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Steven and Joshua speak to The CJN about their efforts to remove anti-Israel graffiti from the heart of Jewish Vancouver. (The CJN photos)<\/p>\nJewish residents and organizations in Vancouver say a relentless anti-Israel campaign of \u201cchalking\u201d\u2014writing hateful slogans with sidewalk chalk in public, and waving a large Palestinian flag outside a hospital in their neighbourhood\u2014has reshaped daily life in Vancouver\u2019s historically Jewish neighbourhood.<\/p>\n
For over two years, anti-Israel graffiti and stickers have appeared daily on sidewalks, bus stops, street signs and other public spaces along the Oak Street corridor, near major synagogues, in the Douglas Park area.<\/p>\n
Two Jewish residents of this neighbourhood began documenting the messages by the lone perpetrator, whose identity they know. They\u2019ve amassed proof of at least 2,000 incidents and have asked him to stop.<\/p>\n
The duo have had real late-night runs-in with the activist, who they say lives and works near them, and who has, on social media, described his devotion to the Palestinian cause as living in \u201cthe belly of the beast\u201d\u2014a popular term in anti-Israel circles describing carrying out activism from within areas that support Israel and Western values.<\/p>\n
The two Jewish men bought cleaning gear to wash the tags away, if the rain doesn\u2019t do it first. But it\u2019s become a war of attrition.<\/p>\n
Vancouver police say they take hate speech and harassment seriously, but the one-man protest has not abated.<\/p>\n
On today\u2019s episode of The CJN\u2019s North Star podcast, we\u2019re joined by the two Jewish residents who are fighting back, Joshua and Steven, who have asked that their family names not be published for safety reasons.<\/p>\n
Steven and Joshua speak to The CJN about their efforts to remove anti-Israel graffiti from the heart of Jewish Vancouver. (The CJN photos)<\/p>\n
Related links<\/p>\n
British Columbia promises legislation to establish safe \u201cbubble zones\u201d for synagogues, places of worship in order to curb harassing protests, in The CJN<\/a>.Vancouver police arrested Samidoun\u2019s Canadian leader Charlotte Kates after she was accused of making hateful comments during an anti-Israel protest in 2024, in The CJN<\/a>.Why a recently elected city councillor in Vancouver has an anti-Israel problem, in The CJN.<\/a>Transcript:<\/p>\n Josh from Vancouver: \u00a0That\u2019s all I\u2019m really after is to be able to go out and go to the bus stop or walk around the park, and not have to see this hate.<\/p>\n Ellin Bessner:<\/p>\n If you\u2019ve been following all the stories we\u2019ve covered since October 7th about the weekly anti-Israel protests that have spilled into Toronto\u2019s heavily Jewish Bathurst and Sheppard neighbourhood, some of what you\u2019re about to hear may sound familiar, except this story is in Vancouver, along the historic Jewish stretch of Oak Street near the Orthodox synagogue Schara Tzedeck, near Max\u2019s Bakery and Deli, and stretching north toward Vancouver General Hospital.<\/p>\n Local residents say they\u2019ve spent the last two years waking up to fresh anti-Israel graffiti and stickers on sidewalks, utility boxes, bike lanes, and light poles. The messages, written in bright colours, mostly in chalk, are mixed with pro-Palestinian slogans but also anti-Zionist ones, sometimes featuring the red Hamas triangle with the F-word, comparing Israel to ICE agents in the United States, and on and on.<\/p>\n Jewish residents say they know who\u2019s doing it because he documents his work publicly on Instagram and has launched a GoFundMe page to support what the man describes as his full-time activism. He\u2019s repeatedly attracted the attention of police, Jewish organizations, and even security staff at Vancouver General. His slogans have appeared late at night near the Gordon and Leslie Diamond Healthcare Centre there, named after one of BC\u2019s best known Jewish philanthropic families. He also regularly stands near the hospital\u2019s Syd and Joanne Belzberg courtyard waving a Palestinian flag at rush hour.