Trudeau announces Amira Elghawaby as Canada's first representative to combat Islamophobia

Ron in Regina

"Voice of the West" Party
Apr 9, 2008
30,172
11,156
113
Regina, Saskatchewan
I posted phase two yesterday. Read what happens at the end. No disarming until Israel full withdrawal. Its still the same today. What's your hurry?
God (and this is coming from the non-religious guy)… in what post in what thread? I would read it if I knew where to look without backtracking through a bunch of different threads trying to find what you’re alluding to.
 

Ron in Regina

"Voice of the West" Party
Apr 9, 2008
30,172
11,156
113
Regina, Saskatchewan
I posted phase two yesterday. Read what happens at the end. No disarming until Israel full withdrawal. It’s still the same today. What's your hurry?
I thought it was no withdrawal of IDF forces from Gaza or an increase in aid until Hamas disarms? Something along those lines?
1760664253517.jpeg
No, not that one….something about a 20 point plan?
1760664419613.jpeg
Keep in mind the above is from Al Qatareera, but I think there was some “If, Then’s…” involved?
 

petros

The Central Scrutinizer
Nov 21, 2008
118,798
14,598
113
Low Earth Orbit

Ron in Regina

"Voice of the West" Party
Apr 9, 2008
30,172
11,156
113
Regina, Saskatchewan
Netanyahu is a war criminal. Why wouldn't we arrest him? We don't have an AIPAC running Parliament. If you want that, North Dakota awaits you.
What? I’m the one who posted the link. I didn’t post an opinion about the link. If you wanna move to North Dakota, fill your boots, but I posted that link here because it’s Canada-centric.
 

Ron in Regina

"Voice of the West" Party
Apr 9, 2008
30,172
11,156
113
Regina, Saskatchewan
So then post your opinion on the paywalled link.
Sorry. Had no idea it was paywalled for you, as it wasn’t paywalled for me at least at the time. I’ll check.

Nope. Still not paywalled for me. Here ya go:

Mark Carney says that Benjamin Netanyahu would be arrested if he travelled to Canada.

The prime minister made the remark in an interview with British journalist Mishal Husain on her podcast released Friday. In the 37-minute episode, Carney touched on a wide range of topics. He talked about why he ran for office, what he learned from U.S. President Donald Trump and what his next steps were after recognizing Palestinian statehood.

The end goal “is a free and viable Palestinian state living side by side, peace and security, with the state of Israel,” said Carney.

The actions of the Netanyahu government, he said, “were explicitly designed to end any possibility of a state of Palestine in violation of the UN charter and going against Canadian government policy of whatever political stripe since 1947.”

Since 1947, the policy of the Canadian government has been to support a two-state solution, said Carney in September, when he officially recognized Palestinian statehood. Jewish groups condemned the choice and said it would reward and embolden Hamas terrorists. But, according to Carney, the recognition doesn’t compromise Canada’s support “for the State of Israel, its people, and their security,” — which can only “be guaranteed through the achievement of a comprehensive two-state solution.”

In the podcast, Carney said that although the U.S. disagreed with the recognition, the “common objective is the same.”

“You’re going to have to keep up the pressure on the Israeli government,” in order to achieve a Palestinian state “living side by side with a secure Israel,” Husain said to Carney. “Justin Trudeau said that Canada would honour the International Criminal Court arrest warrants i.e. Benjamin Netanyahu would be arrested if he came to Canada.”

She then asked: “Does that stand under your leadership?”

“Yes,” Carney replied.

“You’d be prepared to do that?” asked Husain.

“Yes,” said the prime minister.

“We’ve let terrorist organizations turn our country into an ATM, but the leader of the only Jewish state in the world isn’t welcome here. Make it make sense,” said Casey Babb, a senior fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute.

“What? Hamas thanked Carney when he derailed a peace proposal on the eve of a trade deal deadline with the USA. Now Hamas is publicly executing competing Palestinian factions. But (Mark Carney) tells Bloomberg he would arrest PM Netanyahu? Astonishing!” said Conservative MP Roman Baber in a post on X.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu in November 2024. It alleged that the Israeli prime minister was “responsible for the war crimes of starvation as a method of warfare and of intentionally directing an attack against the civilian population” in Gaza, starting on Oct. 8, 2023.

