No Stone Left Unturned; No Slander Too Fantastic to Hang on Israel

"[It is] unconscionable [to allow Israeli athletes to participate in the matches in light of the Jewish state’s alleged] ongoing genocide in Palestine [during the Israel-Hamas war. The Canadian government and Tennis Canada must] forbid Canadian athletes to compete against Israeli athletes at the Davis Cup and all other international events." 

"[Canada should follow other nations who] refuse to legitimize Israel’s crimes [by pulling out of international sports competitions in which Israel is participating]."

"Sport is an important space for engendering national sentiment. For this reason, it has, both in the past and today, played an essential role in both promoting national sentiment tied to genocide and in producing national sentiment essential for dismantling apartheid states."

"As such, this is an important moment for Sport Canada and Tennis Canada to promote social justice and stand on the right side of history … sport sanctions against the nation [of Israel] are an essential tool for demonstrating Canada’s ongoing disapproval of Israel’s actions."

Open letter by over 400 signees

 

"We recognize this is a highly complex situation that goes far beyond sport. However, Israel has not been excluded from international sporting events, and it has not been suspended by the International Olympic Committee."

"Across tennis, careful consideration is given to the participation of teams and players representing every nation, and the safety of all players, tournament staff, and supporters is always paramount at every event."

"We will continue to work closely with Tennis Canada in relation to this event."

International Tennis Federation 

 

"Tennis Canada acknowledges the ongoing and deeply complex situation in the Middle East. As a national sports organization, our mission is to promote the sport of tennis and create opportunities for players and fans to engage with the game in a spirit of respect and inclusivity. Our focus remains on ensuring a safe, fair, and professional competition for all athletes, staff, volunteers, and spectators."

"[We will work closely with ITF and authorities] to ensure this event is conducted in accordance with international sporting standards and with the well-being of all participants as our top priority."

Tennis Canada response 

More than 100 protesters gathered outside Halifax City Hall to call for the cancellation of the Davis Cup tie between Canada and Israel. (Source: Carl Pomeroy/CTV News Atlantic)

 

A match-up between Israeli and Canadian tennis players is scheduled to be hosted in Halifax on September 12 and 13 as part of the Davis Cup finals. This is the leading team tennis event in the world and the result of the tie, through a series of five matches determines which country will advance to the 2026 Davis Cup Qualifiers.

 

An open letter, with signatures by over 400 academics, activists, athletes and writers argues that sport should no longer be seen as sport in isolation of world events without taking into account international situations of grave concern, and in this instance, Israel's military operations in Gaza. Military operations, as it happens, occasioned by Palestinian terrorist groups flooding from Gaza into southern Israel on October 7 of 2023 on a mission of mass death. 

 

Since the invasion of Gaza by the Israel Defense Forces whose purpose was to destroy the leading terrorist group Hamas, to ensure that their promise of delivering one October 7 after another, following another -- in perpetuity until Israel fails to exist -- will never come to fruition. The Israeli military has had to cope with terrorist groups that unfailingly integrate themselves within the general population so that in striking terrorist operatives, the general civilian population is placed in mortal danger.

 

Nothing stops the terrorist operatives from placing rocket launchers in crowded civilian enclaves, guaranteeing that return fire will result in collateral damage, for the heads of Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Fatah and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine have no intention of sparing Palestinian civilians from the military responses by Israel countering the atrocities committed by them in Israel. Numbers of civilians injured or killed in the conflict simply play into the terrorist propaganda of victimhood, aiding their narrative of 'genocide'.

 

Israeli athletes competing in the Davis Cup 2025 Qualifiers Israel vs. Germany. Photo: IMAGO/Paul Zimmer via Reuters Connect

 

The open letter addressed to Sport Canada and Tennis Canada insists that "This is an important moment for Sport Canada and Tennis Canada to promote social justice and stand on the right side of history". In response the International Tennis Federation which organizes the Davis Cup, stated it had no intention of barring Israel from competing. As did Tennis Canada, stating that the match will proceed as planned, emphasizing its role is one of promotion of sport.

 

Journalists and University of British Columbia professors Naomi Klein and Avi Lewis, Alex Neve, (former secretary-general of Amnesty International Canada, now a professor at University of Ottawa), and three former United Nations special rapporteurs were among the 'social justice' luminaries whose signatures adorned the letter. Every one of whom has always been a vividly committed accuser of Israel's very existence. 

