Infamously, War Criminals and Islamist Terrorists Find Haven in Canada

"The CBSA [Canadian Border Services Agency], subsequent media reporting, went and obtained an instance of this video from the dark web."

"It's part of the review we're asking ourselves you know, questions about the procedures."

CBSA executive vice-president Ted Gallivan 

"Those decisions were made with the information that [CSIS and CBSA] had available to them at that time. That's why we've asked [Immigration Minister] Mark Miller and I, for them to review a process that may be able to  yield access to certain information in a different way."

"We recognize the understandable questions that Canadians had when they learned following the RCMP news release of these arrests. I think it is reasonable for the government and for Canadians to ask how could this sequence of events ... take place and what can we learn from that sequence of events to ensure the very best measures are in place."

"The fact that these two individuals are in jail and face serious criminal charges reflects the outstanding work done by the RCMP and their partners."

Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc

"What happened here is we were within a hair's breadth, minutes, hours, potentially days away of a mass casualty."

"I'm sorry to all the witnesses, you failed in your responsibilities to keep us safe. You didn't do your job. By the grace of God and good French intelligence, they are behind bars where they should be."

"[Canada's intelligence agencies should fire those who] didn't do their job."

Conservative MP Larry Brock

Canada’s public safety minister faced tough questions in Ottawa on Wednesday about how a father and son accused of plotting a Toronto terror attack ended up in the country.

 

Both the Canadian Border Services Agency and Canadian Security and Intelligence Service [CSIS] failed miserably in their function to vet individuals claiming refugee status in Canada, to ensure that they are genuinely entitled to haven in Canada, that there are no outstanding warrants for arrest, nor evidence available that they have criminal or terrorist backgrounds. The recent intelligence received from French agents alerting Canada to an impending attack by Ahmed Fouad Mostafa Eldidi, who just a month earlier had been granted citizenship, and his son Mostafa Eldidi, resulted in their arrest.

The immigration screening process that is meant to ensure that Canada does not welcome would-be immigrants with unsavoury and worse backgrounds appears to be mired in incompetence. Little wonder that a recent poll concluded that almost half of Canadians oppose the Liberal government's plan to accept up to 5,000 refugees from Gaza who have family members already living in Canada. They are skeptical of the government's claim that such newcomers are screened thoroughly by government officials.

It was investigative journalists with Canadian media who conducting their own investigation discovered an ISIS propaganda video in which Ahmed Fouad Mostafa Eldidi featured. Immigration and security failed themselves to uncover the presence of the video that was available on the Dark Web, showing Eldidi engaged in what ISIS loved best to do; shock Westerners with gruesome videos demonstrating live crucifixions, decapitations and other modes of barbaric death-delivery to their enemies, mostly Westerners caught while ISIS was consolidating its geographic Islamist 'Caliphate'.

In this instance it was the morbidly grotesque views of Eldidi dismembering an ISIS prisoner. Investigative reporters took the initiative of visiting the Dark Web with a specific purpose in mind, but presumably seasoned intelligence professionals were too limp-wristed to make their own definitive investigations of discovery of a video produced in 2015. The father-and-son duo was discovered to have been in the advanced stage of plans underway to launch a violent terrorist attack in Toronto. It was only by means of the intelligence alert by France that Canada escaped a potential bloodbath.

A month ago, the RCMP announced nine charges against both men; participation in the activities of a terrorist group and conspiracy to commit murder on behalf of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant among them. Eldidi senior was given refugee status in 2018 and three years later became a Canadian citizen. The House of Commons standing committee on public safety and national security voted unanimously to investigate the flawed process enabling the terror-duo to gain entry to Canada.

Either CSIS or CBSA screened Ahmed Eldidi, 62, in 2018, 2021 and 2023 while the son, Mostafa, 26, had been screened in 2020. The screening resulted in "favourable recommendations". According to the IRCC, a temporary resident visa was approved for Ahmed Eldidi in January 2018, who then entered Canada a month later, via Toronto. A year later he was granted permanent residence status in September of 2021. Mostafa Eldidi entered the United States in January 2020 on a student visa, then crossed into Canada at a land border to make an asylum claim, and he was granted refugee status on July 2022.

"Jihadology.net, a U.S. website that catalogues Islamic State communiqués and propaganda, posted what appears to be the video in question on June 16, 2015 — the same day it appeared on an ISIS-affiliated website."

"CBC News has viewed the four-minute video, which features the interrogation of a bearded prisoner wearing an orange jumpsuit. The video shows the prisoner lit by a bright light and sitting in a cell as he answers questions shouted by someone off camera."

"After a section of readings from the Qur'an, the prisoner then appears hoisted on a wooden frame in the desert, bound tightly with load straps. It's unclear from the video whether the prisoner is alive or dead at this point."

"A man dressed all in black, with a cap that features the white Islamic State symbol, then uses a long, square-edged sword to hack at the prisoner's outstretched limbs. The man's red-bearded face is briefly visible as the video cuts from one angle of the attack to another."

CBC News

 

Ukraine Lifting Itself Out of Imposed Constraints

"The main point ... is forcing Russia to end the war. We really want justice for Ukraine."

"And if this plan is accepted -- and second, if it is executed -- we believe that the main goal will be reached."

"Defenders of life should have no restrictions on weapons, as long as Russia uses all kinds of its own weapons."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy

"Ukraine is preparing its response [to the latest overnight attack by Russia]. Weapons of its own production."

"This once again proves that for victory, we need long-range capabilities and the lifting of restrictions on strikes on the enemy's military facilities."

Ukrainian Defence Minister Rustem Umerov

A Ukrainian solder stands near a monument to Vladimir Lenin in Sudzha, Russia. August 16, 2024.  Kirill Chubotin / SIPA / Scanpix / LETA

Heavily beleaguered by a neighbour, just as Israel has been by Palestinian terrorists -- leading the way for the Jewish state to realize that it can depend only so much on sympathizing nations to give it aid and encouragement, and must be prepared to stand alone for its ultimate defence, which led to Israel becoming a weapons-designer and -manufacturer second to none, not only for its own security, but aiding other countries to protect themselves from regional threats -- Ukraine has become professionally adept at producing their own weaponry to achieve their aim of national defence.