<\/p>\n For some Jewish residents nearby, the campaign has become a constant source of anxiety and frustration. Some have bought cleaning supplies and regularly scrub away the messages themselves, when the rain doesn\u2019t do that first. They call police and Vancouver\u2019s 311 service to get the city to come and clean it up, but what started as graffiti complaints has now escalated.<\/p>\n Local residents say they\u2019ve been having disturbing late-night confrontations, and now they fear for their own safety because the man they say is behind the campaign actually lives in the neighbourhood.<\/p>\n Steven The more the message gets out there, the more that people are going to maybe start seeing his point of view, and maybe not him, but maybe somebody he has directly or indirectly influenced, will take action of some sort.<\/p>\n Ellin Bessner: I\u2019m Ellin Bessner, and this is what Jewish Canada sounds like for Wednesday, May 13th, 2026.<\/p>\n Welcome to North Star, the flagship podcast of The Canadian Jewish News, made possible thanks to the Ira Gluskin and Maxine Granovsky Gluskin Charitable Foundation.<\/p>\n Jewish leaders we spoke with say there\u2019s little practical enforcement available because this activist operates in a legal grey zone: police generally view political protests as protected speech unless it crosses the line into criminal harassment, intimidation, or hate speech. As far as we know, no charges have been laid. Vancouver police told me that any reported incidents involving mischief or harassment are taken seriously, and investigators collect evidence where hate motivation might be present.<\/p>\n The activist behind the chalking says his messages are intended to provoke discussion, and he has also included hearts and peace signs and messages about love. Similar chalk activism has appeared internationally through a pro-Palestine online campaign encouraging supporters to use washable sidewalk chalk. But two Jewish residents have taken it upon themselves to document nearly all of his work. One has collected about 2,000 images connected to the campaign and has reported incidents to police.<\/p>\n Today on North Star, we\u2019re joined from Vancouver by Joshua and Steven. They asked that we not use their full names publicly, for safety reasons.<\/p>\n Joshua: Yeah, thanks for having us. My name\u2019s Joshua.<\/p>\n Steven: I\u2019m Steven, also in Vancouver.<\/p>\n Ellin Bessner: We should explain \u2014 I said for security reasons, but maybe you want to, either of you, start to just quickly tell us what your security concerns are, which led you to prefer not to have your full identities on our show.<\/p>\n Joshua: Yeah, I\u2019m a photographer by trade. I have a unique way of spelling my photography brand name, and I want to try to keep my professional career and my activism separate for obvious reasons. I\u2019ve also had my full legal name published by certain pro-Palestine activists, and again, just trying to keep my identity out of my activism as much as possible.<\/p>\n Steven: Yeah, I was also recently followed \u2014 I guess for lack of a better word, almost chased down \u2014 by one of these individuals. Very unhinged. And yeah, I was outside erasing some of the graffiti, and he sort of chased me down. I didn\u2019t want to go back into my apartment until he had sort of left the vicinity, so he didn\u2019t see where I lived. Unfortunately, I think he lives right next door, but for now, yeah, I\u2019d rather sort of keep my identity secret because of that.<\/p>\n Joshua: Unfortunately for me, the culprit of all these chalk messages lives across the street from me, so I see him from my kitchen window leaving his house wearing his keffiyeh every day.<\/p>\n Ellin Bessner: Did you discover each other geographically? Are you seeing the same stuff, or is this different?<\/p>\n Steven: Same stuff, same stuff, by the same person, same neighbourhood, yeah.<\/p>\n Ellin Bessner: Orient me. How close are you to each other?<\/p>\n Joshua: We probably live about six blocks away from each other, so we\u2019re close. I walk the same neighbourhood that Steven walks.<\/p>\n Ellin Bessner: And orient me from the biggest landmark \u2014 the JCC, or the Vancouver Federation building, or King David, or all of that sort of thing.<\/p>\n Joshua: I mean, I live down the street from Schara Tzedeck, the temple that was firebombed back in 2024. That\u2019s probably the closest Jewish institution.<\/p>\n Steven: Yeah, I\u2019m about seven blocks from that.