Hey everybody Jamie here I’m here uh in Thornhill Ontario outside the bait synagogue with our producer Derek hey Derek hey Jamie so we are here because there is a very large protest going on outside the synagogue there’s several hundred people there Pro Palestinian protesters pro-israeli protesters and
The Genesis of this protest is because there is a real estate event going on inside the synagogue tonight and you know at the heart of the controversy here is that some of the venders have advertised that they’re selling property in the West Bank which is of course a
Piece of territory that according to the United Nations and Canada is occupied by Israel so we’re going to go into the protest now when we got to the street in front of Beth aaham ysf of Toronto synagogue nearly 2 weeks ago we found it had become this Stark dividing line it
Separated hundreds of protesters kept to their respective sides by police and high viz vests but it was also this concrete symbol or manifestation of the Divide between some Canadians over the war in Gaza on the southern sidewalk and high up the stairs to the synagogue was a sea of
Israeli flags and some Canadian ones too with signs that said things like Kamas equals Isis dance music blasted from PA speakers targeting synagogue at taking to churches this is really disgusting and uh we hold the line here for freedom of religion on the North sidewalk was a blend of Palestinian
Flags in black and white cafas the scarves that protesters have taken as a symbol of resistance to the wooden fence behind them that stood guard over Suburbia protesters had stuck signs that said things like free Palestine we came here today to protest the uh event that is happening in the
Synagogue they are on the other side distorting the whole idea of why we are here they keep calling we quickly ran into protesters on both sides who defied the easy stereotypes of who supports each cause like Salman SEMA among the demonstrators on the synagogue side who said he’s a
Refugee from Iran who runs a group called The International Coalition I against discrimination even I’m not a Jewish person I’m a Muslim I practicing Islam doesn’t matter which religious you are if you cannot be safe in synagogue if you cannot be safe in churches so
This is not a Canada that I refug to in 2011 I came here as a refugee and among the people protesting under Palestinian Flags we met a rabbi Rabbi David meser who’s a member of the group independent Jewish voices so I’m here because this synagogue is hosting a real estate sales
Promotion event selling properties built on Stolen Palestinian land and I want to shut it down I want to expose it so people know about it and hope that it never happen a big part of all our conversations at these protests was the fact that they took place outside a
Synagogue a place of worship Rabbi miver was clear he said the protest wasn’t directed at the synagogue but at what was happening inside that if a synagogue was holding a um sale in its parking lot of stolen cars would the police do something about that if we were like we
Are selling cars that we just picked up from a criminal gang that stole them from people all over Toronto and we’re going to sell them in our parking lot but we’re a synagogue so we’re allowed to you know enjoy this kind of impunity and if anybody objects and that’s really
Anti-semitic because hey we’re a synagogue so they’re using the synagogue as a kind of a shield and that should not be permitted the whole thing shouldn’t I also spoke to Basil Abdul CER with Toronto for Palestine about this he’s organized protests for Gaza in Toronto before we are going to be
Painted with a broad brush as anti-semites simply because we’re protesting outside of a house of Warship we’re protesting the event that’s taking place inside there whether it took place in a gym or a basement or any structure we would be out here protesting as we are and the but from the pro-israel
Protesters in front of the synagogue and especially from people like honey alalay who worships there I kept hearing that the protests were about far more than one event and you don’t think that they want peace in Gaza you don’t think they want peace in Gaza no way they want to
Take over all of Israel are you listening to what they’re chanting all they keep chanting is that they want the whole land they want the Jews out it’s not like let’s negotiate it’s like get out and give it back what’s the CH I kept asking protesters if they’d spoken
To people on the other side of the street and they routinely said they hadn’t been able to or that it might seem like confrontation so over the course of the afternoon and evening we did our best to pass between the lines and put these perspectives against each other so that
You can hear them in conversation together eventually I was able to speak to the senior Rabbi of the synagogue in question his name is Rabbi Daniel kobin yeah the Genesis of the protest it’s really a pretense the Genesis of the protest is that I believe that they were looking
