A Toronto judge’s recent decision to sentence an 18-year-old woman to 12 months probation, 40 hours of community service and anger management classes for physically assaulting an octogenarian Jewish man is “very disappointing,” the victim told JNS.
“You get a slap on the wrist, naughty naughty,” Joel Sacke, 88, said of the Tuesday verdict.
Hissa Abed was riding in a car with her family on Aug. 18, 2024, when they passed “holding Israeli flags and posters of hostages abducted by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023,” Howard Borenstein, of the Ontario Court of Justice, wrote in the decision, which the Canadian Jewish News posted.
“As they drove by the rally, Ms. Abed was filming herself inside her car laughing, yelling ‘free Palestine’ as they drove by the demonstrators,” the judge wrote. “She tells the driver she wants to grab one of their flags. The car drives by the demonstrators as Abed tries to grab several flags before she was able to grab the flag from 88-year-old Mr. Sacke.”
The judge added that someone tried to grab the flag back, and in so doing, struck Abed, and that when the car later got stuck in traffic, people hit it with flagpoles and kicked it. “It became an instant chaotic situation. Precipitated by Abed grabbing the flag from Mr. Sacke,” Borenstein wrote.
“As protesters surrounded and were hitting Abed’s car, Abed, her brother and father got out of the car to engage with the protesters,” the judge wrote. “Abed is seen on video grabbing Mr. Sacke from behind with a hand over his shoulder and one hand over his torso as he goes to the ground.”
“He is 88 years old and was injured,” he added. “He was taken to the hospital for treatment. His injuries continue to this day.”
“Never, ever in my life,” Sacke told JNS, did he imagine his safety would be threatened at a peaceful rally. “Here I was punched, kicked, thrown to the ground.”
The judge noted that Abed was charged with assault and theft, for stealing the flag. “The crown and defense agreed to resolve this case by a plea of guilty to mischief under 5,000 in relation to taking the flag,” he wrote, meaning less than 5,000 Canadian dollars. He added that Abed has no criminal record. “I am told she wants to study and work. I have not been told much else about her,” he wrote.
The judge considered a victim impact statement from the Friends of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre and Sacke, although Abed did not admit to assaulting him.
“What did I do that made Ms. Abed so angry with me that she grabbed my flag and threw me to the ground?” Sacke wrote, in part, in his statement. “Why am I being punished by being depressed in this way?”
“The defense submits this was akin to a hockey game, where one fan grabbed the flag of the other team. With respect, that misses the mark. This is one of the most heated issues we have seen in a long time,” the judge wrote. “People have been killed on both sides of this conflict. Passions are very strong. As is clear in this case and is clear from the victim impact statements, this is not like stealing a hockey team’s flag.”
The judge added that Sacke “attended the rally and carried the Israeli flag to draw attention to the kidnapped hostages and to support each other. He and everyone have the right to peacefully assemble, to gather and to express their views,” but Abed “chose to provoke them, to engage in conduct intended to undermine their right to peacefully assemble and their sense of peace and security.”
Sacke told JNS that an anonymous donor in the community helped replace his glasses, which were broken when he was assaulted. He added that “a civil case is going to all ends, to make sure that justice is served.” (JNS sought comment from Zachary Al-Khatib, Abed’s lawyer.)
Jaime Kirzner-Roberts, senior director of policy and advocacy at Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center, told JNS that the outcome of the trial was “outrageous” but unsurprising.
“We are seeing across the board, every day, hate criminals seeking to do real harm, including real violence, getting away with a slap on the wrist,” she said. “This case—it kind of exemplifies that.”
Kirzner-Roberts told JNS that she is involved in many cases in which “very, very dangerous behaviour” is “treated as though it was a minor infraction.”
Abed “clearly intended to create a physical scene,” Kirzner-Roberts said. The punishment “makes it clear that justice is failing, and that the justice system is specifically failing to deter, actually,” she said. “Criminals know that they won’t face any real repercussions.”
‘An affront to our morals’
James Pasternak, a member of the Toronto City Council who represents York Centre, the district in which the Aug. 18, 2024 rally took place, told JNS that “one of the great problems that we’re facing through this time, in which we see hateful mobs on the streets of Toronto, is there are no consequences.”
“There are very few arrests. There are very few convictions, and a lot of the charges are dropped,” the Jewish politician told JNS. “That’s why this continues. That’s why this is continuing for 18 months, and that’s why this has cost us almost $28 million in police time.” (The amount corresponds to about $19.5 in U.S. dollars.)
Richard Robertson, director of research and advocacy at B’nai Brith Canada, told JNS that Abed’s “actions were reckless and dangerous” and “an affront to our morals and values” in Canadian society.
“We are relieved that the court has found her responsible for the chaos that unfolded and hope that the judge’s findings will serve as a deterrent for those who think it is acceptable to endanger the well-being of others in such an un-Canadian manner,” Robertson said.
Richard Marceau, vice president of external affairs and general counsel at the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, told JNS that “at a time when antisemitism is at alarming levels, it is essential that individuals found guilty of hate-motivated crimes face sentences severe enough to deter others.”
It’s also vital, he said, to “send a clear message that antisemitism has no place in Canada.”