Ukrainian start-up small-weapons manufacturers have excelled in producing drones, helping their military to meet the challenge of a relentless sweep of Ukrainian territory by the Russian military. Western nations, part of NATO, have been supplying Ukraine with certain levels of weaponry but have been loathe to upgrade those supplies to more sophisticated, longer-range weapons for fear of doing so might lead to a wider war that would drag eastern European NATO members in conflict with Russia.These constraints have led to Russian advances and Ukraine's search for an antidote.

Now an announcement out of Ukraine introducing the world to its very own new long-range weapon meant to help the Ukrainian military to strike deep within Russian territory; no need to request permission from its allies. The new weapon represents a combination of missile and drone that would provide "answers" to a wave of Russian bombings according to the Ukrainian defence minister.

The creation of the "Palianytsia" is the representative result of urgent necessity struggling to respond to Russian domination of the skies since 2022. A wave of Russian missiles and drones on Monday targeted Ukraine's electrical infrastructure. President Zelenskyy confirmed the existence of the Palianytsia as "a new class" of military weaponization.

 

War-displaced people receive humanitarian aid at a Russian Red Cross distribution point in Kursk on Aug. 15, following Ukraine's offensive into Russia's western Kursk region. (AFP via Getty Images)

 

Ukraine's 33rd anniversary of independence on Saturday recognized its delinking from the former Soviet Union and was also the event that introduced the first use of the new weapon which targeted a Russian military installation in the Russian-occupied territory. The new weapon's range, according to a military video, appears to be up to 700 kilometres, similar to the US-supplied ATACMS. Russia's Savasleyka air base lies within that range.

President Zelenskyy spoke of his military's incursion into Russia taking close to 600 Russian soldiers captive, part of a larger plan to end the war in Ukraine. Ukraine's surprise and lightning-fast incursion into Russian territory has thus far seen the capture of 100 settlements, as well as the 594 Russian soldiers. About 500 square miles in Kursk is in Ukraine's hands and the advance is continuing "dealing palpable damage", said Ukrainian commander in chief Oleksandr Syrsky.

Eastern Ukraine remains the area of the most intense fighting, however, where Russia's steady advance to grasp the entire Donbas industrial region continues to move forward. The logistical hub of Pokrovsk, at the junction of two major roads is key to the battle, for which the Ukrainian military is "doing everything possible to stabilize the situation in this direction", noted Commander Syrsky.

Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting by video link on situation in Belgorod, Kursk and Bryansk regions on Aug. 22. (via Reuters)

"He's Back With Us, Alive!"

Rescued hostage Qaid Farhan Alkadi arrives via IDF helicopter to Soroka Medical center.  (photo credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON'S UNIT)

"He told about a very brutal captivity, he hardly saw the sun for eight months. He would check if his eyes were functioning."

"He said that one of the abductees was with him for two months and died next to him."

Ata Abu Medigm, former mayor of Rahat

"[Qaid Farhan Alkadi] lost a lot of weight. [He ate] mainly bread [in captivity and] not every day."

"He is now on his feet and talking about the matter. He was constantly thinking about the family and never stopped believing that he [would get] out of there."

"We don't know how he survived, but he survived and he's alive, and that's the most important thing."

Alkadi relative

Freed Israeli hostage Kaid Alkadi at Soroka Medical Center in Beersheva in southern Israel on Aug. 27, 2024. — Israeli Government Press Office

After 326 agonizing days of imprisonment by Hamas operatives in Gaza, 52-year-old Qaid Farhan Alkadi was finally rescued this week by Israeli forces. After hospitalization, his attending doctor in Beersheba declared  him to be abnormally thin from weight loss, but in generally good physical condition. He was released to the waiting arms of his extended family. Prior photographs of the Bedouin Muslim Israeli from Rahat show a robust, well-built man whereas the photos latterly taken after his release from Gaza are those of a gaunt man with a shrunken musculature.

 

Unsurprising, given the circumstances in which he was kept prisoner, with food enough to keep him alive, incarcerated in dimly-lit-to-dark tunnels, where the familiarity of the sun in a normal atmosphere became a dim memory. "He spoke about the darkness, not being able to see. But thank God, he's back with us, alive -- it made us all rejoice", said his cousin Fayez al-Sana after visiting the father of eleven children in hospital before his discharge.

 

"He was dead and is now brought back to life. It was all tears. Tears of Joy. What matters is that we saw him", added Alkadi's brother Juma, who explained that his brother had been shot in the leg when he was abducted from the farming kibbutz on the Gaza border on October 7, where he was employed as a security guard. Later in Gaza, his wound was operated on without the benefit of anesthesia. And that too would be a memorable experience.

 

The brother of freed Israeli hostage Kaid Alkadi shows a mobile phone picture of him with another brother — Menahem KAHANA

 

The nation of Israel cheered at this man's survival and rescue and return to Israel, his family, his town and his Bedouin clan. Many other Israelis are being held in the vast tunnel network that exists under Gaza. His rescue from the tunnel system represents the first time an Israeli was brought out of the tunnels on a rescue mission alive.

It was explained by Israeli authorities that, acting on intelligence, special forces were combing tunnels when Alkadi was discovered alone in a room about 23 metres underground, his guards having been dispersed at the arrival of the Israelis. Led by Shayetet 13 (Israeli counterpart to the U.S. Navy SEALs), it was initially thought that they were confronting a Hamas operative. The team included Yahalom members, a special unit of the combat Engineering Corps.

They had entered the tunnel, determined that Alkadi was alone, called out to him, and he responded: "It's me, Farhan, don't shoot". He was weak and obviously malnourished and in that condition was unable to clamber out of the tunnel on his own. He had been kept in a complex of several tunnels' intersection. When he was found, he was in a side room, leading the Israeli forces to fear that what faced them could represent a Hamas entrapment.

