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Jewish Leaders Rebuke Cancellation of Jewish Film Festival in Canada
Hundreds of anti-Israel protesters, primarily university students, rally at Toronto’s Nathan Phillips Square on Oct. 28, 2023. Photo by Sayed Najafizada/NurPhoto
A famous theater in the Ontario province of Canada is facing widespread criticism over its “postponement” of the upcoming Hamilton Jewish Film Festival, a decision that many observers have interpreted as a cancellation motivated by anti-Israel animus.
“After receiving numerous security and safety related emails, phone calls, and social media messages, the Playhouse Cinema reached a difficult decision to postpone the Hamilton Jewish Federation’s venue rental,” the Playhouse Cinema, located in the city of Hamilton, said in a statement posted to X/Twitter on Tuesday. “On Saturday, March 16, our decision to postpone this venue rental was reached amid security and safety concerns at this particularly sensitive time.”
Organized by the Hamilton Jewish Federation, the event was slated to feature six films across three days, April 7-9, with each exploring different eras of Jewish history, from life in modern day kibbutzim bordering the Gaza strip to Poland during the communist purges of Jews in the 1960s. Several of the films were written and produced in Israel by Israeli creators.
On Wednesday, the Hamilton Jewish Federation said that Playhouse Cinema, in canceling the festival, has acted dishonorably and adhered to the wishes of antisemites.
“The Hamilton Jewish Federation is outraged by the recent decision made by the Playhouse Cinema to backtrack on its commitment to host the 2024 Hamilton Jewish Film Festival after the theatre received a small number of complaints and threatening emails objecting to the fact that Israeli films are included in this year’s line-up,” the group said. “The decision, coming just weeks before the scheduled event, is a lost opportunity to engage the Greater Hamilton community in a Jewish cultural event during the highest rise of antisemitism we’ve seen in recent history, and in the aftermath of the bloodiest day in Jewish history since the Holocaust.”
Antisemitism has skyrocketed in Canada since the Hamas terror group’s onslaught across southern Israel on Oct. 7.
The Hamilton Jewish Federation added that the films that would have been screened are culturally relevant and valuable for portraying the past and “contemporary Jewish experience,” as well as the “reality of co-existence” between Jews and Arabs living in Israel as neighbors and citizens. One of them, it noted, is the final project of a filmmaker who Hamas murdered during its Oct. 7 massacre, a tragedy that has left an indelible scar on Jewish communities throughout the world.
Jewish nonprofits commented on the matter on Tuesday and Wednesday, describing the festival’s scrapping as an injustice and calling on lawmakers to intervene and restore the original agreement between both parities.
“Unacceptable and appalling,” tweeted HonestReporting Canada, a nonprofit that promotes fair media coverage of Israel. “Silencing Jewish voices in a time when Jews are the #1 targeted religious group for hate crimes in Canada is a dangerous precedent and only gives more ammunition to those who hide their antisemitism under the guise of ‘anti-Zionism.’”
Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center, whose mission is to combat antisemitism and spread awareness of the Holocaust, added, “We denounce Playhouse Cinema’s decision to reverse its commitment to host the Hamilton Jewish Film Festival this year, in the latest example of an organization yielding to threats and intimidation from anti-Israel activists.”
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
The post Jewish Leaders Rebuke Cancellation of Jewish Film Festival in Canada first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.