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Fire erupted at a synagogue in Belleville.
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A shooting in that community near a synagogue as members of the Jewish community were gathering to mark the holiest day on the calendar, Yom Kippur.
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A man in a pickup truck with a shotgun engaged the officer, and then another officer arrived from backup.
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That officer was also shot at.
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You were there on Yom Kippur on the eve of Yom Kippur.
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Take us inside.
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Tell us what happened there.
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When we heard the first volley of shots, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang.
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And at that point, once inside the building, then I yelled for everyone to get on before we have an active shooter.
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He uh discharged his firearm at a police officer.
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And at the same time, he yelled twice, you're going to die for the Jews.
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You're going to die for the Jews.
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You are going to die for the Jews.
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Make no mistake, this was a targeted attack against the Jewish community.
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He continued to send prayers to Officer Jeff Smith.
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He's the hero, saved our lives.
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They continued to hear these loud noises, and there were as many as 20 bullet holes.
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It was quite a scene.
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They say dozens of bullet holes are through the neighborhood.
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You've heard about all the anti-Semitic flyers that were posted in the East End of Belville.
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Four different flyers were distributed around the city's East End, blamed Jewish people for, quote, everything under the sun.
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They're shocked.
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And I think the Jewish community is not shocked.
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We've been warning about this, we've been begging people.
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It's just a way of life for the Jews.
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We don't have an explanation of a motive from police.
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He was coming down the street with some type of a firearm and he was headed towards the synagogue where Jewish people were having service.
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I I think his intentions were pretty clear.
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This isn't about the Jews being destroyed.
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This is about all of us being destroyed.
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This is about the Canadian society being destroyed.
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Negative hits, too, on social media saying that it was all contrived as an opportunity for us to make money.
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Antisemitism is out of control at this point, and the government has to take action.
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We are no longer Jews with trembling knees.
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Historically, there is no civilization that has survived the expulsion of Jews.
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And yet, they too have been plagued since October 8th, 2023, with constant weekly protests.
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I have met these fine people when I have come and spoken at the very synagogue that came under attack.
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Nothing short of a miracle took place in Belleville, Ontario at the Sons of Jacobs Synagogue on the eve of Yom Kippur this past September 20th.
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Had things gone the other way, we could have been looking at a Bondi Beach massacre.
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The heroism of 13-year veteran police constable Jeff Smith, who was seriously injured in the shootout that ensued, and coming to his aid, Constable Mike McCurdy, along with the cool heads of this Jewish community, avoided a tragedy.
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So miracles do happen.
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And it happened right here in Belleville.
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I feel blessed to be with the people of the Belleville Jewish community today, and I'm so grateful to God that we are sitting here in happiness and victory rather than the alternative.
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Sean Ward, a 29-year-old male from the same area, a former Canadian Armed Forces infantry soldier, released in June 22 and never deployed, charged the synagogue community with one intent only to kill as many Jews as possible.
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Ward was heard shouting, You are going to die for the Jews, as he approached Constable Jeff Smith outside the synagogue and opened fire with his shotgun.
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The police chief of Belleville, Murray Rod, says that Ward had the means, the motive, and the mechanism to cause a mass casualty.
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The suspect had the means, the motive, and the mechanisms to cause a mass casualty and the destruction of the Jewish synagogue.
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There is so much to unwrap here.
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This was an act that defines the license to anti-Semitism that is endemic in Canada today.
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I have warned about the potential for an attack in Canada in my book, The Wake U Call, released in 2025.
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I wrote the following chilling prediction.
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It's in a chapter called The Syllabus of Hate.
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The barbarity and dehumanization of over 1,200 murdered Jews on October 7th is being rationalized across North America in rhetoric and protests, all of which are a prompt to violence.
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What comes next?
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A pogrom in North Toronto Jewish neighborhood?
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Load full transcript
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If the current situation is allowed to continue, if the rhetoric of hate is not stopped at the source, violence is likely to follow.
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History has shown this countless times.
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Homicidal maniacs will wake up one morning and say to themselves, someone has got to do something.
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Fuck it, I'll get it done myself.
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The more the hatred is stoked, the more people are going to act on it.
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This is true in Gaza, it is true in Iran, as it is true in Paris, as it is true in Pittsburgh.
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Parisian Jews have been murdered for being Jewish.
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Pittsburgh Synagogue, Tree of Life, was attacked, where 11 Jews were murdered by gun-toting terrorists.
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There have been more than 45,000.
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I go on, it's a prediction that was meant to happen.
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It was going to happen.
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We've been warning about it.
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The Belleville attack is not only a stark reminder of the state of Jews in Canada, but as Erwin Cuddler has described, it is the canaria in the coal mine of Canadian society.
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This is not an attack on Jews.
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It is an attack on Canada, and all that is good.
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And I am here today to make a plea to our civilization, come together and rally behind the Belleville Jewish community, to rally behind all Jewish Canadians, to rally behind the moral fabric of Canada, rally behind decency.
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It is time that our leaders and the media stop stoking the tropes of anti-Semitism that bring us here today.
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It is time that they stop the insanity of the double standards being applied to Jews in Canada.
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It is time to be accountable and take responsibility.
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It seems that we are at minutes to midnight for the Jews in Canada, but I believe we can change that.
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And I believe that there is a positive message.
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Just like the people of Ninvah heeded to Jonah's warnings to repent, a scripture we read in the book of Jonah on Yom Kippur.
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So too, hopefully, will Canada see the Belleville attack as a warning and heed to it.
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Today I have with me Shia DeLuca is in the house.
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He is a TV personality, a friend, a former lone soldier, and he has come under attack as a Jew himself.
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He, like myself and my son, are on a list hunting Jews in Canada who support or have served in the IDF.
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And despite our pleas and warning that this website is an incitement to violence against Jews, it is allowed to continue to exist online.
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Terrible.
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With me today is Norm Wedham.
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He is the president of the Sons of Jacob Congregation in Belleville, Doug Lobell, Eva Lobell, Jeff Levinson, all members of the Sons of Jacob Congregation.
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I am Israel Ellis, and this is The Unfiltered View.
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Thank you for watching and waking up.
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Subscribe, like, share, join the conversation.
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You don't have to agree with me.
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And grab my book on Amazon, The Wake Up Call.
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Shy, Norm, Doug, Eva, Jeff.
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Welcome and thank you for joining us today.
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Let's get right to it.
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Why don't we start with you, Norm?
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You were there on Yom Kippur on the eve of Yom Kippur.
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Uh, why don't you walk us through it?
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Tell us, take us inside.
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Tell us, tell us what happened there.
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Okay.
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Uh I arrived about uh 6 45 p.m.
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Uh and uh I had parked the car and I was walking down.
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I saw the uh police officer in the unmarked vehicle.
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So I went over and introduced myself and said hello and thanked him for coming.
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And then I proceeded into the building.
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Um and then uh fast forward to about a few minutes after seven.
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So we're trying to uh at this point I'm trying to usher everyone into the sanctuary.
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Uh because uh we're already a bit late and we want to start uh the services.
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So uh at that point again, I'm trying to uh trying to usher everyone in.
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And that's when when we heard the first volley of shots, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang.
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Uh and we all kind of looked at one another.
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I mean, it sounded like shots, but I'm thinking to myself, it can't be possibly be shots because I have a cop stationed outside.
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It must be something else.
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And again, we're kind of in the uh what was that?
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We're all kind of looking at one another, and then there was a second volley of shots fired, boom, boom, boom, boom.
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And then I thought, okay, I have to go see what's going on.
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So I I headed into the into the lobby.
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I was actually going to head outside the building.
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Once I got into the lobby, there was a couple of us there, and uh we heard the third volley of shots, boom, boom, boom, boom.
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And at that point the sound was very distinct, loud, clear.
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I thought, okay, that shot's being fired.
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So we kind of ran back into the sanctuary.
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For some strange reason, instinctively, I grabbed the doors behind me that lead into the auditorium to close them, because uh all all all I was thinking was I do not want to become a visual target here.