With his rescue, the number of hostages that remain as captive by Hamas is estimated at 108 in Gaza. That number is broken down to represent 104 of the 251 hostages Hamas operatives and civilian Palestinians had originally gathered and taken to Gaza on October 7. Of the total, some 34 are no longer alive, according to the Israeli military assessment.

Qaid Farhan Alkaldi (C), who was held hostage by Hamas in Gaza, is greeted as he returns to the unrecognized Bedouin village of Carcur, near the city of Rahat, after being rescued by Israeli forces from a tunnel in southern Gaza, on Aug. 28, 2024, in Rahat, Israel. — Amir Levy/Getty Images

"The assessment in Israel is that, at least in some cases, Hamas lost contact with the abductees and ... is now trying to understand what happened to them."

Israeli Channel 12 report

FIRE FRED HAHN!

"His actions and statements, both online and offline, have repeatedly crossed the line from legitimate political discourse into hate speech, discrimination, and antisemitism."

"It's why we're collectively saying enough is enough. Hahn must go."

Center for Israel and Jewish Affairs

 

"My intention in posting it [antisemitic video] was to call attention to the reality that, while the Russian Federation was barred from participating at the Paris Olympics, the state of Israel was permitted to participate -- which appeared clearly to me to be a double standard."

"My intent was never to associate Jewish people with the violence enacted by the state of Israel. It remains my strongly held view that it is a terrible mistake, and anti-Semitic, to conflate abhorrent actions by the state of Israel with Jewish humanity or identity."

Fred Hahn vice-president, Canadian Union of Public Employees

 

"CUPE's national executive board made the difficult decision to ask for Fred Hahn's resignation because he reposted a deeply problematic video that violated our union's equality statement."

CUPE National Executive Board

"It's vile and shocking. It's unheard of that someone in such a powerful position in Canada can openly disrespect the Jewish community."

"He needs to resign."

Amir Epstein, executive director, Tafsik

A protester calls for CUPE Ontario President Fred Hahn to be fired, in Richmond Hill on Tuesday August 27, 2024. Photo by Peter J. Thompson/National Post

The Jewish community in Ontario appears unified in their disappointment and outrage that an individual who is in a prominent position of authority in one of the province's as well as the parent union representing the largest public union in the country whose position is that of a union head took to the Internet to publicly celebrate the ghastly event of October 7 when Hamas terrorist operatives mass-raped, mutilated Israeli girls and women, hunted down and murdered 1,200 Israeli citizens and abducted 250 Israeli children, women and the elderly. Characterizing that signal tragedy as a victory for an underdog.

 

There are many who choose to believe -- because it is a charge that well suits their inner wellspring of antisemitism -- that Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank are mercilessly persecuted by Israel, when the living reality is the reverse and always has been, from 1948 to the present. The 'violence' that Hahn attributes to Israel conveniently bypasses the fact that Palestinians in their majority approve of the terrorists among them burning Israeli families alive, tormenting and torturing Israeli girls and women before raping and murdering them.

 

There has never been a dearth of Palestinians prepared to launch attacks against their Israeli neighbours; the grisly suicide bombings of the orchestrated Intifadas following on Yasser Arafat's PLFP and Black September -- plane and ship hijackings and murders of Israelis; Munich Olympics attacks and murder of Israeli athletic Olympic team -- a case in point, respectively. Although Jordan fought a deadly war with the PLO to protect his crown from a Palestinian threat in 1970, its peace treaty with Israel hasn't kept it from involvement in moving deadly weaponry through Jordan for Hamas.

 

Israel Defense Forces entered Gaza following the October 7 bloodbath in response to the Hamas-led, PLFP, Fatah, PIJ terrorist groups inspired by, funded by, trained by and weaponized by Iran and Qatar to declare this war that Fred Hahn deplores as 'Israeli genocide' of Palestinians. Truth remains an unattainable reality for all those preferring to remain oblivious of its presence, for to do otherwise sketches out the deliberate slandering of a state forced to extreme action by its enemies.

 

On October 8, Hahn wrote celebratory accolades of the wonderful exploits of Hamas in butchering Israelis. On August 11, ten months later, he saw fit to share a video on his Facebook account of an Olympic diver identified with a Star of David on his shoulder. The video portrays the diver flipping in the air as he dives, and as he does, becoming a bomb. This is the kind of unnerving sentiment that appears to satisfy twisted minds such as that of Fred Hahn, vice-president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees.

 

And nor does it particularly appear to bother the greater number of union members who purportedly voted this disgusting man back for another term in the office, in a May vote. Giving him the confidence he boasts of that he will not surrender his position in the shame it deserves, for to do so would be to desert the trust of the union membership that relies upon his judgement, despite the order by the union's national executive to do just that. 

Jewish CUPE members are aghast at the union they trusted, they paid fees in its support, they were actively engaged with, leaving them now under the supervision of this raving antisemite, isolated and rejected. Jewish groups have responded to the outrage of a national  union being taken in such an exclusionary, political direction. And Hahn, defiantly states his intention to "continue to fight side by side" with union members; only the union members -- not the board -- he asserts, would decide his fate.

Fred Hahn, president of CUPE Ontario. Photo by Sabrina Bedford /Brockville Recorder and Times

Taking Pride on an Anti-Israel Journey of Rejection

"The focus today is to show our love, to show our solidarity and our support to a community that needs it. The message here is that everybody is welcome, everybody is included and there's so much that we can learn from each other."

"For the youth to see so many groups, so may organizations and so many people being here to support this community, it gives that sense of validation that is so important -- to make people feel they are welcome and validated."

"This community is all about love, solidarity and support."

Mr. Capital Pride 2024

 

"All of the organizations and institutions that have pulled out have done so without consultation with their workers."

"This was top bosses and employers or boards of directors making decisions without consulting the people who work there or the people they actually serve." 

Emily Quaile, Community Solidarity Ottawa

Capital Pride Parade in Ottawa, on Sunday, August 25, 2024. (Chris Tanouye/THE CANADIAN PRESS)

Inclusion, love, solidarity and support? Not quite. As it happens Capital Pride organizers conferred among themselves -- without taking a poll among their members, in fact -- to reach a consensus of opinion that inclusion would mean the Palestinian community of the Ottawa region, not merely those who qualify as 2SLGBTQIA+, but they and their sympathizers in general. The very groups that have celebrated the October 7 Palestinian terrorism butchery in Israel where 1,200 mostly civilians were left dead, girls and women raped and tortured, entire families put to the torch, children, women and the elderly taken hostage into Gaza.