 

A "small mob of extremists" is how David Cooper, vice-president of government relations for the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs characterized the letter signees, adding that their censure of Israel in accusing the Jewish state of 'apartheid' and 'genocide' place them in no position to determine which nation may or may not compete in a sport dedicated to bringing human endeavours to a high degree of performance while respecting the sportsmanship of all countries whose athletes are capable of qualifying for championship status. 

 

A sign posted on Agricola Street in Halifax calls for officials to cancel the Davis Cup match between Team Canada and Israel that's scheduled for Sept. 12 and 13 at Scotiabank Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia. (Credit: Rob Roberts)

 

And So, Canada, Were You Invaded?

"Yemen, Yemen, make us proud! turn another ship around!"

"Gaza called, Yemen answered. All Israeli ships are cancelled." 

Canadian anti-Israel rallies

"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 my parents immigrated to in order to escape persecution by the terrorist Islamofascist Ayatollahs."

MPP Goldie Ghamari

Palestinians and supporters congregated at Toronto's Nathan Phillips Square two days after the October 7 massacre by Hamas in southern Israel. (Evan Mitsui/CBC)

 

Cities in Canada saw wild scenes of open celebration even before news emerged of the Islamic Republic of Iran's Islamic Republican Guards Corp having launched a prolonged direct air attack on Israel. There is little doubt that many Iranians living in Tehran and detesting their ruling Ayatollahs viewed this event with sorrow. In Canada, the majority of the Iranian diaspora who arrived post-Iranian Revolution were anything but pleased. Which didn't stop the abundant presence of Palestinians, Syrians and other Middle East diaspora-Canadian-Arabs from jubilantly celebrating the event.

Keffiyeh-wearing demonstrators were seen in one circulated video cheering, banging drums, and sending up celebratory smoke bombs, while a speaker declared the wonderful news that "the Islamic Republic of Iran has just sent tens of drones toward Israel"; a 44-second video posted by Caryma Sa'd, Toronto lawyer who often documents such events taking place in Toronto. "Protesters react to breaking news of Iran launching drones at Israel in retaliatory attack for a strike which killed a top Iranian commander", he captioned.

 

 

This was April 14 when the IRGC air division launched over 300 drones and ballistic missiles into Israeli airspace. Israel and its regional and international supporters were prepared; forewarned of an imminent attack, they had their warjets on standby and reacted according to plan, knowing it would take up to seven hours for any of the missiles and 'suicide' drones to reach Israel. Israel, the United States, Britain, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates all had a hand in ensuring that none of the deadly projectiles reached their intended goal.

One can only imagine the dejection and disappointment of the celebrants of Iran's attack must have felt when it was announced by the Israel Defense Forces than the upshot of the Saturday/Sunday declaration of war turned out that 99 percent of the weapons were shot down. A 7-year-old Bedouin child in Israel was the sole unfortunate casualty when detritus from a destroyed missile fell on her family home, as was a lightly-impacted northern-Israel air base, which continued operations afterward.

 

People carry a Palestinian flag during a rally in front of City Hall in Toronto, October 9, 2023. (credit: REUTERS/Kyaw Soe Oo)

 

The Canadian celebrabrants were not to be put off by reality, continuing into Sunday. On the Instagram account of Ottawa4Palestine a speaker in Ottawa sang an improvised ditty to the tune of Yankee Doodle with the phrase: "leave Palestine alone and Jews go back to Europe". Another video of a Montreal rally featured demonstrators changing "put the bullet in the house of fire ... we are your men, Sinwar", referring to Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, a chief architect of October 7's bloodthirsty savagery in southern Israel.

An Iranian exile in Calgary -- Bahar Bahari, long a vocal critic of Iran's theocracy, and a frequent attendee at pro-Israel demonstrations had posted the Montreal video. The Jerusalem Post took note of the celebrations in Canada, publishing the headline "Toronto protesters cheer as Iran fires drones at Israel", even while Israeli counter-batteries just completed the last of the incoming missiles being shot down.

The burgeoning anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian movement has been defiantly open with their hate messages against Israel, their threats against Canadian Jews, and their masked presence, disrupting traffic, blocking bridges, issuing insults against Canadian police forces, harassing Jewish business owners and Synagogue congregants, although their actions and activities defy Canadian hate law. Issues of violence perpetrated on Jewish parochial schools, Jewish social centres and Synagogues remain unsolved.

