Decades of integrating into society and participating in party politics have backfired on the Jewish community in Canada as waves of Jew-hate marches, protests and intimidation tactics have continued unabated since the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
But now a dynamo raised in Winnipeg has taken the leap from talk show host to the loudest voice standing up to the hate and disinformation about Jews and Israel and has a national six-point, science-based plan for Jews and their allies to mobilize to fight the hate and extremism.
“Canada is the fastest radicalizing country on the planet,” says Dahlia Kurtz.
She talks truth to power with every step she takes, starting at the top.
“And the winner of my 2024 Jew-Hater of the Year Award is… Justin Trudeau!” she tweeted on Dec. 15, the day before the deputy Prime Minister quit his cabinet. A few days later Kurtz explained, “Trudeau has been prime minister for nine years and has managed to accomplish 85 years of work in that time. Bringing Canada back to 1939.”
Trudeau, she says, has undermined the foundation of our peaceful society for his own political purposes.
“It’s not just that he’s in a position of extreme power where he has done absolutely nothing to help our community or Canada, it’s because he has done everything to help people who want to take Canada down.”
Her father was born in Montreal and was beaten up by goons growing up. Later, he applied for a job but they told him wouldn’t hire him because he’s Jewish. He sued. He lost his case because Jew-hate wasn’t illegal in Quebec. But his case changed the Quebec Civil Code to add protections against discrimination. That in turn changed Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms to add protections against discrimination. Her mother was born in Hitler’s hometown in Austria after her parents survived the Holocaust.
The Kurtz family left for Winnipeg’s Maples neighbourhood “when I was young because we were dealing with so much Jew-hatred in Montreal and it wasn’t safe for us there anymore.”
Kurtz draws on their experiences and her childhood encounters with Jew-haters, as she devotes every day to exposing hate on our streets and inside government, academia and institutions.
“The fault lines of Jew-hate in Canada run deep, and we just had an earthquake. A lot of people say ‘I’ve never noticed it or experienced it’ because there are so many ways it’s just permeated our system. So people have come to accept it. After October 7th, it just became more visible.”
That visibility has emboldened the haters — many of whom conceal their faces with masks and terrorist garb.
“The rate at which it’s escalating and the utter lack of mobilization, not just amongst the Jewish community but amongst Canadians, has surprised me and that is something we need to fix. That’s why I created my six-point, science-based plan to mobilize.”
Cowardly politicians who spout platitudes like “this is not who we are as Canadians” — a Trudeau favourite — while police take their cue from elected municipal leaders and fail to enforce laws against incitement and harassment as Islamists, far-left extremists and outright Jew-haters run wild. Police service boards and police departments are not exempt from blame either.
Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow, a “diversity and inclusion” politician, skipped an Oct. 7 observance and the annual Walk with Israel. It’s part of her pattern of avoiding being seen at Jewish events, while she caters to pro-Hamas instigators who march in Jewish neighbourhoods chanting genocidal slogans and dressing like Hamas members.
Her deputy mayor has voiced support for banned terror organizations. One of Chow’s key campaigners – a Transit union official – has said “I’m gonna kill Israel. We will kill all Israel.” Chow has disavowed neither.
The toxic atmosphere in Toronto has led to three gunfire attacks on the Bais Chaya Mushka Girls Elementary School. Most recently, at least six shots were fired at it on Dec. 20. The shooting forced Chow to platitudedly proclaim that she is “in contact with the chief about the plan to keep children and families safe.”
The next day, a hate rally was sprung outside Union Station. Terror organization flags were waved as marchers chanted, “There is only one solution, Intifada Revolution!”
“A synagogue had its windows smashed three times. Did you hear Olivia’s comment on that? Neither did I,” Dahlia noted.
Earlier this month, Kurtz unveiled her new science-based plan to a few hundred Jews and allies at a synagogue in Toronto.
At the same time, at a synagogue in Vaughn just North of her, a mob gathered to harass an event there. (Dahlia warned the mayor in advance this would happen.) The city has a bylaw to prohibit protests within 100 meters of places of worship, yet a mob showed up to harass the event. Kurtz immediately posted video of them and asked Mayor Steven Del Duca “why wasn’t this enforced?”
It took him three days to formulate a public statement, only after Kurtz had a private conversation with him and gave him 12 positive identities of individuals who violated the bylaw — and Canada’s Criminal Code.
Kurtz released a statement about Del Duca’s public comment, and hers went viral.
“We must expose politicians and hold them to account,” Kurtz said. “Politicians in general are great narcissists and it really affects their ego when you expose them for what they are.”
“It’s very interesting when you look at their donor lists. When a politician has 50% of their donors from a certain background, you start to wonder — who are they working for, what are they doing? How did they end up with 50% donations from this one group of people that do not represent 50% of the population?”
And it’s not only politicians who are failing Canadians. So are corporate media outlets ignoring or covering up Jew-hate attacks, like CTV labelling the (second) firebombing of a Montreal synagogue as “Flames target place of worship.”
In Winnipeg, The Sun reported how some Pride week celebrations locally tried to pass off outright antisemitic policies and performances as merely being “anti-Zionism.” In October, police lectured a local Israeli-Canadian leader that his observing anti-Israel protests from his car might incite an attack on him and threatened to charge him — not protect him — if he showed up.
“I am concerned about what I see in Winnipeg and authorities are taking our safety for granted,” Kurtz said. “I see it escalating faster in Winnipeg than I expected.”
But despite Jewish professionals expressing great fear for their future — more than 30% of Jewish physicians in one Ontario survey — Kurtz tells people not to lose hope.
“We are irrevocably damaged but it can still be saved and it is worth saving. If we’ve learned anything from the people who have come before us, if they would have given up, none of us would be here now.”
While both the secular leadership and long-time Jewish community agencies have been unable or unwilling to confront the organizers and funders of “Free Palestine” hatefests, Kurtz is building her own movement and has forged alliances with Hindu-Canadians, Christians, Iranians, and many others who continue to maintain core western and democratic values.
“Our leaders have failed us. We will not fail us.”
She expects to bring her Time To Mobilize presentation to Winnipeg and Western Canada early in 2025, and then to the USA afterwards.
Readers can follow her on X via @DahliaKurtz. Support can be contributed via her website, dahliakurtz.com, where you can also book a speaking appearance, and purchase her book, Dear Zionist, You are not alone: 18 Letters of Hope and Light.
Originally published by https://winnipegsun.com/
The opinions and facts presented in this article are those of the author, and neither TheJ.Ca nor its partners assume any responsibility for them.