Al-Quds Day in Canada ... The Islamist Colonization of the West

"If you are on a student visa, and you're in America, and you're an aspiring young terrorist who wants to prey upon your Jewish classmates, you're going home."

"Were going to arrest your tail and we're going to send you home where you belong."

"I appreciate free speech, I used to defend it in court, but this is far beyond the pale of that; you are threatening your classmates and spewing antisemitism and spewing all this hatred."

"It's enough."

U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson

Pro-Palestinian protesters mark Al-Quds Day in downtown Toronto. Andrew Francis Wallace / Toronto Star

So far, few influential elected lawmakers in Canada have advocated against the presence of Hamas-supporting international students spewing their very special brand of viral Jew-hate throughout the country in organized and well-attended 'protests' against the State of Israel's very existence, and by default the existence of Jews anywhere in the world, much less within Israel. Wild displays of clearly illegal support of proscribed terrorist groups whose sole purpose is the destruction of the State of Israel and Jews go unfettered by agencies of the law, taking their cue from municipal government.

 

Municipal government in turn take their cue from provincial governments which look to the federal government -- in this instance, for the past 17 months since the Hamas terrorist group invaded southern Israel on October 7, 2023 with up to six thousand terrorist operatives programmed to commit mass rape, terror, destruction of farming villages, wholesale slaughter of residents of the farming communities, hunting down and murdering young Israelis attending a music festival, and finally taking infants, their parents, the elderly and frail, men and women and soldiers hostage into Gaza.

 

A protester waves an Iranian flag, Yemeni flag and a Palestinian flag as people attend the annual al-Quds Day, in London, Britain, March 23, 2025   (photo credit: REUTERS/JAIMI JOY)

There is no question regarding the reality of the sadistic savagery that was unleashed upon Israeli civilians; the marauders themselves proudly took videos of the carnage they produced and posted them to social media. Investigations not only by Israel but by an agency of the UN, and by major American news outlets verified the staggering brutality that took place on that infamous day. Yet throughout the world wherever Palestinians and other Islamists have ventured as immigrants, refugees and migrants, the horrible event and the scope of its death toll have been celebrated as a victory.

 

The instigator and major supporter of the terrorist groups poised to attack Israel, the Islamic Republic of Iran and its partner Qatar, have funded the constant threatening, illegal and occasionally outright criminal actions of these groups that infiltrated democratic bastions of the West, but it is the very democratic government authorities of those countries in their lack of action to put a hold to the frenzied antisemitism that have by default supported the very antisemitism they swear they are determined to counter, that have failed.

 

Sign likening Israel's military to Nazis held by a protester at the 2025 Al-Quds Day rally in Toronto, on March 23, was ordered removed by Toronto police. (Ellin Bessner photo)

The annual Iran-sponsored Al-Quds Day, a celebration of hatred for Jews and Israel has once again taken place across the world. Calls to shut down these displays of blatant racist hatred continue to fall on deaf ears where authority figures shrink before the potential of being labelled "Islamophobic". Allowing the continuing displays of hate to continue to fester has the predictable effect of encouraging its perpetrators to become ever bolder when their ever-greater impositions on general society go unremarked and unaddressed.

 

That the organizers openly state: "Palestine resists; Zionism ceases to exist", blatantly calling for Israel's eradication, an act of hatred inciting violence against an identified target which is a criminal offence in Canada, and no consequences ensue, it is clear that the hounds of Hell have been unleashed without the least bit of interest from elected officialdom. Jihad appears alive and well in Canada. A Canada that barely blinks an eye when large groups of Muslims shut down access to public roadways as organized mass prayer sessions block highways and a police presence supports the display of Islamist conquest.

 

Canada has bent a knee to the spectre of unlawful and criminal acts dedicated to the support of terrorism threatening not only the Jewish state but Jewish Canadians as well as Jews globally in the stated purpose of eliminating Jewish existence entirely. Canadian Jews are left waiting for an authority figure that will act decisively to return the country to its true values in rejection of the death fantasy of jihad and conquest. On the cusp of a general election there is a choice to be made; re-elect the same government that has stood by placidly to allow this disintegration of civilizational mores to occur, or make a clean sweep and bring to office a man and a political party whose convictions are directly adverse to the current governing body.  

