Freedom to protest does not mean calling for war on the streets is legal.
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Or condone hitting someone with a flagpole.
Scrawling a Swastika on the sidewalk in a neighbourhood in which many Jewish people live is a hate crime, dressing up in full disguise with the look of a terrorist and going into the lobby of Toronto Metropolitan University to scare people, shooting bullets into a Jewish girl’s school or an alleged attack on a woman outside of a Jewish day care centre are all variations on terrorism.
This is the Greater Toronto Area in 2024.
In all these cases, police are investigating. And just because they don’t lay a charge on the spot, it does not mean they won’t later.
The latest example of that may be what happened Sunday in Mississauga, in which a video has emerged of a pro-Palestinian march in which chants are alleged to be calling for violence.
“Jihad is our path, our purpose is Allah and death in the way of Allah is our best aspiration” is what is alleged to have been shouted by a speaker and followed by the crowd.
“Calls for Jihad were made in Arabic en mass in Mississauga yesterday following the approval of its Mayor Carolyn Parrish to hold a vigil for Hamas Yahya Sinwar, despite cancellation,” posted an X accounted called Leviathan.
It caught the attention of many, including the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, B’nai Brith, Israel Now and the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center.
“The scenes from a march yesterday in Mississauga are deeply distressing,” the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs said on social media. “Calls for jihad on the streets of Ontario and Canada are wrong and shocking. We demand that Peel Police investigate this demonstration rife of hatred and hostility.”
And now Peel Police have responded.
“Peel Regional Police is aware of the post in question, 11 Division Criminal Investigations Bureau is actively investigating the matter,” said Acting Sgt. Sarah Patten. “Peel Regional Police will not tolerate any acts of hate in our community. Resources have been allocated to manage the protests and investigate any related criminal acts, including hate crimes.”
This investigation comes following a post from the organizers of a planned Nov. 26th martyrs vigil in memory of Hamas leader Sinwar’s death at the hands of the Israel Defence Forces being cancelled, citing security concerns.
Mississauga Mayor Carolyn Parrish has taken considerable heat for originally not condemning this plan for Celebration Square. She is also under fire from decades old tweets in which her X account shows she posted “I don’t get into discussions with Zionists” since she has “tried in the past and have found it fruitless exercise” and that she’s “been to Palestine” and knows “what’s up.”
When asked about this, Parrish said “(I’m) not answering your questions because I want this issue to fall back under the radar. Municipal politicians are concerned with municipal issues. The world issues only fall into the city when local city property is used for protests and vigils. Then we are governed by the constitution: right to assembly and right of free speech.”
But Parrish did confirm that she has been “four or five times to the West Bank during my time in the Chretien government that supported a two-state solution. One all-party trip included crossing into Gaza. Would you be shocked to know Hazel (McCallion) also travelled to West Bank?”
While past social media posts and previous positions perhaps add context to Parrish’s reluctance to speak out against the Sinwar vigil and even telling council much-loved Nelson Mandela was once considered a terrorist, the current time with alleged threats about jihad can’t be swept under the carpet as if it was nothing.
And Peel Police are not doing that.
Meanwhile, the pro-Palestinian protests are taking their toll on both Toronto and Peel police, who every week must staff them and contend with them,
In Toronto, the officers are overworked and sometimes overwhelmed.
But the temperature at all these protests is starting to rise to an even higher level of concern. When you have pro-Palestinian demonstrators going up into Jewish sections of town to provoke a group calling for the release of more than 100 remaining hostages, it’s already rife with issues.
But when video emerges of one of the protesters carrying a Palestinian flag appearing to strike Rebel News reporter Alexandra Lavoie with the wooden pole it was attached to, it offers insight into how bad this could get.
“Yes, police are investigating this incident,” Toronto Police spokesperson Shannon Eames said Tuesday morning. “There have not been any arrests made at this time.”
As police have said before, this does not mean there won’t be.