Author: Blazingcatfur

The destruction of a bookstore in Toronto during a pro-Hamas demonstration must not be excused.

Shortly after returning home from Israel, I attended a pro-Hamas demonstration in Toronto, Canada, as a counterdemonstrator. But this was no ordinary pro-Hamas rally. Its participants billed themselves as “Jews Against Genocide.” It was held outside of Indigo, a big-box bookstore in Toronto that is owned by Heather Reisman, a wealthy Jewish businesswoman and philanthropist. Ironically, her store is known for promoting progressive books. But in the eyes of the demonstrators, this fact was irrelevant because she had committed an unforgivable sin: She was known for supporting charities in Israel. During an earlier demonstration in front of this bookstore, one of the attendees, a professor at York University, had vandalized the exterior of the building. Afterward, she had been arrested and charged with vandalism, and added to this was the charge that the crime was motivated by hate. In Canadian criminal law, any crime that is deemed to have been motivated by hate can lead to a stiffer sentence. This demonstration was clearly organized at least in part to protect her.

There was speculation over whether another uprising was brewing in the West Bank, even before the Hamas attacks on Israel in October.

Frequent raids by the Israeli army, emboldened by a hard-right Israeli government – following deadly attacks by Palestinians, and violent attacks on Palestinians by settlers – had already increased pressure on Palestinians there.

Since the war in Gaza, those pressures have spiralled: Israeli raids into West Bank towns have become more frequent and more forceful, and many families are suffering economically after Israel withheld tax revenues used to pay public servants in the West Bank, and banned Palestinian workers from entering Israel too.

As well as an atrocity, the October 7 massacre was a media sensation. With the use of $150 GoPros strapped to its terrorist foot soldiers, Hamas thrust its obscenities into almost every news channel, paper and feed in the world. If you wanted to understand the democratisation of broadcasting through a single event, this was it.