![\"photo](\"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/feb-27-cov.27.Douglas-Park-area-graffiti-Death-2-IDF.jpeg\")
<\/a>The same individual has become a near-constant presence in the area, waving a Palestinian flag at busy intersections such as Oak and 12th, usually at rush hour and sometimes for hours at a time. According to Joshua, who admits he has done his share of flag-waving as a regular participant at City Hall rallies for Israeli hostages, the anti-Israel activism has gone far beyond flag-waving.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Over the past six to seven months, chalked and adhesive messages have appeared across sidewalks, utility boxes, crosswalk placards and construction signage. While some read \u201cGaza\u201d or \u201cFree Gaza,\u201d the messaging has grown more aggressive, including \u201cZionism is terrorism\u201d and \u201cDeath to the IDF,\u201d sometimes accompanied by an inverted triangle associated with Hamas imagery and implying terrorist targets.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The most recent messaging, Joshua said, is \u201cStop Israel Sadistic Cult\u201d and equating the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) with Israel \u2013 \u201cICErael.\u201d<\/p>\n Joshua said he has documented the activity extensively, as well as the antisemitic rhetoric on the individual\u2019s social media, and filed numerous 311 complaints with the City of Vancouver. If graffiti appears on city property, the city contracts a third-party removal company. But response times range from 48 hours to more than a week \u2013 sometimes longer, Joshua said. In one park, spray-painted slogans remained for more than three weeks before being removed.<\/p>\n Because chalk is temporary and easily reapplied, the individual can rewrite messages almost as soon as they are washed away.<\/p>\n Frustrated by what he sees as municipal inaction\u00a0on targeted harassment and hate speech, Joshua has purchased an 11-litre backpack sprayer and walks the neighbourhood with water\u00a0and scrub brushes to remove the chalk.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n According to Joshua, the individual leaving the messages has \u201cdoxed\u201d at least six area residents, sharing their personal information online, including their images and their licence plates. He posted Joshua\u2019s first and last names and the cross street where he lives, with the comment, \u201cBe sure to say hi and other things if you see him.\u201d<\/p>\n Someone wrote Joshua\u2019s full name on a public sign along with the words \u201cIOF soldier\u201d \u2013 IOF meaning \u201cIsraeli Occupying Forces\u201d \u2013 and he has been accused online and in person of serving in the IDF, which he has not. In one incident, a woman confronted and filmed him at 7 a.m., shouting accusations and telling him, \u201cWe know where you live\u201d and calling him an \u201cIOF baby-killer.\u201d<\/p>\n Joshua reported that encounter, as well as the doxing incidents, to police. Officers took a statement but indicated their options were limited, citing freedom of expression, Joshua told the Independent<\/i>.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the impact on the neighbourhood is tangible. A local rabbi told him that one Jewish family moved away because their children felt unsafe seeing hostile messages near their home and synagogue.<\/p>\n Joshua has removed his name from his building directory out of concern for his family\u2019s safety. Confrontations and cleanup efforts are framed online as attempts by \u201cZionists\u201d to silence dissent.<\/p>\n Within the Jewish community, there is debate about how to respond. Some have suggested stopping cleanup efforts in hopes that broader community frustration will grow. Joshua believes a coordinated, multi-block volunteer cleanup effort \u2013 involving Jews and non-Jews \u2013 is the only way to demonstrate that the issue is about shared civic space, not a private feud. He has set up an online group at facebook.com\/groups\/cleaningupdouglaspark<\/a>.<\/p>\n Residents should not have to navigate obscenities and hostile rhetoric on sidewalks and parks, said Joshua, and he questions whether the city would respond differently if racist or homophobic messages appeared in neighbourhoods with significant populations of the targeted communities.<\/p>\n This sort of conflict, in different permutations, is taking place in cities across Canada and worldwide. In Toronto, anti-Israel protesters have routinely set up demonstrations in areas with concentrations of Jewish residents and even marched through residential areas. Many Jews and their allies have repeatedly asked why there do not seem to be consequences for perpetrators of such deliberate harassment and intimidation.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n That question was the subject of a Feb. 10 webinar with legal and policing experts, organized by the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, titled Why Can\u2019t There Be More Consequences?, which was moderated by Richard Marceau, CIJA\u2019s senior vice-president and general counsel.<\/p>\n Mark Sandler, the chair of the Alliance of Canadians Combatting Antisemitism, and Rochelle Direnfeld, that organization\u2019s senior criminal counsel, have been delivering educational modules to police, making them aware of tools they have to enforce existing laws. Training for prosecutors is also necessary, Sandler noted.<\/p>\n Law enforcement and justice officials need to be able to recognize antisemitism and how it manifests, said Sandler.<\/p>\n Direnfeld provided examples, noting that average police officers cannot, for example, be expected to understand a sign that appeared at one rally: it read \u201cIsrael\u2019s only friend is the Gharqad tree.\u201d This is a reference to a Muslim religious verse about the only tree that would protect Jews from Muslims at the end-times.<\/p>\n Even the nuances of more seemingly straightforward messages \u2013 \u201cFrom the river to the sea,\u201d \u201cGlobalize the intifada\u201d and \u201cBy any means necessary\u201d \u2013 may not be immediately evident to those who are not engaged with the narrative, panelists said.<\/p>\n Sandler said police have been asking for sharper tools and the federal government is responding with Bill C-9. (See jewishindependent.ca\/new-bill-targets-hate-crimes.) Panelists noted that existing laws against mischief, intimidation and unlawful assembly should suffice in cases where protesters are blocking roads or crowding into shopping malls.<\/p>\n Hank Idsinga, a retired inspector with the Toronto Police Service, said insufficient staffing can be used as an excuse for inaction, but this is not an appropriate response. \u201cPolice need to be prepared for various scenarios,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n On the other hand, said Joseph Neuberger, chair of the Canadian Jewish Law Association, Jewish community members need to know what is and is not acceptable within the bounds of the law. Chanting allegations of genocide is protected speech, he said, whether or not the allegations are false.<\/p>\n Neuberger is enthusiastic about components of C-9 that would criminalize intimidation around and obstruction of cultural and religious spaces. The bill is in committee stage.<\/p>\n<\/a>