JDL Canada thugs attack York students then cry “anti-Semitism”
Lobby Watch 26 November 2019
Lauren Isaacs of Herut Canada introduced Israeli soldiers at York University, as members of the Jewish Defense League Canada allegedly assaulted protesters outside. (via Dimitri Lascaris)
Canadian politicians are echoing fabricated claims of anti-Semitism after students rallying for Palestinian rights were attacked by a violent anti-Palestinian group at York University in Toronto last week.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has asserted that “violence and racist chants” were directed at Jewish students, and blamed “anti-Semitism.”
But available evidence, including video, paints a completely different picture: It was pro-Israel extremists who attacked students protesting the presence of Israeli soldiers on their campus.
On 20 November, Reservists on Duty held an event at York University, hosted by Herut, a Canadian group affiliated with Israel’s far right.
The organizers billed the event as an opportunity to hear from “real Israeli soldiers.”
Campus group Students Against Israeli Apartheid said it decided to protest the event because, it alleges, the “Israeli military, using Herut as a vessel, has been seen actively recruiting on campuses across Canada which is, in fact, illegal.”
Yet when the students showed up to rally for Palestinian rights, they say they were met with violence and intimidation.
“Palestinian students and students who turned up in support were assaulted and violently attacked during the rally,” according to Students Against Israeli Apartheid.
“Marshals and nonviolent protesters were kicked, spat on, shoved and were subjected to racist, sexist and Islamophobic slurs.”
SAIA alleges that “One protester was choked with his scarf” by a member of the Jewish Defense League.
Another was punched in the back of his head and taken to hospital, according to SAIA.
One anti-Palestinian activist was caught bragging on Facebook that “one of my boys knocked one of their guys out” and he was “out cold for like 10 minutes.”
Yet requests that campus security remove the Jewish Defense League members who were “threatening and assaulting protesters” were ignored, SAIA says.
Israel supporters reportedly attempted to steal students’ phones and have admitted to stealing Palestinian flags in order to beat students with the flagpoles.
Yet many prominent politicians have joined Trudeau in falsely portraying supporters of Palestinian rights as the instigators of violence.
“I wish that there was a way for the university and politicians who were echoing these false sentiments to get a better look into what actually happened,” Mohammed William, a member of SAIA and Campuses for Palestine, told The Electronic Intifada.
“We have video evidence of prominent members [of the JDL] saying they were here to take care of the protest, yet we’re the ones that were blamed for the violence that broke out.”
The incident is reminiscent of accusations that supporters of Palestinian rights engaged in “anti-Semitic” protests during a conference at New York’s Bard College last month. Those claims, made by The Forward’sopinion editor Batya Ungar-Sargon, have been thoroughly refuted by multiple witnesses.
Smear campaign
Despite evidence that Jewish Defense League members were the ones chanting racist slogans and assaulting Palestine solidarity protesters at York University, high-profile figures in Canada joined the JDL and Israel supporters in a smear campaign against the students.
The Jerusalem Post claimed that “600 violent, pro-Palestinian protesters” chanted “Intifada, Intifada, go back to the ovens.”
No video evidence has surfaced to support this shocking charge.
Adam Milstein, a convicted tax cheat and a leading Israel lobby funder, also repeated the claim, again without providing any evidence.
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