“Jews did 9/11” is a vile slur.
I’m not sure when exactly I first heard it. Probably not on Sept. 11, 2001 itself, but for sure very soon in the days afterwards. It was part of the swirl of ugly conspiracy lies in the air at the time.
Most of those lies targeted Muslims — they were celebrating on the bank of the Hudson across the river from decimated Manhattan, was the most prominent. I had a then-friend look me straight in the eye and tell me that he saw “the Muslims” (they were actually Sikhs from Punjab) who owned a local 7-11 partying in the backroom on Sept. 11, the same vicious lie I had heard just an hour before on the T.V. about some “Arabs” celebrating in a 7-11 in New Jersey.
Since then, there’s been a parade of such nonsense. It was an inside job. Steel doesn’t collapse like that, so the buildings were rigged with bombs, an operation that would’ve taken months but was somehow missed by the thousands of people coming and going into the buildings every day. And on and on. 911 Truthers, the conspiracists are called.
The actual truth is much more horribly mundane: A group of religious extremists led by the scion of a Saudi billionaire family used their money and the opportunity of an inept American government to conduct a suicidal mission that murdered 3,000 people. The attacks were nearly universally condemned, by Jews, by Muslims, by Christians, by Atheists, by everyone.
My friend Elaine was one of the very few people who was actually injured and not killed in the attacks. She was running away from the first collapsing building when she stumbled and broke her leg. Another person fleeing the scene saw her in distress, and in the midst of the swirling dark dust and debris, helped her hobble off to relative safety.
Elaine had no patience for 911 Truthers. A slim, petite woman, she would get in the face of anyone spewing such nonsense and give them whatfor, tear them a new hole. Elaine died a few years ago from cancer, so far as I know unrelated to 911, but to this day, in her memory, I have no patience for 911 Truthers.
Alas, the 911 conspiracies live on among small groups across the political spectrum. Mostly, however, the particular conspiracy that “the Jews” were responsible for 911 is held by those on the far right, as that is the group that has been consistently and unapologetically antisemitic since, well, since forever. It’s confusing and seemingly nonsensical but nonetheless the fact that the extreme right is both antisemitic and pro Israel.
I’ve been aligned with the Palestinian cause since I visited the then-occupied territories of the West Bank and Gaza during the Intifada in 1989, and I saw for myself the horrid living conditions and the violent oppression of the Apartheid state.
Definitely, I should have been more vocal in the decades since, but in the face of the current slaughter of Gaza, I must call out Israel directly, and especially so when the powerful in my city sportswash that slaughter with the banality of tennis.
(I refuse to call what’s happening in Gaza a “war.” People can debate the word “genocide” til the cows come home. I’m OK with using it; we’ve correctly used it to refer to the Rwanda genocide, the Hutu genocide, the Darfur genocide, the Rohingya genocide, and so many more genocides, and no one at all in Canada objected to those uses, so I don’t know why suddenly referring to Gaza as a genocide is off limits. But whatever, if the word offends you, I’ll just as accurately call it a slaughter, a perpetual war crime, a murder of innocents, babies, journalists, doctors, and first responders. I don’t see how that makes it any less heinous than “genocide,” though.)
Representatives from Independent Jewish Voices on Sept 12,2025 rally in front of Halifax City Hall. Credit: Madiha Mughees
Reporter Madiha Mughees covered those protesting Israel and the Halifax sportswashing of Israel on Saturday. As I wrote Friday, the protesters have always struck me as peaceful — for sure, they stridently make their point, but they are meticulously nonviolent.
And, as Mughees reports, the Palestinians among the protesters have made common cause with Jewish people just as horrified by the actions of the Israeli state:
Halifax’s Jews also made it a point to voice their opposition to the atrocities in Palestine.
Shira Lurie from the Independent Jewish Voices gave a speech in front of Halifax City Hall.
She said criticism of Israel is not antisemitism and Israel should not receive impunity for its warcrimes.
“Israel is a country. It is not a religion. The IOF’s bombs do not fall in the name of Judaism,” Lurie said.
“The Jewish identity is not some kind of magic armour that war criminals can wear so that they can commit atrocities with impunity.”
She said bombing civilians in the name of Judaism is real antisemistism.
“That very idea is antisemitic, they are antisemitic, and shame on them,” she said.
It is antisemitic to cut off food, water, electricity, and humanitarian aid to suffering people and claim that you are doing that in the name of Jewish freedom and safety.
It is antisemitic to claim that the Jewish people are so fragile and desperate that we need an ethnostate reliant on horrific and unending violence to survive. I’m so proud to join with my fellow Jews today and every day in condemning Israel’s horrific occupation and genocide. We stand with the people of Palestine, we stand with a cause of liberation, and we stand behind the promise of never again for anyone ever.
