Dahlia Kurtz's Fight to Protect Jews in Canada

I interview Dahlia Kurtz a Canadian Israeli who has made it her mission to stand up for Jews and Israel in Canada. We were both on the same media mission tour of Israel in late October. She tells her story and gives her perspective of the ongoing conflict in Israel and in Canada.

Dahlia can be found on X @DahliaKurtz

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• 21:49 (Cont.) Dahlia Kurtz's Fight to Protect Jews in Canada

Transcript

Russell: All right, folks, and we're back. Russell here with the Canadian Conservative podcast, Do another interview here that I did in Israel, this time with Dalia Kurtz. Dahlia Kurtz is a Canadian operating in the Ontario area who has been sticking up for and advocating for Jewish people in Canada since before the October 7th attacks, but definitely after October 7th. Now, this interview is actually done in two parts. You'll probably recognize when the parts kind of converge over on each other. They kept us pretty busy in Israel, so we tried to do the interviews when we had a few moments kind of on break. So they were done in like cafeteria style settings. Done my best to equalize the audio, so hopefully it won't be too distracting, any background noise. But Dalia, I think has an important message and I hope you'll enjoy the episode.

Dahlia: So I, as of October 7th, I'm on a mission forevermore to fight for Jews, Israel and democracy. I'm an independent journalist. I guess some people will call me a social media influencer, but I hate all of those terms. So I've settled on political influencers. I come from a past of actual journalism school, so I do have an education in journalism. I have been a journalist for all of my career. I've been a radio talk show host, a national radio talk show host, columnist, and I'm author of the book Dear Zionist, you are not alone, 18 letters of hope and Light. I'm also a speaker, which obviously you can tell because I just said like 5,000 words as I took a breath.

Russell: So right now we're sitting in a cafe in one of the major libraries here in Jerusalem. And I just wanted to do a quick interview with you today to ask what you think about the trip to Israel.

Dahlia: I haven't been here since 2015, and I also came at that time for a media mission. For me, it is so much more than a trip. I have a lot of family here. I'm not an Israeli, but I've always considered Israel home. Canada is my home too, but Israel is always a home in my heart and in my blood. I mean, I had National Geographic genographic testing done. It was this big DNA test that took my DNA from my mother's side because a woman can't to her father's side all the way back to the beginning of time to mitochondrial Eve, which shows that I am Jewish, indigenous to Israel from the beginning of time. So to be here right now, and you know, this trip has been very difficult for me because I arrived with. I arrived with only literally the clothes on my back because My luggage didn't arrive until we're almost finished. This particular mission, and despite how difficult, you know, that part has been, this has been. It's so meaningful and it's so special, and I find it also really interesting to just show. Here's a story. Yesterday, I don't even know the day yet. Yesterday was my last day in those clothes. The day before yesterday, when we went to the Nova Festival, and I was wearing those same clothes that I wore from the beginning. I mean, we can't even compare what I have gone through. And I wouldn't even put it in that sense. I'm using this for perspective. Hostages have been in the same clothes in wretched conditions, without food, without. Without freedom. That's all we need to say for more than a year. They would dream to be in the position I'm in now. And when we went to, let's say, Nova Festival, I did not think about the clothes that I was wearing for every single day. None of my problems were a problem. And then when I went through the bomb shelter there, where everybody hid but couldn't hide from the bombs, and they were killed in there by Hamas terrorists, were more than a year later, and I could still smell the stench of the blood and the iron from that day. And those shelters have been cleaned out. And then as we were walking around throughout the day, it was more and more difficult to wear my clothes. Not just because. And not at all because of the fact that I've been in them for days. Oh, but because that scent now, because we were in the desert at Nova especially, so there was so much dust, that scent got, like, embedded in my clothes. It got embedded up my nose, and that's all I was able to smell and constantly be reminded. But at the same time, as someone who has always immersed herself in Holocaust, because my grandparents were Holocaust survivors, I feel like I wish I could have seen. I wish that I could have been there to bear witness to the aftermath of the Holocaust the same way that I was here to bear witness to this, to be someone who can carry that history. And what a privilege this trip to Israel has been for us, for me to be able to bear witness to this second Holocaust. And so, I mean, I don't even know. I had to call it a trick. This is. This is just a meaningful experience. And I. I wish that everybody had this same privilege to experience this, too. So I'm very grateful for that. And it does put a lot of things into perspective.