For an opportunity to come to our property to in the middle of the Jewish community and and intimidate because of what’s going on in Israel today uh if you were to ask anyone from the other side uh do you believe that Israel proper is not occupied territory do you
Believe it’s not stolen land I don’t think that there would be a a response to say that no we only believe that the area beyond the green line is occupied territory listen to The Chance the chance are from the rivers to the Sea Palestine will be free and the fact that
People have come to the doorstep of our synagogue and really spat on our holy place is really to us not only a lack of Civility but it’s unacceptable it should be unacceptable for Canadian Society because Jews are the Canary in the coal mine today it’s the synagogue tomorrow they’ll find a pretense to
Protest against the Church to protest against the Hindu temple all they’re looking for is an opening to do this this is the unraveling of of our society that we’re seeing before our eyes this actually wasn’t the first real estate event of this kind that Thornhill saw this month there was one in a
Different synagogue earlier in the week a 27-year-old vau man is facing several charges it’s alleged the man identified by York Regional Police became confrontational with several Pro Palestinian protesters and fired a nail gun at them why are you doing that you just shot that at me and you shot it at
Another guy multiple videos to be clear as far as we know that previous event was connected and from different organizers the demonstration we were at that Thursday was around the event called the quote great Israeli real estate event it was part of a traveling series of real estate fairs which
Included a stop at the Spanish and Portuguese synagogue of Montreal 2 days earlier the company does have listings of properties in the West Bank on its website but we weren’t able to verify whether those were offered at the event today Pro Palestinian groups were served ACC Court in function yesterday during a
Demonstration outside a synagogue in kot a lot of questions remained from these previous shows so it became clear that to understand the full picture of what was happening at the synagogue on Thursday we really needed to understand what was happening inside the real estate event we gathered our notes and
Made a plan I am just in the car uh there was a poster that we saw advertising this event right Derek and there are three locations that certainly do seem to be an occupied territory in the West Bank we took a look at the maps yeah there’s certainly land being sold
In Tel Aviv and so on but at least three of them are in the occupied West Bank and so what we’re going to do now is we’re going to go to the synagogue where this Expo is held let’s go so this event was being advertised to
The public and we reached out to try and get access as press as CBC news but we didn’t hear back it seemed to us that there was a public interest in answering whether real estate and the occupied West Bank was being sold or just marketed at the synagogue or was all of
This just a baseless accusation those aren’t the kind of answers you can get talking to protesters outside the event and since our attempts to gain access as journalists didn’t happen we just showed up we gave our names didn’t say that we were reporting and we’re allowed in that
Means you’re not going to hear anything from when we were in the synagogue but we did take notes photos and brochures right after we left we talked through what happened starting with when we approached the doors one of the guys at the gate there asked us if we belong to
A synagogue yes we told him no and he still said it was okay for us to go in as long as we weren’t causing any trouble and we should probably say that he did mention that there was security there and if there were people who were going to cause trouble then they would
Be kicked out so we have two like I think confirmations one was that book that was over the green line that she wouldn’t give us but I did take a photo of it which has the the name of the project so I just another I you know there was I
Did hear one of the guys uh who was Manning one of the cubicles essentially because there were many different vendors there say that at some point there was going to be a lot more real estate available in Gaza I heard it as well yes yeah like what I didn’t expect
It to be was kind of this um trade show in a way inside a kind of conference room in the building there were about 15 to 20 booths set up we didn’t see any evidence of actual sales being made on the premises or any documents being signed
Although there was a booth with lawyers available and most of the booth simply advertised real estate in places like Tel Aviv but we saw two exceptions the first Booth had banners with the names of different cities and settlements on it including one we recognized as a settlement inside the
Occupied West Bank that was Mal adumim we had sat down with a member of the real estate firm and back in the car we described the conversation in as much detail as we could while the memories were still fresh well I mean she did spend quite a bit of time talking about
