Honouring a Mass Murderer

"I asked them to track down the anonymous notice for a vigil at City Hall. No organization exists. No vigil is planned."

"The city will not interfere with a peaceful vigil, as long as all laws and city bylaws are adhered to."

"I just want to point out -- and I'm not being facetious -- Nelson Mandela was declared a terrorist by the United States of America  until the year 2008. Your terrorist and somebody else's terrorist may be two different things."

Mississauga Mayor Carolyn Parrish

"This attack on the mayor serves only to distract from the genocide and humanitarian crisis in Gaza, where thousands of civilians, including women and children, have lost their lives."

The Muslim Council of Peel

"By sharing a letter from the council that includes inflammatory language and falsehoods about Israel  she [the mayor] has only further divided our community."

"Since the troubling post about the November 26 vigil became public, only the Muslim Council of Peel was consulted -- excluding Jewish partners and constituents who are most directly impacted."

"The organizers of the vigil, Firas Al Najim and so-called "Canadian Defenders for Human Rights' have now confirmed it is authentic and is moving forward."

"This glorification of terrorists is completely unacceptable. Will you stop it from happening? Will you let an event celebrating killings, rapes, executions, hostage taking and death to take place on public property in our city?"

"Hamas is applauding what is happening in Mississauga."

Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs

Mississauga Mayor Carolyn Parrish on Nov. 13. Photo by Screengrab / City of Mississauga

The unthinkable, the celebration of the life of a major terrorist, the man who planned and saw to the execution of the 7 November 2023 mass invasion by thousands of Palestinian terrorists in groups led by Hamas is taking place in Canada. Where among other terrorist groups worldwide, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and likely some members of Fatah as well took part, groups listed on Canada's terrorist list. As such, they are criminally outlawed in Canada. Yet mosques in Canada, serving Muslim Canadians have held mourning services for Yahya Sinwar, master terrorist.

And now, a group called Canadian Defenders 4 Human Rights has organized a public event to take place near the end of the month, to honour Sinwar, the leader in Gaza of Hamas terrorism against Israel. A flyer advertising the event has been in circulation, and social media posts assure anyone in doubt that the Sinwar vigil is planned to continue on schedule. Jewish Canadian groups are aghast that the man responsible for the rapes and mutilations of hundreds of Jewish girls and women on that fateful October day, along with the death of 1,200 Israelis, is being honoured in Canada.

The flyer led off with the slogan "lest we forget our heroes", festooned with red poppies symbolic of military veterans' remembrance. Mississauga Mayor Carolyn Parrish has been asked repeatedly to repeal permission for the memorial to a mass murderer of Jews to proceed. In response she took to posting on X her conclusion that the event is a hoax, despite the planners' insistence it is legitimate and it will proceed.

A video posted on social media by the group CD4HR featured a speech by its leader, FirasAl-Najim filmed outside a Royal Canadian Legion branch in Mississauga; he holds a printout of the flyer while speaking of Sinwar as a "great man", and defends the event. CD4HR  lauds "the great hero" and "Axis of resistance martyrs that sacrificed their honourable lives in support of the Palestinians & their struggle for liberation".

A poster advertising a Mississauga, Ont., vigil in honour of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar. Photo by @cd4_hr /X

 

"We respect the right to peacefully assemble  under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms."

"Peel Regional Police will work closely with the City of Mississauga, our community partners and other stakeholders, to ensure that the event remains peaceful."

Peel Regional Police