Canadian Jews call for investigation of activist who called for murder of Israelis

Comparing Israelis to robbers, former President of cultural center Palestine House said that one does not negotiate with "thieves."

By SAM SOKOL, JTA
Elias Hazineh (photo credit: YouTube Screenshot)
Elias Hazineh
(photo credit: YouTube Screenshot)
The Canadian Jewish community has called for a police investigation into local pro- Palestinian activist Elias Hazineh over comments this past weekend calling for the shooting of Israeli Jews.
Caught on video speaking at an Al-Quds Day event in Toronto on Sunday, Hazineh told a crowd of approximately 400 attendees that the Jews “have to leave Jerusalem” and “Palestine” or face being shot.
Comparing Israelis to bank robbers, the former president of the cultural center Palestine House said that one does not negotiate with thieves “and we have been negotiating with [the Israelis] for 65 years. We say get out or you are dead. We give them two minutes and then we start shooting and that’s the only way they’ll understand.”
Several members of the extreme anti-Zionist hasidic sect Neturei Karta were present during Hazineh’s remarks and could be seen in a YouTube video of the event holding a sign asserting that “Judaism rejects Zionism.”
The rally took place at a park near the grounds of the Ontario capital building. Last week, the sergeant-at-arms of the Legislature denied a permit to hold the rally on the grounds surrounding the building for reasons of “public safety.”
“It is disgusting and outrageous that a speaker at a rally in Canada would call for the murder of Jews in Israel,” said Shimon Fogel, CEO of the Center for Israel and Jewish Affairs, the advocacy arm of the Jewish Federations in Canada, a communal umbrella organization.
Hazineh’s statement constituted a “hideously new low for Al-Quds Day,” Fogel said.
In 2011, speakers at the annual event were taped by the CIJA calling Israelis “racist,” “inhuman” and “barbarians” and carrying flags of the terrorist organization Hezbollah.
Palestine House, which had offered newcomer settlement and language instruction services, lost its government funding in 2012 due to what Jason Kenney, minister of citizenship, called its “pattern of support for extremism.”
Fogel said that the CIJA has contacted the Toronto Police Service “in order to determine whether the statements made by the speaker constitute a violation of the Criminal Code of Canada.”
Al-Quds Day, an annual event started by the Islamic Republic of Iran following the 1979 revolution, is held on the last Friday of Ramadan as an expression of solidarity with the Palestinians and frequently features calls for the end of the State of Israel.
During an Al-Quds rally near Sydney on Friday, protesters waved flags bearing the banner “Delete Zionists,” the JWire news site reported. In Berlin on Saturday, Islamists marched along the Kurfürstendamm shopping strip, calling for the abolition of the Jewish state.
Supporters of Hezbollah and Iran blanketed the area with Hezbollah flags and chants declaring “Zionists are fascists.”Benjamin Weinthal contributed to this report.