“From the outset, there was an attempt to conflate these protests with support for Hamas.”
The federal ministry in charge of public safety knew that early pro-Palestine rallies held across Canada in response to Israel’s attack on Gaza last October showed no signs of “mobilizing to violence” at the behest of an unconnected call to action put out by a former Hamas commander.
But a minister in the Trudeau government and other politicians continued to falsely portray the protests as “advocating for violence in Canada” in response to the Hamas-linked call to action anyway — a narrative that would help set the tone for smears against pro-Palestinian demonstrations for the next eight months, and preceded a ramping up of policing efforts against activists in some cities.
Internal communications obtained by The Maple through an access to information request show that in mid-October, Public Safety Canada (PSC) focused on pro-Palestine rallies, with less attention paid to those held in support of Israel’s brutal war on Gaza.
The ministry was also told by law enforcement that some pro-Palestinian events had already gone ahead peacefully and without any incidents.
None of these facts were reflected in the ministry’s public statements, which came at a time when some prominent pro-Israel voices had called for other pro-Palestinian rallies to be pre-emptively banned over alleged safety concerns. (more...)
Public Safety Saw No Evidence Linking Palestine Rallies To ‘Hamas Call’
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