Around 100 Toronto police officers, on foot, bicycles and horseback, attempted to corral the opposing protesters on Simcoe Street as each side attempted to shout down one another with sound systems and megaphones over the film about a retired Israeli general on mission to save his family on Oct. 7, 2023.

An organizer of pro-Palestine protest against the world premiere said that they opposed what they regarded as Israeli propaganda with director Barry Avrich’s documentary.

“This protest is here to help educate people to what’s happening and to clarify the misinformation and the Israeli propaganda,” the organizer argued.

Winston Siegel, pro-Israeli counter-protester, defended the Canadian documentary as it had a controversial world premiere. “It’s a very legitimate story of a man trying to save his family under horrendous circumstances. That’s the story they want to represent as propaganda,” Siegel said.

Toronto Fest organizers sparked opposition with an earlier decision not to screen the film at its 2025 edition after issuing an invitation to the filmmaker.

After an uproar from the Toronto Jewish community, Toronto reached an agreement with Avrich over security and footage clearance concerns to allow the reinstatement of the film in the official lineup.

The result on Wednesday was the loud, yet peaceful protest and counter-protest that organizers had looked to avoid as colliding supporters of Palestinians and Israelis looked to flood the zone outside Roy Thomson Hall.

On the other side of the barricades outside Roy Thomson Hall, Tarek Haj Ebrahim, another pro-Palestine protester, reiterated that the Canadian documentary was part of Israel’s propaganda campaign. “The whole movie is fake and false information. We’ve been in this conflict for 100 years. We know how they flip facts, how they falsify history,” Ebrahim insisted.