Rebel News publisher Ezra Levant was arrested by Toronto police over the weekend while he was attempting to film a pro-Hamas rally in a Jewish neighbourhood.
Videos and photos from the scene near Bathurst Street and Sheppard Avenue in Toronto on Nov. 24 show an activist dressed as late Hamas leader Yayha Sinwar seated in an armchair in a bid to replicate his final moments before being killed last month in an Israeli bombing. Another activist is seen holding a sign with various images of Sinwar, with one containing words reading, “Lived a Hero Died a Legend.”
A separate
video capturing an exchange between Levant and Toronto Police officers on Nov. 24 show them escorting Levant away from the area where the pro-Palestinian protesters had assembled. A senior officer showed Levant an area where he would be permitted to stand, well away from the demonstrations.
When Levant protested that he wasn’t doing anything wrong, the officer said his “presence alone” was “inciting the potential for violence.”
Levant continued to argue with the officer that his rights were being violated until another officer arrived. Levant later described him as the officer in charge on the scene.
“You’re inciting this crowd and it breaches the peace,” the officer told Levant. “Are you refusing to leave?” the officer later asks Levant.
“I’m refusing to leave,” Levant responded. “Because I’m a Jew, I’m a citizen, and I’m your boss.”
The officer then told Levant that he was under arrest.
“In the interest of keeping the peace here and in the interest of public safety, you are under arrest,” he said.
Levant said he was searched and taken to jail. He was released later that day without being charged.
He said he plans to sue the Toronto Police Service for violating his Charter rights.
“I wasn’t causing a disturbance—I was standing by myself on a public sidewalk, silently filming a grotesque pro-Hamas mannequin in a Jewish neighbourhood—a reenactment of Hamas leader Yayha Sinwar,” Levant said in a social media
post on X. “It would be like someone reenacting Hitler—and police were stopping me from filming it.”
The Epoch Times contacted Toronto Police for comment on Levant’s arrest and the lawsuit he said he plans to file, but did not receive a response by publication time.
This is not the first time Rebel News staff members have been arrested. Rebel journalist David Menzies was taken into custody on Nov. 10 for covering pro-Palestinian protests, and on a few other occasions. Ontario Progressive Conservative MPP Lisa MacLeod said Levant shouldn’t have been the one arrested.
“Ezra wasn’t chanting a genocidal rant, harassing a Canadian race, nor was he harassing anyone, yet he was the one arrested,” MacLeod
said on X. “Canadians are tired of this. Appeasement doesn’t work.”
Conservative Senator Leo Housakos also questioned the arrest.
“When we’re arresting someone for video-recording the scene below rather than the people IN the scene? We’ve lost the plot,” he
said on X on Nov. 25.
‘Shocking’
The signs and reenactment of Hamas leader Sinwar in the Jewish neighbourhood elicited strong condemnations.
Sinwar was the leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip from February 2017 until his death, and was a chief architect of the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack on Israel.
The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) described the display as “shocking.”
“Shocking to see images today of someone cosplaying as Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader behind the October 7 massacre, in a predominantly Jewish neighbourhood in Toronto,” the group
wrote on X. “This level of intimidation and glorification of terrorism is becoming normalized in our cities.”
The demonstration was also populated with multiple signs including one that read: “Free flights to Amsterdam.” The sign alluded to a
series of attacks targeting Israeli tourists in the Dutch capital, after a soccer match earlier this month
Toronto City Councillor James Pasternak also spoke out against the demonstration.
“I saw this sick and illegal display yesterday and am shocked that this was allowed to go on,” Pasternak
said on X. “It is incitement and harassment of the Jewish community and glorification of a designated terrorist group.”
