Jewish visitor to Halifax confronted with 'Heil, heil, heil' at Palestinian rally
A Montreal lawyer has filed a hate crime complaint after he and his wife, both Jewish, were confronted by a demonstrator at a Palestinian rally calling out 'Heil, heil, heil' at them during their visit to Halifax.
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Dan Goldstein, 51, had travelled from Montreal with his wife, Liat Lev-Ary, to visit Nova Scotia, and on Aug. 6, after touring the Halifax Public Gardens, they went for lunch. They followed their phone's map to get to a restaurant, Goldstein said.
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'It took us right through the rally,' he said in an interview.
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A video taken by Lev-Ary on her phone shows protesters holding signs, waving Palestinian flags, and sidewalk chalk messages calling for immigration officials to bring Palestinian families to Canada because of the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
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Not shy about expressing his opinions either, Goldstein can be heard saying 'Remember the Bibas family, don't forget them with the people of Gaza. And don't forget the hostages,' as he walked along the sidewalk passing the demonstrators. It set off a loud retort, including chants of 'Free, free Palestine.'
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(The Bibas are a Jewish family of four kidnapped from their home in a kibbutz in Israel during the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas and held hostage. The father was eventually released but the mother and their two young children were killed.)
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The video by Lev-Ary shows energetic banter between Goldstein and numerous demonstrators. He said the debate was fine, at first.
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'They started shouting things like Israel is committing genocide. I disagree, but there's nothing illegitimate about (saying) that. That's up for debate. There's all kinds of comments regarding Israel that, again, are within the realm of what's acceptable and legitimate.'
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Then it changed for Goldstein. A man carrying several Palestinian flags walked up close to the couple.
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'This one guy comes up to us and he looks at us and he goes: 'Heil, heil, heil.' Now that is very clearly — because there's no reason for a person to start invoking a German word like that — a reference to the National Socialist ideology… It was part and parcel of that movement. It's said while giving the Nazi salute and it's an endorsement of Nazi ideology and (Hitler's) 'Final Solution' to exterminate all Jews,' Goldstein said.
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