Canada man arrested for threatening pro-Palestinian activists with nail gun
Videos on social media show 27-year-old confronting keffiyeh-wearing protesters, yelling obscenities; protest held during private synagogue event in Jewish neighborhood
Canadian police on Sunday arrested a man after he allegedly fired a nail gun at participants in a pro-Palestinian protest in the city of Vaughan, just north of Toronto.
Ilan-Reuben Abramov, 27, was arrested on several charges, including possession of weapons dangerous to the public, assault with a weapon, and two additional counts of assault, according to local police.
Police were called to the scene on Sunday morning after Abramov stopped his vehicle in front of the protesters and began shouting obscenities, engaging in overt confrontation with three of them, according to a police report that cited eyewitnesses.
One protester who was involved in the confrontation told police that Abramov discharged a nail gun that he was carrying. The police report said that nobody was hurt and that officers were continuing to investigate the incident.
Abramov is seen in videos circulating on social media approaching protesters holding a nail gun and shouting, “Every fucking Palestinian will die.” Noticing he is being filmed, Abramov knocks a cellphone out of one protester’s hand before being pushed away by another protester, whom he pushes back.
He is then shown putting the nail gun away in his car before squaring up for a fistfight. However, instead of fighting, he drives away.
More footage of the Zionist nail gun assaulter today. He repeatedly yells "Every Fuc*ing Palestinian". Politicians and media you BETTER refer to this attack as an anti-Palestinian hate crime! Do NOT portray it as some random violent attack! pic.twitter.com/hDxdEzu4PM
— Ghada Sasa | غادة سعسع PhD(c) ???????? (@sasa_ghada) March 3, 2024
The protest was held in the neighborhood of Thornhill, whose population is approximately 30 percent Jewish. According to the Canadian Jewish News, the protesters gathered outside of Aish Thornhill Community Shul, which was hosting an event focused on buying property in Israel promoted by local real estate agents. It was a private synagogue event open only to those who had registered.
Anti-Israel protests and rallies have become regular occurrences across North America since the Israel-Hamas war broke out on October 7, when thousands of terrorists burst through the Gaza border, killing approximately 1,200 people and taking 253 hostages.
Israel responded with a military campaign to topple the Hamas regime in Gaza, destroy the terror group, and free the hostages, over half of whom are still in captivity, among them over two dozen dead.
International pressure for a ceasefire has grown as the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says that more than 30,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war so far. The figures cannot be independently verified and are believed to include both civilians and Hamas members killed in Gaza, including as a consequence of the terror group’s own rocket misfires.
Lazar Berman contributed to this report.