 

Gaza, the stronghold of the Hamas terrorist organization; considered by the government of Canada to be terrorists just as they are in most Western countries, for their unabashed and straightforward dedication to the destruction of the world's only Jewish state, in an ancestral geography, an Israel reborn for the singular purpose of offering safe haven to Jews in a hostile world that continually reverts to a state of viral antisemitism, just as we now see in Europe, North America and elsewhere, boosted by the slanderous propaganda of the Palestinian agenda to discredit and demonize Israel and Jews everywhere. 

Palestinian organizations and sympathetic groups have organized raucous, threatening rallies in cities across Europe and North America from October 8 onward, funded by foreign organizations and Islamist countries like Qatar and Iran who have also supplied organizers for these pro-Hamas protests as well as the encampments on university grounds demanding that university administrators and corporations and business leaders as well as Western governments condemn Israel for its response to the mass rape, mutilations and bloodletting by Hamas when the Israeli military embarked on a campaign to destroy the terrorist infrastructure of Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Fatah, the PLFP and Hezbollah.

The declaration of 'principles' and alliances expressed by Capital Pride prior to embarkation on its annual Capital Pride parade effectively raised the level of antisemitism in and among the LGBTQ community in favour of supporting a death cult that aims its poisoned arrows at Jews everywhere, extending its campaign in less visible but rising campaign against Western 'imperialism' inimical to Palestinian aspirations and extended Islamist jihadist goals.

"Part of the growing Islamophobic sentiment we are witnessing is fuelled by the pink-washing of the war in Gaza and racist notions that all Palestinians are homophobic and transphobic. By portraying itself as a protector of the rights of queer and trans people in the Middle East, Israel seeks to draw attention away from its abhorrent human rights abuses against Palestinians. We refuse to be complicit in this violence. Indeed, to withhold our solidarity from Palestinians in the name of upholding 2SLGBTQIA+ rights betrays the promise of liberation that guides our work. We join our voice to the calls for greater protection of civilians and reject any attempts to use a devastating conflict as a pretext to advance hate."

"To breathe life into our sincere hope for an end to this war and justice for all its victims, we commit to the following actions:

• Integrating resources such as the Palestinian BDS National Committee’s boycott list in our existing review process of current and future sponsorship agreements;
• Hosting Zaffa: A Queer Arab Showcase, a Signature Event as part of the 2024 Capital Pride Festival that features discussions about ongoing issues facing LGBTQIA+ Arabs locally and abroad;
• Recognizing the ongoing genocide against Palestinians in opening remarks at 2024 Capital Pride Festival Signature Events; and
• Working with all our partners, both public and private, to push for an immediate and permanent ceasefire, the immediate release of all hostages, increased access to humanitarian aid, and more accessible pathways for refugees."

Capital Pride Statement in Solidarity with Palestine, August 8, 2024, Ottawa, Ontario

Replete with the slanderous calculated falsehoods of the Palestinian propaganda, the Capital Pride Statement is a document of ignorance and antisemitism combined in a lethal cauldron of pure hate. Israel is a defender of alternate gender human rights which are legally protected in Israel; its Pride Parades are open and respectful. Whereas on the other hand, in the Palestinian Territories gays risk their very lives if their sexual orientation becomes public knowledge. In the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, as in Iran, death stalks members of the Palestinian  LGBTQ community.

There is no 'genocide' against Palestinians at the hands of Israel; there IS a military campaign to expunge the presence of lethal Islamist Palestinian attackers of Jews/Israelis from the territories. The founding charters of Fatah, Hamas and other such internationally recognized terrorist groups identify their purpose as the elimination of Israel from its ancestral soil. Deadly attacks against Jews have been the Palestinian formula since 1948 with the declaration of the State of Israel. Existential threats against Israel and world Jewry emanate from the Palestinians whom LGBTQ groups lionize.

In Ottawa, reaction to the Capital Pride position statement was clear and it was a denunciation of all that it alleges in demonizing Israel while supporting Palestinian terrorism against Israel. The city's mayor began the response of rejecting the Pride position when the City of Ottawa's Mayor Mark Sutcliffe let it be known with regret, that he would not be attending the parade. Followed by the Liberal Party of Canada, the Ontario Liberal Party the Jewish Federation of Ottawa, the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario, The Ottawa Hospital, the Montfort Hospital, Ottawa Tourism, the Bank of Canada, Giant Tiger, Loblaw, the Liquor Control Board of Ontario, the University of Ottawa, the U.S. Embassy, the Public Service Pride Network, Conseil des ecoles publiques de l'Est de l'Ontario, Conseil des ecoles catholiques du centre-Est, and the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board.

They did so in sympathy and agreement with the Ottawa Jewish community which felt excluded and isolated as a result of the Capital Pride statement and position taken on the Israel-Gaza conflict, repeating the slanderous accusation of Israel committing 'genocide' against the Palestinians. Ottawa's situation is not a unique one, as it happens, since Pride parades in Montreal, Toronto, Halifax and Vancouver have been disrupted by pro-Palestinian demonstrations. Hate-mongering against Jews resulted in over 100 synagogues, hospitals and Jewish community centres receiving bomb threats.

As for the Pride commitment to integrate the BDS boycott list into its review of sponsorship agreements, that remains to be seen. The TD Bank is Pride's major 'presenting' sponsor and right behind it as a sponsor is Loblaws, and the LCBO followed by the province of Ontario, all of which are listed on the BDS Coalition's "Boycott List of Shame". Shame, in very point of fact, has settled itself squarely on the Pride community for its unabashed antisemitism cloaked unbecomingly under the banner of anti-Zionism, anti-Israel provocations.

Members of the OCDSB carry a giant pride flag during the Capital Pride Parade in Ottawa, on Sunday, August 25, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Tanouye

"Safe" Injection Sites?

