OTTAWA, Ontario — Thousands rallied in the snow here in Canada’s capital city Dec. 4 to support Israel’s right to defend itself against the genocidal assaults of Hamas and to oppose the rise in violent Jew-hating attacks in Canada.
Some 7,000 people came in buses from Toronto and another 2,000 from Montreal to attend the rally, which was organized by the Jewish Federations of Canada-UIA.
Speakers included Raquel Look, mother of Alexandre Look, who was killed by Hamas Oct. 7 at the Supernova music festival in Israel, and Holocaust survivor Nate Leipciger. Anthony Housefather from the governing Liberal Party and Melissa Lantsman, deputy leader of the Conservative Party, also addressed the crowd.
Many participants came with signs demanding the freeing of the 138 hostages still held by Hamas. Handmade signs were everywhere.
“I came today because I had a friend killed at the music festival in Re’im,” Yuval Papo, born in Israel and now resident in Canada, told the Militant. His fiancé, Lauren Schleich, who is not Jewish, made the trip from Richmond Hill, Ontario.
“We came to show support for Israel and because we are very concerned about growing antisemitism here in Canada,” Suzi Cohen, who was there with three other women originally from South Africa, told the Militant.
Shots were fired at two Montreal Jewish schools Nov. 8. Two days earlier the city’s Congregation Beth Tikvah synagogue and a nearby Jewish community center were firebombed. Hours after the Jewish Community Council hosted a Nov. 26 meeting to discuss these attacks, a Molotov cocktail was thrown at its building on Decarie Boulevard in Montreal.