Key organizers of the hate-fests against the Jewish state are well known for their activities, bordering on and often substantially illegal criminal acts; Toronto4Palestine, Samidoun and the Palestinian Youth Movement who organized joyful rallies within hours of the ghastly October 7 mass rapes and massacres. Houthi attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea have also been matters of organized celebrations thanks to these organizers, all of whom if the Liberal government of Justin Trudeau was the least bit interested in security and following their own laws against terrorism would join Canada's list of terror groups.

Two rallies were held in Halifax on Thanksgiving Monday — one in support of Israel, the other in support of the Palestinian territories. (Jeorge Sadi/CBC)

The Middle East in Flux...

"Clearly, the Houthi actions, probably in terms of their attacks on merchant shipping, are the most significant that we've seen in two generations."

"The facts simply are that they're attacking the international community; thus the international response I think you've seen."

"[Iran is] very directly involved in the Yemen Houthi terrorist ship attacks in response to Israel's conflict with Hamas]."

Vice Admiral Brad Cooper, head, US. Navy 5th Fleet 

U.S. Navy Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, who heads the Navy's Bahrain-based 5th Fleet, speaks at an event at the International Defense Exhibition and Conference in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Feb. 21, 2023. Iran is "very directly involved" in attacks by Yemen's Houthi rebels on shipping over Israel's war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Cooper told The Associated Press on Monday, Jan. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Jon Gambrell)

 

While stopping just short of stating that the Houthi attacks in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden have been directed by the Islamic Republic of Iran, Vice Admiral Cooper did commit to acknowledging that the attacks with their Iran associations have been expanding. Previously they threatened just the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz across the wider Middle East. In years previous, it was the IRGC speedboats that were conducting lightning strikes against marine traffic; now less is seen of Iranian direct attacks; it seems their proxy Houthis have been delegated to continue the high seas piracy.

 

At least 34 attacks on shipping have been perpetrated through waterways leading to Egypt's Suez Canal -- a vital shipping route for energy and cargo from Asia and the Middle East -- on to Europe have been launched by Iran-backed Houthis. The Houthis are a Shiite group that since 2014 ousted the elected, Western- and Saudi-backed government from the capital Sanaa. The Houthis now use Sanaa as their capital, while the official government has been in exile. 

Saudi Arabia has led a coalition of other Sunni states in support of the exiled Yemenite government, but the Houthis have been able to repel their offensives, to this date. In response, there have been Houthi assaults against Saudi Arabia, targeting its oil fields. Egypt, suffering an acute downturn in its economy, heavily relies on its income from shipping through the Suez Canal, and the recent Houthi strikes against international mercantile shipping has hit the Egyptian economy at a particularly sensitive juncture

 

Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen publish a video showing how the group hijacked an Israeli-linked shipping vessel in the Red Sea on November 20, 2023. (Screen capture/X)

The US coalition launched seven rounds of airstrikes on Houthi military sites in recent days. Airbases under rebel control and suspected missile launch sites were the targets. Houthi attacks on shipping since the counterattacks, appear to have decelerated with increased naval patrols by the U.S. and its allies in the region. Risks for the global economy remain high while marine traffic chooses to bypass their  usual routes for longer journeys around the southern tip of Africa.

 

The threat to shipping focused primarily around the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, its narrow mouth, through which a fifth of all oil in trade passes, when Vice Admiral Cooper took command in 2021 of the U.S. 5th Fleet. That was when a series of attacks were carried out by Iran with ship seizures followed the collapse of Iran's nuclear agreement with world powers. For the time being, Iran has not directly involved itself in conflict either with Israel or the U.S. since October 7's Hamas atrocities in Israel. 

Iran seems to have taken out its frustration, oddly enough, on its neighbour Pakistan, which retaliated in a counter-strike, and Iraq and Syria, which have also been targeted by Iran in surprise strikes on its relatively collegial neighbours and political Islamist acolytes.

Yemenis in Houthi-controlled territory brandishing their guns chant slogans during a march in solidarity with the people of Gaza, in the capital Sanaa on December 15, 2023. (MOHAMMED HUWAIS / AFP)

Keeping Civilians Out of Harm's Way

Bipartisan candlelight vigil with members of Congress to commemorate one month since the Hamas terrorist attacks in Israel  (Photo: Drew Angerer / Getty Images)

"The human tragedy that is unfolding in Gaza is heart-wrenching, especially the suffering we see in and around the Al Shifa Hospital."