A day earlier, on Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorists murdered 1,200 people in Israel and took 251 hostages, sparking a war in the Middle East. Israel has denied claims of genocide and starvation. A BBC report found that Hamas “systematically commandeered humanitarian aid entering the Strip,” giving it to people loyal to terrorists, The Times of Israel said.

The ICC rejected Israel’s request to withdraw the arrest warrant.

The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, a Canadian advocacy group, called on the government to “unequivocally reject this perversion of justice” after the warrant was issued. It said that it has “given solace” to terrorist groups “in their war of extermination against Israel” and made a “mockery of international law.”
I didn’t comment on it yesterday. Probably not gonna today. Just put it out there as it fit the thread & was Canada-centric.
Netanyahu is a war criminal. Why wouldn't we arrest him? We don't have an AIPAC running Parliament. If you want that, North Dakota awaits you.
So then post your opinion on the paywalled link.
Yeah. Ok.
 

Ron in Regina

"Voice of the West" Party
Apr 9, 2008
30,172
11,156
113
Regina, Saskatchewan
Here’s another Canadian-centric story revolving around the same goat rodeo, just in case its paywalled.

On Thursday, the Toronto District School Board had planned to put more than 2,600 students in an Arabic calligraphy workshop run by a niqab-wearing woman who uses her art to call for the obliteration of Israel.

The purpose of the event was to give students a special activity for Islamic Heritage Month. The artist chosen goes by Calligraphy by Zakera — and it’s quite clear that she’s an activist as well as an artist, primarily because her portfolio contains various geographic depictions of Israel and the Palestinian territories together as “Palestine.”

She’s made tote bags to that effect, showing this aspirational Islamic state with Arabic calligraphy as fill. The text has an anti-subjugation message, and speaks of a nation whose leader is Mohammed, said counter-extremism expert Haras Rafiq.

“What this is doing is what I call the Palestinianization of Islam, which is essentially to turn Palestine into an Islamic or Muslim issue when it clearly isn’t,” said Rafiq, who is a former CEO of the counter-Islamism think tank Quilliam Foundation, and a current research fellow at the London-based Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy.

Another piece of Zakera’s digital art shows a silhouette of what is mostly Israel with fill text that states “Palestine is ours” (Rafiq’s translation). In another, a gold-foil cut-out of the same shape has a prayer in the background. Her translation: “O Allah, we ask You to restrain them by their necks and we seek refuge in You from their evil.”

This, Rafiq said, was the most significant piece because the prayer isn’t from the Qu’ran — rather, it was first written by the scholar Ibn Taymiyyah, who is usually followed by people who ascribe to Wahhabism or Salafism. “To me, he’s an extremist fundamentalist,” noted Rafiq, who is also a Muslim.

In another four-panel painting of the Palestinian flag, the artist wrote, “May Allah grant us entry into Aqsa,” referring to the mosque built on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. It’s a key point of grief for Palestinians because it’s within Israeli territory and entry is controlled by Israeli security — even though the Muslim Jordanian government manages the site.

Her Instagram shows that she held a workshop last summer for Muslim women, guiding them to make their own wall art of “Palestine” and was selling stencils to help others do the same. And the winter before that, she held a workshop at the Gaza Will Rise Exhibition in Mississauga, an event by an Islamic school in the city. The exhibition had been on tour: in Windsor, it was hosted by Windsor4Palestine, which also promoted the city’s October 7 Hamas rally last week. Aside from mourning the Palestinian dead, the event promoted messages like “Resist! Return!” and blamed Canada for bombing Gaza.

And while the artist does participate in funding for international aid, she does so by depicting the conquest objective of Hamas and others who believe in extinguishing Israel in the Palestinian cause.

In one video, she writes, “POV: Spreading Islam through art outside the Muslim community.” It’s hard not to interpret it as proselytization.

Not all of Zakera’s art is political — plenty of her pieces are innocuous calligraphy. She does nursery pieces, flag art and Sufi prayer. The art in the cancelled TDSB workshop might have been just as innocuous (Instagram posts from an earlier classroom workshop she did with TDSB in June point to this).

But given the artist’s persuasions, I would argue, she shouldn’t have been going into a school. Especially, in my view, since she wears the niqab, a fundamentalist garment that dehumanizes women. It sends a terrible message to girls to approve such a visibly anti-woman symbol for the classroom.

