@RebelNewsOnline founder Ezra Levant was recently arrested in his Jewish neighborhood in Toronto, Canada. His crime? “inciting a breach of the peace” by standing next to a group of anti-Israel, pro-Hamas protesters. Ezra joins Glenn to describe what happened and how the police decided to “take out the quiet Jew and let the noisy Hamas ones continue.” But this dystopian story also has a good ending. Just a few days later, the protesters returned. But they were met by Ezra and a crowd of 100 counter-protesters: “We took back the streets.” Ezra explains why it’s vital that America hold onto its rights and also comments on Donald Trump’s threat to put massive tariffs on Canada.
Transcript
Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors
GLENN: All right. I want to talk to you a little bit here about justice.
Right now, we are -- we are living in a world. And hopefully, Donald Trump is going to be correcting some of these real errors of -- of our ways.
We are a world that has gone truly insane. And our neighbors up in Canada are just as insane.
If not more so. They're farther down the road.
A good friend of the program. A good friend of mine is Ezra Levant.
He is Rebel News, which is kind of like TheBlaze up in Canada. He is Jewish, and he has just been arrested. He was arrested.
In fact, I want to play the video of him being arrested. He is only standing, as a journalist, filming in his own Jewish neighborhood, a Palestinian, you know, protest.
If I can call it that.
I want you to listen to what happens. The exchange between him and the police.
Listen.
VOICE: I want you to take this.
VOICE: So you're refuse to go leave?
VOICE: I'm refusing to leave.
VOICE: Why?
VOICE: Because I'm a Jew. I'm a citizen. And I'm your boss. And I don't leave --
VOICE: Well, you know what, in the interest of keeping peace here and public safety. You're under arrest for breaching the peace.
VOICE: Good!
(applauding)
GLENN: This is his neighborhood. He's not an outsider. This is his Jewish neighborhood!
VOICE: I'm being arrested because I'm standing on the sidewalk in my city. I'm a Jew, who lives in this neighborhood. And I'm being arrested because the police say that's the path of least resistance.
VOICE: Zionist!
GLENN: Amazing. Ezra is with us now.
Ezra.
This is crazy!
This is absolutely crazy, what's going on.
EZRA: Glenn, I've never been arrested before. They handcuffed me, and they took me to jail for a few hours. And they said that I had incited a breach of the peace.
Now, I wasn't doing anything unlawful.
I was actually just debating with those cops.
Because I wanted to film.
You called it a pro-Palestinian rally. I think it was more than that.
It was pro-Hamas.
They had set up this really macabre display, of they were reenacting the final moments of Yahya Sinwar, the now deceased head of Hamas, where he was sitting in a chair covered with blood or whatever.
So these Palestinian activists came into the heart of a Jewish residential community. They weren't protesting outside an embassy or a political target. They were just in the middle of a bunch of apartments, in a very Jewish neighborhood.
So they were targeting Jews as Jews. Canadian Jews.
Nothing to do with the war overseas. They were putting on this sort of reenactment of their hero, the head of Hamas.
And I thought this was so astonishing. I just wanted to anymore it.
I wasn't even interact winning them. I mean, wanted to film it.
You sort of heard the jeering. Jew, Zionist, or whatever.
The top cop said to me, that by being there, I was inciting a breach of the peace. I myself was not obviously breaching the peace.
But these pro-Hamas thugs were. And they essentially vetoed being on my own sidewalk. This is public property.
I wasn't in some, you know, private place to be trespassed or something.
And the cops arrested me, the path of least resistance, which you mentioned when it happened, because there was about 20 of them.
And one of me. And instead of upholding the law.
They said, just take Ezra out. Because we know he's not going to riot. We know he's not going to get violent.
Take out the quiet Jew. And let the noisy Hamas ones continue.
That's just crazy. And, you know what, I don't regret being arrested.
There's no way that I was going to leave. Because they were saying, you're committing the sin of being Jewish on the sidewalk.
I'm sorry, I'm not going to leave just because you say Jews can't be there.
And you heard them say that, as I was arrested.
GLENN: Ezra, is there a chance, you go to jail for this, that this is upheld in Canadian court now?
EZRA: Well, I did go to jail for a few hours. Then they released me without charge. Now I was so upset with this precedent, that -- that was about nine days ago, that that happened. So two days ago. The same Hamas protesters, came back to that same Jewish neighborhood. And I said, this can't stand. So I sent an email out to our viewers, and I said, come stand with me. We will be peaceful.
We won't engage with the Hamas ones.
We'll just stand on the public sidewalk.
And, you know, just assert our rights. We'll take back our streets.
And I said, be aware, that we may be arrested.
But if that's where we are.
We need to know.
So 100 people came out two days ago.
100 people. And the police saw my email.
So they put out a tweet. The night before.
Saying that they reserved the right to arrest people.
So they were trying to scare my people off.
But I showed up.
