A heavily-resourced Hate Crimes Unit has engaged in surveillance, night raids, and ‘trumped up charges’ against the Palestinian solidarity movement
The banging at the front door started at 5:30 a.m.
It was so heavy that, on the second floor of the Mississauga, Ont. home of the Islaih family, a bed began to shake.
The Palestinian-Canadian family of five opened the door in late January to find several Toronto police officers with a warrant to arrest their eldest son.
“We were in shock,” Suha Islaih told The Breach in an interview. “Did my son hurt someone? Did he kill someone? Those were thoughts that crossed my mind.”
Ahmad Islaih, a 26 year old elementary school teacher, was accused of participating in a demonstration that briefly halted traffic on Toronto’s Gardiner Expressway in November. The protest against Israel’s assault on Gaza had lasted for only five minutes.
After waking up Ahmed, handcuffing him and charging him with “mischief,” eight police officers sat the family, still in their pajamas, at their dining room table. While they searched their home, the front door stayed open, despite freezing winter weather and the family’s pleas to police to close it.
According to the warrant—marked “AUTHORIZED TO BE EXECUTED AT NIGHT”—the items police were looking for included black pants, white Nike running shoes, and a keffiyeh.
“Our house is full of keffiyehs, we’re Palestinian,” Suha recalled telling the police. The family, who immigrated to Canada in 2005 from Ramallah, maintains strong connections to their homeland. “I have a poster of a Palestine map. I asked them if they wanted that too?”
After the police left with Ahmad’s computers, electronics, and clothes, the family discovered his room “turned upside down.” Drawers had been emptied on the floor, his mattress was thrown off the bed, a vase was broken, and several boxes had been rifled through.
“It took us back to our life in the West Bank,” Suha said, “when Israeli soldiers raided our home.” (more...)
Inside the ‘shocking’ police operation targeting pro-Palestine activists in Toronto
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