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So at least if I close the doors, then he whoever it is can't see into the building.
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And at that point, once inside the building, then I yelled for everyone to get on the floor.
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We have an active shooter.
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And everyone uh immediately hit the ground.
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Uh and at that point I kind of lose track of time at that point.
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I I believe there were several more volleys of shots being fired.
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Also, in those particular volleys of shots is when the uh when our stained glass windows were shot out.
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Uh we counted about 24 uh holes in the windows.
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And I've since learned that the shooter he was using a sawed-off shotgun using buckshot.
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And I've learned that buckshot contains nine pellets inside each shell.
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So he had to hit the windows at least three times then, or fired at least three times in order to uh to uh put that many holes in into them.
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Uh and this continued on for of course it seemed like hours it continued on, but it really wasn't.
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It was only minutes.
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Uh and then uh again there was you know several more volleys of shots being fired, and then it stopped.
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It went dead silent, and we're you know, we're all thinking, Oh, is it over?
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Like what's going on?
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So at this point again, we waited a few more minutes, and myself and I think there were a few others that uh got up with me, and we went uh through the doors back into the into the lobby, and we approached the front doors of the building, which are glass doors, and then I could see that the the street was just lined with police vehicles at that point.
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So I thought, okay, this is good.
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And I looked down at the the one end of the street where the cop had been stationed, and I could see that he was sitting down on the ground, leaning up against a tree, and and there were uh two other cops that were uh attending to him.
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And then at
that point, they're uh, you know, they see us kind of poking our heads through, looking out, and they're waving us to get back inside because at that point they did not know if there was a second shooter or multiple shooters or what.
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So again, we got ushered back inside.
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And I do remember again, I don't remember the the time frame, but I remember sneaking out again into the lobby at one point and uh looking around to see what was going on.
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The uh injured police officer had been taken away by ambulance at that point.
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A second ambulance had arrived, and they were loading the uh the stretcher with uh with uh it appeared to be the shooter at that time, was being taken in the second ambulance.
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And again, you know, went back inside and there was uh uh I don't know how much time uh passed at that point.
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Uh we had uh we had the SWAT team come in and they wanted to search our building to make sure no one was hiding anywhere that had gotten in that wasn't supposed to be there, so they did that.
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Uh and then and then we had uh police they left and we had a police officer come and stay with us for that point.
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And at this point, too, um, we're kind of in the lockdown mode.
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We're you know, uh in standby, we can't do anything, we can't get go out.
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And at that point, our rabbi, Rabbi O Dad Peels from uh and we had brought him in from Israel to lead services.
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So he kind of gathered everyone and we we we uh we couldn't go back into the sanctuary.
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Uh we went in, we were in the auditorium, and we kind of put the tables and chairs together, and he kind of wanted everyone to sit down and he started doing uh the hymns and songs, and uh we started doing the uh uh the cold nidray uh prayers as well.
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So and I think that really helped a lot.
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Kind of calm people and um and then it was uh yeah, and it was uh I don't know again, don't know how long eventually the police came and they had uh brought in a city bus.
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There was 25 of us, so they brought in a city bus to transport us all to the uh to the police station so we could give interviews uh to the detectives.
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And your and your rabbi, your rabbi was from Israel.
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He came from Israel to be part of this.
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Yes, this is the second time we've had him.
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He's excellent, he's fantastic, well liked by the congregation.
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He just fits fits in so well with the congregation.
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That's just that's just an unbelievable story.
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Yeah, and something that could have that could have just it could have ended in such tragedy and and and there must be tremendous, tremendous trauma.
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Doug, were you you were there that night?
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Were you were you as well there?
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Yes, I was.
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How are you guys doing?
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Uh well, you know, it's it's day by day.
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I think you know the first week last week was very, very tough, and it felt like this week's starting to get back to normal until yesterday when all the trauma kind of resurfaced again.
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Uh if you've heard about all the anti-Semitic flyers that were posted in the East End of Belleville.
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Yeah, so I mean these seem to be sort of Nazi anti-right type uh sorry, right uh alt-right type of posters.
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Basically, you know, Jewish conspiracies about Jews and COVID and and and Jews about uh the abortions that were responsible for abortions and all that.
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So definitely a lot of right wing type of uh stuff, but again, right or left, it's it's it's right-wing stuff, but it's all been initiated by those on the left as well, right?
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So uh there's a lot to say about that.
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I mean, I mean you expect you're you know, in Shy, we're expecting it to come from the left because that's what's happened since October 7th, 2023, where we've had this, you know, bizarre progressive relationship with the left, the jihadists.
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This is where we're expecting it to come from.
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And yet this came completely from the right.
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And this just shows you that we're stuck in the middle, that we're not safe in the right, we're not safe in the left, that any type of any type of license to anti-Semitism is going to lead to some type of action by some extremists on either side.
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You know, it's interesting.
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I was watching a panel yesterday, uh, a university panel with professors who were speaking and talking about how she one specifically was talking about how she remembers growing up, uh learning in university, learning in school about anti-Semitism looking a very specific way, looking behind the uh the symbol of a swastika.
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It had a very specific look to it.
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It was Nazism, it had a specific ideology to it.
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And university students today, in our in our generation, in this generation, went into university thinking that's what this anti-Semitism is, that's what anti-Semitism is.
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This is what it looks like, only to be bombarded with a new kind of anti-Semitism.
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So you're very right.
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Now the Jewish community is dealing with from here and from here, and we're stuck in the middle.
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And it's this kind of juggling act trying to figure out how the two, you know, there's that force tooth theory, right?
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Where the two uh meet, the two extremes meet at at that point in the middle, where the extreme right and the extreme left meet at that point in the middle was his anti-Semitism.
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And now the question is, how do we deal with it?
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Eva, you were there that night.
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How are you feeling?
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How are you doing?
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It's kind of like Doug was saying, it goes hour by hour, I think.
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Uh I thought yesterday, I was very proud of myself.
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I had a great, not yesterday, the day before, I had a great day.
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And I'm like, you know what?
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I'm strong.
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I think I'm bouncing back.
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I'm back at work as of Monday.
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I'm refocusing.
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And then in the morning, um I got this text.
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This lady who sent me this flyer, uh, she's our dog breeder.
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She doesn't tell people she's Jewish.
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She grew up in New York, she's a bit older, so she's from the generation is, you know, don't tell too many people, right?
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And so I don't think many people knew it.
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And at that point, she didn't know yet that it was everywhere.
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She thought it was targeted.
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That just got me like the whole day.
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My hands were physically shaking, and I just couldn't stop shaking again.
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And uh Eva, what what were you thinking?
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What were you thinking?
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You're on the floor in the synagogue, you're hearing the shots being fired.
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What is going through your mind at that moment?
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Oh, my my perspective was that um there was something on the roof or something kicking at first, just once.
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And then the next thing we knew there were shots, and somebody screamed uh shots.
00:18:34.160 --> 00:18:37.119
And as soon as they said that, I knew exactly what was going on.
00:18:37.279 --> 00:18:38.720
Like I wasn't surprised.
00:18:38.799 --> 00:18:40.160
I was actually pretty calm.
00:18:40.319 --> 00:18:52.160
Everybody was running everywhere, and then I was trying to figure out where I should go, what would be the
best thing, and then somebody was gonna go to the basement, and I was about to go, and then Doug is like, don't go because there's no way out.
00:18:52.400 --> 00:18:54.559
We should try maybe the kitchen.
00:18:54.799 --> 00:19:10.000
So Doug was lying down between the kitchen and like that area, and I didn't lie down, I stayed standing because I I knew he was gonna come through the doors, and I knew I'm gonna have to move fast.
00:19:10.079 --> 00:19:16.240
And I felt like if I lie down, I'm not gonna have, you know, like it'll take too long to get up.
00:19:16.880 --> 00:19:21.359
And because I wasn't near the front, I didn't feel like he would shoot at me.
00:19:21.519 --> 00:19:23.039
So most people were lying down.
00:19:23.119 --> 00:19:32.240
I was standing, and then I went in the kitchen and grabbed the knife, which after the fact I realized it was just um, it was a knife, but it was like a bread knife.
