Within minutes of news emerging that Iran had launched an unprecedented direct attack at Israel, Canadian cities were witness to scenes of open celebration.
In one widely circulated video, keffiyah-clad demonstrators were shown cheering, banging drums and lighting off smoke bombs as a speaker announced “the Islamic Republic of Iran has just sent tens of drones towards Israel.”
Although Iran has been supporting anti-Israel terrorist groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah for decades, this was the first time that it had directly ordered a military strike against the Jewish state.
Nevertheless, the weekend celebrations were not out of character for a Canadian anti-Israel movement that has been pretty open about celebrating violence directed at the Jewish state — only to call for ceasefires when that violence is the subject of retaliation.
All of the movement’s key organizers — including Toronto4Palestine, Samidoun and the Palestinian Youth Movement — organized celebratory rallies within hours of the October 7 massacres. All three have similarly celebrated Houthi attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea. For this, Canada is technically at war with the group, having joined an international military coalition to oppose the strikes.
Israeli counter-batteries had only just finished shooting down the last of the incoming missiles when The Jerusalem Post published a story
headlined, “Toronto protesters cheer as Iran fires drones at Israel.”
The events were not out of character for a Canadian anti-Israel movement that has been pretty open about celebrating violence directed at the Jewish state
apple.news
A video circulated on the Instagram account of Ottawa4Palestine showed a speaker in the national capital
singing an improvised song to the tune of Yankee Doodle containing the phrase “leave Palestine alone and Jews go back to Europe.”
The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs circulated video of a Montreal rally — first
posted by Instagram user iituttii4palestine — showing demonstrators chanting “put the bullet in the house of fire … we are your men, Sinwar.” The Sinwar likely refers to Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas and one of the chief architects of the October 7 massacres.
Also on Sunday, video out of Calgary showed a man at the edge of an anti-Israel gathering clutching a portrait of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khameini and
holding his arm in a fascist salute.
That clip was captured by Bahar Bahari, an Iranian exile in Calgary
who has long been a vocal critic of Iran’s theocratic government, and a perennial attendee at pro-Israel demonstrations in the city.
A fellow Iranian exile, Ontario MPP Goldie Ghamari,
was among the most visible critics of Saturday’s celebration in Toronto.
“Why is it always the Non-Iranians who support the terrorist Islamic Regime in Iran?” she wrote in a widely circulated response to Sa’d’s Toronto video.
She added, “This is not the Canada my parents immigrated to in order to escape persecution by the terrorist Islamofascist Ayatollahs.”
Amira Elghawaby? Comments? Justification? “Their Jewiness made us do this!” Type stuff? The most recent anything in the news accredited to Amira Elghawaby is from two months ago? Justin must be keeping a tight lid on Amira ‘cuz 2015-ish?
View attachment 21805
Oh well, there’s probably a bus to throw her under when the time comes Justin.