'We are proud to be Zionists:' Victoria Jews rally in support of Israel

Pro-Israel rally in Victoria, Canada, May 8, 2024.

Waving Israeli and Canadian flags, dozens of Jews and pro-Israel community members rallied in front of the British Columbia Parliament House in Victoria on Sunday to show support for Israel, defying overcast weather and the specter of anti-Israel activity that had already manifested violently.

Police were in attendance and community members stood guard in anticipation of a pro-Palestinian counter-protest that did not materialize, due to the activist’s efforts being diverted to an encampment at University of Victoria. Only a handful of antizionist Jews showed, and left in the middle of the protest when their signs proclaiming “Jews mourning two peoples” were ignored. Yet previous encounters with anti-Israel protests had made some community members cautious, as the activists had engaged in radical rhetoric such as one call that “Hitler was right.”

“The susceptibility to Islamic fundamentalism affecting so many of our students tell us we have a big problem,” said Kolot Mayim Reform Temple’s Rabbi Lynn Greenhough, whose partner was punched in the face by an anti-Israel activist recently. “I may have Islamophobia. I do have a real fear of Islamists, not Muslims, Islamists — an endless string of Islamist terrorist groups killing Jews, Christians, and mostly other Muslims which support a very realistic cautionary fear.”

In a fiery speech decried the capture of Jewish students by anti-Zionism, and called for community members to take pride in their identity.

“We are proud of our Judaism. We are proud to be Jews. We are proud of Israel. We are proud to be Zionists. We are a free and brave people,” said Greenhough, who contrasted those in attendance who showed their faces to anti-Israel activists who hid their faces behind keffiyehs.

Israel opponents show that facts do not matter

Greenhough said that Israel’s opponents showed that facts did not matter, due to a societal obsession with victimhood that led people to defy truth and dismiss the claims of Israelis raped by Hamas. She said that Jews and Israelis refused to be victims, and were defined by more than just massacres perpetrated against them. Greenhough said that some young Jewish students, who took part in the anti-Israel encampments, were also taken in by such false idols.

“We must find a way to bring our young people home as well as the hostages,” said Greenhough. “Our young people have been caught up in a fairy tale of victimhood oppression.”

Greenhough argued that the conflict was not about sharing land, because the Palestinian leadership and terrorist organizations, whose factions outnumbered those who wanted peace, never wanted peace.

Congregation Emanu-El’s Rabbi Harry Brechner told the crowd in his speech that peace was the objective, and that the gathering was not one of hate. The Jewish people deplored the death of innocent people, be they Israeli or Palestinian.

Colwood Councilor Ian Ward, who had returned from a trip to Israel and wore a dog tag commemorating hostages held by Hamas since the October 7 Massacre, expressed his support for the Jewish community.

Timothy Thielmann, a lawyer for First Nations causes seeking election with the Conservative Party in Victoria-Beacon Hill, called on authorities to enforce laws against anti-Israel protesters, such as those preventing the blockading of roads.