Hundreds of pro-Israel protesters march in Ottawa to mark anniversary of Hamas attack

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Several hundred protesters who waved Israeli and Canadian flags marched from Ottawa City Hall to Parliament Hill on Sunday afternoon to mark the one-year anniversary of the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel.

“Bring them home now,” they chanted, referring to the almost 150 hostages who are still being held in Gaza, across the border from Israel, after being kidnapped from Israel a year ago by Hamas terrorists.

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The Hamas attack killed about 1,200 people in Israel, most of whom were civilians, and kidnapped 250 more. The Oct. 7 attack was the deadliest attack in Israel’s history and the deadliest for Jews since the Holocaust.

Sunday’s march in Ottawa, which was followed by a rally on Parliament Hill that decried antisemitism and fiercely supported Israel’s retaliatory actions following the attack, came one day after Saturday’s even larger protest and march by Pro-Palestinian supporters in downtown Ottawa.

Saturday’s protesters rallied against Israel’s retaliation efforts that in the last year have killed almost 41,000 Palestinians and more than 2,000 people in Lebanon.

Since last October, the terrorist group Hezbollah has launched thousands of rockets into Israel from Lebanon. Iran has also launched missiles against Israel.

At Sunday’s rally, Adam Silver, president and CEO of the Jewish Federation of Ottawa, said he visited Israel in the last year and “saw the aftermath of the horror first hand.

“It was all heartbreaking, yet at the same time hopeful,” he said. “In their great pain, I also sensed hope, I believe, and a will to build again, dance again, innovate again and have celebrations again.”

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The protesters also heard from speakers who paid tribute to Israelis who died during the Oct. 7 attacks. Montrealer Raquel Look told the crowd of her late son Alexandre’s heroism on Oct. 7 when he died protecting others from Hamas attackers.

Look’s son, a 33-year-old Montreal native, was among the concert-goers at the Supernova open-air music festival that was taking place when Hamas attacked. He is among at least eight people, either Canadian citizens or with ties to Canada, who died during the Oct. 7 attacks.

“Alex did take most of the bullets and most of the grenades, and he was at the very front of the shelter,” his mother said. “Miraculously, for such an indiscriminate carnage, eight people from his shelter survived due to his act of bravery.”

Two federal politicians spoke at the rally, to considerably different receptions.

Ottawa-Vanier Liberal MP Mona Fortier meant to convey the federal government’s solidarity with the crowd.

“There is no room for antisemitism in our Canadian society. … Every Jewish Canadian deserves to live in peace without intimidation,” she said. “Israel has the right to exist and defend itself.”

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But Fortier was heckled at times by people who yelled, “Prove it!,” “You’re supporting terror!” and, “Do something!”

The crowd much more warmly received Conservative MP Shuv Majumdar, who not only affirmed Israel’s right to exist and its right to defend itself, but called himself a Zionist.

When he mentioned former prime minister Stephen Harper and current Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, the crowd whooped with appreciation.

Among the crowd, some people carried posters with the names and faces and hostages. Others carried signs that read “Blame Hamas, not Israel,” and, “What part of Oct. 7 do you not understand?”

Silver told the crowd that Jews in Ottawa and beyond have “seen and felt a new level and type of antisemitism. It has been normalized.

“Those who were clear about wiping Israel from the map, these groups and individuals have elevated our levels of concern.”

Ottawa Police Service officers were out in force to escort the march. Opposition to the marchers was limited to a counter-protester outside Parliament Hill who professed his opposition to Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Pro-Israel marchers who walked past him cried out, “Shame on you!” on their way to the Hill.

phum@postmedia.com

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