The politics of Israel but um she immediately uh steered us toward an area that at one point I asked her if it was like in disputed territory and she flat out said that it wasn’t and um uh she also had another project uh we asked her
About it she said it was over the green line I tried to take the brochure and she refused to basically allow us to take this free brochure right um she said that she likes to talk to people in person about it and that it wasn’t for
Us um and you got a photo of the the cover of this document though I do I do have the photo the green line is a term often used for the map line that divides Israel from the occupied West Bank the line itself actually stems from a
Ceasefire agreement at the end of the Israeli Arab war in 1949 according to the UN the EU Canada and the majority of the International Community Israeli settlements over that map line are a violation of international law and in recent years Israel has dramatically expanded settlement construction Israeli settlements have expanded by a record
Amount the UN Human Rights office said on Friday the number of settlers has been rapidly increasing nearly 700,000 Israelis live in illegal settlements just this month Israel’s government came out with plans to build more than 3,400 new homes in the occupied West Bank 70% of those homes
Are set for male adumim again when we talked to that real estate agent at the first Booth we visited that was the settlement on the banner that hung behind her the UN and Canada consider these settlements against international law specifically because of an article in the Fourth Geneva Convention article 49
Forbids occupying powers from transferring their civilians into the territory they occupy and the West Bank has been considered to be under Israeli military occupation since 1967 after the 6 day war the un and Canada also both say these settlements are a barrier to Lasting peace actually Canada’s foreign affairs minister
Melanie Jolie went to the West Bank and met with the Palestinian authorities foreign affairs minister last week Jolie said she spoke with the Palestinians about extremist settler violence which is rising newly emboldened since the start of the war in Gaza settler violence has soared to its highest levels since the UN started
Recording data there are now six incidents a day on average the UN says that overall more than 400 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since October including 100 children and that 15 Israelis were killed in the West Bank in that time as well also the UN says
That 4,000 Palestinians were displaced in the West Bank just last year Israel disagrees that it’s illegally occupying the West Bank saying the land was already contested when it was seized Israel also says it has an ancestral and religious claim to the land and that its presence on the land is important for Israel’s
Security so that happened you know the conversation kind of ended a bit abruptly uh then we went to another booth and they absolutely do have properties that are listed like specific properties that are listed and so we had a much shorter conversation with a realtor at a second Booth we picked up a
Brochure from her which had a few listings we thought might be in the west Banks specifically in the settlement of afrat south of Jerusalem and I want to read you one of these listings so it says hagle Street a fra for sale Cottage with tremendous potential a c cottage
For sale on four levels it goes on in a quiet and pastoral location there are a couple of other listings in a fra and these all seem to be pre-existing buildings of the over 3,000 homes Israel just announced for the West Bank almost 700 are set for a fra
So after we got confirmation that real estate companies at this event were advertising property in the occupied West Bank we grabbed our recording gear and headed to the protest lines to get reactions on the prop Palestinian side they actually seemed shocked that we had
Made it in I’d love to see it we tried to get inside they wouldn’t allow us standing to the side of the protest we showed the afro listings to protester basil Abdul kader and LMA Osama who’s Palestinian and the president of the Multicultural Community Association in
Oakville so so how do you feel when you see this in a listing like this disgusting disgusting sealing our land in front of our eyes it’s criminal and the fact that this is allowed to happen I don’t I’m trying to wrap my mind around how Brazen it is that this event
Is happening and how under the radar it still manages to fly given everything we also showed the listings to Rabbi miver the member of independent Jewish voices we were actually just inside oh wow yeah yeah um we were looking at some properties in eat uh I know eat very
Well I’ve been there a lot I have friends who live there Rabbi when we show you this picture three-bedroom apartment like what are you thinking when you see that what am I thinking so first of all it looks like a very nice place to live I had friends that decided
