Under threat by war on the other side of the globe Jewish, Palestinian Winnipeggers target of increased hate, intimidation By: Chris Kitching Posted: 4:23 PM CDT Friday, Jun. 21, 2024

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 21/06/2024 (497 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Members of Winnipeg’s Jewish and Palestinian communities are facing unabated threats, intimidation or hate eight months after the Israel-Hamas war began, creating fear and tension as the conflict drags on.

People from both communities told the Free Press there has been a significant rise in hate-motivated incidents in places such as streets, schools or social media since the violence started Oct. 7.

“The most recent one was that I was Arab scum, that they were going to cut my head off soon and I was a subhuman being,” Ramsey Zeid, president of the Canadian Palestinian Association of Manitoba, said of the anonymous threats he has received via phone calls or voice messages. “Obviously, it’s not a good feeling. The whole point is to try to silence me, and silence the Palestinian community.”

Zeid said he receives at least one call or voice message per week.

“As the threats get worse, you’ve got to wonder if people will actually follow through,” he said. “You never know what people are capable of doing.”

Zeid has reported messages or calls to the Winnipeg Police Service. He said the major crimes unit, which investigates hate crimes, is looking into threats he has received.

“They just said it is on the rise significantly,” he said of hate-motivated incidents in Winnipeg.

Other members of the Palestinian community have told Zeid they, too, have received death threats or Islamophobic hate, he said.

“We might be scared, but we’re not going to be silenced,” he said.

“As the threats get worse, you’ve got to wonder if people will actually follow through. You never know what people are capable of doing.”–Ramsey Zeid

Belle Jarniewski, executive director of the Jewish Heritage Centre of Western Canada, increased security at her home because of threats and antisemitic messages that continue to arrive in her email inbox.

“It saddens me,” she said. “I never thought in my lifetime I would ever see things like this or hear things like this.”

She has also reported messages to police.

Jarniewski continues to hear about antisemitic graffiti being discovered on buildings or other surfaces in the city. People who harboured hateful or antisemitic sentiment prior to Oct. 7 now feel free to express it, she said.

“I hope one day this will be a very sad memory in the past, and we will learn to talk to each other again, that dialogue will be encouraged at universities and we will all feel safe in this wonderful city,” said Jarniewski.

The war began Oct. 7 when Hamas-led militants invaded southern Israel from Gaza, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking some 250 people, including children, hostage.

Roughly 120 hostages are still in Gaza. Israel’s military has pronounced more than 40 of them dead.

Israeli ground offensives and bombardments have killed more than 37,000 people in Gaza, as per the territory’s health ministry, which does not distinguish between combatants and civilians in its count.

Since the start of the war, security has increased at some buildings or events in Winnipeg that involve the Jewish or Palestinian communities. Public demonstrations have been a common occurrence.

 

Police monitored the RBC Convention Centre Thursday while the Jewish National Fund of Canada’s regional office hosted the Negev Dinner, which featured a conversation with actress Mayim Bialik.

David Greaves, executive director of the Jewish fund in Manitoba, said the organization and police worked together on security-related preparations to ensure the safety of guests and any demonstrators.

“At the end of the day, the evening went off without a hitch,” he said.

Greaves said organizers were aware of a planned protest, which a few people attended, and a social media post that encouraged demonstrators to take photos of guests as they arrived. He described the post as intimidation.

Other posts encouraged people to attend to protest the Jewish fund’s activities in the Middle East.

City police are investigating a number of suspected hate-motivated incidents that have happened since the start of the war.

On Oct. 22, a window was shot out at a River Heights home that had a religious symbol near its front door. No one has been charged, police said Friday.

Other incidents include vandalism and social media posts that are racially motivated.

“We remind the public that hate crimes have no place in our community, and we remain committed to investigating suspected hate-motivated crimes under the provisions of the Criminal Code of Canada,” police spokesman Const. Claude Chancy wrote in an email.

“We remind the public that hate crimes have no place in our community.”–Const. Claude Chancy

Forty-six hate-motivated crimes were reported to city police in 2023, a “recent historic high,” WPS data analyst David Bowman said Tuesday, while releasing the service’s annual report. The clearance rate was not available.

Of those, 23 were categorized as religious hate crimes, with 18 targeting Jewish people and five targeting Muslim people, the annual report said.

Police noted the actual number of incidents may be higher due to underreporting.

The most commonly reported hate-motivated crimes in 2023 were hate propaganda (11 reports), assault (10), mischief (10) and uttering threats (seven).

“While we’re dealing with smaller numbers in Winnipeg, what I can say in the broader national context is that we are seeing an uptick nationally in hate crimes across the country,” said Bowman. “I don’t think our experience here in Winnipeg is that much different from elsewhere in the country.”

Police Chief Danny Smyth has said demonstrations related to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Israel-Hamas war or other matters have put a strain on WPS resources in recent years.

Between October and early December, 25 events related to the Israel-Hamas war involved a city police response, resulting in more than $136,000 in overtime costs and officers being diverted from other duties, the WPS told the police board at that time.

chris.kitching@freepress.mb.ca