It is of course good politics for Palestinians to work with Jews while protesting Israel, but that’s too cynical a read on it. I’ve seen Palestinians (both Palestinian Muslims and Palestinian Christians) working alongside each other since I visited Palestine.
Members of the Israeli anti-occupation group Peace Now regularly showed up at protests in the occupied territories to join Palestinian demonstrators, and Peace Now lawyers provided legal assistance to those Palestinians who were arrested. Deep friendships were made across the “Green Line” separating Palestinian East Jerusalem from the rest of the city, which was dominantly Jewish. These were people with a deeply held moral conviction that the oppressive occupation was wrong, and even though they experienced it from different ends of the oppressive instruments of the state, of course they would come together as friends.
I think that Israeli state apologists fear that friendship, that shared moral indignation of oppression, more than they fear even Hamas, as it calls into question the legitimacy of oppression more than bombs or armies ever could. As such, anything that can be done to split that alliance will be done.
Security personnel lined up to block all the entrances to the Scotiabank Centre during Israel-Canada match on Sept. 12, 2025. Credit: Madiha Mughees
I briefly stopped by the protest Saturday. On my way, I passed a dozen or so completely bored cops “guarding” the Metro Centre, where the no-audience Tennis match was being held. The cops had every right to be bored, as nothing was happening to threaten the Metro Centre.
The protestors were gathered at Grand Parade, and were just winding up when a group calling itself Canada First showed up. As I understand it, Canada First is a right wing extremist group that was holding a rally on Citadel Hill the same day, and that despite its name, actually puts Israel, and not Canada, first. And so they decided to do, I don’t know what, down at Grand Parade.
From my vantage point, I saw the cops present separate the two groups, and escort the Canada First group out of the Grand Parade. A cheer arose among the anti-Israel protestors. And that was that.
Due to other commitments, I missed the protests on Sunday, but later in the day I was told of that both the Shaar Shalom Synagogue and the Beth Israel Synagogue in Halifax had been defaced with vile graffiti, as seen in the photos above.
This is no doubt distressing for the faithful and for the Jewish community in Halifax generally. Such acts should be roundly and forcefully condemned. They are the acts of cowards. They have no place in our community.
As of this writing, Halifax police have not issued a statement about the graffiti, and no suspect has been identified.
Yet, with no evidence whatsoever that any of the anti-Israel protestors had anything to do with the graffiti, the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs issued a statement implying the protesters were responsible:
Joint Statement By Our CEO Noah Shack & Atlantic Jewish Council Executive Director
Yoram Abisror:
On the same weekend that extremists silenced fans from cheering on Team Canada, with protestors even publicly displaying the severed head of the Halifax mayor, a Halifax synagogue was defaced with hateful graffiti.
Whether intimidating sports fans, threatening elected officials, or targeting people at their places of worship, this is absolutely unacceptable in Canada — an assault on our core Canadian values.
And requires an unequivocal and urgent response from police and political leaders.
On cue, Halifax Mayor Andy Fillmore also implied that the protesters were responsible, issuing this statement (all caps in original):
I AM APPALLED BY THE ANTISEMITIC GRAFFITI
DEFACING THREE HALIFAX SYNAGOGUES LAST NIGHT.
ATTACKING PLACES OF WORSHIP IS UNACCEPTABLE.
IT HAS NO PLACE IN HALIFAX.
WE ARE LIVING IN A TIME WHEN CONVERSATIONS ABOUT
IDENTITY, HISTORY, AND JUSTICE CAN FEEL OVERWHELMING
AND DIVISIVE, BUT WE CANNOT ALLOW THAT COMPLEXITY TO
COLLAPSE INTO HATE HERE AT HOME.
THERE IS NO PATH TO PEACE ANYWHERE THAT INCLUDES
BRINGING FEAR AND DIVISION TO HALIFAX.
WE ARE BETTER THAN THIS.
ANDY FILLMORE
MAYOR OF HALIFAX
The Halifax Examiner has asked Fillmore for clarification about the statement. Why, exactly, does he think the graffiti is related to “identity, history, and justice,” and not just old-fashioned homegrown right wing antisemitic hate? Should he respond, I’ll update this article.
A marcher is holding a poster with five-year old Palestinian child Hind Rajab’s last words written over it. Rajab was shot 335 times by Israeli soldiers. Credit: Madiha Mughees
I think it highly unlikely that anyone associated with the anti-Israel protests had anything to do with the graffiti. For one, as I say, those protestors have been remarkably nonviolent and have gone to great lengths to reach out to Jews who share their moral indignation about what Israel is doing in Gaza. Why would protestors burn that bridge of common cause?
But additionally, 9/11? That’s ancient history. Most people living in Gaza, and most of the people protesting in Halifax, aren’t old enough to have meaningful memories of 9/11. To be sure, they know of historic wrongs done directly unto the Palestinian people, and they know of the tens (and probably by now, hundreds) of thousands of people killed in Gaza recently, but that just begs the question of why they would pluck 911, which had nothing to do with Gaza, out of that long list of legitimate grievances?
