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The Times of Israel smeared Rebel News founder and journalist Ezra Levant as a âfar-right activistâ on Sunday after he was arrested in Toronto, Canada, for filming an anti-Israel protest in a Jewish neighborhood on a public sidewalk.
The Times of Israel reported:
Canadian far-right political pundit Ezra Levant has been arrested at a pro-Hamas rally in Toronto, after he refused police instructions to move away from the demonstration, claiming he was being discriminated against for being Jewish.
In a video of the arrest posted to social media by Levantâs Rebel News platform, officers can be heard telling the conservative activist that his presence at the pro-Palestinian rally was âinciting the crowd.
The officer then tells him he is under âarrest for breaching the peace,â at which point the protesters erupt in cheers and calls of âZionistâ and âloser.â
As the Times of Israel admitted, one protester at the Toronto event was dressed as Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, while another held a sign urging Jews to go to Amsterdam, the site of a massive antisemitic riot earlier this month.
Such displays would be offensive to mainstream readers of the Times of Israel, yet it smears Levant as âfar-right.â
Video of the arrest, posted by Rebel News â a self-identified conservative news outlet, but not âfar-rightâ â shows Levant being ushered by police away from a group of protesters holding Palestinian flags. A confrontation ensues as police claim Levant is inciting the mob by filming them in public, while Levant says it is the mob that is inciting violence.
After Levant refuses to move aside upon the orders of the police, the police arrest him for disturbing the peace.
Police in Canada have a habit of arresting conservative reporters, so much so that Rebel News is actually suing the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) over an earlier arrest of reporter David Menzies for attempting to ask a member of Prime Minister Justin Trudeauâs government a question as she walked down a public sidewalk.
In the United States, public sidewalks are typically where free speech is at its most free, with few boundaries.
Levant is no more âfar-rightâ than the Times of Israelâs readership. But the online news website often reliable on news in Israel, frequently takes potshots at conservatives in the United States and Canada â as in this egregious example.
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Journalists shouldn't be arrested from filming/reporting on either pro or anti Israel protests.......of course this happened in Canada. In the US we reportedly still have the 1st Amendment.....