<\/p>\n Ellin Bessner: All right. Can we talk timeline here? What first caught your attention, and when was this?<\/p>\n Joshua: I\u2019ll speak to that. What first caught my attention was the torn kidnapped-from-Israel hostage posters back in November of 2023. I had been putting them up, and this individual had been tearing them down. There was an event at Schara Tzedeck where Eylon Levy was speaking, and about 22 pro-Palestine activists came and tore down hostage posters in front of the entire Jewish community \u2014 did it with impunity, did it smiling. That was their first very public appearance in front of the Jewish community with their hate and their activism, so to speak. And the chalk messages really began around June of last summer \u2014 June 2025 \u2014 and have been persistent every day.<\/p>\n Ellin Bessner: Are you part of the main organizing groups that have been leading the Jewish community\u2019s rallies and hostage runs and things like that in Vancouver? Just so we know this isn\u2019t some random thing \u2014 that you\u2019re really plugged in.<\/p>\n Joshua: Yeah, I\u2019m part of both Vancouver Stands with Israel and the Bring Them Home group. And the individual in question would be standing across the street counter-protesting.<\/p>\n Ellin Bessner: So this is a person who is well known not only to the police but to the Jewish community. Correct?<\/p>\n Joshua: Yes, and he has had many interactions with the police. He was recently arrested and released with a verbal warning, which he has not complied with.<\/p>\n Ellin Bessner: How widespread does this happen? You said it started outside Schara Tzedeck. Now it\u2019s in your neighbourhood. Is that it, or where else do you see this stuff?<\/p>\n Steven: Well, I\u2019ve seen his messaging recently in a neighbouring area too. I saw it in a neighbourhood called Mount Pleasant. I was just out the other day \u2014 it\u2019s probably about twelve blocks to the east, a different neighbourhood entirely from where Josh and I live, but he\u2019s starting to, dare I say, expand his brand. You can tell by his very distinctive way of writing. So yeah, he\u2019s getting out there. I don\u2019t think he has much of a life or job or anything of the sort.<\/p>\n Joshua: Yeah, just to add on to that \u2014 he began targeting the public parks near the temple, where every 15 to 20 feet he would write more messages in chalk. They would target the Bring Them Home rallies and write chalk messages on the corner where we would stand. They target the Vancouver Stands with Israel marches, and they will go to the bridge and mark the bridge before the event.<\/p>\n Ellin Bessner: What colour is the chalk that he uses?<\/p>\n Joshua: He must order it in packs. We suspect he\u2019s either being paid or someone\u2019s paying for his supplies. This individual has created a GoFundMe account to support his own personal activism, and he\u2019s referred to our Jewish community as \u201cthe belly of the beast.\u201d He says he\u2019s on the front lines and does mostly solo activism.<\/p>\n But he\u2019s kind of gathered groupies who come \u2014 he\u2019ll stand at the corner near the hospital and wave a flag during rush hour, and he\u2019s had other activists come and wave a Lebanese flag and another Palestinian flag. And every time someone honks at him, he gives the V for victory sign and is emboldened by people honking.<\/p>\n Ellin Bessner: Well, when you\u2019re talking about flag waving, some people will say it\u2019s free speech. You can wave whatever flag you want \u2014 except for terrorist flags, soon, in Canada. You can honk horns, you can walk up and down \u2014 freedom of assembly, freedom of speech. We know about these. So when did you feel that this started to become more than just random political graffiti, and actually started targeting and crossing the line?<\/p>\n Joshua: He would write things like \u201cHolocaust in HD.\u201d He would engage in a lot of Holocaust inversion. He\u2019d also write things like \u201cStop Israel Cult Now,\u201d essentially labelling the entire state of Israel as a cult. He\u2019s written my name, saying \u201cFree Palestine from Joshua the neo-Nazi\u201d at my bus stop. And again, knowing that he lives in a Jewish neighbourhood \u2014 which he has referred to as \u201cthe belly of the beast\u201d \u2014 he chooses to write messages in front of the temple and along walking routes that Jews will take walking to synagogue on Shabbat.