Avi Benlolo: Why Toronto’s mayoralty race matters

Leadership matters. The scenes from Europe are shocking for those of us watching the outrageous destruction in France by left-wing radicals who want to bring down western civilization. It’s impossible to disregard the Palestinian flag waving amidst the rock throwing at police, the utter destruction, the burning of public buildings and the looting of stores.

The Palestinian flag has become the rallying cry for this violence following a pledge to “globalize the intifada.” In its first manifestation against Israel in the 1980s, the “intifada” was an uprising mainly of civil disobedience and violent confrontations, involving rock throwing. By its second incarnation in the early 2000s it had turned to murderous suicide bombings on Israeli buses, in restaurants and at nightclubs.

The Palestinians and their Marxist-communist allies want to globalize their so-called “struggle” against the West. The destruction we are now seeing in Europe will inevitably become more pervasive until it, too, manifests into violence by way of terrorism, if not armed insurrection. There will be dire consequences for any leader turning a blind eye to the rapid social change underway.

Canada is not far behind. Three years and thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrations later from coast-to-coast in our country have likely created a critical mass of radicalized converts. It hasn’t helped that we let millions of new immigrants with differing values into our country.

They are now organized. They are unified and they are often violent. In Toronto, they recently congregated in front of a Jewish event I hosted, harassing Jewish patrons entering the venue, some of whom were Holocaust survivors and their children. For the first time, Toronto felt like 1933 Berlin. That needs to stop.

As the primary target group, Canada’s Jewish community has been at the forefront of advocating for good political leadership. That’s why next week’s mayoral election in Toronto and, as it happens, the election in Israel, matters. For the Jewish community, all eyes are deeply focused on the future of our beloved city (Toronto) and the Jewish homeland.

The election of a mayor can bring about a change of tone to our city, fraught with a divisiveness that has torn our natural harmonious order. Rising antisemitism in Toronto coupled with vicious pro-Palestinian rallies have impacted our social fabric. A strong mayor who stands for law and order, for strong Canadian values centred on respect and for co-existence can bring our once harmonious city back together.

These days, what happens in the Middle East is impacting us here at home. All eyes will also be fixed on Israel’s elections coincidentally taking place the very next day after Toronto’s mayoral election. The outcome of Israel’s election is anyone’s guess, but one thing is certain: Israel’s security policies, especially with respect to the Palestinians and Iran, will become more determined no matter who gets elected.

Israel will not shift its political policies to advantage the Palestinians and acquiesce to external pressure. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas cannot be trusted. He has cancelled elections, yet again. Meanwhile, Europe is in pieces as Islamists rage destructively from city to city. It presses Israel to surrender to a “two-state solution” — but even that will never satiate the “globalize the intifada” appetite now devouring Europe.

This is western civilization’s inflection point and leadership matters now more than ever. If we adhere to our foundational principles, Toronto can be a better place for all people. We need to help the poor and afflicted. We need to alleviate homelessness, drug abuse and mental illness and we must enforce law and order to protect everyone.

We must do this with conviction, with moral courage and with a clear message: the “intifada” is not welcome here.

Avi Abraham Benlolo is the Chairman and CEO of The Abraham Global Peace Initiative, a think-tank that promotes freedom and democracy.