"Here are the so-called experts in the [federal] government telling us the best thing for us to do is to hand out high-powered pharmaceutical opioids to the drug addicts, that are two to five times more powerful than the drugs they get on the street."

"Make it pure pharmaceutical grade and somehow this is better?"

"There's nothing compassionate about leaving somebody intermittently homeless in minus -40 weather, speedballing methamphetamine with fentanyl, and saying that we're just going to let that person sort this out because it's about free choice."

"You can't build a system out of thin air. It is a huge culture shift. Even the creation of Recovery Alberta -- it's in the name, 'recovery' -- we're changing the way we're thinking about mental health and addiction from its fundamental assumptions for the past 25 years."

Alberta Mental Health and Addiction Minister, Dan Williams

 

"Our first priority must always be protecting our communities, especially when it comes to the most innocent and vulnerable."

"People are not going to die. They are going to get access to services. I do not call watching people inject an illicit drug, health care in the province of Ontario."

"We need to do better and we can do better."

Ontario Health Minister Sylvia Jones 

The supervised drug consumption site run by Somerset West Community Health Centre in Ottawa will be forced to shut down in March. It may apply to become one of the province's new 'HART hubs,' part of the Ontario government's shift away from harm reduction. (Sam Konnert/CBC)

 

Ontario is now moving toward 'doing better' by heeding the cries of residents who decry the operation of 'safe injection sites' in neighbourhoods that have been affected by rising crime reflecting these operations and in particular the placement of many of these sites in close proximity to schools. There is also the considerable dysfunction of their presence attracting illicit drug dealers to the area of the sites to conduct business. And then, the undeniable reality of site 'clients' trading their 'free drugs' on the street for more potent drugs to give them a desired high, thus increasing the availability of drugs on the street.

Supervised consumption sites situated within 200 metres of schools and childcare centres are now being closed down by the Ontario government. This shift in policy will see ten of 17 supervised consumption sites cross-province being shut down. The health minister explained that parents concerned for the safety of their children around these consumption sites has motivated the government to finally act. Citing the increase by 146 percent of violent crime near one particular site.

Not unexpectedtly this announcement took consumption and treatment services personnel by outraged surprise. It took them little time to respond with the warning that the move would inevitably lead to greater numbers of deaths by overdose. Alongside the closure of these sites the government announced prohibition of any new supervised consumption sites from opening, let alone further participation in federal funding for safer supply initiatives. 

A twin announcement of a $378-million investment in 19 new homelessness and addiction recovery treatment hubs to provide primary care; mental health services; addiction care support; social services and employment support; shelter and transition beds; supportive housing; and other supplies and services, including naloxone, failed to impress critics of the wholesale government 'safe supply' restructuring initiative.

"We are gravely concerned that the decision to defund and close consumption and treatment services will have devastating consequences for our community."

"Our services save lives by providing a safe space. That is what consumption and treatment services were designed to do, to reverse overdoses and prevent deaths and connect people to the services they need. Consumption and treatment services are a cornerstone of harm reduction."

Suzanne Obiorah, executive director, Somerset West Community Health Centre, Ottawa

"The announced steps mean unsafe communities, more deaths, overwhelmed emergency services and spiking health-care costs, and leave nurses wondering who the government is trying to serve."

Doris Grinspun, head, Registered Nurses Association of Ontario

The answer to that is quite simply; the government serves all. The placement of the 'harm reduction sites' that are scheduled to close, has been harmful to the communities they are contained in. Violent crime has risen exponentially, so has property damage and theft, drug paraphernalia litters the streets, and fears for the welfare of area children abound. Proximity to schools sees drug users verbally abusing schoolchildren. Inveterate drug users also threaten nearby residents with physical harm. These people too are deserving of the government's concerns.

The Province of Alberta is addressing very similar issues and has dedicated its health system to addressing the issue of mental health, homelessness and drug addiction in a more thoughtful manner. Their Canadian Centre of Recovery Excellence will research best practices, analyze data and ensure that evidence-based recommendations for "recovery-oriented systems of care" are undertaken. Their online portal tracks EMS responses, emergency room visits, overdose reversals and deaths.

And nor is this new direction confined to these two provinces alone; the Quebec government has decided to meet demands of the residents of Montreal where a housing project catering to unhoused people with addiction or mental health issues located across from an elementary school, including a supervised drug-use site has locals and parents fed up with its presence. Open drug use and aggressive behaviour are but two of the issues involved at Maison Benoit Labre.

Maison Benoît Labre provides services for people experiencing homelessness in the Saint-Henri neighbourhood. (Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press)

Return to Israel -- Alive or Dead

"The State of Israel will continue to make every effort to return all of our hostages -- both alive and dead."

"[While acknowledging the praiseworthy recovery effort that brought six Hamas-captured Israels, killed while in captivity back to Israel] our hearts ache for the terrible loss."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

The bodies of hostages Yagev Buchshtab, Alexander Dancyg, Avraham Munder, Yoram Metzger, Nadav Popplewell, and Haim Perry were recovered by the IDF from the Khan Yunis area in the Gaza Strip.

(photo credit: Hostages and Missing Families Forum)

"[The Israeli army hit] a number of Hezbollah weapons storage facilities [in Lebanon's eastern Bekaa Valley]."

"Following the strikes, secondary explosions were identified, indicating the presence of large amounts of weapons in the facilities struck."

Israel Defense Forces

An Israeli airstrike on a Hezbollah weapons depot in northeastern Lebanon's Baalbek District, August 19, 2024. (Screenshot X)

 

There is the workmanship-like detachment of conflict brought on by the October 7 invasion of southern Israel that saw 1,200 mostly Israeli civilians slaughtered, women and girls gang-raped and tortured, children and the elderly, women and entire families taken hostage by Hamas terrorists that sees the Israel Defense Forces concentrate on their task of eliminating the terrorist hordes in the Gaza Strip, with the knowledge that in destroying terrorist infrastructure, they may inadvertently lead to the death of the hostages.