The Palestine Youth Movement held a downtown rally from Yonge and Dundas Sts. to the Israeli Consulate on Tuesday, March 18, 2025, before shutting down the intersection to traffic. Photo by Caryma Sa'd /Special to the Toronto Sun

Until the Hostages are Released and Hamas is Defeated

"It is time for the countries of the world to take seriously our unwavering commitment to bring back all our hostages home and defeat the enemy."

"Nothing will stop us from fighting to free our hostages, who have been held in brutal Hamas captivity for 527 days."

"We will show no mercy against our enemies while our hostages languish in Hamas terror tunnels." 

Danny Danon, Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations

 

"If the Hamas terror organization continues to refuse to release the captives, I instructed the IDF [Israel Defence Forces] to capture additional areas, evacuate the population and expand the security zone around Gaza for the protection of Israeli communities through a permanent hold of the area."

"As long as Hamas continues its refusal, it will lose more and more land to Israel."

"[The IDF will] intensify [its military campaign in Gaza] through the expansion of the ground manoeuvres until the hostages are released and Hamas is defeated."

"[Israel will use] all military and civilian pressure [to achieve its goals, including the] implementation of U.S. President Donald Trump's voluntary migration plan for Gaza residents."

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz 

IDF troops operate in the Gaza Strip. March 23, 2025.

(photo credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON'S UNIT)

 

Even while Palestinian civilians in Gaza yearn for the conflict to come to a stop, they are bitterly aware that Hamas has no intention of standing down, no intention of delivering the remaining hostages -- both dead and alive -- to Israel for return to their families; burial for some, return to life for the living. Hamas leaders are adamant the release of the remaining hostages can only be achieved if their demands are followed. A permanent ceasefire and full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.

 

That the existing ceasefire that was in effect before October 7, 2023 was deliberately broken by Hamas itself -- which had planned a coordinated attack well in advance of the actual invasion of southern Israel on that fateful day, preparing its operatives in the thousands to surreptitiously enter an unaware and sleeping southern Israel to wreak the horrors of mass rape, mutilation, an unstoppable carnage of slaughter of young and old, women and foreign farm workers, the weak and the ill, soldiers and police on watch in a harvest of human victims to satisfy their blood lust -- is obviously irrelevant to Hamas in its current imperious demands.

 

Hamas terrorists seen in Khan Yunis, February 20, 2025

(photo credit: ABED RAHIM KHATIB/FLASH90)

The current stalemate that led to Israel's decision to once again re-enter Gaza in search of Hamas and Islamic Jihad operatives and its leading figures arrived once the Hamas leadership rebuffed proposals by U.S. Middle East envoy Steven Witkoff for an extension of the first phase of the Gaza truce through Ramadan and Passover. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu observed that future ceasefire negotiations with the group "will only take place under fire". Return of the 59 hostages is imperative.

 

On Thursday, the Israel Defence Forces began conducting ground operations to  continue the dismantling of Hamas infrastructure in southern Gaza's Rafah. Ground activity also continued in the northern and central Gaza Strip, with the Israeli Air Force striking the terrorist assets across the enclave. Extensive strikes were launched by the IDF against Hamas targets early on Tuesday morning, prior to the entry of the ground forces.

 

On Sunday night, a hospital in southern Gaza was hit by the Israeli military, with the Nasser Medical Complex partly in flames. A statement ensued by the Israeli military that the strike was carried out on a "key terrorist in the Hamas organization who was operating inside" the hospital. It was Al-Aqsa TV, affiliated with Hamas that reported Ismail Barhoum, member of the Hamas political bureau and his nephew Ibrahim were the targets that were killed in the Khan Younis Nasser Medical Complex.  Infamously, Hamas favours using hospitals, schools and other civilian structures as command posts.

