Toronto Police are investigating after pro-Palestinian Arab protesters gathered outside of Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto on Monday evening, reportedly blocking access and chanting in support of Hamas, The National Post reported.
Posts on social media have documented videos and photos from the protest, which included at least one protester scaling the hospital with a Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) flag. CTV News reported that Toronto police are investigating “several incidents” that took place in front of the hospital.
Mount Sinai Hospital is deeply rooted in Toronto’s Jewish community. It was established in 1923 as a response to antisemitic sentiments and practices that restricted Jewish doctors and patients from many hospitals at the time.
“Targeting Mount Sinai Hospital to incite intifada against Israel and the Jewish people is flagrantly antisemitic and undermines the health and safety of the patients and medical professionals who work there,” Marco Mendicino, MP for Eglinton-Lawrence, wrote on X. “The torrent of hatred against Jews and Jewish institutions must stop!”
The protesters could be heard banging drums and chanting “intifada,” according to The National Post. An internal hospital email, viewed by CTV, reportedly includes details that protesters climbed exterior scaffolding.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau condemned the protest on Tuesday, writing on X, “The demonstration at Mount Sinai Hospital yesterday was reprehensible. Hospitals are places for treatment and care, not protests and intimidation. I strongly condemn this display of antisemitism. In Toronto and across Canada, we stand with Jewish communities against this hate.”
In a post on X, Deborah Lyons, Canada’s special envoy on Holocaust remembrance and combating antisemitism, said her office will be calling “Toronto’s Mayor and Chief of Police today to discuss how they will put a stop to this despicable targeting and attempted intimidation of Mount Sinai Hospital and Jews across Toronto and Canada.”
“Leaders — at all levels — need to make clear that this is absolutely unacceptable. It is antisemitic, it is illegal and it is indecent,” she added.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford was asked about the demonstration on Tuesday and made reference to the fact that protesting outside of a hospital is illegal in Canada.
The federal government introduced Bill C-3 in 2021, which amended the Criminal Code to protect health-care workers by making it illegal to intimidate or obstruct access to a health-care service.
“Do not break the law because that’s exactly what happened. You broke the law,” Ford said. “But even without the law, you have to have an ounce of decency.”
Toronto has seen an increase in acts of antisemitism since the start of Israel’s war against Hamas on October 7.
In early November, an Indigo book store in downtown Toronto was vandalized with red paint and posters plastered on its front windows wrongfully accusing its Jewish founder and CEO, Heather Reisman, of “Funding Genocide.”
Last month, a Jewish-owned grocery store in Toronto was spray-painted with the words “Free Palestine” and later set on fire.
Days later, Toronto police arrested four people on a highway overpass, located near a predominantly Jewish neighborhood, that has become the site of recurring pro-Palestinian Arab protests.