Russell: Going back before the trip to Israel, going back to October 7th, what do you think's changed in Canada and in the public consensus in the last year since the attack occurred?

Dahlia: Well, I know that everybody talks about they will use the word antisemitism. I'll never use it. I say Jew hate. Antisemitism is a propaganda word that was created by the pre **** Nazis because they wanted Jew hate to sound more scientific. Judenhas, Jew hatred. So they used anti Semitism, which by the way, Semit, like Semitism is a linguistic term and linguistics don't even use it anymore because it's outdated. So it's Jew hate. And so what, what I think what I see is everybody says, well look at, look how we suddenly have Jew hate. Like look how this created it. Or look how it's here. We've always had it. We've always had the fault lines of Jew hate. They run very deep in Canada. And October 7th brought about an earthquake. And this earthquake is what we've experienced now in Jew hatred. And to the people who ally with us and to Jews themselves who feel very discouraged, disheartened, upset, distraught by this, I just say that we've had an earthquake. But mountains do not rise without earthquakes. Every single time that Israel has been up against all odds, it has been able to save itself and democracy in society and it will do that again. But people have to understand this isn't new. This is something that we've always been fighting. And if you don't start fighting it now, you are going to lose and you'll lose everything. And this isn't just the thing is this isn't just about Jew hatred. What we're experiencing right now. This is about the potential downfall of Western civilization because Israel is the only democratic country, democratic state in the Middle East. And so all they need to do is delegitimize Israel and they are breaking a link between Israel and the Western world. You break a link between Israel and the Western world, which is something that we see in Canada right now as we have all of these uprisings against Canada, people saying KK Canada and these sorts of things. And one of the people who are calling for the end of democracy and democratic law in Canada, you see how easily Western civilization could crumble. First they come for the Saturday people, then they come for the Sunday people, then they go for each other. So yes, Jew hate has always been there. It's more visible now and people have been more activated. We do see smaller crowds maybe of those mass protests. But I'll tell you what's way worse about them, because you know, we've had people pay to hate rallies is really what I would call them, protesting democracy if you want, but they're hate rallies. And so I've talked to many Canadians who say that they feel encouraged because they don't see as many people at these hate fests. But the thing is what the ones who have remained are the ones who you have to be most afraid of. And the fact that they've remade this law, even whilst breaking law, glorifying and inciting terrorism, and abusing, even physically abusing people, this should be very scary to Canadians because they are now emboldened. Emboldened. So even though you may see fewer people at these hate fests, you see more emboldened people who are getting away with even worse things. So this is something that if Canadians don't start speaking up now, they won't have an opportunity to speak, much like, for instance, women in Afghanistan who are not allowed to talk anymore because of Sharia law.

Russell: You know, I'm a gentile, so I'm not Jewish. Now, I know several people throughout my life that are Jewish, and that's never been a barrier myself to being friends with them. But it's to me, when I look at these protests in Canada, I think they are taking a lot of liberties with what is considered a protest and what is not considered a protest.

Dahlia: I would ask you a question, though. I would say, are they taking liberties or is law enforcement and government allowing them liberties and allowing them to break the law?

Russell: Well, there definitely seems to be a very loose interpretation of following the law when it comes to these groups. And I'm not sure why these groups in particular managed to garner such extra. I wouldn't call it protections, but lack of enforcement.

