Councillor urged Chow to keep quiet after Oct. 7 attacks

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In the days after Hamas’ terror attacks on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, Mayor Olivia Chow got an earful from the public for how she represented the city — and also found herself in the middle of a political divide within city council.

Emails and related documents, disclosed via a freedom-of-information request and provided to the Toronto Sun by the political group Integrity TO, show that Davenport’s rookie councillor Alejandra Bravo wrote three years ago to tell Chow to stay out of the conflict.

“I fail to understand why any commentary has been called for,” Bravo wrote both Chow and her chief of staff Michal Hay on Oct. 9, 2023.

That was two days after Chow condemned Hamas’ attacks on social media and then deleted a related post, hours after some 1,200 people were murdered in Israel, that said “Palestinian pain and severe loss of life” must also be acknowledged.

“The initial message was unnecessary in my view and was not helpful,” Bravo wrote, “nor was its deletion. The second message was similarly unhelpful. Subsequent responses are also concerning in relation to rallies and protests.”

Some three hours before Bravo’s email, Chow had posted to the social media platform X to denounce an unsanctioned pro-Palestinian rally set for Nathan Phillips Square.

Representatives for Bravo’s re-election campaign did not respond to a request for comment, nor did representatives for Chow.

Another document, also included in the freedom-of-information disclosure, shows that Chow’s statement against the rally had been in the works by her staff since at least 8 a.m. that morning. The document said the message would be posted “as a statement image, not a Twitter thread, so that nothing is taken out of context and shared alone.”

‘Unwilling to stay silent’: Bravo

The document noted other statements had been made on social media by Chow’s council colleagues Josh Matlow and James Pasternak, both of whom are Jewish. Each denounced the rally and the killing of Israelis.

“There’s no justifiable ‘both sidesism’ to Hamas’ attacks in Israel,” Matlow wrote in one of the quoted messages, posted to X on the night of Oct. 8, 2023.

Another Jewish councillor, Dianne Saxe, also reached out to Chow to share a blog post written by Alon Tal, like herself an environmentalist and politician.

“This is not a ‘battle against Hamas.’ There is an autonomous state in Gaza. Its leaders waged a surprise attack against Israel,” Tal wrote. “They waged a war because they want to eradicate our country and kill its citizens. So, now we have no choice: We must win this war decisively.”

Saxe wrote to Chow on Oct. 10: “Well written and sadly persuasive.”

There are no other examples of councillors writing to Chow other than Saxe and Bravo in the documents, which were provided after Integrity TO requested all communications within the mayor’s office that used a handful of phrases related to the Oct. 7 attacks.

Unlike Saxe, Bravo made no mention of the attacks by Hamas except to say a “global crisis” had “escalated once again as the armed conflict related to the 75-year Israeli occupation of Palestine has resulted in tragic violence and loss of life for both populations.” Most of her email was strictly about Canadians’ freedom to demonstrate.

“I am left feeling concerned about how events have unfolded this weekend,” Bravo wrote to Chow. “I also find myself in the position of having to publicly speak in favour of the indisputable right to freedom of association and political expression.

“This is not negotiable in this country and I am unwilling to stay silent when there is a need to uphold protected rights.”

jholmes@postmedia.com

AVALANCHE OF EMAILS

Olivia Chow got so many emails from her Toronto constituents in the days after Oct. 7, 2023, her staff provided a statistical breakdown of them on Oct. 10 — and it wasn’t flattering. (The Toronto Sun acquired the figures in a freedom-of-information request.)

The mayor’s office had got 6,314 “conflict in the Middle East emails” by that point, and most of them — 3,794 — were form letters asking her to stop the Nathan Phillips Square rally, set for Thanksgiving Monday 2023. Another 2,048 were individually written letters about the rally, either urging her either to stop it or expressing disappointment that it had gone ahead.

Meanwhile, 279 emails were criticisms about her stated position, including her social media posts. Another 37 were general emails about conflict in the Middle East, 32 were general emails in support of Israel and 10 expressed concern for local safety.

Amid all that were a few messages of support. Chow got 75 emails in support of the Palestinians or the rally and 58 to thank her for her appearance at a pro-Israel demonstration held at Mel Lastman Square on Oct. 9 of that year.

In 2024, the Sunpublished a number of emails to Chow on the one-year anniversary of the Oct. 7 attacks, acquired after a freedom-of-information request.

Chow chose not to attend a vigil to mark one year since the attacks. One constituent told Chow she appeared “conspicuously un-empathetic” to Toronto’s Jewish population.

“You are a disgrace and you should continue hiding until you are finally voted out of office,” another notable email read. “You owe the Toronto Jewish community an apology. Shame on you!”

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