To settle in a frat and this looks like it’s not their house but it could be and I know it’s built on land that was Palestinian land and after 67 and so we decided to ask Rabbi kabin of the bite synagogue as plainly as we could about
The West Bank and about properties in occupied territory being marketed to Canadians in his synagogue do you support Canadians having the opportunity to buy property in territory that the United Nations and Canada deems occupied if a person immigrates to Israel and they want to live in a land that Israel
Says is part of Israel then I think that they should have a right to do that if a person is a dual citizen of both Canada and Israel and they want to spend part of their time in Israel and part of their time in Canada that’s for them to
Take up with the state of Israel when they’re there and therefore there’s nothing honey alalay also told me that she believes personally that quote the land was given to us we have been having this event in our synagogue every year for many many many years and it’s not
Only in the occupied areas it’s all across Israel to allow people to move to Israel and our belief is that the Messiah will come when the majority of the Jews live in Israel so there’s a a religious belief to move there and so what we want is people to own property
In any area of Israel not just the disputed areas and that’s what this is all about and they come every year to do this it’s not something so this might be a good time to try and answer some legal questions since Canada considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank to be in
Violation of international law could promoting properties for sale in occupied territory lead to actual legal repercussions on Canadian soil some legal experts including Alex Neeve a professor of international human rights law at the University of Ottawa and dely said this could potentially contravene International laws set out in the crimes
Against humanity and war crimes acts and the Geneva conventions act these laws have been incorporated into Canada’s domestic laws we put this legal argument to the office of Minister Arif fani the country’s Justice Minister and asked if they were were going to take any action for example requesting the RCMP
Investigate they told us this was a question for the Department of global Affairs we pushed back saying we thought it was absolutely a question for the Attorney General to field and cced Global Affairs no one got back to us back at the protest we tried to focus
Our interviews on the real estate event and people did want to talk about it but of course this is not happening in a vacuum there is a war raging in Gaza in a very long history here the conversations quickly slipped into that wider context you know there’s a whole
Backdrop of History here uh Jews have been uh called out for being Jews for centuries Rabbi kabin with the synagogue told me the protests invoked something personal um my grandparents were murdered in the because they were Jews they were shot in the back and thrown into a communal
Grave after you hear what these people are chanting um call accusing us of genocide and wishing genocide for us um you sort of think to yourself that history is starting to repeat itself and that’s that’s traumatizing to our entire Community many if not most of whom have at least one grandparent who went
Through the went through the Holocaust across the street Rabbi miver also told me some of his history a story about how in the past he could have easily been on the pro-israeli side but his experiences changed that well just personally I’ve lived in uh Israel or Palestine for a
Number of years I’ve lived there four years going all the way back to 1971 I’ve personally seen Palestinians homes being destroyed their lands being taken from them I’ve been with them I’ve actually put myself between them and as soldiers I’ve used myself as a human shield because I know they won’t shoot
Me and I feel as a Jew I have an absolute moral and religious obligation to stand for justice and for what’s right and particularly as a rabbi I have a kind of um a role to play that other people don’t so I asked Rabbi mere about the charge that we heard from people
Including Rabbi kabin that protesters wished genocide upon Jewish people I actually I want to say that that whole fear of genocide or that narrative like this is so dangerous and a big threat to the Jews that’s very artificial and manufactured and promoted and it’s very powerful but it’s a complete fallacy so
Some of the people that we talked to over there they feel that everyone on this side of the street would like to see them you know not exist anymore essentially and do you feel like that’s what’s happening on no no what that’s not true at all it
Isn’t that we think they shouldn’t exist we think they need to stop the behavior that they’re doing they’re engaged in behavior that actually is genocidal no one thinks that Jews shouldn’t exist no one thinks that Jews shouldn’t be able to live a Jewish life no one thinks that
