It’s time for a return to civility, to working collaboratively toward change for the betterment of all involved.
That’s the message some Jewish community members want to share in the face of perceived threats and acts of intimidation locally in the days since the Oct. 7 attack against Israeli civilians by Hamas followers.
“Let’s behave and treat each other with mutual respect. It’s not complicated,” said Yaron Bachar, who was born in Israel and has lived in Guelph since 2002. “I want civility amongst the community.”
GuelphToday recently sat down with a group of local Jewish community members, who spoke as individuals, to discuss how their lives here have been impacted by the Hamas attack, the Israeli government’s military response in the Gaza Strip and their sense of growing anti-semitism in Guelph and around the world.
“It breaks my heart that anyone is dying,” said Michael Grand, referring to deaths on both sides of the conflict. “(Guelph) must be a place of peace and not a place of war, not a place of hatred and all of those rallies are not generating any kind of peace”
Some members of the local Jewish community feel recent events in Ontario have contributed to their sense of being threatened.
During a pro-Palestine rally in Toronto late last year, news reports indicate an activist threatened to kill a police officer but wasn’t charged at the time.
Earlier this month, a Simcoe County man was charged with uttering death threats during a pro-Palestine protest in front of Mount Sinai hospital in Toronto.
Additionally, several MPs have seen the addition or expansion of security details after receiving threats regarding the conflict.
“If it can happen in Toronto, what makes anyone think it can’t happen in Guelph?” questioned Bachar.
Statistics provided by Guelph Police show there were three reported incidents of hate-motivated crime since Oct. 7. Of those, two targeted the Jewish community and one focused on people of the Christian faith.
Not included in those stats is the reported vandalism of numerous bus shelters on Feb. 14. That day saw shelter advertising spots filled with posters that included a Palestinian flag, along with messages of “Intifada,” “Free Palestine” and others.
Those messages, which have been used during a variety of protests, left some members of the local Jewish community feeling threatened – a point raised by Mayor Cam Guthrie at the time and confirmed by participants in the recent GuelphToday interview.
“When people call for the internationalization of intifada, it means everywhere and it means here,” said Grand. “It means that Jews are fair game.
“It’s a threat against me, my family and my community. … I’m too old to worry about it, but I fear for my children.”
However, not all members of the Jewish community feel the same way about pro-Palestine rallies, as noted in a social media post by the Independent Jewish Voices of Guelph which rejected and felt “actively harmed” by the mayor’s condemnation of the acts.
Mark Gerchikov expected to hear an outpouring of support for the Jewish community following the Oct. 7 attacks, similar to the reaction to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“I’m disappointed something like that didn’t happen in Guelph,” he said. “I’m seeing people intimidated, to be honest. People are scared.
“Social media is viscous and it’s not just social media right now.”
The Jewish community has an “excellent” relationship with local Muslims, added David Josephy.
“This really gets cast as Jews versus Muslims. I want to tell you it’s not,” he said.
The Canadian government has considered Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, a terrorist organization since 2011. In 2022, the United Nations recognized Palestine as a sovereign state.
“More than anything, the Jewish community has wanted to create a sense of peace because we know that no matter what anyone does here, on either side of this issue, it’s not going to change anything,” said Grand. “If anything, it’s concretized attitudes and beliefs.
“All the feedback I’m getting is it’s very counter-productive.”