Hamas taunts Israel, claiming that Israeli hostages, confined in dank, dark corridors of underground tunnels have been killed by Israeli airstrikes targeting Hamas operatives known to be ensconced in the tunnels, along with weaponry stockpiled there. In the instance of the latest recovery of the bodies of six kidnapped Israeli men, five of whom were elderly, Hamas again asserted that they died in air attacks on the tunnels they were kept prisoner within. Despite that autopsies carried out in Israel revealed the cause having been shot to death while in captivity.

That knowledge doesn't make it any more gentle to ease a sense of helplessness in attempts to recover the remaining hostages still hoped to be alive; less than one hundred by now, but it does validate the belief that the hostages have been the victims of torture of every conceivable dimension at the dedicated hands of Palestinian terrorists. An overnight operation carried out in southern Gaza brought the six home. They had been captured alive, and over the months of their confinement had suffered torment.

Six fewer Israels, dead or alive, for Hamas to plan using as pawns for the exchange of Palestinian prisoners intended to accompany an agreement for a ceasefire that would demand an Israeli withdrawal. There is no easing of the pressure felt by the Israeli government and its population to do everything humanly possible to restore the hostages remaining alive to their families. There are still children unaccounted for, there are the girls and women who are repeatedly raped, and there are concerns over the women who may be pregnant or who have delivered a child.

The remains of Chaim Perry, 80; Yoram Metzger, 80; Avraham Munder, 79; Alexander Dancyg, 76; and Yagev Buchshtav, 35, have been brought home to burial and profound sorrow. Abducted from kibbutzim, farming communities which empathized with Palestinians across the border in Gaza, and who offered employment to Gazans as agricultural workers earning salaries far in excess of anything they might find in Gaza. 

 

That among those who had entered southern Israel on October 7, were some of these Palestinian workers who had complete familiarity with the lay-out of the farming villages, their families with whom they shared meals in communal dining rooms, and which buildings housed the kibbutz security personnel, valuable information shared with the terrorists underscored the capacity for betrayal of the trust of ordinary Israelis who paid dearly for that all-too-human judgemental failure. 

 

In the instance of 79-year-old Avraham Munder where some 80 residents of his kibbutz were taken hostage, the word was that he had died "after enduring months of physical and mental torture". The rescue of those tormented and murdered Israelis came about as the result of the tunnel network where they were secreted being raided by the IDF. Of the 110 hostages who still remain, captured in the October 7 invasion, authorities in Israel estimate that some third of the total are now dead.

While mourning their loss and imprisonment under dire existential conditions, Israel through its defense forces carries on its determination to wipe out Hamas infrastructure and its operatives, as well as its entire leadership. That has been complicated by the orders given by the Islamic Republic of Iran to its proxy militias in Lebanon, where Hezbollah has entered the conflict, opening a second front in essence, along with militias in Iraq and Syria and the Houthis in Yemen threatening and opposing Israel's response in Gaza.

(Photo credit: Israeli army)

Dismal Canadian Failure to Put Out the Fire of Antisemitism

"[The threats were made to] a number of institutions, including synagogues and hospitals, across Canada."

"Law enforcement is also engaging with faith-based leaders to ensure they have the information and support they need."

RCMP

 

"It is absolutely chilling to hear of more than 100 Jewish institutions across the country being threatened earlier this morning."

"For many, many months, Canada's Jewish community has raised alarm bells about the escalation of rampant Jew-hatred, as incitement and hateful rhetoric have become normalized online, on our city streets and on our university and college campuses."

"Repeated calls for violence against Jews and Jewish institutions are a stark reminder that extremism and radicalization are thriving in Canada and must be confronted before it's too late."

"The time of our leaders to step up is now." 

Michael Levitt, CEO, Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center

"[There was no] imminent threat [the emails appear to be] nuisance emails designed to disrupt lives."

"Jewish Canadians will not be intimidated -- we will continue to take part in Canadian society and Jewish life."

"We will stay vigilant, but we will never be intimidated."

Eta Yudin, Quebec vice-president, Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs

A police vehicle sits outside Yeshiva Gedola of Montreal, a Jewish school that was hit by gunshots for the second time in three days, Monday, Nov. 13, 2023. Photo by Christinne Muschi /The Canadian Press

Jews in Canada are indeed on alert; more than that, they are profoundly perplexed and disappointed that their prime minister, their provincial premiers, non-Jewish faith leaders, corporate heads, government departments, human rights groups and civil society at all levels, from school boards to municipal offices, have not made an effort to stand behind their Jewish neighbours. Canadian unions in particular, academia as well, have added fuel to the fire of condemning Israel for protecting its people in the wake of the October 7 Palestinian terrorist attack on Jewish civilians in southern Israel, leaving 1,200 dead and hundreds taken hostage by Hamas.

The constant 'pro-Palestinian' and growing pro-Hamas demonstrations taking place across Canada, at university campuses, in front of Jewish hospitals, Israeli legations, synagogues, Jewish neighbourhoods, shopping centers and municipal offices exude hatred for Jews in Canada, issuing threats well known to Jews but evidently beyond the threat-literacy of the federal government. The display of Hamas flags alongside those of the Palestinian Authority, while chants of 'from the river to the sea', the 'triangle-cum-swastika signalling death to Jews, 'final solution', and 'go back to Poland' blatant in their rancid hate.

In the absence of any vestige of a crackdown on the illegal marches, the harassment of Jews, the implied threats, public expressions of antisemitism have become increasingly and startlingly terrifying for Jews in a country they were born in and to which they have been proud of representing. The great yawning gap of disinterest by authorities in meeting this chaotic disorder threatening a minority population has served to satisfy the organizers of the rallies that they can continue to threaten and intimidate, slander and alarm, with no enforcement of the law forthcoming, enabling the organizers to become more blatantly antisemitic with each passing week.

 

Toronto firefighters are shown here at the scene of a fire at North York business. (CBC)

In the matter of a series of emails reaching synagogues, Jewish groups and medical personnel who are Jewish and considered fair game for Jew-haters, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police assured the Jewish public that they are collaborating with local law enforcement to make certain that Jewish establishments wherever they are located remain safe. The source of the threats is being investigated by the Federal Policing National Security Program which, if it did its analyzing well, would conclude that foreign financial support has been key in the organization of these hate rallies.

