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
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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.”
The 44-second video was posted by Caryma Sa’d, a Toronto lawyer who regularly documents protests in the city. Sa’d wrote in a caption, “protesters react to breaking news of Iran launching drones at Israel in retaliatory attack for a strike which killed a top Iranian commander.”
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Why is it always the Non-Iranians who support the terrorist Islamic Regime in Iran?
As an Iranian-Canadian, it makes me sick to my stomach to see my fellow Canadians openly supporting a terrorist Islamofascist dictatorship that murders innocent Iranians.
This is not the Canada… https://t.co/fQbPGJfyqu
Around 4 p.m. Toronto time on Saturday, the Islamic Republic of Iran simultaneously launched more than 300 drones and missiles against Israeli territory.
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.
U.S., U.K. and even Jordanian war planes would be scrambled to assist the Israelis in shooting down the incoming stream. Ultimately, the Israel Defence Forces would announce that more than 99 per cent of the Iranian weapons failed to reach their target, with the only significant casualty being a critically injured seven-year-old Bedouin girl.
Nevertheless, Canadian celebrations continued into Sunday. 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.
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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.”
Canadian celebrations of the weekend attacks even received notice in the English-language Israeli press.
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.”
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.
The Yemeni rebel group — whose official slogan contains the Arabic phrase for “a curse upon the Jews” — has been regularly attacking civilian shipping approaching the Suez Canal. For this, Canada is technically at war with the group, having joined an international military coalition to oppose the strikes.
But beginning in January, Canadian anti-Israel rallies began featuring chants including, “Yemen, Yemen, make us proud! Turn another ship around!” and “Gaza called, Yemen answered. All Israeli ships are cancelled.”
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