (a prime directive for any government), they let the dangerous crowd rule the day. 

Today things have only gotten worse. One can see dangerous protests from Islamists also known as 'pro-Palestinians' who's chants are always 'From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free' (free of Jews) happening throughout the Western world. Sad to say that some of the few places one doesn't see this happening is in a few totalitarian states like Russia, China or North Korea. How pathetic has the world become if we need to follow their example?

Today a friend sent me this short clip here (you might need Twitter to watch it) of a righteous man from Iran who demanded to protest freely in Toronto against the Islamist crowd who have been illegally protesting every single week at our city hall at least since the Oct 7 massacre committed by Hamas in Israel. This is what pushed me to write this post. The police refused to let this man protest with a Canadian flag no less because.... wait for it....

'We can't guarantee your safety' 

But we can guarantee the safety of the other, thuggish Islamists side. We can guarantee only their right to free speech. 

I recently went to a protest around the corner from where I live. It was held at a highway overpass (hwy 401) where there have been 'pro-Palestinian' protests occurring there weekly. That day they didn't show up. I'm glad they weren't there. I don't need to expose their vile hate to my daughter who joined me. What was noticable were the lack of police. A couple of cop cars parked nearby for a few minutes and then quickly left. They know that we are always peaceful when we demonstrate. We don't block traffic or hang signs on the highway illegally. Mostly we don't threaten others! Here's a short clip of that event:

Me and my daughter Melanie at that demonstration:

We are going down a very dangerous road. The fight is on and the silver lining of Oct 7 is that it has woken many of us out of our stupor when it comes to defending Jews from Jew hatred. We can't afford to be silent any longer. Our grandchildren and society at large are at stake. It's obvious (to me at least) that we cannot rely on our politicians to enforce the law and keep us safe. Most of the current government throughout the western world have completely abrogated their responsibility. Instead they close their eyes and ears to us since we are a small minority in the hopes that we go away and eventually disappear. 

We won't. We never have.