Threats of death and physical violence were included in the emails, which indicated the goal of the perpetrator was to cause 'terror'. Really? after months of promulgating hate fests after hate fests,that is the investigative conclusion? Our policing and intelligence agencies are really doing us proud! Since the October 7 Hamas attack last fall on Israeli civilians the lunacy of antisemitism has gone unchecked and has ballooned, threatening the well-being of the entire community. In Ottawa, Toronto, Montreal and Calgary, police have been responding to threats. Toronto police revealed they evacuated a building in the West End of the city to "investigate for a bomb threat".

"We are continuing to address the possible impact in Toronto", assured the Toronto Police Service media relations officer. One would hope so, considering the multiple incidents of violence targeting Jewish institutions in the last year. Where fire-bombings of synagogues and community centres in Montreal and Vancouver have taken place, even as the same in Toronto have occurred with businesses have been vandalized, and shots fired at Jewish schools, as ongoing investigations so far yield few clues as to those responsible, though Jews know very well who they are collectively.

The Adath Israel Poale Zedek Anshei Ozeroff Synagogue in Hampstead, Que., was one of more than 100 Jewish institutions across Canada to receive a bomb threat by email Wednesday morning. (François Sauvé/CBC)

PUTIN: UKRAINE TRYING TO 'DESTABILIZE' RUSSIA

"As a result of targeted shelling with the use of rocket and artillery weapons against residential buildings and civilian infrastructure in the Karyzh village ... a third bridge over the Seym River was damaged."

Russia's Investigative Committee

 

"We have now achieved an extremely important ideological shift: the naive and illusory concept of so-called ‘red lines’ regarding Russia that dominated the assessments of the war by some of our partners has crumbled these days somewhere near Sudzha [seized Russian town, by Ukraine forces]."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy

A satellite photo from Planet Labs PBC shows a destroyed bridge across the Seim River at the Russian town of Glushkovo, in the Kursk region, on Saturday. (Planet Labs PBC/The Associated Press)

Russian President Vladmir Putin, assessing the Kremlin's war against Ukraine, condemns Kyiv for its 'terrorism' and its hostile intentions toward Russia leading to 'destabilization'. 

 

Russia's commitment to its 'special military operation' that really began in 2014 when it 'destabilized' its neighbour by annexing Crimea and most of the Donbas, since then destroying Ukraine's energy systems, shelling civilian infrastructure, claiming them to be military bases when its artillery aims for hospitals, schools, shopping centres, and in its unabated attacks that are truly war crimes killing thousands while forcing millions of Ukrainians to become refugees, is affronted when Ukraine responds.

Ukrainian forces have opened a new front in Russia's Kursk region, and have now succeeded in destroying three of the bridges crossing the Seym River in Western Russia. Kyiv's Kursk invasion has raised the morale of the population in Ukraine, sick of this war against their nation, raging over Russia's appropriation of Ukrainian geography. 

 

While Ukraine celebrates its incursion into Russian territory, eastern Ukraine is experiencing the real potential to lose the large and important city of Pokrovsk.

If the Kursk incursion was a well-planned and -executed scheme to provoke the Kremlin to ease  up around Pokrovsk and dispatch Russian troops to the Kursk area for a defensive action, that result appears not to have occurred. Not yet. 

 

Russian tacticians may yet rethink their refusal to detract from their push toward Pokrovsk, to secure the entire Donbas region. However, given the reality of those damaged/destroyed bridges having the potential to trap Russian forces between the river, the Ukrainian advance and the Ukrainian border, a mind-changing response may yet occur.

 

The situation does appear to be impeding Russia's response to the incursion of Kursk, launched on August 6. Two videos of bridges over the Seym being hit were posted by Ukraine's Air Force commander over the weekend. While Planet Labs PBC published satellite photos of the bridges, The Associated Press confirmed the destruction of a bridge in the town of Glushkovo.

As well, it was confirmed on Monday by a Russian military investigator that Ukraine had "totally destroyed" one bridge and damaged another two in the area, even as the full extent of the damage remained unclear. A later analytic investigation confirmed that the 'damage' is no longer 'unclear', the bridges are destroyed.

Moreover, the Ukrainian army since its incursion into the Kursk region has captured 1,250 square kilometres and along with that, 92 Russian settlements. In a turnabout, resulting in tens of thousands of Russians fleeing the encroaching Ukrainian military, finding themselves experiencing the kind of dislocation that Ukrainians have been subjected to for several years. 

President Zelenskyy spoke of the operation's aim as that of a buffer zone being created, one meant to prevent future attacks on his country from across the border. Russian state news agency TASS, reported 17 people were killed,140 wounded during the incursion by the Ukraine military. That too bespeaks, to a much smaller degree, mirroring in part what Ukrainians have been forced to go through by Russia's territorial invasion.

Over the past 24 hours, according to the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations, over 500 people had been forced to abandon areas in the Kursk region; a total of 122,00 Russians have been resettled elsewhere since the Ukrainian attack. As well, a gigantic fire burned for a third consecutive day following a Ukrainian drone hit of an oil depot in the town of Proletarsk, burning across an area of a hectare.

Ukrainian push into Russia is 'catastrophic' for Putin's plans  Still from video/CBC

Capital Pride's Hateful Slander

"Ottawa is a kind and welcoming city where everyone should feel included."

"I'm disappointed that despite conversations with the Jewish community, the board of Capital Pride has chosen to stand behind its original statement that caused significant hurt and distress for many members of the Jewish community."

"This decision by the board, days before the start of Pride, has unfortunately created an atmosphere where many now do not feel welcome to participate."

Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe

 

"[Capital Pride condemned the atrocities of October 7 committed by Hamas and accused Israel of an] endless and brutal campaign in Gaza."

"Growing Islamophobic sentiment [was fuelled by the pink-washing of the war in Gaza and racist notions that all Palestinians are homophobic and transphobic."

"By portraying itself as a protector of the rights of queer and trans people in the Middle East, Israel seeks to draw attention away from its abhorrent human rights abuses against Palestinians."

