Jews are minority most targeted by hate crimes in Canada

MONTREAL (JTA) — Jews were the most targeted minority group for hate crimes in Canada in 2016, according to data released by Statistics Canada, the country’s main numbers-keeper.

According to “Police-Reported Hate Crime, 2016,” released Tuesday, Jews were victimized 221 times, up from 178 the previous year, a rise of more than 20 percent. Blacks were next at 214 incidents and those victimized due to sexual orientation, 176.

Jews also were the most targeted religious group, followed by Catholics and Muslims, despite perceptions of a rise in Islamophobia. Hate crimes against Muslims and Catholics declined in 2016 compared to the previous year.

Police reported a total of 1,409 hate crimes in Canada in 2016, 47 more than in 2015.

“While Canada remains one of the best countries in the world to be a minority, anti-Semitism and hate in all forms persist in the margins of society,” said Shimon Fogel, CEO of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs.

“We are alarmed by the overall increase in hate crime, the increasingly violent nature of these crimes, and the spike in incidents targeting the Jewish community,” he said.

Friends of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre expressed similar sentiments.

“Just this past month, we have witnessed swastikas being drawn on numerous buildings and even in front of a Jewish school north of Toronto,” CEO Avi Benlolo told The Canadian Jewish News.


https://www.jta.org/2017/11/29/news-opinion/world/jews-are-minority-most-targeted-by-hate-crimes-in-canada

Toronto police are investigating a video that shows music being played at this summer’s Al Quds Day rally at Queen’s Park that calls for Jews to be stabbed, attacked and beheaded. The video shows signs scattered on ground, men in reflective vests standing and walking around the grounds and, in the background, a song plays glorifying violence against Jews.

The translated lyrics to the song, Declare It A Popular Revolution, in part say “With a Palestinian woman (armed with a knife) we defeated them”… “fill (the bottle) to the top with gasoline, and snatch from him the M-16”…“stab whoever you see, five, six, ten, twelve.”

“Declare a popular revolution,” the lyrics continue… “Make us happy with bombing the bus” and then “cut off (their heads), stab (them), run over (them), launch an attack on them.”


http://torontosun.com/news/local-news/toronto-police-probe-anti-semitic-music-video-played-at-al-quds-day-rally