It makes no sense that the people protesting the slaughter in Gaza would be responsible for that vile graffiti.
The organizers of the anti-Israel protest have issued their own statement:
Throughout the build up to the protests against the Davis Cup, we have faced repeated hate speech and anti-Muslim slurs from CIJA and AJC, accusing us with no evidence of intimidation, violence, terrorism, anti-Canadian values, and extremism. This language is a clear Islamophobic dog whistle and is a classic example of Anti-Palestinian racism.
Now that dangerous, inciting language has escalated to accusing organizers — without any evidence or statement from the police — of this disgusting anti-Semitic and conspiracy-laced graffiti. This after a weekend where it was Palestinians and their allies who confronted white supremacists rallying downtown. We strongly condemn this anti-Semitic graffiti which draws on far-right conspiracy theories.
We will be investigating all possible further action. Enough is enough. For too long these damaging, racist slurs and accusations have gone unchallenged. In a weekend where hundreds peacefully protested, events concluding with no arrests or violence, we are disgusted that the mayor of this city with no evidence would link this graffiti to those opposing genocide in Palestine. To put it bluntly: put up or shut up. What is extreme and divisive is to continue to make unfounded, damaging accusations and we demand a retraction and apology.
We conclude by noting that neither AJC nor CIJA nor Andy Fillmore have issued statements condemning the fascist, anti-Semitic, white supremacist rally that was organized downtown. We call upon them to strongly condemn far right activity in our city with the same energy with which they condemn opposition to genocide.
To recap, “The Jews did 9/11” has been crazed right-wing conspiracy nonsense for over two decades, since the event itself. I would suggest that if people want to find a source for the recent ugly slur, they look first towards crazed right-wingers.
It occurs to me that in the time it took me to write this, probably dozens more people, perhaps even hundreds or thousands, have been murdered in Gaza.
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Government
City
Monday
Executive Standing Committee (Monday, 10am, City Hall and online) — agenda
Accessibility Advisory Committee (Monday, 4pm, online) — agenda
Tuesday
Halifax and West Community Council (Tuesday, 6pm, City Hall and online) — agenda
Province
Monday
No meetings
Tuesday
Veterans Affairs (Tuesday, 1pm, Province House and online) — Veteran Homelessness Support; with representatives from the Department of Opportunities and Social Development, Landing Strong Cooperative Ltd., Veterans Affairs Canada, and Veterans Emergency Transition Services Canada
On campus
Mount Saint Vincent
Monday
Falling Walls Lab Atlantic Canada 2025 (Monday, 6pm, Halifax Central Library) — a “platform for thinkers and creators to share their innovative projects that aim to break down walls and push boundaries;” tickets free via Eventbrite
NSCAD
Opening Receptions (Monday, 5:30pm, Anna Leonowens Gallery) — 2025 Canadian Students Silversmithing Exhibition; Flax Ecologies; Sow-to-Sew Artists-in-Residence; details here
Opening Reception (Monday, 5:30pm, Treaty Space Gallery) — Travelling Images: Mi’kma’ki
Literary Events
Monday
No events
Tuesday
Book Signing (Tuesday, 6pm, Antigonish) — Donna Jones Aylward’s Ship of Dreams, at The Curious Cat Tea and Books
In the harbour
Halifax
06:45: Zuiderdam, cruise ship with up to 2,364 passengers, arrives at Pier 20 from Rockland, Maine, on a seven-day cruise from Boston to Québec City
07:00: CB Pacific, oil tanker, sails from Irving Oil for Les Escoumins, Québec
08:00: Majestic Princess, cruise ship with up to 4,272 passengers, arrives at Pier 22 from Sydney, on a 10-day cruise from Québec City to Boston
09:30: One Madrid, container ship, sails from Pier 41 for sea
14:30: One Aquila, container ship (145,647 tonnes), arrives at Pier 41 from Colombo, Sri Lanka
15:00: Tropic Lissette, cargo ship, sails from Pier 42 for West Palm Beach, Florida
16:30: Zuiderdam sails for Sydney
17:45: Majestic Princess sails for Saint John
Cape Breton
06:00: Algoma Victory, bulker, sails from Coal Pier (Sydney) for Coal Pier (Point Tupper)
07:30: Norwegian Gem, cruise ship, with up to 2,873 passengers, arrives at Government Wharf (Sydney) from Charlottetown, on a seven-day cruise from Québec City to Boston
08:30: Levantine Sea, oil tanker, sails from EverWind for sea
09:30: Front Crown, oil tanker, arrives at EverWind from Girassol Offshore Terminal, Angola
16:30: Norwegian Gem sails for Halifax
Footnotes
These are stressful times.