<\/p>\n Ellin Bessner: And this is Schara Tzedeck or another temple?<\/p>\n Joshua: I mean, there are probably three temples within walking distance of our community. One\u2019s an Orthodox, one\u2019s a Conservative, and one\u2019s a Sephardic temple. He knows he lives in a Jewish neighbourhood \u2014 he essentially lives across the street from one of the temples.<\/p>\n Ellin Bessner: Steven, have you seen anything that\u2019s really crossed the line, that jumps out and that you want to share with our listeners?<\/p>\n Steven: I mean, he\u2019s just \u2014 profanity, Israel \u2014 and like Josh said, \u201cStop Israel Cult,\u201d and he\u2019s even referred to Israel with the letters I-C-E, \u00a0that for Israel. When the ICE raids started becoming more in the news, he started writing it that way. And again, like Josh said, he refers to Israel as a cult. These were the photos I had uploaded to the Report It Now app from Stop Antisemitism \u2014 I found that app just by sheer luck. He likes to use, instead of the U for the F-bomb, he likes to write a V, and he likes to put the red triangle \u2014 or as red as it can be with the chalk \u2014 in the middle where the space is in the V, making an upside-down triangle in red. So he knows what he\u2019s doing, and he knows what that means to us.<\/p>\n Joshua: He also makes like a devil-tail kind of symbol whenever he\u2019s writing the word Israel \u2014 on the S he\u2019ll draw arrows to make it look like a devil\u2019s tail or pitchfork iconography. He\u2019s not stupid. He knows what he\u2019s doing.<\/p>\n Ellin Bessner: You know, it makes me uncomfortable even giving these examples airtime, but I want to focus back on you \u2014 you\u2019ve both documented this extensively. Would you be able to estimate roughly how large your archive is now?<\/p>\n Joshua: Yeah. I first started by collecting all of the stickers and all the defaced hostage posters and photographing as much as I could. I really did start an extensive digital catalogue back in \u2014 it must have been May of 2024 \u2014 when I started to speak with the Vancouver Police diversity and hate crimes unit to really document as much as I can. I also have pretty extensive screenshots of all of his Instagram stories, which he thinks will disappear after 24 hours, but we have records going back to June of 2024.<\/p>\n Ellin Bessner: How many would you say \u2014 hundreds? Both of you together, or you by yourself?<\/p>\n Steven: I don\u2019t have anything \u2014 I don\u2019t keep anything. I\u2019ll photograph my stuff when I see it sometimes, if it\u2019s really, really bad, and I\u2019ll post it onto Facebook, onto the Jewish Vancouver Facebook group. I\u2019ll delete it thereafter. I prefer not to keep the hate. I prefer not to have it. I think I\u2019ve been to his Instagram like once or twice, and of course now he\u2019s private. I just prefer not to have that material. It\u2019s just so violent, so disgusting. I understand \u2014 and I\u2019m not knocking it \u2014 Josh is great. Josh is the one who\u2019s got it all documented, far more so than I would ever have.<\/p>\n Joshua: Yeah, I\u2019m a photographer, so I understand the importance of having these digital records. Fortunately on Apple devices you can hide content from your camera roll, so I will screenshot, I\u2019ll photograph, I will catalogue it onto a Dropbox which the VPD has access to, and then I will hide these images from my camera roll. I have maybe 2,000 images hidden on my phone.<\/p>\n Ellin Bessner: Why do you want to hide them?<\/p>\n Joshua: I don\u2019t want my camera roll to be full of hate. I want it to be my daily life.<\/p>\n Ellin Bessner: Well, we should ask both of you \u2014 what has been the impact on you of doing this work? You want to start, Josh?<\/p>\n Joshua: Yeah. Unfortunately I see this person almost every day leaving his apartment. I have crossed paths with him. We\u2019ve never actually spoken. He knows who I am \u2014 he would identify me because I used to wear the Bring Them Home dog tags. Someone saw that and claimed that I was an IDF soldier because I wore a symbol for the kidnapped hostages. And I became aware of him very early on because he would wear a Palestine flag baseball cap and a keffiyeh around the neighbourhood. He worked at a local caf\u00e9 and bike repair shop, and one day I saw him wearing his flag at work, and I was like, oh yeah, I\u2019m never shopping there again.