Concerns manifested outside a Jewish community centre over an alleged illegal foreign army recruitment event
In the evening of September 26, groups organized by various Ottawa-based pro-Palestinian organizations assembled outside the Soloway Jewish Community Centre (SJCC), to protest what they labelled a “recruitment event” for the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF).
The SJCC, located in Ottawa’s west end, was accused by pro-Palestinian organizers of promoting illegal activities through hosting Sar-El Israeli volunteer service presentations. Protesters alleged the meeting was to recruit volunteers to work on IDF bases; however, no knowledge directly published by the SJCC or Sar-El was found by the Fulcrum.
At 6 p.m. demonstrators gathered surrounding multiple entrances of the JCC with signs denouncing the IDF, who have reportedly killed 700 people in Lebanon over the past four days, per the Lebanese health ministry.
Ottawa Police Service (OPS) officers, riot police, and private JCC security were present and surrounded the perimeter of the property as the protest started.
Crowds continued to grow until as late as 8 p.m. with chants such as “Hands off Palestine. Hands off Gaza”, “All the zionists are racist”, “From Ottawa to Palestine, occupation is a crime”, and “OPS, KKK, IDF, you’re all the same.”
Ottawa4Palestine, one of the protest organizers, cited Section 11 (1) of the Foreign Enlistment Act, in their press release stating: “any person who, within Canada, recruits or otherwise induces any person or body of persons to enlist or to accept any commission or engagement in the armed forces of any foreign state or other armed forces operating in that state is guilty of an offense.”
Ottawa4Palestine’s press release does not mention subsection (2) which nullifies this for those who possess citizenship of the foreign country they are recruiting on behalf of.
When questioned about the neglected subsection, Avery McQuirter, a media liaison for the protesters, stated that as a Canadian citizen, she had access to the event, therefore questioning if subsection (2)’s criteria was entirely met, adding that the legality of the event had been reported to the OPS by Ottawa4Palestine.
McQuirter told the Fulcrum that the original goal of the protest was to cancel the JCC’s event by “blocking the entrances to the centre.”, adding that they were “unsure if that goal was achieved due to mixed information on how the event unfolded within the building.” Speculation that the event had been moved earlier in the day on the 26th due to the announced protest was unable to be confirmed by the Fulcrum.
McQuirter shared that Ottawa4Palestine has “built a really nice community through our weekly protests,” attributing this community building to the protests’ ability to turn-out a large crowd on short notice: “[It] is why [we had] such a big turnout”.
Amongst the estimated 200-300 protesters were Ottawa residents, students of the Palestine chapters for U of O and Carleton, members of Neturei Karta International and organizers from the Montreal4Palestine community.
Around 7 p.m., protestors tried to block a vehicle from exiting the JCC parking lot. The driver continued attempting to exit, allegedly hitting protesters, which sparked chants for the OPS to “Arrest him! Arrest him!” After talking with officers on scene surrounding the vehicle, the driver was released momentarily after the alleged incident, which was later condemned on the Ottawa4Palestine Instagram page.
When asked for comment on the protest, the OPS media liaison told the Fulcrum that the protest “is charter protected. They are doing it lawfully.”
The SJCC’s private campus security refused comment to the Fulcrum.
