Toronto, Canada, has experienced “an anti-Semitic crime wave,” Rebel News founder Ezra Levant tells Glenn. But instead of going after the perpetrators, the Toronto police is targeting Ezra and Rebel News! Ezra joins Glenn to explain how he’s now being threatened with jail time for driving a truck that exposed the anti-Semitic hate. The truck — not the real hate crimes — has been declared a hate crime! But Ezra is not backing down.
You can help Ezra take a stand for free speech at http://SaveTheTruck.com
Transcript
Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors
GLENN: A great, great friend of mine.
Ezra Levant. He's the Rebel News Founder up in Canada.
Which is a lot like TheBlaze news in some ways.
And he has been outspoken, and his team is outspoken.
And he's an attorney. So he never -- he never takes anything sitting down.
And the Canadian government have been after these guys for a long time.
Well, he is now having to fight the censorship bill up in Canada.
And it looks like he may be facing prison time, because of hate speech.
Ezra is with us now.
Hello, Ezra.
EZRA: Hi, Glenn. Thanks for having me. I appreciate your very kind words. Like you, I rely on the strength of our viewers. We are an independent group of citizen journalists, and we're fighting against an establishment.
A crazy thing happened to me, just a couple days ago. We tell our stories through video. But also podcasts. And written work. But we also have -- we love billboard trucks. I don't know if you know what I'm talking about.
GLENN: Yeah, yeah.
EZRA: It's like a JumboTron truck.
So Toronto, Canada, where I live, is the site of a pro-Hamas encampment. There's screaming mask-wearing thugs marching through the city every week. Not just in the downtown, but through synagogues and residential areas.
There was a Jewish school that was shot up a few weeks ago. It's a crime wave. It's an anti-Semitic crime wave. We put some of the images of the crime wave on our billboard truck.
It was actually an ad by a local community group. Called Canadians opposed to the occupation of our streets and compasses.
So we drove this JumboTron truck around the city, showing some of the scenes of Hamas thugs, threatening to kill people, blocking the downtown streets. Having a mass prayer, gridlocking the city.
So I'm just showing scenes from the crime wave.
And the police chief made an announcement on Twitter, that he was investigating us, for a hate crime. Not investigating the people doing the crimes that we put in the video. But the fact that we showed those things, we were conducting the hate crime. And he announced his investigation in advance, declaring it an Islamophobic hate crime and then starting the investigation.
And if we're convicted, God forbid, under this provision of a Canadian criminal code, it's a two-year prison sentence.
So we're not talking about a Human Rights Commission slap on the wrist. Or a fine. Or -- the chief of police, in Canada's largest city has publicly announced that what we did with that truck is a hate crime. Then he announced the investigation.
Well, gee-whiz, I wonder what those police will find. And it's prison time, God forbid, if they succeed.
Well, you know what, Glenn, not -- not if I have anything to say about it.
So the very next day, I got into the JumboTron truck. And I drove it. And I parked it, right outside the headquarters of the police chief, right outside.
And I walked into the main police station in Toronto. And I said, I'm here to see the chief. I hear he's looking for me.
Can you have him come down. And he can either talk to me, about where he gets off about censoring our journalism.
Or he can arrest us. His choice.
And I stood there in the reception of the main headquarters of Toronto for an hour.
And he wouldn't come down. And send anyone else down.
So I eventually left.
Ask we've been driving the truck with those same images for a few days now.
And I don't know what will happen next. I went to his place of work. And he wasn't there.
Maybe he's going to show up at my office. Maybe he's going to show up at my house.
I don't know. They won't talk to me.
They're not communicating with me, even though they've announced they're investigating me.
We have lawyered up. My lawyers are confident that what we've done is still lawful in Canada, even though we're still sliding towards censorship. But this is a risk for hate speech.
Glenn. Hate speech is in the eye of the beholder. So I think there's a hate crime wave in Canada. Anti-Semitic hate.
But by merely showing that and describing that. The government is investigating me for hate speech.
Be aware of people who want to prosecute hate speech. They'll only go after enemies of the state.
GLENN: By the way, if you would like to help Ezra and his team, you can just go to savethetruck.com. You'll see the story and ways to help. Savethetruck.com.
Ezra, can I ask you. Because you grew up in Canada. I think it was your -- was it your grandfather that came to Canada, in the early 1900s?
EZRA: Yeah. My great grandfather came to a Western province called Alberta before it was an even official part of Canada. So I feel very Canadian. I am Jewish also, which I suppose makes me extra alert to Hamas. But it's the Canadianness in me that says, this hateful crime wave is so un-Canadian. And I feel like a lot of Canadians are blown away by what they see on the streets. And all the establishment people that we used to rely on, all the authorities. The police are turning a blind eye. And I saw that happen in Los Angeles, recently. Just police standing by.
While a kind of positive gram is happening across in America.
GLENN: That's happened a lot in France, just the past few days.
How does it feel to be in a synagogue, or to be Jewish in Canada?
And Toronto with this going on.
