Karl Gardner

In November 2023, during Israel's war against the Hamas terror group, 11 anti-Israel agitators were arrested after vandalizing a branch of the Indigo bookstore in Toronto, Ontario. Agitators defaced the building with red paint and plastered posters accusing Indigo's Jewish founder and pro-Israel philanthropist, Heather Reisman, of "funding genocide."

Police charged the suspects with "hate-motivated mischief," "conspiracy to commit an indictable offense" and "criminal harassment," reporting that they “engaged in threatening conduct that caused a person to reasonably fear for their personal safety.”

Indigo Books & Music is a chain with branches across Canada.

The Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement was founded by pro-terror activist Omar Barghouti in 2005 to turn “Israel into a pariah state, as South Africa once was.” Barghouti has also called for Israel's destruction and the BDS movement demands would result in that same goal.

BDS initiatives include calling on institutions and individuals to divest from Israeli-affiliated companies, promoting academic and cultural boycotts of Israel, and organizing anti-Israel rallies, protests and campaigns.

The movement’s most notable achievement has been infiltrating university campuses through lobbying for “BDS resolutions.” In these cases, student governments propose resolutions to boycott or divestment from Israel or Israeli-affiliated entities. BDS activity is often aggressive and disruptive. It has been noted that universities that pass BDS resolutions see a marked increase in anti-Semitic incidents and pro-terror activism on campus.