Support Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center in stopping another anti-Semitic hate rally at Queen’s Park

Last year, one of the low points in civic engagement in Ontario was an anti-Semitic hate rally at Queen’s Park held by local Shia Muslim organizations to commemorate what they refer to as “al Quds Day.” This is an event in the Shia calendar initiated by the brutal Iranian despot Ayatollah Khomeini to try to garner support for the destruction of the Jewish state and the so-called liberation of the Holy Land of Israel from the Jews, to be replaced by an Islamic state.

Politicians of al stripes were shocked and embarrassed that an event was held at the seat of Ontario’s government that was anti-Semitic and featured hate mongers like Zafar Bangash, a notorious supporter of the vicious Iranian dictatorship which persecutes and murders dissidents and minorities.  Last year, Bangash called for a Jihad against Jerusalem whereby Islamic law would be imposed upon Israel.

In a startling new development, another ‘al Quds Day’ rally at Queen’s Park on August 18 was just announced by a group calling itself the al Quds Committee. Friends of Simon Wiesenthal believes that while free speech is an essential component of a democratic society, the Provincial government should not sanction organisations calling for war, death and hate towards Jews by sanctioning their use of public property for such a purpose.

The Sergeant-at-Arms of the Ontario Legislature must approve all demonstrations held at Queens Park. As of 9 am  today (July 31), the Sergeant-of Arms office confirms that an application for the al Quds Day demonstration has been submitted but not yet approved.

Join Friends of Simon Wiesenthal in contacting Premier Dalton McGuinty, Provincial Opposition Leader Tim Hudak, Toronto Mayor Rob Ford, and your local MPP to oppose an insult to Canada’s free, tolerant society by a gang of devotees of Iran, the world’s principal supporter of state terrorism.

Friends of Simon Wiesenthal will provide updates on the efforts to combat hate and intolerance by Iran’s Canadian proxies.

Antisemitism erupts at protest outside Toronto's US Consulate

From the July 21 rally in Toronto

On a hot Toronto afternoon in July, a small crowd incongruously dressed for the weather; women in gowns and scarves covering them head to toe and the men and boys wearing heavy long sleeved shirts, paraded in a circle outside the U.S. Consulate.

The ostensive reason for the gathering last Saturday was to protest the imprisonment of a Shia cleric named Nimr al-Nimr in Saudi Arabia because of his secessionist activities there. But the mood, as is so often the case with events featuring radical leaders of the local Shia community, degenerated into one of anti-Semitism.

The US consulate is the hub of these protests, rather than those of the countries directly involved, because the leaders of these movements promote depraved conspiracy theories. These range from the US and Israel being responsible for the 9-11 terror attacks to a variety of the world’s ills being caused by Zionist conspiracies, as was the case on Saturday.

Also at the US consulate protest

The rally featured a number of speakers involved with the Canadian Shia Muslim Organization, which gained notoriety for posting anti-Semitic videos by former Ku Klux Klan supremo David Duke on its website.  They included Zafar Bangash, the radical Imam who Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center had previously condemned for issuing a thinly veiled threat to Jews in the event of a war with Iran.  Among the other speakers was Ali Mallah, who sits on the board Alternatives International, the group that funnelled money to the Sea Hitler Canadian Gaza Boat.

While Israel or Zionism had nothing to do with the al-Nimr protest, signs distributed by the organizers accused Israel of fostering violence between Sunni and Shia Muslims. Some even preposterously accused Saudi King Abdullah of being a “Zionist agent” as chants decrying Israel were shouted through bullhorns and parroted by the protesters.

Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center condemns such bigotry and hate mongering and is committed to expose and combat it when it occurs.

Anti-Zionist Conspiracy Theorist behind Toronto’s “Stop the Cuts” Protests

The author of an anti-Semitic Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) thesis that claimed Holocaust education programs were part of a Zionist conspiracy to perpetuate Jewish victimhood has been exposed as a key individual behind the Toronto "Stop the Cuts" actions aimed at hampering attempts to restore fiscal responsibility at Toronto’s City Hall.

Jenny Peto, whose Masters' Thesis for the Sociology and Equity Studies in Education program at OISE alleged that the mainstream Jewish community "is dominated by racist...ideologies," was revealed by an anonymous reader of the blog Eye on a Crazy Planet to be the registrant of http://www.torontostopthecuts.com/, the website that is the central information repository for the activists. Peto's thesis, titled, "The Victimhood of the Powerful: White Jews, Zionism and the Racism of Hegemonic Holocaust Education" was condemned in Ontario's Legislature by both the Minister for Citizenship and Opposition MPPs as being a "hateful and poorly researched...piece of garbage."

Understanding who is behind the radicals who want to prevent the Mayor from managing the city's fiscal crisis is instructive in unraveling some of their motives.

A number of vociferous anti-Israel and anti-Semitic organizations and individuals still harbour a grudge against the Mayor for his efforts to keep the group Queers Against Israeli Apartheid out of Toronto's Pride parade and his attempt to prevent anti-Semitic al Quds Day activities held by the Canadian Shia Muslim Organization (CASMO) from taking place on City property.

Until now the individuals organizing the anti-Ford actions remained mostly in the shadows; we have now learned the media contact number for “Stop The Cuts” is the same as the number for a woman whom anti-Semitic author Peto refers to in her thesis' acknowledgments as her "partner." 

When told of Ms. Peto’s involvement in “Stop the Cuts” Adrienne Batra, the Mayor’s Press Secretary said, "It's not surprising that someone who is clearly misinformed on so many issues would be participating in spreading this type of hysteria. The Ford administration is going through a thoughtful process on how to fix our City's finances, something that will, ironically, even help out those involved with this website."