"I have been clear that the price of justice cannot be the continued suffering of all Palestinian civilians. Even wars have rules."

"[Hamas needs to stop using Palestinians as human shields and release all hostages] immediately and unconditionally."

"[The violence urgently needs to stop] so that Palestinians can get access to life-saving medical services, food, fuel and water, so that all hostages can be released, so that all Canadians and other nationals can leave Gaza."

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

 

"@Justin Trudeau...It is not Israel that is deliberately targeting civilians but Hamas that beheaded, burned and massacred civilians in the worst horrors perpetrated on Jews since the Holocaust."

"While Israel ls doing everything to keep civilians out of harm's way, Hamas is doing everything to keep them in harm's way. Israel provides civilians in Gaza humanitarian corridors and safe zones, Hamas prevents them from leaving at gunpoint."

"It is Hamas not Israel that should be held accountable for committing a double war crime -- targeting civilians while hiding behind civilians."

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau attend a ceremony in Paris on November 11, 2018 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the armistice that ended the First World War. Photo by Francois Mori/AFP/Getty Images/File

The problem here is that it is the Israeli prime minister who is facing a dilemma; wholly invested in ensuring that Hamas will never again be capable of slaughtering Israelis because they are Jews, while at the same time Israeli forces are responding to the terrorist atrocities committed by Hamas in southern Israel, aggressively searching out the terrorist Hamas operatives in their densest most civilian-occupied areas, primarily Gaza City, while care is observed to keep civilian casualties to a minimum.

Even while the Israel Defense Forces have been dispatched to Gaza to rout out the terrorists, Hamas and Islamic Jihad have never stopped bombarding Israel with rockets, aimed at Israel's civilian population. When Israel warned Gazans to move south in the event of the IDF entering the northern regions of the Strip, Hamas ordered its civilians to remain where they were -- to be defiant -- but the agenda really was to continue their role as sacrificial martyrs to the Hamas death-cult imposed on Israel.

Netanyahu's rebuke of a democratic colleague who has never faced such a dilemma offering suggestions that appear to equate the legitimacy of a military fully involved in securing the safety of civilians while engaged in an existential battle for security for its population -- with the actions of a terrorist group that precipitated the war. Trudeau has shown himself time and again prepared to assume the worst of Israel, taking the word of Hamas, an organization listed on Canada's own terrorist list, over that of the Israeli authorities.

In repeating the Hamas mantra of Israel committing genocide by killing women, children and babies, Trudeau has selected terrorist propaganda over the concerns of a Western liberal democracy doing all it can under the circumstances to ensure that women, children and babies are as safe from harm as can be possible in a war situation where they are abused as human shields. Israel has carefully and selectively entered parts of Gaza's hospitals in its search for Hamas operatives in the knowledge that the terrorists use hospitals as covers.

Hamas command centres are set up in and under hospitals, a reality that both Hamas and the medical staff at Shifa Hospital deny. Urging "maximum restraint" upon Israel expresses a total lack of understanding of the situation and the care taken to exercise just that. War was mounted in the wake of a vicious surprise attack by Hamas terrorists on Israeli communities bordering on Gaza, where an estimated 1,200 mostly civilians were subjected to mutilation and murder; women raped, children killed in their homes alongside their parents.

Trudeau's foreign affairs minister, Melanie Joly, terming the situation unacceptable, mimicked the concerns of her political governing leader: "Civilians must be protected and enough food, fuel and water must get into Gaza so that [the UN's] life-saving work can continue"; an obvious concern to Israel, grappling with the humanitarian crisis that it did not create of its singular volition. And while Trudeau stopped short of calling for a 'ceasefire', his foreign deputy went considerably further.

It was her considered recommendation that Israel sit down with Hamas and Qatar to discuss a cessation of 'hostilities', a return of the hostages and everyone will be reconciled. In the face of the atrocities committed by Hamas, in the reality of Qatar harbouring Hamas leaders, and funding its operations, precisely who is it that this woman is recommending that Israel trust and bargain with?

Hamas terrorists move Israeli hostages down a street in Be’eri, a kibbutz in southern Israel, video posted to X shows

(Photo: Screenshot)