00:19:32.400 --> 00:19:37.920
So I wouldn't have gone very far, but at least I did something to make myself feel better.
00:19:39.039 --> 00:19:40.640
You were ready to defend.
00:19:40.799 --> 00:19:43.519
Sorry, she was ready to she was that's it.
00:19:43.839 --> 00:19:45.680
But I think listen, sit it.
00:19:45.839 --> 00:19:58.319
Yeah, like for me, like I think the biggest thing is that I was so calm, and everybody else was like crying and all that stuff, and I kept thinking, like, I know exactly what's happening.
00:19:58.400 --> 00:20:08.319
Like, I didn't have a doubt on what was happening, and I see now looking back and talking to a lot of people, like non-Jewish people who have reached out, is that they're shocked.
00:20:08.640 --> 00:20:11.119
And I think the Jewish community is not shocked.
00:20:11.359 --> 00:20:14.000
We've been warning about this, we've been begging people.
00:20:14.319 --> 00:20:26.480
And we think I know for myself, I've been sharing things on Facebook, and I've been very careful not to overshare to get people tired, but I'm sure most of my non-Jewish friends were like, okay, like get over it.
00:20:26.799 --> 00:20:31.680
And I don't blame them because the mainstream media wasn't letting them know what was going on.
00:20:31.920 --> 00:20:34.480
We knew it, but they didn't know it.
00:20:34.559 --> 00:20:36.480
So for them, this happened out of the blue.
00:20:36.640 --> 00:20:39.200
For us, it didn't happen out of the blue.
00:20:39.440 --> 00:20:43.839
And I do want to say, because Norm said that the rabbi asked us all to sit.
00:20:43.920 --> 00:20:48.799
And what I thought was actually even nicer is that he didn't ask us to sit.
00:20:49.039 --> 00:20:52.880
He sat down himself and started very gently singing.
00:20:53.039 --> 00:21:00.640
And as everybody was crying and making all these noise, everybody he just slowly attracted all of us to sit down and calm as that.
00:21:01.039 --> 00:21:03.759
It's incredible that you were actually expecting this.
00:21:03.920 --> 00:21:06.960
That that all of us at the back of our minds are expecting it.
00:21:07.200 --> 00:21:11.680
Jeff, you've been a member in the Belleville Jewish community for quite some time.
00:21:11.920 --> 00:21:12.880
This is real.
00:21:13.440 --> 00:21:14.400
This is real.
00:21:14.559 --> 00:21:16.000
What what are you what are you thinking?
00:21:16.319 --> 00:21:17.359
It's unbelievable.
00:21:17.519 --> 00:21:24.480
I um had an uncle and an aunt that were very involved in the synagogue for many years, and both were Holocaust survivors, unfortunately, not with us.
00:21:24.640 --> 00:21:27.839
So the Sons of Jacob has a really close place in my heart.
00:21:28.160 --> 00:21:29.519
Of course, I'm really hurting.
00:21:29.599 --> 00:21:35.200
I wasn't there in Col Nidre, but my friends in Concords were there, and I'm it pains me for them.
00:21:35.359 --> 00:21:40.799
Then I had an incident not too long ago that I totally out of context.
00:21:40.960 --> 00:21:47.680
I went to go into a store with my wife, and I came, I was parked on a little plaza, not in Belville, but in a town close by.
00:21:47.920 --> 00:21:59.200
I came out of the store and he s he was driving away and he started yelling expletives at my wife and I, F Israel and F U two U did.
00:22:00.079 --> 00:22:03.039
And I had a little Israeli flag on the back of my car.
00:22:03.119 --> 00:22:05.599
And I go back to the car, and this was all kind of surreal.
00:22:05.680 --> 00:22:08.160
Of course, not to the same magnitude as the shooting.
00:22:08.400 --> 00:22:14.079
But um he had like wiped some sort of gum all over my Israeli flag and spat on my windows.
00:22:14.240 --> 00:22:19.839
And you know, you get a little dust film in the back of your car, and he wrote F Israel on the back of my car.
00:22:20.079 --> 00:22:24.000
And it was the first real incident that I'd had, and I've been here for about a decade.
00:22:24.160 --> 00:22:27.359
But, you know, I tried to get in touch with the police and I taught them.
00:22:27.519 --> 00:22:29.839
Unfortunately, I couldn't get a license plate number.
00:22:30.000 --> 00:22:32.240
But they kind of downplayed it a little bit.
00:22:32.400 --> 00:22:43.759
And my fear is that if incidents like this happen and he's empowered to do it, I'm not implying that he was the shooter, but you know, it was it was a license.
00:22:43.920 --> 00:22:48.559
It's it's a license, it demoralizes you, it demoralizes the people.
00:22:48.720 --> 00:22:55.279
And the Jewish community of Belleville is a close community, but is also integrated into the community.
00:22:55.599 --> 00:22:57.279
Shy, we've seen this all the time.
00:22:57.440 --> 00:23:02.799
We're seeing this anti-Zionist rhetoric leading to anti-Semitic actions.
00:23:03.359 --> 00:23:07.039
It is, listen, it's a pandemic that is happening globally.
00:23:07.200 --> 00:23:12.880
It's not only happening here in Canada, though I have to say Canada is absolutely one of the worst-hit countries.
00:23:13.039 --> 00:23:14.480
Um, I travel the world.
00:23:14.559 --> 00:23:19.839
I'm all over the world speaking at universities, at colleges, at organizations across the world.
00:23:20.000 --> 00:23:30.319
And I've been to some bad, some places where it's really bad, including East London, including in Paris, including in Belgium, including, and I've been to some of those places, and it's bad.
00:23:30.480 --> 00:23:33.599
And I can tell you, Canada is right there.
00:23:33.839 --> 00:23:37.279
The door is open and we are standing right there.
00:23:38.000 --> 00:23:54.640
And I cannot, for the life of me, for the life of me, figure out with all of the knowledge that we have, with all of the experience that we've been seeing in the past three years, with all of the examples that we've had, you know, he was on our uh on our own flesh.
00:23:54.799 --> 00:23:56.000
We've seen it.
00:23:56.400 --> 00:23:59.920
Why this country is not doing more.
00:24:00.160 --> 00:24:02.160
It baffles me to be on.
00:24:02.480 --> 00:24:14.720
I think it personally, so my sister lives in France, and anti-Semitism is not that much worse than it was before October uh 7th in France.
00:24:15.599 --> 00:24:27.920
I think the difference is that for us, it's a huge difference because Canadian, like in France, they have laws like they can't wear keepas or or head coverings in public schools, right?
00:24:28.000 --> 00:24:32.160
Like they they were kind of like coming up with all kinds of laws, legislation.
00:24:32.400 --> 00:24:36.960
In Canada, the culture is very welcoming.
00:24:37.119 --> 00:24:44.880
It has always been come to this country, bring your culture, bring your food, bring your music, and let's share everything, leave your troubles behind.
00:24:45.039 --> 00:24:47.119
And that's exactly how it used to be.
00:24:47.359 --> 00:24:58.960
And suddenly things started changing, but the Canadian culture has always been so welcoming that the little push they were doing, they're like, okay, just a little, just a little.
00:24:59.119 --> 00:25:03.759
And next thing you know, it's completely different country.
00:25:04.000 --> 00:25:10.240
And when October 7th happened, the first thing that happened is when they started saying from the river to the sea.
00:25:10.480 --> 00:25:18.079
And even like everybody said that it's racism and that shouldn't be used, and blah, blah, blah, and they stopped using it.
00:25:18.160 --> 00:25:20.960
And then suddenly it came back gently, gently.
00:25:21.119 --> 00:25:24.319
And now we're at the point, they don't even say Zionist, they say Jews.
00:25:24.559 --> 00:25:35.680
My take on all this, and what I've been doing since the whole shooting is I'm trying to focus on my healing, and the little energy I have, I'm trying to focus on the silent majority.
00:25:35.839 --> 00:25:38.319
There is a silent majority that's been quiet.