Dahlia: Well, I have. Look, I. I have investigated many terrorist hoarders, and people come to me when they experience Jew hate. And it's non Jews who experience Jew hate, too. And somebody on our trip who was traveling with us, Andrew, who also had his baggage lost. Like lost. I use air quotes. And that's another story which we could get into another time. But he experienced Jew Han, and he's not Jewish. People at the. Oh, okay. So I have a mother and a son, Jewish who were beaten up in broad daylight. A video of them being beaten. I find the person who beat them up. Identify that individual. They were beaten up for being Jewish. Just stopped. Identify that individual. Find that person's address, give it to police. They have everything they can do. This is now a couple of months back. Have police arrested this person? No, that's not the Only case that is one of several that I've given to police for them to make an arrest. I give them the exact person. Why aren't they arresting them? Why was somebody, a police officer, an officer on Parliament Hill when somebody was trying to enter Parliament Hill's limits, and the police officer wanted that person to declare their solidarity for the state of Palestine in order to enter Parliament Hill? One, what's a Palestine? There's no state of Palestine. And two, why are we asking Canadians who have the freedom to go onto Parliament Hill no matter what, why are we asking them to declare an allegiance to right now what we see as a terrorist state now?

Russell: And that's interesting because, you know, myself, I've largely not stayed out of it, but I've kind of not talked about that much because prior to this trip, I really didn't know that much about Israel. I really. I didn't. I had one interview with one person before we talk about his book and. But I really hadn't had a talk about Israel, and I didn't really understand the conflicts and the religious connotations to it. I have a much better understanding now. But I have noticed in Canada that you are forced to take a side. And how you take a side on this issue is determining friendship groups. And it reminds me of COVID a lot because, like, I had a friend and he took the stance of pro Palestine very early on when I wasn't engaging with it very much at all. And he would constantly send me messages, you know, when are we going to debate this? When are you. Are you supporting that genocidal. That genocidal, maniacal state of Israel? Like, what's your problem? Can't you. Don't you get the bigger picture? And he would send me videos and say, like, oh, you're Christian. Here's a video of some Jewish people spitting on Christians in Israel and that.

Dahlia: And we just walked through the Christian quarter today and saw how the churches are still standing.

Russell: And. And I mean, I can understand that these videos do exist. Here's the thing. I'm not gonna judge. I'm not gonna judge one person as a representative of an entire group of people. And these very, very, very complex diaspora religious issues where someone may take a much more religious hardline stance. My issue that I see is, like, people have to take a side. And then based on that side, there's going to be accusations lobbied your way. Like, I've started to see it on my own Twitter feed now as I posted stuff, I was called a goy a bunch of times. And stuff like that.

Dahlia: You're my home goy.

Russell: And I don't know what that is. And I.

Dahlia: A goy is a bad way to say. It's in Yiddish. They say it that way. And some people find it derogatory if somebody says go. Some people find it cute if, you know, if they use it themselves, you know, if you said that, if I called you that in a mean spirited way to get a shui to say gentile. So some people don't find that, I wouldn't say it. Some people themselves who might be gentile say it about themselves in a, you know, in a fun way. But I mean, you know, everything that you're talking about here. One, pro Palestine. I don't use that term ever. Because if any of these people were really pro Palestine, they would be talking about the way that Hamas treats its own people and stops aid from getting to its people and kills little children when they try to take some aid to get to their family because they keep it for themselves. So, no, they're not pro Palestine. They are anti West. They want the downfall of Western civilization. Two, you mentioned the video where you see Jews spitting on Christians. You know what? Maybe just like in every group of people, there are people who are bad people. But let me say this. There are so much propaganda videos that are made by the other side. They have an actual unit that creates these. This is a globalized, coordinated effort. And there's so much of this propaganda Hollywood as we call it, that I don't. So many of these videos have been debunked, disproved, found out to be completely made up. If you look at, you know, a dead person suddenly scratching their leg, I do not believe any of these videos that come from the other side. And when it comes to taking a side, this isn't why. Why do you even have to think. And I'm not giving it to you, I'm just using the general you do. You need to decide whether you're going to be on the side of people who rape and behead. Look, we were at Kibbutz Kvar Aza the other day and it was at that kibbutz in the young adult neighborhood where they chopped up bodies of young people, arms, legs, heads, and decided, now let's mix them up so they're so much harder to identify. This isn't a decision to decide what side you're on. This shouldn't be divisive. On October 7, 2023, I tweeted a picture. I tweeted a picture of myself wearing an IDF hoodie. I also put it on Facebook, I put it on LinkedIn, and I sent support. Israel hadn't gone into any country at this point. It was weeks later. And I tweeted support from my country, my people who had just been slaughtered, as if a holocaust had occurred again. And I lost all of my friends. I but one. I lost all of my speaking gigs. My speaking agent ghosted me. I lost everything. I was blacklisted. I was blackballed. Why? Why? On October 7th, after my people were slaughtered, we thought, you know, 1400 at the time. Now we look at 1200 and plus people who have been taken hostage, people who are missing. Why would I lose so much?

