B’nai Brith Canada on Wednesday called for charges and a political response after protesters in the city of Calgary called for violence against Jews during protests over the recent Israel-Hamas engagement.

On May 16, thousands of people took part in an anti-Israel protest in Alberta’s largest city. The Calgary Police Service issued around 100 tickets to demonstrators for unsafe driving, such as running red lights and blocking intersections.

What escaped notice at the time, however, is that some protesters also called for violence against Jews, noted B’nai Brith Canada.

One video showed protesters at 9th Ave SW and 1st Ave SW – in the very heart of Calgary - chanting in Arabic: “Remember Khaybar, oh you Jews, the Army of Muhammad will return!” Khaybar refers to a famous battle in 628 CE, in which Muhammad’s Muslim army defeated and then slaughtered or exiled the Jewish tribes of the Arabian Peninsula. The chant therefore advocates violence against Jews in the diaspora, not just in Israel.

That same evening, protesters elsewhere in downtown Calgary recited the same bloodcurdling chant.

B’nai Brith reported these incidents to the Calgary Police Service.

“Threats to harm Jews in Canadian cities must not be tolerated,” said Michael Mostyn, Chief Executive Officer of B’nai Brith Canada. “The only way to prevent these threats from escalating to physical violence is to punish those calling for such violence now to the full extent of the law.

“We also call on elected officials, such as Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi, to show leadership at this time and unequivocally condemn anti-Semitism, no matter its source,” he added.

On Tuesday, B’nai Brith Canada reported for the third week in a row, anti-Semitism and support for terrorism were on display at a massive protest in downtown Toronto.

Over a thousand anti-Israel demonstrators marched from Yonge-Dundas Square to the Israeli consulate at Yonge and Bloor, shouting repeatedly for an “intifada.”

At least one protester carried the flag of Hamas, while others carried signs with anti-Semitic imagery, such as one depicting Israeli Jews as pigs, and another equating the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) with the Nazi SS. Organizers also bizarrely asserted at one point that “Canada is a part of Israel.”

Since fighting between Israel and the Hamas terror group began in early May, Jews across Canada have been subjected to an unprecedented wave of violence, vandalism and harassment, especially online. B’nai Brith’s Anti-Hate Hotline has already recorded more anti-Semitic assaults in May of 2021 than in all of 2020 combined.

Anti-Semitic incidents had been on the rise in Canada even before the recent round of fighting in Gaza.

In late March, Statistics Canada released its annual survey of police-reported hate crimes which found that Jews have remained by far the most targeted religious group for hate crimes in Canada.

The Statistics Canada report found that there were 1,946 police-reported hate crimes in Canada in 2019, up 7 percent from a year earlier.