In Toronto, it's not just about Israel, it's mostly about hating Jews

As dusk darkened the skies and the streetlights began to replace the sunshine, an unsavory group of about eighty hysterics gathered beside the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's headquarters on Front Street in Toronto to screech at and harass the benefactors of a Jewish charity.

As fashionable women in evening gowns and their dapper escorts filed into the Toronto Convention Centre for the Jewish National Fund's Negev Dinner, the contrast with the slatternly assemblage across the street could not be more stark.

This poor, exploited person is a regular sight
at protests featuring the Socialist Action group

"Two, four, six eight, Israel is a racist state!" along with screams of "you are a racist!" greeted the confused patrons of an organization that funds environmental projects in Israel.

Angry Muslims in checkered keffeyehs made up most of the spiteful horde of demonstrators,  along with  a few stocky lesbians, and some wrinkled crones from the group of bizarre, Jewish anti-Israel 9-11 conspiracy theorists that calls itself Independent Jewish Voices (IJV). For just a bit of extra weirdness, they had support from a handful of the wretched psychiatric hospital outpatients who make up the anti-capitalist group Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP).

Just a few days earlier, the same motley collection of anti-Israel extremists had gathered outside the Israeli Consul General's office, but tonight's demonstration made their motives abundantly clear. In Toronto, the anti-Israel crowd isn't just interested in hating Israel, they are equally motivated by hate for Jews.

How else to explain why they would try to demonize as "apartheid" the least racist state in the Middle East, the only one in that region where all citizens regardless of race and religion are able to vote, participate in government, and live side-by-side?  How else to explain that they advocate for Palestinian national self-determination, and have no problem with that of any other group except the Jews, the only group whose national aspirations they characterize as "racist?"

That would happen when Hamas stops bombing Israeli civilians
FROM Gaza

Most revealing of all about their hatred and bigotry is that they no longer chose politically relevant locations, like Israeli government offices, but have now moved on to target ordinary Canadian Jews who support planting trees in the Holy Land.

While the Muslim hatred of Israel and Jews is obvious, some interesting aspects of the rationale for the non-Muslim cranks came to light. In the case of the lesbians, these types of demonstrations' apparent primary purpose is to provide a social channel for them. There are many attractive, charming, engaging lesbians. The ones in the anti-Israel groups are not they. These are tremendously ugly, unpleasant women, and given that lesbians comprise a small minority of the population, there are few venues for these bottom-rung lesbians to socialize with others like them. Radical organizations that condemn "lookism" and engage in anti-western, anti-Israel activities are among the few such opportunities they have.

Hate Thesis author with OCAP types

Among the lesbians at tonight's demonstration was the notorious Jenny Peto, whose anti-Semitic Master's thesis was so inept, shrill and hateful, it embarrassed the University of Toronto to the point of calling their academic standards into question. Her presence and that of the psychologically damaged IJV members showed the familiar and saddening tactic of how some pathetic, desperate Jews are exploited as a front for anti-Semitism. Another was a very odd woman; a Canadian Union of Public Employees activist who is a stalwart of these events, and previously had stalked Sun TV host Michael Coren as he asked questions at a pro-Omar Khadr demonstration.

Other participants who are fixtures at these events were the fanatic, frumpy Wilfred Laurier Sociology Assistant Professor, Mary Jo Nadeau and clownish OCAP spokesman Marque Brill.

One atypical happening that occurred during the evening was that a lone, short young man came into the crowd to angrily confront them. He did not seem to have anything to do with the Jewish National Fund event being harassed,  but was clearly enraged and came over to speak his piece. He was immediately surrounded by the radicals who got into his face and exchanged shoves with him before he was ejected from the area by police.

This single supporter of Israel was so infuriated he made some heated remarks, but still one has to admire  the courage of this solitary soul who took on the hostile group like a young Jewish Joe Peschi.

As fury rages across the street, these cops sensibly
flirt with a pair of attractive women who found the
protesters laughable

What is gratifying about the events that unfolded tonight was to observe how counterproductive it was for the message the fanatics were trying to convey. This is a completely typical byproduct of such hateful gatherings.  Standing on the street, passersby who had nothing to do with the gathering first voiced confusion as to what it was all about. Arabic-accented chants of "From Turtle Island to Palestine, occupation is a crime!" did nothing to help clarify the cause of their fury.

Hate-filled screams from the neurotic, angry old women of Independent Jewish Voices, the ferocious,  butch lesbians who are denizens of politicized Ontario Institute for Studies in Education programs and swarthy, veiled and keffiyeh covered Muslims who looked like they had been brought in by Central Casting to try out for a movie as terrorist extras didn't endear them to the general public. "F**king idiots" was a fairly typical response and this was from people who cared nothing about either side in the Israel-Palestinian conflict.

The cretinous look of the protesters and their vicious invective was enough to self-inflict damage to their cause.

One other episode worth noting happened when a spiteful-looking woman, about 60, wrinkled face and wearing jeans and an anorak - a regular I recognized from these protests  - one of The Independent Jewish Voices type, came over to the side of the street where the Convention Centre stands.  Through the floor-to-ceiling windows, one could see the people headed to the Negev dinner filing on to an escalator. There were some very beautiful women among them and everyone attending the JNF dinner was dressed rather elegantly.

This bitter woman from the protest group walked back and forth a bit, silently watching the people going to a pleasant evening with delicious food.  Her loathing and envy were palpable as she saw the hated Zionists having a fine time while she was left on the outside. What probably hurt her the most as she rejoined her cronies across the street was the realization that standing out there in the cold, all she and her cohorts were doing was reaffirming their own hate to each other while persuading no one else.

Near the onset of the protest, Greg of GenuineWitty encountered, for the first time ever he said, Jenny Peto, the author of an anti-Semitic thesis condemned in Ontario`s Legislature by Minister of Citizenship Eric Hoskins, among other politicians and notable academics, like Irving Abella and Werner Cohn.

In their encounter, she employs the same rigid logic she used in her fatuous essay

UPDATE: Greg of GenuiteWitty shot this video of the pro-Israel protester who confronted the pro-Hamas throng