Calgary Mayor brings Hanukkah crowd to its feet with promise to fight hate

By Mark Cooper

(AJNews) — Calgary’s new mayor is promising a series of municipal reforms targeting “radicalization and hate-driven violence” in response to what he called emboldened antisemitism and to prevent attacks like the one that claimed 15 lives and injured dozens more when terrorists opened fire on a Hanukkah celebration at a beach in Sydney, Australia.

Moments after taking part in the December 15 Menorah Lighting at City Hall, Mayor Jeromy Farkas told an overflow crowd, still stunned and heartbroken by the antisemitic attack the day before at Bondi Beach, that he would soon be bringing forward enhanced measures to strengthen safety for the city’s Jewish community.

“Tonight as we light the menorah, we draw a line … a line that says hatred will be confronted, not accommodated, a line that says intimidation will be met with action, not excuses… a line that says Jewish Calgarians will live openly, proudly and without fear,” Farkas said during a speech that brought the audience to its feet at the event hosted annually by Chabad Lubavitch of Alberta.

“If you spread hate here, you will be challenged. If you threaten people here you will be stopped. If you try to import violence or intimidation into Calgary you will find a city united against you and a council prepared to act.”

Farkas took aim at what he called “spineless leadership, moral cowardice and a failure to act decisively or stand unequivocally with the Jewish community.”

Two years earlier, and just two months after the savage October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks in Southern Israel that killed more than 1,200, Calgary’s former Mayor Jyoti Gondek boycotted the annual City Hall menorah lighting, saying the event had become politicized.

Farkas struck a starkly different tone, expressing his personal heartbreak about the Bondi tragedy and telling the crowd that he experienced antisemitism first-hand when he served for seven years as the program administrator for the Israel Studies program at the University of Calgary.

“I learned how antisemitism often begins quietly with excused slogans, minimized threats until it grows bold, until it is allowed to grow bold. I learned this: When leaders hesitate, hate advances.”

“So let me be absolutely crystal clear, there is no place for antisemitism in Calgary. Not on our streets, not in our schools or campuses, not at protests, not online, not hidden behind slogans, not excused as politics because Jewish lives are not expendable. Jewish safety is not expendable.”

While formal details have not been introduced, Farkas said the reforms that he will bring to the next meeting of the city’s Executive Committee will focus on measures to increase safety in gathering places such as synagogues and schools, strengthen coordination with Calgary Police Services and improve rapid response protocols.

It will also focus on early intervention and intelligence to identify warning signs, especially online, and intervene before violence occurs.

There will also be a focus on “prevention through education and leadership” with continued support of Holocaust education, human rights programming and public remembrance.

“I will establish the Mayor’s Interfaith Council because an attack on one faith community is an attack on all of us.

“This is how we move from symbolism to substance, from reaction to prevention.

“Calgary will not normalize what history has already judged. Calgary will not wait for tragedy before showing courage. We know where silence leads and we choose a different path.”

The Executive Committee is scheduled to meet next on January 13.

Calgary Jewish Federation President Lisa Libin said she was thankful for the support shown by Farkas and the many “allies” who showed up for the Jewish community at the lighting, which also included Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, former Mayor and current Leader of the Opposition Naheed Nenshi, city councillors and federal Conservative and Liberal Members of Parliament.

“You chose to be here and stand with us and add your light to us and that matters,” said Libin in her speech.

“But too many still don’t. And these days standing with the Jewish community can’t just be a social media post.”

Libin said that the world is changing fast and hate is getting bolder and too many in the world are afraid to call it what it is.

“So tonight, as these candles burn together, I want us to say ‘enough’. Enough of the leaders who look away while hate spreads. Enough of the institutions that hide behind ‘balance’. And enough of the excuses when Jews are being targeted simply because of who we are. Enough fear. Enough silence, Enough complacency.

“It’s time for courage, the very spirit of Hanukkah. It’s time for leadership that stands as bright as this menorah will, even when it is uncomfortable. And each candle that we light this week is a declaration that we are here and we are proud and we will never let anybody else define who we are.”

Chabad Lubavitch of Alberta Senior Rabbi Menachem Matusof said the recent tragedies that have befallen Jewish communities around the world will not extinguish the love and the positive messages that were delivered by Farkas and others at the menorah lighting.

“Our hearts our broken. Our hearts are shattered but our spirit is alive and well and only growing stronger,” Rabbi Matusof said, joking that he wanted Farkas to be his speech writer and Rabbi.

Mark Cooper is a Local Journalism Initiative Reporter