00:25:38.480 --> 00:25:47.119
They don't dare to speak up because one, it's not part of the culture, but two, if they say something, they'll be accused of being racist, right?
00:25:47.200 --> 00:25:49.839
Like that's the way they silence all of us.
00:25:50.079 --> 00:25:51.839
Not all of us, but them, you know.
00:25:52.240 --> 00:25:55.599
Sorry, that's a that's a big that's a big problem that we've come across.
00:25:55.759 --> 00:25:59.759
It's it's you can't call it what it is because you're gonna get canceled for it.
00:26:00.000 --> 00:26:00.480
Exactly.
00:26:00.720 --> 00:26:04.559
So I'm a refugee and I'm a minority.
00:26:04.799 --> 00:26:14.559
So I've been trying to focus on my non-Jewish friends and trying to explain to them that um just compare this whole thing to Russia.
00:26:14.799 --> 00:26:19.200
Have you heard anybody say or attack Canadian Russians?
00:26:19.519 --> 00:26:24.640
Not only Canadian Russians, but we call it the double or the Orthodox Christians.
00:26:26.160 --> 00:26:35.759
I said, this isn't about the Middle East, this is about the Jews, because a lot of us have I've been to Israel, but a lot like many Jews have never been to Israel.
00:26:36.000 --> 00:26:42.400
They don't are they don't ask us if we're Zionists or not, even though we know that the majority of us are, but nobody asked us that.
00:26:42.480 --> 00:26:46.720
And they're not going to the Israeli embassy or the Israeli cultural center.
00:26:46.880 --> 00:26:48.079
They're attacking Jews.
00:26:48.160 --> 00:26:52.799
So this is the one thing I try to like talk to them about.
00:26:52.880 --> 00:26:59.039
And the other thing I tell them is that I'm an immigrant and I'm pro-immigration.
00:26:59.279 --> 00:27:06.319
However, I'm against the immigration, the canid, the current immigration.
00:27:07.039 --> 00:27:08.000
It's irresponsible.
00:27:08.079 --> 00:27:09.279
It's irresponsible immigration.
00:27:10.079 --> 00:27:13.839
We're not like we don't have we're getting in too many people without the resources.
00:27:14.160 --> 00:27:17.279
Let's let's let's let's not get too far off what happened.
00:27:17.440 --> 00:27:21.680
Norm, I understand that on Rosh Hoshana, there wasn't any security.
00:27:21.759 --> 00:27:22.319
Is that correct?
00:27:22.559 --> 00:27:24.000
That you didn't have any security?
00:27:24.400 --> 00:27:24.960
That is correct.
00:27:25.200 --> 00:27:31.519
So there wasn't any security on Rosh Hashanah, but on Yom Kippur, you decided to have security.
00:27:31.759 --> 00:27:49.039
Can I ask you something, given the heightened level of the, you know, the fact that the province, the provincial government, the cities, the federal government have admitted that there was a heightened concern over an attack that would take place over the high holidays.
00:27:49.119 --> 00:27:52.079
And my understanding was that they were supposed to be behind us.
00:27:52.400 --> 00:27:57.519
Did the police offer you the protection or did you have to pay for it?
00:27:57.920 --> 00:28:00.559
No, the police offered us the uh protection.
00:28:01.119 --> 00:28:04.640
And uh they were they were notified before Rosh Hashanah about it.
00:28:04.720 --> 00:28:14.160
I gave them the times and hours of the services, but um unfortunately that information didn't get to the right people, uh, and so we didn't have any coverage.
00:28:14.240 --> 00:28:17.440
We had a security guard on for uh Rosh Hashanah.
00:28:17.599 --> 00:28:24.720
But uh, and then between Rosh Hashanah and uh Yom Kippur is when we called the police again and said, hey, this is what happened.
00:28:24.880 --> 00:28:29.119
Uh, you know, uh you know, you didn't provide us with any security.
00:28:29.200 --> 00:28:33.200
And so uh I actually got a contact person this time, which was great.
00:28:33.359 --> 00:28:33.759
Wow.
00:28:34.000 --> 00:28:37.519
So uh so now, and of course they provided the uh the police.
00:28:37.680 --> 00:28:43.519
But it was interesting too because uh, you know, after the shooting, I had numerous reporters asking, Well, how did you know to have security?
00:28:43.680 --> 00:28:46.160
What made you put a cop on duty that night?
00:28:46.319 --> 00:28:47.680
I said it was just routine.
00:28:47.839 --> 00:28:54.400
I said every single Jewish institution in North America on cold in Drake would have security.
00:28:54.480 --> 00:28:56.160
It was automatic, routine.
00:28:56.319 --> 00:28:59.599
And it's been going, and we've been doing this for like 50 years.
00:28:59.759 --> 00:29:02.480
It's always, we always have security.
00:29:02.640 --> 00:29:04.880
It's just a way of life for the Jews.
00:29:05.200 --> 00:29:06.160
It's unbelievable.
00:29:06.319 --> 00:29:08.240
But this is a way of life for the Jews, isn't it?
00:29:08.480 --> 00:29:10.000
Yeah, Shy, what do you think?
00:29:10.079 --> 00:29:15.920
I mean, to have police outside of our temples, of our places of worship.
00:29:16.160 --> 00:29:17.759
What's the world coming to, Shy?
00:29:17.920 --> 00:29:19.599
What's this coming to for Canada?
00:29:19.920 --> 00:29:20.559
You know what?
00:29:20.640 --> 00:29:30.400
It's a really sad thing to see when uh Norm, when you said that uh some of the uh journalists were asking you, how did you know, or whoever was asking, how did you know to put uh security there that night.
00:29:30.640 --> 00:29:54.000
If you come to Toronto, all it takes is coming to Toronto for one Friday night at any synagogue in Toronto, and you will see not only police, you will see police cruisers, you will see police command posts, you will see it almost looks like war is about to break out at any area where there's a city, where there's heavy, heavy, heavy security.
00:29:54.240 --> 00:29:56.480
And this is something that's really become the norm.
00:29:56.640 --> 00:30:00.960
I mean, I don't remember a time, certainly since I've lived in Canada, that this has happened.
00:30:01.200 --> 00:30:03.359
And I see it across Europe as well.
00:30:03.599 --> 00:30:05.359
I see it across the US as well.
00:30:05.519 --> 00:30:06.880
Uh the US is a little
bit different.
00:30:06.960 --> 00:30:10.720
It's obviously because people have uh uh their their gun laws are quite different.
00:30:10.960 --> 00:30:21.200
But here in Canada, I mean, for somebody to ask, how did you know and not understand that this is something that Jews is the norm is the norm.
00:30:21.759 --> 00:30:23.839
The norm, it just baffles me.
00:30:24.079 --> 00:30:34.079
Doug, Doug, do you think about what would have happened if we didn't have a police car sitting outside that that and and and I gotta tell you, and this is thoughts too, people are actually surprised.
00:30:34.240 --> 00:30:36.480
Belleville, Belleville, Ontario, what do they need?
00:30:36.559 --> 00:30:37.920
A police car standing outside.
00:30:38.000 --> 00:30:40.960
It's a small town considered peaceful and loving.
00:30:41.200 --> 00:30:46.880
And Doug, has it run through your mind what would have happened if that police car was not there?
00:30:47.440 --> 00:30:50.559
Uh so the answer to your question, Ollie, is uh no.
00:30:50.720 --> 00:30:56.400
I know there is a what if, but there's a part of my brain that doesn't go beyond that, right?
00:30:56.559 --> 00:31:07.440
There's a part of my day that doesn't process, that doesn't visualize what could have happened if there was no security guard there, if that security guard went down immediately and didn't fight off the shooter for about three minutes, right?
00:31:07.519 --> 00:31:17.279
So uh, you know, there's just maybe that part of my brain is trying to protect me from those wars, but I cannot really move past visually talking about it.
00:31:17.359 --> 00:31:19.680
I know there's about it, but I can't entertain it.
00:31:20.079 --> 00:31:21.039
It's traumatic.