At very least, the school board realized its mistake in time. Some concerned parents emailed the school and the board, and eventually, TDSB superintendent John Currie notified them by email that the event was cancelled. When the Post asked TDSB for the reason, spokesperson Emma Moynihan said, “After a review of social media content that we don’t believe is in line with TDSB policies and procedures, the calligraphy workshop was cancelled for today.” As for which policy was violated, we don’t know.

The Post also asked Moynihan — multiple times — if Zakera’s contract would be paid out despite the last-minute cancellation, and whether TDSB would be reviewing its vetting procedures for contractors. She provided no response. Taxpayers could still be on the hook for this one, and it’s not clear whether the board is going to look into what went wrong.

Ontario Education Minister Paul Calandra did not immediately respond to the Post’s request for comment, as well.

In a message on Instagram, the artist gave the Post an email address to send questions about the cancelled workshop, but, ultimately did not respond to multiple emails before publication.

However, Zakera did share messages on social media that accuse TDSB of anti-Palestinian racism. On Thursday, one of her Instagram posts urged parents to lodge racism complaints to principals, TDSB officials and the education minister.

“This cancellation silences Muslim voices and is a blatant example of Islamophobia and Anti-Palestinian Racism,” it read.

“Cancelling a workshop over an artist’s personal views and artistic license in expressing solidarity with the oppressed in the Muslim ummah/ community is censorship. It’s favouring Zionist narratives over Muslim and Palestinian ones…. Our schools must remain safe spaces for cultural expression, empathy and justice.”

It was a message completely devoid of self-awareness, considering how the event would place children, some of whom were Jewish, under the direction of someone who doesn’t appear to believe Israel has a right to exist.

Parents are relieved, but they’ve been left disappointed. One mother, who is Israeli and whose elementary-aged children were scheduled to partake in the workshop, is left wondering how this came to be.

“There was nothing hidden,” she said, referring to the artist’s social media. “Everything was really out in the open. Someone either didn’t check this person, or (they) did, but didn’t think anything of it.” Either way, it’s a problem. This could have all been avoided by TDSB.

“The actual work (of the artist) is gorgeous. It’s beautiful,” said the mother. “Initially, I did think it would be an amazing activity for kids. I do love the Arabic calligraphy. I took Arabic all the way through high school. I do love the language. I like the artistry in their language.

“It was very disappointing to find out that of all that Toronto has to offer … this is who you picked.”
 

petros

The Central Scrutinizer
Nov 21, 2008
118,798
14,598
113
Low Earth Orbit
Here’s another Canadian-centric story revolving around the same goat rodeo, just in case its paywalled.

On Thursday, the Toronto District School Board had planned to put more than 2,600 students in an Arabic calligraphy workshop run by a niqab-wearing woman who uses her art to call for the obliteration of Israel.

The purpose of the event was to give students a special activity for Islamic Heritage Month. The artist chosen goes by Calligraphy by Zakera — and it’s quite clear that she’s an activist as well as an artist, primarily because her portfolio contains various geographic depictions of Israel and the Palestinian territories together as “Palestine.”

She’s made tote bags to that effect, showing this aspirational Islamic state with Arabic calligraphy as fill. The text has an anti-subjugation message, and speaks of a nation whose leader is Mohammed, said counter-extremism expert Haras Rafiq.

“What this is doing is what I call the Palestinianization of Islam, which is essentially to turn Palestine into an Islamic or Muslim issue when it clearly isn’t,” said Rafiq, who is a former CEO of the counter-Islamism think tank Quilliam Foundation, and a current research fellow at the London-based Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy.

Another piece of Zakera’s digital art shows a silhouette of what is mostly Israel with fill text that states “Palestine is ours” (Rafiq’s translation). In another, a gold-foil cut-out of the same shape has a prayer in the background. Her translation: “O Allah, we ask You to restrain them by their necks and we seek refuge in You from their evil.”

This, Rafiq said, was the most significant piece because the prayer isn’t from the Qu’ran — rather, it was first written by the scholar Ibn Taymiyyah, who is usually followed by people who ascribe to Wahhabism or Salafism. “To me, he’s an extremist fundamentalist,” noted Rafiq, who is also a Muslim.

In another four-panel painting of the Palestinian flag, the artist wrote, “May Allah grant us entry into Aqsa,” referring to the mosque built on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. It’s a key point of grief for Palestinians because it’s within Israeli territory and entry is controlled by Israeli security — even though the Muslim Jordanian government manages the site.

