About 200 Canadian students, their chaperones and nearly a dozen Holocaust survivors were going through airport security at Ben Gurion International when they heard the blast. It happened on Sunday May 4, as the group was returning from a March of the Living trip–which took them to Poland and Israel–when a Houthi missile launched by Islamic terrorists from Yemen evaded Israel’s air defences and exploded on the airport’s access road.

The Canadian group, along with thousands of other travellers, were ordered to scramble into safe areas or bomb shelters inside the airport until authorities gave the all-clear about a half-hour later. While eight people were taken to hospitals in Israel, none of the Canadians was injured.

Many international airlines have cancelled or suspended flights for coming days. The March of the Living group used charters to reach Warsaw, then boarded a LOT Dreamliner aircraft, which landed in Toronto on Sunday night. The Houthi attack came after a tumultuous trip for the group, who had experienced the country’s biggest wildfire, which burned the forests between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem before Israel’s Independence Day on May 1. On top of that, the Iran-backed forces in Yemen have been escalating their ballistic missile attacks. Sunday’s hypersonic missile was the only one the IDF failed to intercept, leaving a significant crater in the airport roadway and damaging part of Terminal 3.

On today’s episode of The CJN Daily, we hear from anxious March of the Living parents Jasmine Albagli of Ottawa; Mark Diamond and his wife Sharon, also from Ottawa; and Adam Cohen of Toronto. Aviva Klompas also joins: the Toronto-born author and Israel advocate, also happened to be at Ben Gurion airport when the attack struck.

What we talked about:

• Hear how anti-Israel protestors at Auschwitz tried to spoil the 2024 annual March of the Living while one Edmonton family showed resilience, on The CJN Daily.
• Read why fewer participants joined the 2024 March of the Living since it was the first after October. 7, and how the itinerary changed, in The CJN.
• Read about the 2023 March of the Living when the late Alex Buckman, a Vancouver Holocaust educator, accompanied the trip, in The CJN.

Credits

• Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner)
• Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Marc Weisblott (editorial director)
• Music: Dov Beck-Levine

Support our show

• Subscribe to The CJN newsletter
• Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt)
• Subscribe to The CJN Daily (Not sure how? Click here)

Friday May 2 has been declared an official day of remembrance and mourning in British Columbia after last weekend’s horrific attack on a Filipino cultural festival in Vancouver. To date, 11 people died and dozens more remain wounded after a 30-year-old man drove an SUV into a crowd at the city’s Lapu Lapu festival on April 26. The suspect has been charged with multiple counts of second-degree murder, but the investigation continues. Leaders of the Filipino community say they feel deeply touched by the heartfelt outreach and solidarity being shown by Canadian Jewish groups. In Vancouver, Jewish residents have mounted prayer vigils and also set up an emergency fundraising campaign. The outpouring of support is being described as an example of kapwa, the Filipino tradition of solidarity and unity, as that community processes the grief while seeking answers on how the mental health system failed so badly to prevent the massacre. On today’s episode of The CJN Daily, we’re joined by two members of Canada’s Filipino community, who also share deep ties with the country’s Jews: David Decolongon, who works in Vancouver for the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA), has family and friends who attended the festival and witnessed the horrific attack; and Primrose Madayag Knazan, from Winnipeg, is an award-winning Filipinx-Jewish author and playwright with expertise on how the Philippines helped rescue European Jews during the Holocaust.

Related links

• Where to donate through the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver’s Filipino Community Emergency Support Fund.
• When Canadian Jews fundraised in 2013 to help disaster relief efforts in the Philippines after Typhoon Haiyan struck the country, in The CJN.
• When the Philippines rescued 1,200 European Jews during the Holocaust, in The CJN.

Credits

• Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner)
• Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Marc Weisblott (editorial director)
• Music: Dov Beck-Levine

Support our show

• Subscribe to The CJN newsletter
• Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt)
• Subscribe to The CJN Daily (Not sure how? Click here)

It will be a very different kind of Yom ha-Zikaron in Israel for the family of Ben Brown. In July 2024, a Hezbollah rocket injured the 20-year-old from Thornhill, Ont., while he was on duty with the Israel Defense Forces’ Golani army unit at a strategic base overlooking the Lebanese border. No one else was hurt, or killed. Now, as the Jewish State remembers more than 25,000 soldiers and also victims of terrorism who’ve fallen throughout Israel’s history, Brown’s family is commemorating in their own way—on the ground in Israel, where there son is still in hospital. Brown has spent months receiving treatment, after being in a coma, with a traumatic brain injury. The former yeshiva student is out of danger now, but he still receives hours of daily therapy. His family and friends keep a constant vigil, as he cannot yet speak properly for long, or walk distances unassisted. Despite a controversial progressive media website publicly listing Ben Brown among 85 Canadians who’ve served in the IDF over the years, Brown’s family says they’re not focusing on the unwanted negative attention. Instead, the family is marking Israel’s Memorial Day together in Israel, and plan to attend local events—including the 77th anniversary of Israel’s independence the following day. They want Canadians back home to understand why their son felt he had to defend the Jewish State—especially after Oct. 7. On today’s The CJN Daily, Ben Brown’s father, Jeffrey Brown, joins from Israel to explain. Related links

• Read more about Ben Brown’s injury after Oct. 7, in The CJN.
• Hear how the Jewish community in Toronto came together to support Ben Brown’s family through prayer, on The CJN Daily.
• Why those Canadians who served in the IDF and were on a new list published by an anti-Israel paper are fighting mad, in The CJN.

Credits

• Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner)
• Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer), Marc Weisblott (editorial director)
• Music: Dov Beck-Levine

Support our show

• Subscribe to The CJN newsletter
• Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt)
• Subscribe to The CJN Daily (Not sure how? Click here)