Russell: Where do you see your activism for Israel going in the future?

Dahlia: I don't want to sound so contrarian, because like everything you're saying, give it a different take. But it's just. I don't see this as activism. What I'm doing. This is an existential threat against Jewish people and against Western civilization. It starts with Jewish people, and then from there it goes on to the downfall of the West. And so this isn't activism, this is a mission. And even once the war ends and Hamas is defeated, well, then we have a whole bunch of other wars, because this ideology needs to be quashed. This entire, let's overthrow the west and let's change the entire world to one ideology. That's a problem. So I just won't stop. The thing is, what's going to happen with my safety? You know, I already have regular death threats, regular rape threats. I have people coming at me all of the time in ways that don't make life comfortable. And I can be as strong as I want and as brave as I want, but at a point, it's just not smart to continue living in that way. And it's not giving up by moving away. It's being safe. Because at some point, I'm fighting for the safety of all of these people. I have to prioritize my own. And that point is nearing. And I think that we've irrevocably been changed in Canada. I think that we can fix things to a degree. But your demography is your destiny. Look up God, Saad. He talked about this. He spoke with me about this. I watched him speak about this. And he has a book, Parasitic Mind, another one coming out, Suicidal Empathy. And it explains this way better than I can ever do in a sound bite. But your demography is your destiny. And our destiny has already been written.

Russell: Yeah, Gad Saad. He's a good character. Listen to his stuff. I read his book Parasitic Mind.

Dahlia: Oh, you saw it? Yeah.

Russell: I read his book on happiness, and it's kind of sad that he has to go from writing a book on happiness to writing a book on suicidal empathy, which I think is a good term to use for a lot of this posturing.

Dahlia: Yeah.

Russell: And that we're seeing activism online by people that are saying that the pro Palestine and pro Hamas, pro Hezbollah. There has been a lot of talk, you know, like saying things like, we're gonna kill the Jews. We're going to. You know, they talking about, oh, you know, Hitler didn't do a good enough job. Well, also saying at the same time that 6 million Jews didn't die. So there's a bit of a. They kind of have a bit of a contradiction there.

Dahlia: They need to have someone. Fact check. Yes.

Russell: But, yeah, I've been on your Twitter feed and I've seen people go at you and, you know, it's one thing to disagree with people, it's another thing to say, like, you know, we're coming.

Dahlia: For you next and the oven is waiting for you. I've sized a noose for you, send you pictures of them violating you. Yes, it's. That's another. I get that in public. I get that in private. I get that in person. How.

Russell: Why do you think that they felt so emboldened to do those things?

Dahlia: Because they're allowed to. If a child does something, let's say you're in a room with a child who's misbehaving and you say to them, no, and then they do it again and you say no again, and then they do it again and you say no again. They're going to keep doing it because they see that their actions have no consequences. You might tell them no, but you don't take any actions. So they will keep pushing your boundaries. And they've not been given any boundaries. These people who go into the streets calling for the annihilation of Israel, calling for the death of America, America calling for Canada to crumble in front of Parliament, in front of the Prime Minister's office in Ottawa whilst masked. They don't face any repercussions, zero consequences. When was the last time a hate crime was prosecuted in the province of Ontario? We don't even prosecute hate crimes. Probably three in the past decade. It's ridiculous because we have fake laws. We have absolute lawlessness. And we. We have people in power who are not leading. They're unleaders. And so they have failed Us. We will not fail us.

Russell: Well, hasn't the Liberal minister Anthony House father, he's Jewish, right?