Her Instagram shows that she held a workshop last summer for Muslim women, guiding them to make their own wall art of “Palestine” and was selling stencils to help others do the same. And the winter before that, she held a workshop at the Gaza Will Rise Exhibition in Mississauga, an event by an Islamic school in the city. The exhibition had been on tour: in Windsor, it was hosted by Windsor4Palestine, which also promoted the city’s October 7 Hamas rally last week. Aside from mourning the Palestinian dead, the event promoted messages like “Resist! Return!” and blamed Canada for bombing Gaza.

And while the artist does participate in funding for international aid, she does so by depicting the conquest objective of Hamas and others who believe in extinguishing Israel in the Palestinian cause.

In one video, she writes, “POV: Spreading Islam through art outside the Muslim community.” It’s hard not to interpret it as proselytization.

Not all of Zakera’s art is political — plenty of her pieces are innocuous calligraphy. She does nursery pieces, flag art and Sufi prayer. The art in the cancelled TDSB workshop might have been just as innocuous (Instagram posts from an earlier classroom workshop she did with TDSB in June point to this).

But given the artist’s persuasions, I would argue, she shouldn’t have been going into a school. Especially, in my view, since she wears the niqab, a fundamentalist garment that dehumanizes women. It sends a terrible message to girls to approve such a visibly anti-woman symbol for the classroom.

At very least, the school board realized its mistake in time. Some concerned parents emailed the school and the board, and eventually, TDSB superintendent John Currie notified them by email that the event was cancelled. When the Post asked TDSB for the reason, spokesperson Emma Moynihan said, “After a review of social media content that we don’t believe is in line with TDSB policies and procedures, the calligraphy workshop was cancelled for today.” As for which policy was violated, we don’t know.

The Post also asked Moynihan — multiple times — if Zakera’s contract would be paid out despite the last-minute cancellation, and whether TDSB would be reviewing its vetting procedures for contractors. She provided no response. Taxpayers could still be on the hook for this one, and it’s not clear whether the board is going to look into what went wrong.

Ontario Education Minister Paul Calandra did not immediately respond to the Post’s request for comment, as well.

In a message on Instagram, the artist gave the Post an email address to send questions about the cancelled workshop, but, ultimately did not respond to multiple emails before publication.

However, Zakera did share messages on social media that accuse TDSB of anti-Palestinian racism. On Thursday, one of her Instagram posts urged parents to lodge racism complaints to principals, TDSB officials and the education minister.

“This cancellation silences Muslim voices and is a blatant example of Islamophobia and Anti-Palestinian Racism,” it read.

“Cancelling a workshop over an artist’s personal views and artistic license in expressing solidarity with the oppressed in the Muslim ummah/ community is censorship. It’s favouring Zionist narratives over Muslim and Palestinian ones…. Our schools must remain safe spaces for cultural expression, empathy and justice.”

It was a message completely devoid of self-awareness, considering how the event would place children, some of whom were Jewish, under the direction of someone who doesn’t appear to believe Israel has a right to exist.

Parents are relieved, but they’ve been left disappointed. One mother, who is Israeli and whose elementary-aged children were scheduled to partake in the workshop, is left wondering how this came to be.

“There was nothing hidden,” she said, referring to the artist’s social media. “Everything was really out in the open. Someone either didn’t check this person, or (they) did, but didn’t think anything of it.” Either way, it’s a problem. This could have all been avoided by TDSB.

“The actual work (of the artist) is gorgeous. It’s beautiful,” said the mother. “Initially, I did think it would be an amazing activity for kids. I do love the Arabic calligraphy. I took Arabic all the way through high school. I do love the language. I like the artistry in their language.

“It was very disappointing to find out that of all that Toronto has to offer … this is who you picked.”
More of "you damn well better love Israel or else". Art is an expression. Do we have freedom of expression in Canada or not?
 

Ron in Regina

"Voice of the West" Party
Apr 9, 2008
30,172
11,156
113
Regina, Saskatchewan
More of "you damn well better love Israel or else". Art is an expression. Do we have freedom of expression in Canada or not?
It’s like those pictures in the malls at Christmas 40 years ago.

“I can see a Helicopter!”

“Really? I can see a Clown!”

“Really? I just see 100,000 coloured dots…”