Secondly, the “virulent spread of misinformation and miscategorization of the Israel-Hamas and the Israeli-Palestinian debate on campuses across the country, should not be ignored,” Robertson said.
Madi Foglia, an 18-year-old Barrie resident said, that a recent pro-Palestinian rally in the city “had the Jewish community questioning the safety they thought they had here.”
“Our community members asked their Rabbi if they could move their Mezuzah (a small decoration attached to doorframes at the entrance of a home) to the inside of their doors, to avoid being identified as Jewish homes,” Foglia said.
Last month Foglia had been putting up posters of missing and kidnapped Israeli women and children, when she noticed someone taking them down. Folgia recorded the incident, and the individual was later identified as Barrie BIA employee Sarah Jensen.
Jensen can be heard in the video saying she was removing the posters, because they did not “bring light to the other side of the situation at all.”
Jensen later issued an apology for removing the posters, but Foglia said the incident speaks to a larger issue of misinformation about the situation.
“It’s really a war of misinformation,” said Foglia. “There is this very twisted narrative that Jews are colonizers, that Hamas is only resisting occupation as a justification for the violence committed against communities world wide.”
Foglia hoped that putting up posters would help fight against some of the false narratives of the conflict. She believed posters of missing and kidnapped children would catch the attention of people walking by.
While many Jewish Canadians are taking measures to hide their faith, Foglia says she will not hide her identity, or stop putting up posters of kidnapped Israeli children.
“Historically when we are scared for our well being, when we have to hide who we are, we disappear, and no one pays attention to Jewish suffering.”
