Before sentencing a 30-year-old LaSalle man to two years in jail, the Windsor judge described his antisemitic crimes as “vile, filth, disgusting.”
Nicholas Amor was sentenced Thursday for public incitement of hatred and possession of a weapon charges after pleading guilty on March 6.
He’s been in jail since his arrest in October. After credit for time already served, Amor’s sentence will be roughly 15 months behind bars.
Ontario Court Justice Mikolaj Bazylko called Amor’s social media posts repetitive and “repulsive.”
“These were not just words. You had the necessary means to inflict damage to seriously harm people, to kill people and based on your expression, Jewish people in particular,” said Bazylko.
During his sentencing hearing, the Crown read out some of Amor’s Facebook and Instagram posts.
Those included encouraging people to create Molotov cocktails at home and use them to “fight back” against Jewish people.
In another post, Amor said “Zionists are like rats and ticks … that must be cleansed with fire.”
“Call me antisemitic, anti-septic, I don’t give a shit,” said Amor in another one of the many social media posts.
The Crown also pointed out that public incitement of hatred is a “rarely charged offence” in Canada, but added that charges have increased since the Israel-Hamas war.
Once he’s out, he will be on probation for three years and cannot possess any weapons for a period of 10 years.
And his probation restrictions prohibit him from attending any synagogue, Jewish schools or other Jewish organizations as well as any protest or event that involves Palestine, Israel, the Jewish community and the Middle East.
Armor also cannot be on any form of social media once he’s released, except for WhatsApp and only to communicate with his family.
During his sentencing hearing, six community groups provided victim impact statements to the court, including the Windsor Jewish Federation and Community Centre.
Jewish people avoided public events over ‘fear’ Amor perpetuated
Executive director Marion Zeller said Amor’s posts had a “profound impact” on the roughly 1,500 Jewish people in Windsor-Essex.
“Our community lives in ongoing fear because of individuals like Mr. Amor,” said Zeller. “It’s also resulted in people not coming to community events because they fear being targeted in a public space.”
It was the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center — a non-profit human rights organization — that brought Amor’s posts to the attention of police.
During that organization’s statement in court, senior director of advocacy and policy Jaime Kirzner-Roberts said Amor’s posts create “a real and foreseeable risk to public safety.”
“For members of the Jewish community, this convergence of words and weapons is particularly frightening,” said Kirzner-Roberts.
Sorry for whoever I have impacted and thank you for the court’s time.– Nicholas Amor
During these victim impact statements, Amor sat behind glass in the prisoner’s box rarely making eye contact with those who spoke.
Wearing a blue t-shirt and jeans, his arms were either crossed or he was leaning with his back up against the wall and at times his eyes would glance up at the ceiling.
Once members of the Jewish community finished expressing how Amor’s posts affected their community, the judge asked if he wished to say anything.
“Sorry for whoever I have impacted and thank you for the court’s time,” said Amor briefly.
Amor’s mother and aunt were present in court for sentencing.
“I’m confident with the strong family ties that this will be a turning point for him,” said defence lawyer Robert DiPietro Jr.
Amor has Jewish background himself, court hears
He added that Amor especially regrets his actions “because he does have a Jewish background.”
“Your family members are Jewish. I don’t even know what to say about that,” said Bazylko.
While in jail, the court heard that Amor worked with police to delete his Instagram page and is working to remove his Facebook account.
“Educate yourself,” said Bazylko. “That’s really at the end of the day is the main lesson I can tell you at this point sir.”
“It’s ok to have beliefs. It’s ok to be passionate about causes. But the promotion of hatred and violence is never ok,” the judge added.
The remaining charges laid by LaSalle police were withdrawn.
However, Amor was separately charged by London police and wanted on a warrant.
Officials are accusing Amor of taking part in an anti-war protest outside of a London convention centre in October, where police said he assaulted another man.