00:31:21.119 --> 00:31:25.920
It's it's actually, you know, it's a it's a it's a bullet dodged, literally.
00:31:26.559 --> 00:31:33.039
And the reports coming out yesterday from the Air Dubai incident that happened.
00:31:33.279 --> 00:31:40.000
I mean, uh an entire plane of people, a co-pilot trying to take down the plane as a terrorist.
00:31:40.160 --> 00:31:48.799
And just when I think about like what could have happened and what the outcome was, I think about the the miracles that happen every day.
00:31:49.039 --> 00:31:55.200
And, you know, we complain, we like to complain, but the fact is that we have to stop and say, wow.
00:31:55.359 --> 00:32:00.079
And and I think that, you know, it was a miracle that happened for you guys in Belleville.
00:32:00.319 --> 00:32:02.240
It was an absolute miracle.
00:32:02.400 --> 00:32:06.400
I feel that especially it's not like it happened in Toronto.
00:32:06.559 --> 00:32:35.519
It didn't happen in a major city, it happened in small town Belleville, a synagogue that's been around for over a hundred years, 120 years, and um, and that you guys as a community, and I know you, I know you because I've come and spoken there, and I've met all of you, and you've come to my book launch in Toronto, um, that you have worked so hard to um keep that community together, to keep it alive.
00:32:35.759 --> 00:32:39.119
And the fact that this came, this news came out of Belleville.
00:32:39.200 --> 00:32:50.880
It was just shocking because you wouldn't have expected it to have happened there, and I'm so grateful that that nothing more happened because it could have been, it could, when I think about what could have been, I shudder.
00:32:51.200 --> 00:32:56.160
I was just gonna say I gave you a rundown of what was going on with us inside the building.
00:32:56.319 --> 00:32:59.119
I didn't tell you what was going on outside the building.
00:32:59.440 --> 00:33:10.559
So the gunman outside the building drove eastward on the street in front of the building, and he stopped his vehicle directly in front of the cop.
00:33:11.440 --> 00:33:14.960
He got out of his vehicle with his sawed-off shotgun.
00:33:15.200 --> 00:33:17.200
He didn't even put the car in park.
00:33:17.359 --> 00:33:22.079
The car continued rolling down the street to the uh to the intersection.
00:33:22.400 --> 00:33:31.759
Uh, he immediately fired into the windshield, and I was gonna say probably less than 50 feet, fired into the windshield of the unmarked police vehicle.
00:33:32.000 --> 00:33:34.960
He hit the officer that was in there, Officer Smith.
00:33:35.119 --> 00:33:43.440
Officer Smith obviously managed at that point to put out a call for help, and he got he got out of his vehicle.
00:33:43.599 --> 00:33:47.680
He was standing behind the door, and he engaged the shooter at that time.
00:33:47.920 --> 00:33:56.319
And the shooter was uh, and we know this because there was a couple that was out for a walk at the corner and they were filming the entire incident on their phone.
00:33:56.480 --> 00:33:58.640
So the entire thing was filmed.
00:33:58.880 --> 00:34:08.719
And at that point, he was firing numerous shots from his shotgun at the police officer, and at the same time, he yelled twice, you're going to die for the Jews.
00:34:08.960 --> 00:34:11.360
You're going to die for the Jews.
00:34:11.920 --> 00:34:14.480
And engaging the officer at that time.
00:34:14.639 --> 00:34:18.639
And when I watched the video, the I mean, this guy was in the military.
00:34:18.719 --> 00:34:24.079
He was well trained, he knew how to stand up, shoot, dodge right down, move around.
00:34:24.239 --> 00:34:28.159
It was very difficult for officer Smith to engage him.
00:34:28.320 --> 00:34:30.719
He obviously kept him occupied.
00:34:30.880 --> 00:34:39.360
It was over two minutes before the second officer arrived, and then the two of them together were able to engage the uh the shooter and take him down.
00:34:39.679 --> 00:34:40.159
Unbelievable.
00:34:40.480 --> 00:34:43.440
He was expelled by the men by the military, by the way.
00:34:43.840 --> 00:34:46.320
Yes, I do want to say five years.
00:34:46.960 --> 00:34:54.239
I don't know if I told you guys, but I had a I have a friend who's a doctor
in Quinti West, where this guy is from.
00:34:54.639 --> 00:35:05.199
But six months before he was discharged, she got an anti-Semitic COVID conspiracy death threat about six months before.
00:35:05.440 --> 00:35:12.559
And so she reported it to the police, but she's thinking it might be related because he was blaming the Jews for the COVID.
00:35:12.960 --> 00:35:15.599
Yeah, this this is this is uh unbelievable.
00:35:15.760 --> 00:35:19.519
Does anyone uh know uh the uh constable Smith?
00:35:19.679 --> 00:35:23.840
Did anyone know Constable Smith or McCoy from your community?
00:35:24.159 --> 00:35:25.440
We didn't know it personally.
00:35:27.519 --> 00:35:33.599
Okay, and and and I understand I understand that the community has rallied behind the Smith family.
00:35:34.559 --> 00:35:35.599
That is correct.
00:35:35.840 --> 00:35:41.519
He does have a GoFundMe page set up, and I believe it's very close to one million dollars now.
00:35:41.840 --> 00:35:43.599
Wow, that's amazing.
00:35:43.840 --> 00:35:44.719
He was a hero.
00:35:45.360 --> 00:35:52.880
He he stood his ground and and he he yeah, he protected, he protected the community, and I think that's that's incredible.
00:35:53.039 --> 00:36:13.519
So is you know, as as much as as as there's a lot of terrible things going on in the world, and we can talk about the allowance that has brought us here into the license of anti-Semitism and hate, there's also people out there that really support the Jewish community and support Canadians, because this isn't, Jeff, this isn't just about the Jewish community, is it?
00:36:13.679 --> 00:36:15.440
It's it's it's more broader.
00:36:15.519 --> 00:36:17.840
It's it's about the Canadian community.
00:36:18.400 --> 00:36:19.920
Yeah, unfortunately it is.
00:36:20.079 --> 00:36:36.239
You know, we've had some um we also have a GoFundMe page for the synagogue that's done quite well, but we've taken some pretty some pretty negative hits too on social media saying that it was all contrived and it was an opportunity for us to make money.
00:36:36.400 --> 00:36:40.239
And I mean, talking about putting another knife in your heart, right?
00:36:40.639 --> 00:36:41.679
We're seeing this all the time.
00:36:41.840 --> 00:36:54.559
Shy, we're seeing we're seeing the constant, you've you've had an incident where a restaurant, where you sued a restaurant for anti-Semitic uh behavior, and and I've I'm involved in some other human rights issues.
00:36:54.880 --> 00:37:30.480
Listen, we don't even need to go back that far, of course, you know, the famous food vendors case, but uh as as somebody who has been following the fly Dubai uh situation since the moment it happened until all day yesterday, already, literally minutes after it happened, already social media was just booming with conspiracy theories about how mysteriously the door for the cockpit they were able to get in, how mysterious why was there an Israeli with a boombox at the end while they were celebrating because there were videos of them clapping and celebrating after they had done neutralized uh the uh the co-pilot.
00:37:30.800 --> 00:37:44.880
I mean, the the the conspiracy theories that are just waiting, they're waiting and ready and printed to go out for the moment something happens, for them to be able to be put out into the world and propagate this vile anti-Jewish rhetoric.
00:37:45.039 --> 00:37:47.679
It just baffles, baffles the mind.
00:37:48.159 --> 00:37:58.079
What baffles my mind is that reasonable people, intelligent people, um, somewhat intelligent anyways, maybe on paper, are willing to believe this.
00:37:58.320 --> 00:38:18.800
And um, not too long ago, I was uh at a conference on anti-Semitism a couple of a few weeks back, and um, I heard Erwin Cutler give the uh closing remarks, and he said something that just sent chills down my spine, and it was absolutely the best articulation of the root of anti-Semitism, and that is that it is within the DNA.
00:38:18.880 --> 00:38:22.880
It is what he did not say the DNA, but I often talk about the DNA.