On Sunday morning, and 100 people were there.
And I led them across the street. And we stood there, and I think the police sized us up.
And thought, there's 100 of them. We really can't arrest the one of them.
It was no longer in the path of the least resistance.
So we took back the streets.
And it was a victory. And I think we undid that terrible precedent that was set.
You can't arrest a peaceful person.
Because someone else is threatening them.
GLENN: They're doing it in England too, though. Doing the same thing in Glenn England.
EZRA: Oh, yeah. Well, you know what, I'm interested in the UK. One of our former employees, Tommy Robinson, is in prison right now for publishing a documentary on X.
And I always say, I go to the UK, because it's a dystopian time machine to see what Canada would be like in five years.
Maybe further down the road than that. Glenn, I would say to you and your American viewers.
Hold on to your rights. And if you want a picture of what America would look like, if you had lose your rights.
Look at us.
And that's why I was so relieved.
When Donald Trump won.
Because I think he will turn back the excesses.
GLENN: Oh, I think so too.
Let me ask you, Trudeau said that if Benjamin Netanyahu steps foot in Canada, he'll have him arrested.
EZRA: Justin Trudeau has sided, not just with Palestinians, because I can understand making the case for innocent civilians and being harmed as collateral damage in a war.
And you can be compassionate for Palestinians. I -- you can do that. But -- but Trudeau has gone much further.
He -- he has been so supportive of Hamas.
I don't know if you know this, Glenn. They literally made an English language video, thanking Canada. He was -- he has absolutely turned against Israel at the United Nations.
He -- he routinely condemns. He -- he republishes misinformation.
And hoaxes about Israel.
That Hamas circulates.
And when it's disproven. He doesn't correct.
He's whipped up, what I call an anti-Semitic crime wave.
For the last year. Not just hate crimes.
Because, you know, sometimes while it's a hate crime. Or a thought crime.
Or a word crime.
I'm talking about crimes.
Mazel tov cocktails being thrown at synagogues. A Jewish girl's school in my town, shot up with guns, twice. Constant vandalism. Constant uttering death threats.
Trespass. Mischief. Vandalism.
And I'm pretty much a Libertarian on free speech.
I don't like it when people say anti-Semitic things. But I understand that that's part of freedom. But first of all, not for foreign nationals.
If you're a guest in our country, if you don't have tenure in our country, get out. Instead of deporting these thugs, he's bringing in thousands of, quote, refugees from Gaza.
And I would say to Americans, be careful.
Because Trudeau is bringing in hundreds of thousands of people in Canada, who share these outrageous beliefs.
And we have a porous border with you.
So don't think that they're -- some of them are trying to get into the US.
That's why Trump is trying to strengthen the border with Canada.
And I hope it takes effect.
I hope that Canada gets more serious.
GLENN: Well, I will tell you this.
There are a lot of Canadians that are saying, this tariff that Donald Trump is talked about with Canada will kill us.
And hurt America, as well.
If Trudeau does not abide with the border restrictions, if he doesn't fall in line with our laws.
Donald Trump is not bluffing.
He does not mind tariffs.
And he is going to -- I mean, he will crush any country, that is -- is doing damage to the United States. He means it.
EZRA: I believe Trump means it. But I also believe he doesn't want to put the tariffs on. He is just trying to get --
GLENN: Yes, it's the way he negotiates.
The one thing you have to understand. Unlike most politicians, Donald Trump never threatens, he makes promises. You do this, and I'll do that.
You do this, and I'll do that. And he means it.
EZRA: It's worth rereading The Art of the Deal, where he explains how he negotiates and how he reframes things and takes dramatic positions.
It really is a decoder for a lot of his political talk. But what is he demanding from Canada? Nothing that we ourselves shouldn't demand from our own government.
He's demanding two things from Canada. Stop the drugs coming over the border.
Especially China-made fentanyl that is trafficked throughout the states. And number two, stop the illegal immigration.
We should want both of those things on our own basis. And the fact that it takes big brother, and America to smarten up is embarrassing.
We should have done those things on our own. I think Trudeau suddenly has a decision to make.
Does he want to just play to the cameras, and have woke press statements?
Or is he going to be a grownup now, and get serious?
And be productive, and have a working relationship with our best friends and allies.
And I don't know.
I mean, Trudeau. He's so low in the polls.
He may try to, Glenn. Turn this into an election issue.
I'm going to stand up to Trump. And the conservative candidate is a Trump puppet.
He may actually try to run in the next Canadian election.
Not in the Canadian conservative party. But like a shadow boxing campaign against Trump.
I wouldn't put it past him.
He hates Trump. The feeling is mutual.
Both men have disparaged each other in the past. I look forward to the day when we get past the Trudeau era, because he's made our country a darker place.
GLENN: He really has.
Ezra, I'm glad things are working out. Stay safe, my friend.
You are a huge target, and a force for good up in Canada.
Thank you. Buh-bye.