I was packing for a trip to Germany when the first reports of Hamas' massacre of civilians began circulating online. Initially, what I saw fit the pattern of other Palestinian terrorist attacks against Israelis, and I went to bed that night believing the IDF would eliminate the perpetrators and that would be that.When I woke up the next morning, however, I realized it was far worse than I ever could have predicted. As I made my way to the airport and boarded my flight to Frankfurt, I was glued to my phone, watching the death toll rise by the dozens, then hundreds, the footage becoming increasingly gruesome. . When all was said and done, around 1,200 civilians were indiscriminately murdered. Some had been slaughtered while dancing at a music festival, while others were executed in front of their families in their own homes. Countless others had their lives spared by the terrorists, only to be raped, mutilated, and psychologically tortured for no other reason than that they were Israelis.Over the following days, I reported on responses coming out of the west, from governments, media, celebrities, groups, and ordinary citizens. Some unequivocally condemned the terrorists, while others refused to use that term to describe those who carried out the attack. "One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter" was a sentiment I saw shared time and time again by those on the far left, and many a news organization appeared scared to upset that segment of society by picking a side.Before long, protests began springing up across the world, and in Germany, they were well-attended. Since 2015, the nation has been dealing with what can only be referred to as a migrant crisis, with the majority of newcomers arriving from the Middle East and north Africa. Thanks to a combination of political cowardice, an overwhelmed system, and lax asylum policies, hundreds of thousands of people have poured in, bringing with them their ideologies. Germany, as one may expect, takes the idea of "Never again" very seriously, working hard to ensure antisemitism cannot take root and grow within its borders as it did in the past. That principle is not, however, shared by many in the aforementioned segment of the population, who have no problem openly calling for the extermination of the Jewish state, and in some cases Jewish people.I never thought I'd see the same situation play out in Canada. While I firmly believe diversity is our strength and one of the things that makes our nation the greatest place on Earth, October 7 showed me that the values that undergird our society are not universally held, and that perhaps in our admirable desire to welcome the world, we unwittingly failed to realize that meant welcoming ideologies diametrically opposed to our own as well.Over the next few months, each time I posted clips from protests, lifelong Canadians were joined in their ire by those who had fled countries where such conflicts played out on the streets to come to Canada in search of a better, freer life. When chants they had long heard outside their windows in Tehran, Beirut, or Cairo began emanating from the streets of Vancouver, their reaction was one of genuine sadness. While the vast majority of newcomers checked their ideologies at the door when they boarded the plane to Canada, in recent years a growing number have opted instead to not only bring their baggage along with them, but insist that others help them unload it. As it happens, there were droves of leftists eager to assist, who saw nothing wrong with marching down the street calling for the destruction of their nation's ally and the return of "stolen land."Since October 7, 2023, the ideologically possessed anti-Israel crowd has managed to recruit countless of these leftists to do their bidding, and their success was apparent when the first anniversary of the attack rolled around. When I walked up to the Art Gallery, I surveyed the scene and saw a man proudly waving a IRGC flag in amongst the Palestinian flags. On the outskirts of the square, another man next to those holding Israeli flags displayed his pre-Islamic regime lion and sun, a symbol of freedom from the theocratic tyranny of the IRGC and the extremist groups it funds.From my perch atop the stairs, I recorded a speaker openly declaring "we are Hezbollah and we are Hamas." As the crowd cheered, I felt something deep within me, a mixture of sadness and anger similar to that I felt one year previous as I watched the footage from the massacre itself. I've covered my fair share of protests and heard some truly frightening things, but this? This was different. This represented, to me and countless others, a step too far. Over the course of the evening, I watched the protestors take to the streets with a blatant disregard for residents and a refusal to engage with anyone who opposed their goal of obliterating Israel and sending the Jews packing.It struck me just how quickly things had ramped up, how little time it took for "from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free" to go from being the most radical chant to among the least. If you'd have told me a year ago I'd be hearing chants of "Allahu Akbar" on Robson St. I would not have believed you. That happened. If you'd told me in the wake of October 7 I'd be hearing chants of "Palestine is for Palestinians only" on Granville St. I would not have believed you. That happened. If you'd told me six months ago I'd witness the burning of multiple Canadian flags in front of the Art Gallery as police sat idly by, I would not have believed you. Yes, that happened, too.The failure of those in power to prevent these, and so many other vile acts from taking place in a major Canadian city on the one year anniversary of a civilian massacre in an allied nation only emboldened the radicals. After freely declaring themselves to be a terrorist group, they undoubtedly now feel as though there are no limits to what they can do or say.It's a slippery slope, and those who fled from nations where this is the norm know all too well what lies ahead if we don't stand up to defend Canadian values.