"We refuse to be complicit in this violence."

Capital Pride statement

People take part in the Capital Pride parade ... Patrick Doyle/The Canadian Press

Ottawa's mayor, fully representing all the people of the city has made it clear he will not, this year attend Pride week events in reaction to the statement organizers released that they are "in solidarity with Palestine". The festivities celebrating the 2SLGBTQ+ community of the city are meant to be events planned to draw people together; the organizers of Capital Pride have chosen to divide people over a political statement that reflects some interests and deflects that of others. The events from August 17 to August 25 have become controversial perhaps beyond the imagination of Pride organizers.

Having alienated the attendance of the city's mayor, who plans to attend other Pride activities but not that of Capital Pride events "unless there is a change in approach", it is surely becoming apparent to said organizers that they have opened a hornet's nest of divisiveness. There are groups, important to the functioning of a civil society, which will react in a manner similar to the mayor's stance. And in so doing they are making it clear that they condemn Capital Pride's allegations and the volatility of the mistaken beliefs behind them.

"Inclusivity and supporting all communities we serve is very important to us as a hospital, as is the safety of any TOH staff/physician, and patient."

"We feel it would not be responsible for us to send staff, physicians, their family and friends, as well as patients to this event."

"[The decision to withdraw from the parade was made after] detailed and thoughtful [discussions with TOH’s Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Council and its Pride Community@TOH. Discussions will continue] to identify other ways we can continue to support and celebrate the 2SLGBTQIA+ community throughout the year." 

The Ottawa Hospital statement

 

"[There would be no] official [contingent from [our] health-care facility in this year’s parade because members of both the CHEO and broader communities] no longer feel safe or welcome to attend."

"[Instead of focusing on what brought people together in support of 2SLGBTQ+ people, or even what might bring people together in calling for peace in the Middle East, the Capital Pride Committee] chose to repurpose the Pride Parade to protest Israel. As a result, we are hearing from members of both the CHEO and broader communities that they no longer feel safe or welcome to attend."

"Having CHEO participate in this year’s Pride Parade under these circumstances would send a message of exclusion, which is the opposite of what we believe. Sadly therefore, there won’t be an official CHEO contingent in this year’s Pride Parade. This should not be construed as taking a stance on an international issue. This is about supporting inclusivity and safety for our colleagues, families and volunteers."

Alex Munter, CEO, Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario

Tellingly, Alex Munter is himself gay, and a proud member of the city's gay community. He may know what Capital Pride does not, or chooses not to know, that in Palestinian culture and religious society any deviation from 'straight' is forbidden. Gay life is on the balance between life and death when it is revealed that someone from the community is gay. The choice made by Capital Pride is one of prejudiced ignorance. There are imams across Canada who preach dangerously against the LGBTQ+ element of society.

 

While emoting sensitivity toward Palestinians and gay Palestinians in particular, the Capital Pride organizers cannot be completely ignorant of the fact that in Palestinian society anyone foolhardy enough to 'come out' is gambling with their lives, whereas in Israel the LGBTQ+ community is protected by law, where it is not in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Those that choose to fulminate against Israel while presenting Palestinian society and culture as respectful of the gay community do so out of sheer, unadulterated antisemitism cloaked in concern for gay rights.

 

In Ottawa this year, although hate crimes have overall decreased in most categories, the Ottawa Police Service revealed that crimes against the Jewish community have seen a hundred-percent increase, with 74 incidents having been reported and investigated in the first seven months of 2004 alone, in comparison with 36 for all of 2023, according to a July report. 

As for the organizers of Capital Pride, were they really interested in supporting their claims they could make a trip to the Middle East to satisfy their allegations of pink-washing. In Gaza, they stand the chance of being thrown off a roof by revealing their gender/sex status/orientation. In the West Bank there is the risk of being beaten to a pulp. Should they travel to Iran to further their research, they may no longer be crucified or beheaded, in this more civil world, but garroted or sent to the gallows.

"In recent months there have been repeated reports in the press (including in New Republic, 19 August 2002, East Bay Voice, 19 September 2002, Ha’aretz, 6 March 2003 and 10 September 2001, Jerusalem Post, 5 June 2001) and by civil rights groups (e.g. Agudah, http://agudah.israel-live.de ) on serious violations of the human rights of gays, lesbians, transsexuals and trans-genders in the autonomous areas ruled by the Palestinian Authority (PA). In 2000, it is claimed, four Palestinians were killed for being homosexual, and hundreds were forced to flee to Israel. It is alleged that 'harassment of gays' is 'practically official policy' in the PA. The victims are frequently called collaborators and accused as such. However, there have also been two cases in the last three years where people have been specifically accused of homosexuality. In the wake of the ‘Al-Aqsa Intifada’, Sharia courts have also been set up where homosexuals are threatened with the death penalty by stoning, burning and hanging.  These courts also declare persons suspected of homosexuality to be ‘outlaws’, who can be murdered with impunity. It is also reported that the PA police regularly inflicts appalling torture on homosexuals."

 WRITTEN QUESTION E-1346/03
by Ilka Schröder (GUE/NGL)
to the Council (European Parliament

"By disregarding our concerns  and inviting this year's Pride event to become a protest against Israel, Capital Pride has chosen a divisive position that further marginalizes Jews, who are victimized  by more hate crimes than any other group in Canada."

"Although Capital Pride recognizes the horrors of the October 7th terrorist attack, their statement turns Pride into a protest against Israel, the only Jewish homeland in the world and the only country singled out by Capital Pride. It does nothing to achieve the peace everyone wants to see overseas. Instead, it creates conditions for more hateful antisemitic rhetoric targeting Ottawa’s Jewish community here at home."

"By making anti-Israel policy a centrepiece of Pride, Capital Pride creates a climate where Jews are targeted, unwelcome and unsafe, undermining the entire purpose of Pride. Pride is supposed to embrace the diverse backgrounds of the 2SLGBTQ+ community and should not ask anyone to leave part of their cultural or religious identity at the door to feel safe and included."

Jewish Federation of Ottawa