00:38:23.119 --> 00:38:26.800
He says the foundation of the belief that Jews are the root of all evil.
00:38:26.880 --> 00:38:44.800
It is this, it is this blood libel, it is this, it is this trope that the Jews are responsible, the chosen people have been responsible, and people actually believe this, and it allows them to believe the bullshit and the lies that come out of it.
00:38:44.960 --> 00:38:54.800
Let me tell you something, all the haters out there who are listening to this video and who are about to put your comments in, because I see your comments on my videos.
00:38:55.199 --> 00:38:56.480
Shame on you.
00:38:56.960 --> 00:38:58.239
Let me tell you something.
00:38:58.400 --> 00:39:01.599
This isn't about the Jews being destroyed.
00:39:01.920 --> 00:39:03.840
This is about all of us being destroyed.
00:39:03.920 --> 00:39:06.559
This is about the Canadian society being destroyed.
00:39:07.199 --> 00:39:12.320
Historically, there is no civilization that has survived the expulsion of Jews.
00:39:12.880 --> 00:39:20.880
It starts with the Jewish people, the canary in the coal mine, as Erwin Kutwa likes to call it, but it doesn't end there.
00:39:21.199 --> 00:39:27.440
It ends with all of you, with every one of you, and it is in everyone's interest that this does not take place.
00:39:27.920 --> 00:39:33.599
Um, Jeff, do you think that it's a small minority of people, or do you think that there is a majority of people?
00:39:33.760 --> 00:39:35.519
What's your feelings living in Belleville?
00:39:35.840 --> 00:39:39.440
I used to think it was a small minority, and now I'm second guessing myself.
00:39:39.599 --> 00:39:49.280
I have a cousin of mine who grew up here and she'd be probably in her early 50s, and she said that it was a constant thing when she was young.
00:39:49.440 --> 00:39:55.920
Um, somebody I'm a little bit estranged from, so I can't really
confirm that, but I don't think there's anything particularly new about it.
00:39:56.079 --> 00:40:00.480
Maybe it was a little more subtle back then, but that again I even question, you know.
00:40:00.719 --> 00:40:04.639
So Norm, how's the outpouring for the community been?
00:40:04.800 --> 00:40:08.159
How has the Belleville community in general been?
00:40:08.320 --> 00:40:17.280
Have you received have you received messages from any of the other local churches or even the mosques and the other what what what what have you received?
00:40:17.360 --> 00:40:30.719
What what kind of numerous flowers support, uh hundreds of emails from uh church organizations offering their uh their facilities for services that came right after the shooting.
00:40:30.960 --> 00:40:39.519
Uh yes, we did have a visitor from the mosque show up with a plant in that and express solidarity with us, uh, which was very nice.
00:40:39.760 --> 00:40:43.119
Uh I think on on the whole the community's been very good.
00:40:43.360 --> 00:40:49.360
But now getting back to these posters, I mean there were four posters altogether that were circulated.
00:40:49.440 --> 00:40:53.760
And now uh what goes through my mind at this point is was this local?
00:40:54.239 --> 00:41:00.639
Was it outside the community, maybe from some other city, that these people came in and joined up with the locals?
00:41:00.800 --> 00:41:01.280
I don't know.
00:41:01.440 --> 00:41:07.840
Like this wasn't a single person that that uh uh you know put out all those flyers, and that's that's what my concern is.
00:41:07.920 --> 00:41:12.400
That this was either a group or an organization that uh came and targeted us.
00:41:12.719 --> 00:41:31.599
I know that when I came to speak to your community, I know that one of the things that came up in our um in our circle was that there are these rallies that are happening um on Sundays um in Belleville, Ontario.
00:41:31.760 --> 00:41:34.400
And um I've experienced this in Collingwood.
00:41:34.480 --> 00:41:37.840
I've of course we've experienced it plenty in Toronto.
00:41:38.320 --> 00:41:42.960
These um groups that come there, I don't think they're native to Belleville.
00:41:43.039 --> 00:41:46.800
I think they're shipped in and and and and I think they're paid for.
00:41:47.519 --> 00:41:52.000
They're actually people who are paid to come and to spread this hate.
00:41:52.159 --> 00:42:03.199
I would say that you know, we can talk about the Muslim Brotherhood and we can talk about other organizations, and and they do these protests unimpeded, no investigation.
00:42:03.360 --> 00:42:05.199
There has been no charges laid.
00:42:05.440 --> 00:42:08.480
These protests are nothing but an incitement of violence.
00:42:09.360 --> 00:42:12.960
And I don't care where it's coming from, we talked about the left, we talked about the right.
00:42:13.119 --> 00:42:21.360
The fact is, is this type of normalization of behavior, which is tolerated in Canada, it wouldn't be tolerated in Florida or any other place.
00:42:21.679 --> 00:42:29.199
But this type of of activity that is actually tolerated because they don't know what to do with it, maybe.
00:42:29.440 --> 00:42:38.639
The the apathy and the passivity with regards to this, it actually gives license to hate until someone goes ahead and does something like this.
00:42:38.880 --> 00:42:39.440
Yeah.
00:42:39.920 --> 00:42:43.039
But you got to think about also the fact that this happened.
00:42:43.199 --> 00:42:47.119
See, nowadays everybody has cameras in front of their house.
00:42:47.440 --> 00:42:51.280
And like this flyer from my friend was put on her porch.
00:42:51.440 --> 00:42:56.079
So they went from house to house in front of those cameras.
00:42:56.239 --> 00:43:00.880
Like they were so gutsy a week after the shooting.
00:43:01.199 --> 00:43:05.519
So right away they showed up within 15 minutes of her calling them.
00:43:05.679 --> 00:43:07.360
They took it very seriously.
00:43:07.519 --> 00:43:09.360
Right away, they were on it.
00:43:10.400 --> 00:43:20.880
So we're not we're not talking about an isolated incident of Sean Ward, this guy being alone, isolated, coming up and deciding one day I'm gonna go ahead and shoot up the synagogue.
00:43:21.119 --> 00:43:30.239
But it sounds like he's connected to some type of group or organization that is operating, uh, maybe a microgroup that is operating in Beville.
00:43:30.480 --> 00:43:31.280
Shy, what do you think?
00:43:31.440 --> 00:43:36.480
Do you think that he's part of a satellite group of something larger that's going on here?
00:43:37.760 --> 00:43:39.280
You know, I'll tell you something.
00:43:39.360 --> 00:43:52.480
I I find it really interesting that I would say, probably in the last six to eight months, my social media interaction that I get, as you guys may imagine, is sometimes I don't even read the comments.
00:43:52.559 --> 00:43:54.000
I just I steer away.
00:43:54.159 --> 00:43:57.679
But I pay very close attention to who sends me messages.
00:43:57.760 --> 00:44:02.400
So if it's a bot account or if it's account, With, you know, a few number of followers, I don't pay attention to it.
00:44:02.639 --> 00:44:23.840
In the last six to eight months, I will tell you, I I can't tell you how many times I've received hate messages from openly uh public, you know, profiles that have uh photos of people who are either former military, actively in the military, or former or active in the police force.
00:44:24.159 --> 00:44:33.920
And not only, and I I don't mean in Toronto or in or whether it's in the US, whether it's in Canada, whether it's in Europe, anywhere in the world, but are actively in militaries.
00:44:34.480 --> 00:44:50.320
And it it it it just it is beyond comprehension because as somebody who served in the military, I know the kind of strenuous psychological tests that you go through before you can be accepted into or given a gun.
00:44:50.559 --> 00:44:53.119
I understand what
that what that is.
00:44:53.440 --> 00:45:01.440
How these people went from being able to pass that to where they are today and to be openly uh doing it.
00:45:01.760 --> 00:45:19.920
My thing is, is I really, really, really, really, really hope that the Canadian Armed Forces, because I am saying this now for the first time publicly here, this is not the first time that I have seen somebody from the Canadian Armed Forces past or present make comments like this.
