Dave Gray-Donald Profile picture
@TheGrindTO publisher & editorial director @dgrdon.bsky.social
Dec 3, 2025 15 tweets 4 min read
What are the Munk Debates and who's behind them? A refresher.🧵 They were founded primarily by Peter Munk, who ran Barrick Gold, which has been accused of human rights abuses many times. miningwatch.ca/news/2023/5/2/…
Nov 11, 2025 25 tweets 5 min read
NEW: What really happened at the IDF soldiers talk in Toronto last week. Thread🧵

The incident became international news, with many reports omitting the violence of one of the IDF soldiers and repeating false claims. This @TheGrindTO investigation is the most in-depth so far. Image The full @thegrindto investigation is here. Or scroll along for the short version. 🧵thegrindmag.ca/idf-soldier-ma…
May 21, 2025 14 tweets 4 min read
The ambulance delay incident in Toronto is a manufactured controversy, cooked up by @gregbradyx, @joe_warmington & co.

An ambulance carrying a child with stable vitals was delayed three mins due to a protest and police being a bit slow to react. The child was okay. But... 🧵 These pro-Israel media guys blew it up into a big story. First, Brady made it a focus of his AM640 Global radio show on Tuesday and tweeted about it, fearmongering that this child was in crisis and put in danger because a pro-Palestine rally blocked an intersection.
Apr 10, 2025 5 tweets 1 min read
BREAKING: Final two defendants in the Indigo vandalism case just got conditional discharges at sentencing. No convictions registered, no time served, 12 month probation. They previously pled guilty to mischief over $5K. No hate motivation found.  🧵 Two others previously got absolute discharges (lowest possible sentence). The two today, MacDonald Scott and Stuart Schussler, got slightly more restrictive conditions imposed by the judge/justice as they pled guilty later.
Nov 19, 2024 14 tweets 4 min read
Here's a timeline of trying to get a correction note made in print from the Toronto Star regarding a false claim made in an Oct 11, 2023 article. (TW: violence)

An op-ed that day repeated the false claim that 40 babies had been killed and beheaded during the Oct 7 attack... 1/ A week later, the online edition was changed to remove the "beheaded" claim, and a note was made online. I'm unsure whether a correction note was made in print on P2. The online piece though still claimed "The bodies of 40 murdered babies were discovered at Kibbutz Kfar Aza." 2/
Nov 15, 2024 10 tweets 3 min read
On Wednesday night, residents in south Riverdale noticed anti-Palestinian graffiti and alerted Toronto police. This is some of it, from reels on Thursday by jagpile on Insta. Residents say there's much more and it hasn't been cleaned up. Police made three arrests but...🧵 Blue graffiti in Hebrew styled text reading "FUCK GAZA" on a TTC stop, a streetcar and the street and a Starbucks shop are visible in the background.
Blue graffiti on a grey utility box on a Toronto street reading "RAPE [does not equal] RESISTANCE"
Concrete tree planter on Queen St East in Toronto photographed with blue graffiti reading "FUCK GAZA"
Concrete tree planter in Toronto photographed with blue graffiti "RAPE [does not equal] RESISTANCE"
Despite this graffiti being overtly anti-Palestinian, the police press release makes no mention of who it targeted, saying only it "included profanity and language relating to the Middle East conflict." It makes no mention of suspicion of hate motivation. tps.ca/media-centre/n…
Nov 15, 2024 5 tweets 2 min read
The graffiti was very anti-Palestinian, but you wouldn't have a clue from the police press release. Lots more to this story.  News Release (opens a print window) Three People Arrested and One Suspect Outstanding in Mischief Investigation, Queen Street East and Morse Street area  Unit: Intelligence Services  Case #: 2024-2479859  Published: Thursday, November 14, 2024, 4:20 PM Share (opens in new window)  The Toronto Police Service is making the public aware of three arrests made in a Mischief investigation.  On Wednesday, November 13, 2024, at approximately 9:54 p.m., police responded to a call for Damage Just Occurred in the Queen Street East and Morse Street area.
It is alleged that:      four suspects vandalized several City of Toronto properties using spray-paint     the vandalism included profanity and language relating to the Middle East conflict     three of the suspects were located by officers and placed under arrest
There was lots of blue graffiti sprayed around Riverdale / Queen E this week with anti-Palestinian messages. A couple of the arrestees appear vocally pro-Israel. The police release only says "the vandalism included profanity and language relating to the Middle East conflict."
Nov 12, 2024 11 tweets 2 min read
Seems Toronto police are putting out misleading info re hate crimes. Deputy Chief Rob Johnson is quoted today saying "Since October 7th, 2023, we have made 174 arrests and laid 433 charges in relation to hate crimes."

