Imagine the following scenario. A group of people who are angry at U.S. foreign policy and the government’s continued meddling in the Middle East decide to host a series of mass demonstrations across the United States, and even around the world, to commemorate and celebrate the 9/11 attacks of 2001, praising the “martyrdom” of those brave 19 “freedom fighters” who struck back against imperialism.
Sound unreal? Well, it is not in light of plans to march in the streets and on Canadian university campuses on Oct. 7 to “honour” the Hamas terrorist attack on southern Israel last year.
It is important to break this move down, without getting into slurs of who is behind it or their political leanings. In a nutshell, there are those in Canada who sincerely believe that it is OK, nay laudatory, to praise the members of Hamas—a listed terrorist group in this country and many others—for their assault on Israeli civilians last year. It is a good idea, apparently, to congratulate those behind the rapes, sexual mutilations, and kidnapping of women and other hostages. As they see it, it is necessary to remind the world that a bunch of extremist, misogynist jihadis for whom women are a lower class of human beings were doing this in the name of “justice” and “equality.”
One can legitimately criticize Israel for the deaths of civilians in Gaza and Lebanon and the destruction of whole communities, as well as for the encouragement of “settler” violence in the West Bank—although Hamas’s practice of hiding in schools, playgrounds, mosques, and refugee centres seems to go unnoticed. And yet to see the actions of terrorist groups as somehow representative of legitimate responses to decades of inaction vis-à-vis Palestinian statehood misses something more crucial: Organizations like Hamas and Hezbollah have no interest in the welfare of Palestinians or Lebanese on whose behalf they claim to be fighting. Both groups seek only to advance their own agendas, first and foremost the destruction of Israel. They are not freedom fighters—they are Islamist terrorists who will impose their own fundamentalist version of the faith onto the populations they rule (i.e., the Taliban in Afghanistan).
Anger and sadness at the loss of life over the past 12 months in Gaza, and more recently in Lebanon, is understandable, and any normal human being would want to try any measure to stop the killing. But to do so by highlighting the heinous actions of Hamas last October is perverse. You do not demand an end to violence by celebrating the very act that led to what has transpired over the last year. In this regard, the calculus is simple: no Oct. 7 massacre, no Israeli invasion of Gaza. No thousands of Hezbollah rockets launched into Israel, no invasion of Lebanon. This is a simple case of cause and effect.
The Canadian government needs to take an immediate and firm stand on these plans. To wit: Any march in recognition of the acts of Hamas and Hezbollah, as witnessed by the display of those groups’ respective flags or speeches extolling their leadership, constitutes material support for terrorism and should result in arrests and charges under section 83.01 of the Canadian Criminal Code. Anything less is the acceptance that terrorism is legitimate and acceptable in our society.
Allowing these kinds of demonstrations to move forward not only signals the government’s indifference to terrorism but shows our allies that Canada cannot be trusted to crack down on violent extremism.
There is an old joke: Why did the Canadian cross the road? To get to the middle. It is time for our leaders to take a principled stand against terrorism and stop trying to appease everyone. Terrorism is terrorism and must be condemned and prevented. It is time to go all the way across the street and take meaningful action against this abomination.