00:45:20.159 --> 00:45:29.920
I have not, this is not the first time that I've seen somebody from the Canadian uh, you know, police forces make uh past or present comments like this.
00:45:30.159 --> 00:45:48.639
So I would really hope that these organizations are taking a hard look at themselves and saying, where where do we do better to figure out because we are handing over weapons to these people, we are giving people the opportunity to carry out these attacks.
00:45:48.960 --> 00:45:50.320
How do we know?
00:45:50.559 --> 00:45:52.239
How can we confirm?
00:45:52.559 --> 00:45:54.719
Do we have to check them every year?
00:45:54.960 --> 00:45:58.480
Do we have to uh reevaluate them every so often?
00:45:58.800 --> 00:46:01.599
Something is something is amiss.
00:46:01.920 --> 00:46:02.880
Something is amiss.
00:46:03.119 --> 00:46:06.239
Yeah, and unfortunately this happens and it's happened in the U.S.
00:46:06.320 --> 00:46:06.639
as well.
00:46:06.800 --> 00:46:10.400
We've we've seen this uh happen in in army bases.
00:46:10.719 --> 00:46:13.840
And uh it it is it is it is really difficult.
00:46:13.920 --> 00:46:28.000
But I think that the responsibility lies with the leadership and the subversiveness, the allowance of the subversiveness of anti-Semitism which happens inside of our public corporations, our government corporations, companies that deal with the public.
00:46:28.239 --> 00:46:29.760
We we need to confront it.
00:46:29.920 --> 00:46:35.519
I want to tell each one of you that we all need, and viewers out there, people say, well, what can we do about it?
00:46:35.679 --> 00:46:37.039
What can we do about this anti-Semitism?
00:46:37.199 --> 00:46:38.800
Let me tell you what you can do about it.
00:46:39.039 --> 00:46:44.400
I'm I'm not an interviewer, I'm not a book writer, I'm I'm I'm a businessman.
00:46:44.559 --> 00:46:49.440
What did I do after October 7th, after October 8th, and saw the tsunami of anti-Semitism?
00:46:49.599 --> 00:46:50.000
That was it.
00:46:50.079 --> 00:46:50.800
For me, that was it.
00:46:50.880 --> 00:46:52.639
I saw, I saw the writing on the wall.
00:46:52.800 --> 00:46:55.599
I got out there and I started talking about it.
00:46:55.840 --> 00:47:07.440
If you feel, if you feel that someone has violated you, you can file human rights complaints, you can bring it to the attention, you can write articles, you can write to your MPs, you can't stop it.
00:47:07.679 --> 00:47:13.599
Okay, there is definitely, I I would like to think that, I would like to believe that there's a minority of indecency.
00:47:13.760 --> 00:47:14.800
I believe in Canada.
00:47:14.880 --> 00:47:15.679
I love Canada.
00:47:15.840 --> 00:47:19.519
Like Eva was saying, the culture in Canada is a welcoming culture.
00:47:19.679 --> 00:47:29.360
And I believe that Canada has a lot of goodness, but I believe that over the last 10 years or so, and maybe even longer, we've allowed a subversive element into Canada.
00:47:29.519 --> 00:47:38.960
We've allowed the opportunity, we've we've allowed people to leverage our goodwill and to use it against us, our freedom of speech.
00:47:39.119 --> 00:47:42.159
Um it's it's absolutely it's it's absolutely terrible.
00:47:42.239 --> 00:47:43.280
We have to do something about it.
00:47:43.440 --> 00:47:48.239
You know, the Talmud talks about a person who steals at night and person who steals during the day.
00:47:48.480 --> 00:47:50.880
We are living in a world where people are stealing at day.
00:47:50.960 --> 00:47:55.840
They're not afraid of who sees them because of this normalization, and that's what's got to stop.
00:47:56.159 --> 00:48:03.440
We have to stop the normalization, the allowance to uh to be able to openly be anti-Semitic.
00:48:03.679 --> 00:48:10.239
Um, Norm, uh, just you know, in ending, um, the community, uh, I can imagine the trauma.
00:48:10.320 --> 00:48:12.079
I can imagine how everyone is feeling.
00:48:12.239 --> 00:48:15.679
I want you to know that, you know, we are here to support you.
00:48:15.920 --> 00:48:18.880
Eva, we're here to support you in your healing.
00:48:19.119 --> 00:48:22.159
Um we very much are thinking about you.
00:48:22.320 --> 00:48:24.400
There's a number of us who've been talking.
00:48:24.480 --> 00:48:27.440
Uh, I think uh, Norm, some people have been in touch with you.
00:48:27.599 --> 00:48:29.039
My office has been in touch with you.
00:48:29.119 --> 00:48:34.639
We'd like to do a weekend, a chapatone up there of solidarity.
00:48:34.719 --> 00:48:36.639
Um, I hope you'll allow us to come up.
00:48:36.880 --> 00:48:42.960
Um I think we're planning for December to come up and to do a solidary weekend with you.
00:48:43.039 --> 00:48:45.679
Uh, the people of Belleville, we feel for you.
00:48:45.840 --> 00:48:50.880
And we want to in uh you know, I want to invite you too to reach out to me, to reach out to my office.
00:48:51.039 --> 00:48:55.440
We, you know, if you if if if you need more support, uh we can organize it from here.
00:48:55.519 --> 00:48:57.119
We're here for your healing.
00:48:57.360 --> 00:48:59.519
Um and uh we're devastated.
00:48:59.679 --> 00:49:03.760
We're devastated by what could have been, but we're devastated that you have to deal with.
00:49:03.840 --> 00:49:04.800
And you know what, Shy?
00:49:04.880 --> 00:49:10.480
I'm devastated about those stained glass windows because I've been there and they're beautiful windows.
00:49:10.719 --> 00:49:14.719
And they've how long have those windows
survived, Norm?
00:49:15.679 --> 00:49:16.719
That's a good question.
00:49:16.960 --> 00:49:23.360
I am assuming that the windows were put in close to when the building was built, which is 1955.
00:49:23.519 --> 00:49:26.800
So Shy, those beautiful windows being shot up.
00:49:26.960 --> 00:49:29.679
What a freak, what a how criminal is that?
00:49:30.559 --> 00:49:32.239
I mean, what a shame.
00:49:32.400 --> 00:49:33.679
What an absolute shame.
00:49:33.840 --> 00:49:34.559
But you know what?
00:49:34.719 --> 00:49:36.320
I'll look at the silver lining.
00:49:36.400 --> 00:49:39.280
It's Friday today, Shabbat is about to enter.
00:49:39.519 --> 00:49:43.760
Windows can be replaced, windows can be fixed.
00:49:44.079 --> 00:49:45.039
Thank God.
00:49:45.760 --> 00:49:48.559
Thank God it wasn't worse than what it was.
00:49:48.719 --> 00:49:54.000
And you know, when we go into Shabbat today, my, you know, I would want to say to the people of Belleville, it's interesting.
00:49:54.079 --> 00:50:03.920
I don't have a direct connection, but my my closest cousin, her best friend is a next door neighbor to the officer that was shot, that was, uh, that was shot at the uh synagogue.
00:50:04.079 --> 00:50:11.840
And so when it happened, before anybody knew, she called me to tell me because uh her her neighbor was actually at the synagogue.
00:50:12.159 --> 00:50:22.239
And I I I just have to say that I I know that it in this in the midst of everything that seems so dark, it does.
00:50:22.400 --> 00:50:24.079
It seems like a very dark place.
00:50:24.239 --> 00:50:35.280
But at the end of the day, he will get better, the stained glass will be replaced, you guys will continue, the congregation will be stronger, we are here to support you.
00:50:35.440 --> 00:50:41.360
Other Jews across the country are here to support you, and together we will get through this.
00:50:41.760 --> 00:50:43.519
We're just closing right now.
00:50:43.760 --> 00:50:58.880
Jeff, Douglas, Norm, Eva, if you have something, a message to the world that you would like to say as a result of your experience, as a result of what you have experienced, what comes to mind?
00:50:58.960 --> 00:51:02.719
If you can just give us a brief, what would your message be to the world?
