An anti-Israel activist assaulted and attempted to take a police officer’s weapon during a protest against a Toronto debate featuring Israeli politicians.
Outside the Munk Debates on a two-state solution between former prime minister Ehud Olmert, former foreign minister Tzipi Livni, former ambassador Michael Oren, and former justice minister Ayelet Shaked, Oakville resident Thomas Zinderdine assaulted one officer and tried to disarm another as they directed the movement of demonstrators.
The Toronto Police Service said on Thursday that the 24-year-old activist fled into the crowd after the altercation, but afterward, he and 21-year-old Toronto resident Meagan London followed a departing attendee and threatened them.
Zinderdine was charged with assaulting and disarming an officer and uttering threats. He and London were also charged with criminal harassment.
Activist groups – including Jews Say No to Genocide, Toronto Centre for Palestine, and Toronto for Palestine – organized protests against the debate and sent a letter demanding its cancellation, alleging that the politicians were war criminals.
Protesters disrupted the debate repeatedly by interrupting the speakers, according to a Thursday Instagram post by Jews Say No To Genocide, with one calling to “end the occupation” in Hebrew and another crying “war criminal.”
Debaters complicit in 'genocide'
A representative of Toronto for Palestine said in a Wednesday video that the debaters were complicit in “genocide” and were being hosted at a municipally owned venue in a “Zionist and racist” attempt to “manufacture consent” for the occupation of Palestinian territory and the “farcical two-state solution.”
One banner held outside the Meridian Hall venue proclaimed “Glory to [Palestinian terrorist] Bassel al Araj.”
Ahead of the debate, the Hind Rajab Foundation, Canadian Lawyers for International Human Rights, and Palestinian Centre for Human Rights filed a complaint against Olmert and Livni to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Justice Department Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Section.
HRF said on Wednesday that the complaint called for an investigation into Olmert and Livni for supposed war crimes conducted during the 2008 Cast Lead military operation against Hamas in Gaza.
During the Munk Debates, Olmert and Livni argued that a two-state solution with Palestinians was in the interest of Israel, and Oren and Shaked argued in opposition.