What we think is Jews have to stop stealing land demolishing homes killing innocent people and that’s a very long list and I won’t go through the whole thing these words from the rabbi they didn’t seem to change the way people on the steps of the synagogue felt people
Like honey do you feel like all the people on the other side of the street want to kill you yes well most of them I don’t know if all of them but I’m sure a lot of them do we talk to a rabbi over there Rabbi David said there’s nobody
Who wants the elimination of the Jewish people no one want go across the street and ask those people there and they will tell you that they want the elimination of the Jewish people they want them out they would prefer if they were dead they really don’t want us there so we also
Spoke to Basil Abdul cter on the prop Palestinian side about whether protesters were making these kind of calls I’m not going to pretend like I know the content of every single person’s heart on the pro Palestine side and I’m also not going to pretend like anti-i ISM isn’t something terrible like
Any form of racism is and it exists and it should be struck down and fought but to depict us as having advocating killing all the Jews or the destruction of the state of Israel which is I defy anybody who would make that claim to show us evidence of people on mass
Chanting these things this is the tactic that has been used against prop Palestinian demonstrators for for decades it’s it’s tired basil also told me something about what he saw as he watched the pro-israeli protest from across the chasm in the street I see a sort of rabid fanaticism that I hadn’t I
Wasn’t aware existed here the cheer and Glee that they have in celebrating what is largely considered across the world to be a genocide is a bit shocking at first right and you you feel like they’re celebrating what’s happening in Gaza right now you feel like that’s that’s what you’re hearing today
Absolutely I mean the chance that we’re saying among others about Palestine is not for sale were also saying stop bombing our children and end the genocide and end the occupation and in response to that they’re playing house music they’re cheering they’re chanting they’re mocking us I I was shocked when
I came on Sunday and saw the same one protester on the Palestinian side LMA Osama did tell us she had a productive conf conversation at the margins of the protest but as the atmosphere around them kept intensifying it was interrupted physically I tried to speak to one of those guys and there and
We were having a peaceful discussion he was telling me that this is so sad what’s happening I said yeah I I totally agree and he told me that he’s Jewish he’s married to a Christian and his daughter is married to a Muslim and I’m like that’s great this is what we have
To celebrate and then out of nowhere a guy came and attacked me and he pulled my hair pulled my shirt and he pulled my scarf and he put it on the ground stepping on it and I have I have him actually as LMA was telling me the story we were interrupted too
So you too there’s an ambulance going by so dozens of York regional police officers were walking between the protests and lining up at the sides that Thursday including almost a dozen police horses police said three people were arrested and charged tied to three different incidents that day a protester on the
Pro Palestinian side Ben told us he’d witnessed attacks it was a couple who pepper sprayed a couple of Palestine solidarity protesters and then it was the man who kicked uh our friend so it goes without saying that the vast majority of the people at these protests were not violent and actually there was
One thing that we heard universally one point of agreement that’s disappointment in us the media I’m not friendly with CBC if she can record it I can talk for protesters on the synagogue side of the street we heard it seemed like we were ignoring the over 100
Hostages Hamas is still believed to be holding and the close to 1200 people killed on October 7th a majority of them civilians according to Israeli authorities and I think it’s rather sad that the Western media focuses on the plight of the Palestinians and I am very sympathetic towards them but I think we
Have to make a distinction between the Palestinian people and Hamas the public the media seems to have forgotten what happened on October the 7th all the focus on the pro Palestinian side we heard exhaustion I’m sorry if uh my answers are a little bit short or not
Not as detailed because we’re so tired as a community of of having to repeat ourselves and and kind of reintroduce this thing that’s been going on for decades you’re tired of people asking you why you’re here yeah why don’t you guys focus more on the suffering of our
Community rather than keep saying oh they feel that they’re threatened from us because we chant I mean they’re after our chance they’re after our flag okay what what are we supposed to do should we just stay silent I don’t get it like what what we supposed to do I’ve been