00:51:02.960 --> 00:51:04.480
Norm, let's start with you.
00:51:05.119 --> 00:51:12.400
Antisemitism is out of control at this point, and the government has to take action as simple as that.
00:51:12.639 --> 00:51:16.800
They can't sit back and just say their good words whenever there's an incident.
00:51:17.119 --> 00:51:18.800
We need action now.
00:51:19.360 --> 00:51:19.840
Eva.
00:51:20.960 --> 00:51:26.480
I would say that we know that the majority does not feel this way.
00:51:27.280 --> 00:51:30.639
So we need the silent majority to help us to speak up.
00:51:30.880 --> 00:51:32.960
We're such minorities.
00:51:33.199 --> 00:51:38.800
We need help, and we need the silent majority to help us to speak up to fight this.
00:51:39.199 --> 00:51:39.599
Yeah.
00:51:40.000 --> 00:51:42.000
Well, this hit home for me on two levels.
00:51:42.159 --> 00:51:49.280
I mean, obviously, my all my friends in the Jewish community, my daughter is also a police officer with the local police force.
00:51:49.519 --> 00:52:03.360
And I'm hoping as much as anything else, that this doesn't just become another social media story that is passing in two weeks, because this is gonna have reputable damage to the Jewish community, and we have to make sure that is not the case.
00:52:04.239 --> 00:52:05.920
Douglas, your message.
00:52:06.639 --> 00:52:10.960
My first message is basically continue to send prayers to Officer Jeff Smith.
00:52:11.039 --> 00:52:14.159
As we mentioned on this call, he's a hero, saved our lives.
00:52:14.480 --> 00:52:15.440
Like super top.
00:52:15.599 --> 00:52:22.079
And um yeah, call it out, call it anti-Semitism wherever you see it, name it, call it out, combat it, fight it.
00:52:22.400 --> 00:52:24.320
We can't do this by ourselves as Jewish people.
00:52:24.400 --> 00:52:27.119
We need help from so many other people to do this.
00:52:28.000 --> 00:52:30.559
Um, Norm, I understand that there's a GoFundMe.
00:52:30.719 --> 00:52:34.320
You mentioned there's a GoFundMe for the synagogue and for Jeff Smith's family.
00:52:34.480 --> 00:52:35.599
Uh tell us more about that.
00:52:36.000 --> 00:52:41.519
Well, as I said, the uh GoFundMe for Jeff, uh, I believe it's close to a million dollars.
00:52:42.159 --> 00:52:51.840
Uh and I uh the last report I had from uh the Belleville police was that um a couple days ago that he was up and around a bit and he was eating.
00:52:52.079 --> 00:52:54.719
Uh and so hopefully uh he'll continue.
00:52:55.679 --> 00:52:56.400
Yeah, he'll continue to get the game.
00:52:56.559 --> 00:52:58.000
And what about the shoal?
00:52:58.159 --> 00:52:59.360
What about the sons of Jacob?
00:52:59.519 --> 00:53:04.960
What kind of uh go where if I wanted to donate to the uh sons of Jacob, where would I do that?
00:53:05.280 --> 00:53:14.400
You can do it again through the GoFundMe page, or you can do directly to the synagogue through sonsofjacobelle at gmail.com.
00:53:14.559 --> 00:53:17.760
You can donate directly uh to the site there.
00:53:18.320 --> 00:53:34.800
You know, the Belleville Jewish community is an example of a lot of these outlier communities in Ontario uh in Canada that were developed at the turn of the century when a lot of people are coming in and and and and greenies were coming over and starting factories here in Canada.
00:53:35.039 --> 00:53:43.360
They carry rich heritage, unbelievable history, and um it's the the you know, I think it's important that people support that.
00:53:43.519 --> 00:53:48.000
Um, Shy, can you your last word, last word, Shy.
00:53:48.320 --> 00:53:48.800
Go ahead.
00:53:49.039 --> 00:53:52.400
Gum is a Yavo, this too, this too shall pass.
00:53:52.559 --> 00:53:54.000
But I
will say this.
00:53:54.320 --> 00:54:00.000
I want Canadians to pay special attention to media.
00:54:00.639 --> 00:54:12.239
The day after this happened, I was so very proud that two of your congregants were on the morning show, the show that I that I present on, were on the morning show talking about it the day after.
00:54:12.480 --> 00:54:16.320
And the rest of the media framed it very oddly.
00:54:16.559 --> 00:54:21.039
It was always framed very oddly until it was finally framed correctly.
00:54:21.199 --> 00:54:23.199
But we're seeing this happen everywhere.
00:54:23.440 --> 00:54:35.679
Yesterday, CBC came out with an article after the flybee-bye event that talked about a kerfuffle in the uh in the uh between two pilots and the plane had to make an emergency landing.
00:54:35.920 --> 00:54:45.760
I when I read that, when I read that, the I I I now I'm getting angry just saying it when I because when I read it, just made me even more angry.
00:54:46.000 --> 00:54:59.440
The way in which we are allowing media to to to kind of whitewash 100 manipulate, but whitewash specifically what happens to the Jewish community is something that we must pay attention to.
00:54:59.840 --> 00:55:11.760
And I would implore every person, every decent person, Jewish or non-Jewish, every time you see something like this in media, you speak up and you speak out.
00:55:11.920 --> 00:55:17.519
You write to the editor, you make the correction, because only that way will that change.
00:55:17.599 --> 00:55:19.599
And that's something that we need to change.
00:55:19.840 --> 00:55:24.079
And shy, people like Sean Ward, who we don't know anything about him.
00:55:24.159 --> 00:55:26.400
That that that information is coming out.
00:55:26.480 --> 00:55:30.559
I'd like to know more about his motivation and and and what brought him there.
00:55:30.800 --> 00:55:34.400
But people like that need to know that this is unacceptable behavior.
00:55:34.559 --> 00:55:53.360
Because I think that I think that in whether it's on the right or the left, there are people out there that they hear enough rhetoric, they hear enough of the false news, they hear enough of the double standards, enough of the normalization that demonizes the Jew, the anti-Semitism out there, and they think, oh, it's okay to do this.
00:55:53.519 --> 00:56:04.159
Well, it's not okay to do this, Sean Ward, and like people like you, vermin out there, who think that Jews are victims, that we're not going to fight back.
00:56:04.480 --> 00:56:05.599
It is not okay.
00:56:05.760 --> 00:56:11.119
It is not okay for the rhetoric, for the for the anti-Semitic rhetoric, for the double standards.
00:56:11.280 --> 00:56:15.360
It is not okay to for the community to speak out of both sides of their mouths.
00:56:15.679 --> 00:56:17.280
This is not okay.
00:56:17.920 --> 00:56:19.599
Let's be very clear.
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We are no longer Jews with trembling knees.
00:56:24.639 --> 00:56:25.280
I love that.
00:56:25.440 --> 00:56:26.239
That's great.
00:56:26.880 --> 00:56:27.679
Thank you, everybody.
00:56:27.840 --> 00:56:29.679
Thank you, thank you, everybody, for attending.
00:56:30.000 --> 00:56:31.039
Thank you, Belleville.
00:56:31.360 --> 00:56:34.559
And we are again, we are again, we pray for you.
00:56:34.719 --> 00:56:40.480
We are so glad that this that this did not end a different way.
00:56:40.719 --> 00:56:42.320
I am Israel Ellis.
00:56:42.559 --> 00:56:45.360
This is the Unfiltered View.
00:56:45.599 --> 00:56:54.719
This has been a special episode of production, talking to the Belleville community of what happened on the eve of Yom Kippur.
00:56:54.960 --> 00:56:59.039
We'd like you to share this, share this interview, like us, subscribe to us.
00:56:59.119 --> 00:57:00.480
You don't have to agree with everything.
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Comment, engage.
00:57:01.679 --> 00:57:03.760
We're going to share your comments out there.
00:57:03.920 --> 00:57:07.840
I want to thank you, the audience, people who viewed this video.
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You could have tuned out.
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Thank you for tuning in.
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Let's make a difference.