Dahlia: Yes. Which makes it extra disappointing to see how he has been a part of a party that is leading and helping to lead towards the demise of Jewish people in Canada, which is also leading to the demise of democracy and Western civilization in our country. He can be, he can be religiously Jewish. He can be the most religious Jew in the country. It's does not change to me the fact that he is supporting a Prime Minister who does not like Jews, who to me doesn't seem to like his own country. So I have no empathy.

Russell: Final question. Back in the 70s and 80s when there was a lot of antisemitism, separatism and there was attacks on synagogues fairly regularly in the United States, you saw groups like the Jewish Mafia and the Jewish Defense League and these very protectionist groups rise up. And when the police wouldn't provide security at the synagogues, then, well, we have.

Dahlia: Our own groups in Toronto providing security for us right now.

Russell: And are they licensed and regulated?

Dahlia: The police work hand in hand with them even though the police don't do anything. But they are, they work at the same events with police side by side. We have Shomrim, we have Magen Harut, so we have defense teams. But the last thing since you brought this up, the 70s and 80s and Jew hate back then. Do you know the story of my father?

Russell: No, I don't.

Dahlia: So years before I was born, many years before I was born, my father went to apply for a job at the Montreal at a Montreal stockbroker. And they loved him, he was a star candidate. And they had one last question for him. They said, are you Jewish? And my dad gave the correct answer, but it was the wrong one because the star candidate became the Star of David candidate. And they said then we won't hire you. And my dad decided to do a first in Quebec. He took them to court, he sued them and this was a 10 year court case, a landmark court case. So my dad is given a provincially appointed attorney who doesn't care to show up because he doesn't like Jews, you know. The attorney on the other side was Future Prime Minister Mr. Brian Mulroney. Brian Mulroney has been a great friend to the Jews and I want to be very fair to him and say he was very compassionate towards my father and in the end didn't stay on that case long. But as those 10 years went on and my dad took upon this case and risked everything for it because he didn't want his future children growing up beaten up on the streets of Montreal like he was as a child. He didn't want his future children being forced to use different names in school because his name was Aaron, but the teacher didn't like that because it sounded too Jewish. So they called him Arnie. And so my dad fought this. He was blacklisted. He had death threats. Ten years of his life and he gave up everything. And in the end, the judge gives his verdict and he says, I am disheartened. And this is the word he used, disheartened. To say that despite confessions of Jew hate, I have to rule in favor of defense because there are no laws that, that exist that make what they did illegal. And so my dad lost. And millions and millions of Canadians won because this ultimately forced the Quebec Civil Code to change. They added in protections against discrimination and that in turn forced the Canadian Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms to add in protections against discrimination. And that did not help my dad because years later, when my older brother is born and he grows up in Montreal, he's beaten up on the streets and I'm called Modit Shu and my family gets death threats and we grow up in poverty because my dad cannot find work. And this was because of Jew hate in Canada before I was born, that I dealt with through my entire life. And everything, my father fought for every single thing. Look at where we are now. I am fighting for those things and I'm facing those same consequences, except the difference. Now there's no judge to make a ruling here. I'm making the ruling and I'm choosing that. I'm going to keep going forward and I'm going to bring people along and we're going to win because we will not let Canada fall.

Russell: Well, thank you very much for your time. And do. Before I end the show, do you have any final parting words that you'd like to provide and then plug your socials, please.

Dahlia: I think that I've said everything that a person who is operating on almost zero sleep can say. But look, I've put 20 hours a day, seven days a week into this since October 7th, if not more sometimes. And if I can do this by myself, a five foot blonde on her own, imagine the difference that I've made by myself with zero dollar budget and zero team. Imagine the difference that we could all make working together. If you want to help me make a difference at Dalia Kurtz. D A H L I A K U R T Z I'm on X Instagram Facebook, find me all over. And my book, dear Zionist, you are not alone. 18 letters of hope and light. These are conversations I've had with Holocaust survivors, Zionist war heroes. The book can be called Dear person, you're Not Alone, and it would still make sense. That's available on Amazon or my website, Aliakurtz.com I just gave way too much information because you can only remember, I think, maximum three things, but this is what happens when you don't sleep. Thank you, Russell.

Russell: Thank you very much for your time.

Dahlia: Thank you.