EZRA: Toronto has a large Jewish community, one of the largest in North America.
Two hundred thousand people. And until recently, it was so comfortable. And so accepting. And so wonderful.
And, you know, Toronto has had a Jewish mayor. The leaders of industry are Jewish.
And there was nothing. You never had to be shy or embarrassed or scared.
People would walk, you know, Jewish children would walk on the streets to school.
Now they get attacked.
Now they get attacked in classes.
Gunmen shooting at schools.
It's just shock -- part of it is shock, this is happening. But the second shock, is that all the people, that we -- and all the institutions that we thought would be there for us.
Just aren't. Like the university of Toronto.
The largest university in Canada has had a Columbia-style encampment, and no one is stopping it. McGill, the largest English university in the province of Quebec.
The court would not order it shutdown.
The police refused to remove it. The university is begging anyone to remove this thuggish encampment.
And the police, the courts. No one. And people are saying, what? Where? Why? How?
I think it's an astonishment. It's like everyone is stunned. And I don't know. I just -- I don't think -- and like I said. I don't think even non-Jewish Canadians can recognize the response for texting. We've been told, don't -- anti-bullying. And antiracism.
And no one on the left meant it. They just -- they obviously didn't mean it. They're putting. I just don't understand how they can.
There's swastikas flying down the streets.
There were mobs of Islamic extremists wearing masks.
Walking through resident neighborhoods of Jews, looking for Jews, shrieking at them.
Besetting a synagogue. An eight-hour mob, outside of a synagogue. Shouting, screaming. How is that even related to Gaza? They're just Jew hunting here.
GLENN: Isn't it amazing how this -- this is what the government of Canada tried to accuse the truckers of being? And they weren't!
And now here they are, in the streets. And they won't do anything!
EZRA: That's a perfect analogy. The truckers were completely peaceful. The only thing they did was maybe some parking infractions. There wasn't a single act of crime committed by the truckers.
They were flying Canadian flags, may I remind you.
And Trudeau brought in a form of marshal law. He brought out riot horses to stomp on them. He jailed the leaders.
He froze the bank accounts of hundreds of Canadians, who had not been accused of any crime. That was Trudeau's response to citizens who were peacefully protesting forced vaccine mandates. Here you have many noncitizens. Like I saw a video of someone from Pakistan the other day with a thick accent. I don't know if he's a citizen or newcomer or what.
Standing in the middle of downtown Toronto shrieking, whose streets? Our streets! In a very distinct accent. And I -- I was just thinking, who are you? You just arrived here. You're breaking the law so blatantly.
And not a thing. And, by the way, I'm not calling for censorship.
You don't need a hate speech law, to go after people who are committing trespass -- violence, vandalism. Uttering death threats. Assaults.
There's a law in Canada against besetting a church or a synagogue. Police are acting as concierges.
There was a prominent Muslim leader, who offered a 25,000-dollar bounty for someone to --
You know, who could help get me arrested.
It's madness here. And I just -- the left -- I don't think they ever meant it, when they talked about anti bullying. Or antiracism.
They -- they are plenty racist when it believes to their enemies.
And they made the decision. And it's a Marxist decision. Sort of a critical theory decision. That all Jews are oppressors actually, so you can do anything to Jews.
And we saw this in Columbia, and we saw this in other places in America. What's crazy this time is that the police chief has announced, he's investigating me for a crime. That's the crazy part.
Police chief are the biggest city in Canada, has announced he wants to prosecute me. It's crazy.
GLENN: Again, if you would like to help, and make sure that this is stopped. You can go to -- what was it?
Support the truck?
VOICE: Save the truck.
And it's not just a truck. The truck is a symbol. It's a peaceful ad.
But the reason why we marked the truck. Is because we couldn't get anyone to rent -- to rent these trucks.
But the truck companies who love us and deal with us hundred times.
They said, we're afraid of running messages to criticize Hamas. Not because we like Hamas. We're just worried trucks will be attacked. Our drivers will be violently attacked. We're afraid.
We have to say no to any criticism of Hamas. Because we no longer think our trucks are safe. So we bought our own truck.
And now the fear is that the police will be the enforcers. I just don't recognize this.
For 50 plus years, I lived in one of the freest countries in the world. And it's astonishing what's happening. And I appreciate you shining a light on it. Canada is in jeopardy.
GLENN: Yeah. I know. So is America.
Ezra, thank you so much for sharing this. Let me -- let me read to you, what the chief of police wrote. This is on X.
Let me be clear, all incidents of hate are serious. Everyone deserves to feel safe in our great city. The service is investigating this incident. Anyone with information, contact the Toronto police. Or call this number to remain anonymous.
Hateful behavior should have no place in Toronto.
What he was retweeting was, we recognize the community's concern about a truck displaying Islamophobic messaging in Toronto. The tips hate crime unit is investigating. We recognize a concern of the community, about a truck displaying. We're investigating.
Call this number. If you have any information or footage, please contact your local division of Crime Stoppers.
And they give the number of tips out.
That -- that -- that's Canada today.