Thinking a lot about some of these critiques but also since that day there’s one person in particular we talk to who I can’t seem to get off my mind so so my name is Jamie I have a podcast it’s called FR burner with the CBC I don’t trust the media the Canadian media
Anymore I’m really I’m really sorry to hear that I’m really sorry to hear that that afternoon a line of police had come down the street from the East to keep both sides basically squared in front of the synagogue in the empty road behind that in the literal shadow of the police
Officers a lone woman sat on the curb she had this full-sized Palestinian flag attached to a plank of wood that she’d been waving slowly dutifully you know I know don’t want to talk to me but I’m really curious to know why you’re saying that you don’t trust the media because
Of the lies the half truth the wrong context it’s wrong I asked her for an example the dehumanization of the Palestinian people Palestinian people die other people killed I’m not going to give give the media any more ammunition to hang us with I’m sorry you feel that way do you think I’m
Wrong you tell me do you think I’m wrong you say why can’t you say it say it I I actually answered your questions why can’t you open up your mouth and say I’m not wrong that’s why I don’t trust media you have your limitations because of your position because of whom you’re
Working for because you can’t say that you lose your job you can’t say the truth what kind of media is that she told us that we could use the audio we recorded of her but when we asked for her name she seemed to look at us like
We didn’t deserve it that’s enough for you today just your first name no thank you very much good day once it got dark the last person we spoke with was Reena Epstein she’d been standing high on the steps of the synagogue with honey where they had a
Vantage point on the row of protesters chanting toward them with you what brings you here today well what’s happening is that hold on ask her first eventually what Reena described for me was fear my heart bleeds for the people who live in Gaza the innocent people Hamas who’s stealing from them
Stealing their food I wish that we could help them in any way we could and these people here aren’t doing it in a peaceful way there’s ways to get your message across and to come into my area my where I live to go in front of in the
Eaten Center and Yorkdale where I’m afraid as a Jew to go shopping this is not the way to make peace this is a way to make hate and have people distance from each other as we walked away to the chance of music from both sides bouncing between
Grids of suburban homes I had reena’s comments on my mind but it was also impossible not to reflect on people like LMA who told me about her connection to the region we’re talking about and who even from a protest in Canada seem so determined to do something material for Palestinians in
The West Bank in Gaza I’m the grandaughter of a Palestinian man who was expelled from yafa java today in 1948 and he walked Barefoot to all the way to Jordan so whatever is happening in here is connected to my ancestors um now more than 31,000 Gins have been killed in this war according
To the health Ministry there the UN is warning of famine most of 2 million people are displaced LMA actually organizes a program that’s sending hundreds of tents from Canada to Gaza I mean there’s a lot of hundreds of people in here probably a thousand they have
People who lost family in Gaza so our community is hurting our community is suffering Canada needs to support these people okay we are leaving the protest still several hundred people there pretty large police presence still I I think I think if I’m struck kind of by
One thing Derek it’s it’s that those I don’t know I don’t really have anything to say right now about a week after attending the real estate event in Thornhill an email went out from one of the vendors there there was another event in Brooklyn New York planned for later in March it had
Been cancelled due to quote security reasons protesters had planned to be there I’m Jamie pessel thanks so much for listening to Front Burner talk to you tomorrow
The voices of protesters facing off outside a Thornhill, Ontario synagogue as a real estate event inside advertised property in the occupied West Bank.
»»» Subscribe to CBC News to watch more videos:
Connect with CBC News Online:
For breaking news, video, audio and in-depth coverage:
Follow CBC News on TikTok:
Follow CBC News on Twitter:
Find CBC News on Facebook:
Follow CBC News on Instagram:
Subscribe to CBC News on Snapchat:
Download the CBC News app for iOS:
Download the CBC News app for Android:
»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»
For more than 80 years, CBC News has been the source Canadians turn to, to keep them informed about their communities, their country and their world. Through regional and national programming on multiple platforms, including CBC Television, CBC News Network, CBC Radio, CBCNews.ca, mobile and on-demand, CBC News and its internationally recognized team of award-winning journalists deliver the breaking stories, the issues, the analyses and the personalities that matter to Canadians.
