Toronto Police investigate Rebel News for potential hate crime over 'anti-Muslim' messaging on advertising truck

Toronto Police are investigating Rebel News for a potential hate crime because it owns a van that was playing footage of "what pro-Hamas gangs are doing to Toronto."

The Toronto Police Service posted on Wednesday: "We recognize the community's concern about a truck displaying Islamophobic messaging in Toronto."

Although Rebel News owns the van, the video was shot and edited by a group called Canadians Opposed to the Occupation of our Streets and Campuses," according to Rebel News.

Speaking to The Post Millennial, Rebel News’ Ezra Levant said, "Toronto has had an eight-month antisemitic crime wave, and the police have done next to nothing in the face of gunfire, death threats, assaults, trespass and other crime. But the moment a community group rents a billboard truck to politically challenge those Hamas gangs, the police chief jumps to attention and threatens them with hate speech — not the Hamas gangs themselves.

"This is outrageous, and it is contrary to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. We'll see that police chief in court — I still believe enough in Canada to know that he's wrong, and I look forward to a judge telling him that."

Levant added on his newsite, "The ads just show actual footage of what the pro-Hamas gangs are doing to Toronto — including committing real crimes ignored by the police and politicians. In the case of this particular ad, the images included pro-Hamas gangs shutting down the streets in downtown Toronto."

Mohamad Fakih posted a $25,000 reward "for information that leads to the arrest of the individuals who paid for, designed, or in any way facilitated this hateful campaign. Please call @TorontoPolice as soon as you can today. "

Levant responded online and demanded payment of the reward: "Hey Jew-hunter. With your $25,000 Jew-hunting bounty. It was me. My truck. Now hand over the $25K. I'll take payment in felafel and shawarma."

Levant says the investigation is not just about a supposed hate crime but about "cancel culture." He has already put up a fundraising website to defray any legal costs associated with his latest battle, called SaveTheTruck.com. 

Levant cautions readers that this investigation might appear as half-baked but if he is convicted for hate speech, the Rebel News publisher could face two years in jail. Toronto Police infamously delivered coffee to anti-Israel protests who were blockading a bridge in a Jewish community last January.