The actual number of "hate crime" charges is much lower. 1/ Johnson's comment is from an update to the police board on Project Resolute, which tracks protests related to Israel-Palestine. This 174 arrests number seems to align with the number of pro-Israel and pro-Palestine individuals arrested, plus maybe a few more (?). But... 2/
May 27, 2024 168 tweets 22 min read
Final hearing on campus antisemitism starting now, will be tweeting in this thread 🧵.

University presidents will appear around noon EST.

Video link: parlvu.parl.gc.ca/Harmony/en/Pow…
My thread from last hearing:
May 10, 2024 17 tweets 5 min read
Yesterday, media reported on four students who testified to a HoC committee on "antisemitism and Jewish safety", saying Jewish students are "terrified" and "don't feel safe."

They failed to mention three of them hold or previously held positions in pro-Israel advocacy orgs...🧵 Nati Pressmann was a Campus Fellow for the pro-Israel media advocacy org @HonestRepCanada. She testified as founder of the "Canadian Union of Jewish Students,"
which only launched a week ago. That org doesn't have a website but its launch was profiled by @nationalpost.
Nov 27, 2023 30 tweets 7 min read
Remember those 2021 arrests in Toronto around the Lamport encampment eviction & after, when cops put out "wanted" photos? Here's a thread 🧵 on what happened since.

Might be relevant to the wave of 15-ish arrests in Toronto this month related to Palestinian solidarity actions. Long story short: despite all the arrests (at least 34) related to the Lamport Stadium eviction and the protests after at 14 Division and at a later press conference against police repression, there were no convictions. Just a lot of withdrawn charges and absolute discharges.
Nov 12, 2023 21 tweets 5 min read
If you're wondering what CIJA (Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs) is and how it was formed, here is a little summary and some articles with more info... CIJA, founded around 2004, was not always the most prominent org claiming to represent Jewish interests in Canada.

The Canadian Jewish Congress, founded in 1919, long held that position, had internal elections, and rigorous debates on policy positions. It was a Zionist org.
Oct 23, 2023 9 tweets 2 min read
I was curious, why would people call for a boycott of Cafe Landwer? Is it about the political actions of the business (e.g. is it a Zionist business, as protesters said on Saturday), or is was it targeted simply for being Jewish-owned? Here's what I found. In 2015, Israel-based Cafe Landwer built a cafe in Jerusalem on top of a historic Islamic cemetery, part of a development that destroyed the cemetery where contemporaries of Muhammed may lie.

Article: Cafe built over Jerusalem Islamic graves sparks anger aljazeera.com/news/2015/8/5/…
Aug 4, 2022 8 tweets 2 min read
Canadian oil & gas companies have been announcing their Q2 (April - June) financial results. Here are the profits of the big Cdn players🧵 Canadian Natural Resources Limited Q2 net earnings (profit):

$3.502 billion
Nov 2, 2021 7 tweets 2 min read
Please stop taking Trudeau's "cap on oil and gas sector emissions" as serious climate action. The cap is:

- three decades away
- won't necessarily limit oil and gas production
- doesn't apply to most emissions in the product lifecycle

Thread. 1/7 Crucially, the cap has no targets yet until 2050. This suits the o&g industry fine as no immediate action is needed.

And long-term there are two crucial problems.

First, "net zero" allows for ongoing emissions as long they are "offset" by a dubious suite of mechanisms. 2/7
Jun 27, 2020 8 tweets 7 min read
Seeing @WEMovement contracted by the Canadian government to deliver $900 million in programs reminds me: this organization denied me media access on six occasions to #WEday events to report for @briarpatchmag, including the most recent one in MTL with Sophie Trudeau. 1/ @WEMovement said this was because of "overwhelming" applications. But there was little media coverage of these #WEday events, and even less indie coverage. Places like @TheTyee and until-recently-indie @nowtoronto & @georgiastraight haven't reported from #WEday in years. 2/