<\/p>\n Ellin Bessner: Would you have any desire to try to sit down with him over a coffee and say, look, I think we are so far apart on this issue?<\/p>\n Joshua: He is so entrenched in his political belief that it\u2019s not going to be a productive conversation.<\/p>\n Steven: For me, it\u2019s not as bad because he has no clue who I am. I have photographed him, actually \u2014 I recently photographed him earlier this week. He was out waving his flag. He does it kitty-corner to where I live, right across the street from the hospital, right in front of the Belzberg \u2014 the Syd and Joanne Belzberg courtyard. And it\u2019s a high-traffic area because it is the hospital and a main thoroughfare. Of course, in the summer I\u2019ve got my windows open, and the honking is just incessant, generally between five and six o\u2019clock.<\/p>\n And that\u2019s really it. I mean, if I\u2019m going to erase his stuff \u2014 which I do \u2014 I\u2019ll go out in the wee hours of the night. A couple of weeks ago I was out at four in the morning. I figured, okay, I\u2019m not going to encounter this guy, and I just don\u2019t want to see him. I don\u2019t want to be anywhere near him, in his vicinity, in his orbit. And of course I don\u2019t want to get doxed either.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, there was also someone out \u2014 I call him an acolyte \u2014 who, at four in the morning, was also out and started chasing me after he saw me erasing. Something about having it on record that a doctor said Israel bombed children and stuff like that. Anyway, he chased me down. He\u2019s like, \u201cOh, I just want to talk.\u201d I\u2019m like, I don\u2019t want to talk to you, buddy. It\u2019s four in the morning.<\/p>\n Joshua: Yeah. One thing to add \u2014 these activists frequently target high-traffic areas like bus stops so that their messages can be read. I will go out during the day and remove them, and sometimes I get people thanking me, sometimes I get people challenging me. And the thing that I tell everyone is: believe what you want to believe, but keep your politics off of the sidewalk. This is a public space that we should all be able to enjoy.<\/p>\n Steven: And yeah, I think that\u2019s just the main thing. It really just makes a horrible mess, the chalking and the erasing of it. Okay, you know what \u2014 believe what you want to believe, but stop making a mess of the neighbourhood.<\/p>\n Ellin Bessner:<\/p>\n Do you think that the authorities actually understand this cumulative psychological effect of this chalk, or do they just see it as chalk?<\/p>\n Joshua: They just see it as chalk. And this individual has even posted videos of himself out at six a.m. writing chalk messages in front of businesses that have told him not to \u2014 they don\u2019t want politics in front of their business. And the police have basically said, \u201cOh, you\u2019re drawing it with hearts beside it, it\u2019s fine.\u201d They don\u2019t really look at the content or the context \u2014 they just look at the medium.<\/p>\n Ellin Bessner: Hang on a second. The Vancouver Police Foundation has an initiative called the Chinese Community Policing Centre graffiti removal team, to help businesses in Chinatown clean up because of anti-Asian graffiti. So when you hear about that, and then this \u2014 where do you go? How come they\u2019re not interested in this?<\/p>\n Joshua: If this were homophobic slurs on Davie Street, which is like the Vancouver queer community, there would be zero tolerance for this. If this was anti-Asian racism in Chinatown, there would be zero tolerance for this. But because this is anti-Zionism, it\u2019s being treated as political speech. And I think the VPD is very scared of entering into any kind of charge where they are becoming arbiters of freedom of expression.<\/p>\n Ellin Bessner: Have you seen any more or any less graffiti, and have you seen any more response from the authorities that makes you optimistic?