Guy Hochman Detained at Toronto Airport After Complaint

Israeli comedian Guy Hochman was reportedly held for six hours of questioning on Monday upon arriving in Canada after a complaint was filed by the Hind Rajab Foundation, an anti-Israel legal group. Associates of Hochman told Channel 12 news that the comedian was detained upon landing at Toronto airport and was only let go after the Israeli consulate intervened. Hochman later performed a gig for the local Jewish community, where anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian protesters rallied outside. One of the activists attacked him and injured his manager, Hochman wrote on social media. “The attacker was arrested by the local police,” he added. The Hind Rajab Foundation said last week that it had filed a criminal complaint citing “military propaganda and incitement linked to Israel’s war on Gaza,” due to videos Hochman made with Israeli soldiers during the war against the Hamas terror group. “These activities led to his recruitment into a role linked to the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit, an unusual position for a civilian entertainer. In this role, Hochman appeared in military uniform and disseminated messaging that glorified destruction in Gaza, promoted revenge narratives, and contributed to the normalization of war crimes,” the foundation claimed. It also argued that Hochman had “engaged in overt political advocacy,” called for blocking humanitarian aid trucks to Gaza, and produced content “promoting retaliatory narratives.” “While presenting himself internationally as a comedian, much of his recent content has moved beyond satire, using humour to dehumanize Palestinians, Arabs, Muslims, and pro-Palestinian demonstrators, and to normalize collective punishment,” it said. Beginning in 2024, the Hind Rajab Foundation has made use of social media posts by Israeli soldiers, officers and reservists to locate them in an attempt to have them arrested for alleged war crimes when they travel abroad. The group has sparked alarm within Israel, prompting the IDF to create new rules to better protect troops’ privacy and keep them from being victims of doxxing — the practice of publishing someone’s personal information online to expose them. While the group has spurred European authorities to detain a number of IDF soldiers and forced a soldier visiting Brazil to flee back to Israel, fearing arrest, it has been unsuccessful in court, and no soldier targeted by the group has been prosecuted for war crimes or any other alleged offenses committed in Gaza. Hochman drew outrage in January 2024 when he posted a video in which he gave a mocking tour of a damaged Gaza hotel while visiting the Strip under the aegis of the military. The video, which was removed days later, drew fire for what critics said was a racist depiction of Gazans and for appearing to champion Israeli resettlement of the Strip, damaging Jerusalem’s attempts to deflect claims that it has designs on a long-term reoccupation of Gaza after the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led massacre.