<\/p>\n Joshua: There have been some developments. This individual was witnessed by a police officer writing on a city utility box, where he was arrested. It was documented, they forced him to erase it and gave him a verbal warning saying do not mark up City of Vancouver infrastructure. And since that happened, he has continued to mark up city poles, he\u2019s marked up a couple of utility boxes, which I\u2019ve documented before removing the chalk. But the VPD has basically said we need footage of him doing it in order to pursue charges against him. There\u2019s no video \u2014 these businesses have cameras. I\u2019ve spoken to two different businesses about it, and they\u2019ve both said we\u2019re not going to release footage to you, we will only release footage to the VPD. And I\u2019ve said, here\u2019s the case number, here\u2019s the officer to contact. And I don\u2019t believe either one of those businesses has followed through with sharing those materials.<\/p>\n But my hope is that if the Vancouver police won\u2019t pursue criminal charges, maybe the city of Vancouver will pursue bylaw fines, and this person will get fined \u2014 because he is costing the city a lot of money in cleanup.<\/p>\n Ellin Bessner: Well, you\u2019re doing it, or they\u2019re doing it \u2014 both?<\/p>\n Joshua: We\u2019ve encouraged community members to report the graffiti to the City of Vancouver 311 graffiti removal process. And every time that happens, they have to send a graffiti cleanup crew to go and clean up this mess. And this individual has even filmed himself taunting the graffiti crew, saying, \u201cChalked and loaded \u2014 I\u2019ll come back when you guys are gone and write it again.\u201d He has chosen this medium of chalk because it is semi-permanent. But every time we wash it away, he comes back and writes it again. It\u2019s really just a battle of attrition at this point \u2014 whack-a-mole.<\/p>\n Ellin Bessner: Right, but you\u2019re not giving up.<\/p>\n Joshua: Well, for the most part it seems like a cat-and-mouse game between me and him. I\u2019ve been trying to rally more community members \u2014 Steven being one of the few consistent ones who also helps wash these away. But it\u2019s really starting to feel like we need to get the community to band together to remove them as quickly as possible, to minimize his visibility so that we don\u2019t have to endure this day in and day out.<\/p>\n Ellin Bessner: I heard when I was researching this from someone whose kids live in Vancouver that Starbucks near the art gallery pays its employees or pays people to go out every morning after the protests to clean the chalk outside of their store too. Is that something you\u2019ve seen or know about?<\/p>\n Joshua: I have encountered \u2014 like Steven was saying, he targets the hospital quite a bit \u2014 and I have met hospital staff members who came out with a broom and a bucket of water to wash the messages away in the mornings. But they work Monday through Friday, so Saturdays and Sundays those messages will persist if no one removes them.<\/p>\n Ellin Bessner: Do you think he\u2019s targeting the hospital because Belzberg is a prominent Jewish family name?<\/p>\n Joshua: I think he\u2019s generally targeting his community because he knows it\u2019s a Jewish neighbourhood. And he has admitted \u2014 in his GoFundMe, he\u2019s admitted he\u2019s taken out a line of credit, which he\u2019s pretty much all but spent, and that he\u2019s dedicating 30 to 40 hours a week on his activism because he thinks he\u2019s making a difference. I simply ask people: who is the intended audience of these messages? Who do you think they\u2019re actually helping? Because I don\u2019t believe they help anyone in the Middle East.<\/p>\n Steven: And they\u2019re not the intended audience. The intended audience is the Jewish community of Vancouver. and I\u2019ve seen some of the posts that Josh has sent me \u2014 it\u2019s like, \u201cHate Zionism, love Jews,\u201d or vice versa, in whatever order. But the two are inextricably linked. How can you love Jews and not \u2014 Zionism is not a dirty word. We all know that. But they choose to weaponize it.<\/p>\n So it\u2019s really just a personal belief where I feel that this is just gross. And yeah, I just wish there was some way I could stop it. There\u2019s really not a day that goes by where I don\u2019t want to just ask that guy \u2014 why do you hate so much? What have we done to you? Literally, it\u2019s practically a one-man hate campaign. Why?<\/p>\n Joshua: obviously became extremely activated after October 7th \u2014 when I would encounter fellow photographers sharing videos of the bulldozers crashing through security walls. I worked several high-profile events where medical staff and security were wearing keffiyehs, which I felt very uncomfortable around. And I\u2019ve really seen how social media has radicalized people.<\/p>\n And I feel sad and sorry for this person, because he\u2019s made anti-Zionism his entire identity. He has \u2014 I don\u2019t believe he has any hobbies, or anyone in his life to challenge his point of view or give him a fresh perspective or a break from this level of hate.<\/p>\n And I knew, when the hostages came home, that this antisemitism wasn\u2019t going to disappear. It was just going to morph into a new form. He\u2019s gone from tearing down hostage posters to writing anti-Zionist messages. He\u2019s also focused on other trendy topics \u2014 sometimes he\u2019ll write \u201cAll eyes on Gaza, Lebanon, Venezuela, Cuba\u201d \u2014 as if these regions have anything to do with each other. I mean, ultimately I think it\u2019s a Marxist anti-Western point of view that has infected his mind, and he\u2019s not going to change unless he actively chooses to deradicalize. It\u2019s really scary.<\/p>\n Ellin Bessner: You mentioned he\u2019s gone from defacing posters to spending 40 hours a week on this activism. Are you concerned that this will go further, into physical violence against somebody, including you?<\/p>\n Joshua: Yes. I believe that this is potentially a stepping stone to something far greater. Hopefully not. But I think the more the message gets out there, the more that people are going to maybe start seeing his point of view, and that maybe not him, but maybe somebody he has directly or indirectly influenced will take action of some sort, whatever that may be. I don\u2019t see him really stopping here. No.<\/p>\n Steven: Unfortunately, I have to agree. I think he is getting only positive reinforcement from the community \u2014 people honking at him, people applauding him for writing these messages. He makes claims like, \u201cOh, it\u2019s 90% love and 10% hate.\u201d The only way he\u2019s going to stop is if he either faces criminal consequences or financial consequences and is forced to go get a real job again. He\u2019s not seeing any sort of real consequence for his actions. He\u2019s essentially normalized anti-Zionism in our Jewish community in a way that is deeply upsetting, and it feels like we do not have the city or the authorities\u2019 support in just neutralizing public space. That\u2019s all I\u2019m really after \u2014 to be able to go out and go to the bus stop or walk around the park and not have to see this hate.<\/p>\n Ellin Bessner: I applaud you for coming forward, and I really appreciate you exploring these themes with us here on The Canadian Jewish News\u2019 \u201cNorth Star\u201d podcast. Good luck to both of you. Keep us informed.<\/p>\n Joshua: Thank you for having us.<\/p>\n Steven: Thank you. Appreciate it.<\/p>\n Ellin Bessner: And that\u2019s what Jewish Canada sounded like for this episode of North Star, made possible thanks to Ira Gluskin and Maxine Granovsky Gluskin\u2019s Charitable Foundation.<\/p>\n B.C. just recently became the first province to introduce legislation creating bubble zones around schools and places of worship to prevent harassment and intimidation by protesters, but those protections probably wouldn\u2019t cover the entire Oak Street corridor and the stretch running north from Vancouver\u2019s major Jewish hub \u2014 where King David High School is, and so is the Federation, the JCC, and the Holocaust Centre.<\/p>\n Our show is produced by Zachary Judah Kauffman and Izzie Helenchilde, with Michael Fraiman as executive director and Alicia Richler as our editorial director.<\/p>\n We\u2019d like to hear from you about this story. You can write to us at [email\u00a0protected]<\/a>. Thanks for listening.<\/p>\n Credits<\/p>\n Host and writer: Ellin Bessner ( @ebessner<\/a> )Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Izzie Helenchilde (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Alicia Richler (editorial director)Music: Bret Higgins<\/a><\/p>\n Support our show<\/p>\n