 

People gather as smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike at Nasser hospital, according to the Palestinian civil defence, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip March 23, 2025.

Hussam Al-Masri/Reuters

 

Also on Sunday, IDF troops concluded encirclement of Tel al-Sultan, to the west of Rafah, to once again dislodge Hamas from the district to "reinforce control and expand the security zone in southern Gaza". During the night, the troops encircled the area, eliminated several terrorists, and conducted a targeted raid on a terror infrastructure site that was used over the past few months "as a command and control center of Hamas terrorists."
 

Palestinian civilians were given warning by the Israeli military to evacuate the Tel al-Sultan area immediately while troops launch an offensive.The ordering of Gazan civilians out of harm's way at both critical Rafah areas, means that a very large number of Gazans are required to move toward the al-Mawasi humanitarian area, where many only two months earlier were moved at a time when the military had invaded all of Rafah.

"If all the Israeli hostages are not released and Hamas is not removed from Gaza, Israel will act with forces you have never encountered before."

"Take the advice of the U.S. President. Return the hostages, remove Hamas and other options will be open to you -- including leaving to other places in the world for those who wish."

"The alternative is total destruction and devastation."

Defence Minister Israel Katz

Also on Sunday in an overnight strike in southern Gaza, the IDF announced it had eliminated Salah Bardawil, a senior terrorist in Hamas's political bureau, who headed the Hamas planning and development office. In the framework of his role Bardawil led the Hamas strategic and military Gaza Strip planning.

 

IDF operations in Beit Hanoun, Gaza Strip, March 22/ 2025. (IDF SPOKESPERSON'S UNIT)

Seriously? Bail Given to Vicious Antisemitic Attacker

News Release

Man Charged with Advocating Genocide and 28 other charges in Hate Crime Investigation,
Willowdale Avenue and Parkview Avenue

 

The Toronto Police Service Hate Crime Unit has charged a man with 29 criminal offences, many of which are alleged to have been motivated by hatred toward the Jewish community.

With the consent of the Ministry of the Attorney General, two of these charges include Advocating Genocide and Wilful Promotion of Hatred—offences rarely laid in Canada.

All of the incidents are alleged to have occurred between April 26, 2024, and January 3, 2025.

Due to a court-imposed publication ban, we are unable to provide further details in this release.

On January 11, 2025, Amir Arvahi Azar, 32, of Toronto, was arrested. He has been charged with 29 criminal offences:

1. Advocate Genocide
2. Wilful Promotion of Hatred
3. Public Incitement of Hatred
4. Five counts of Arson
5. Two counts of Mischief Under $5000
6. Seven counts of Mischief to Cultural Property
7. Utter Threats
8. Criminal Harassment
9. Three counts of Possess Restricted or Prohibited Firearm Knowingly not holding a licence and registration certificate
10. Possess Firearm with Altered Serial Number
11. Possess Prohibited Device
12. Two counts of Possess Prohibited Weapon
13. Possession of Proceeds of Crime Over $5000
14. Possession of Credit Card Data
15. Possession of Forgery Instrument

The accused has been released following a bail hearing with several conditions imposed. He appeared at the Ontario Court of Justice, 10 Armoury Street, on Monday, March 17, 2025, at 10 a.m.

Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 416-808-3500, Crime Stoppers anonymously at 416-222-TIPS (8477), or at www.222tips.com.

Toronto Police Service 

Toronto police say Amir Arvahi Azar was charged for 29 criminal offences following a months-long investigation by the centralized hate crimes unit. (Spencer Colby/The Canadian Press)

"[The Toronto Police Service was able to lay these charges] because of the meticulous work of our centralized Hate Crime Unit."

"I would like to thank all of our members who worked tirelessly on this investigation over the span of many months."

"We know that these charges are very serious and that people are concerned. I want to assure everyone that we will continue to do everything we can to keep our communities safe."

TPS Deputy Rob Johnson

 A rare hate crime charge has been laid by Toronto Police Service against an accused synagogue attacker who had been caught with three loaded handguns and had been accused of an eight-month crime spree of vicious antisemitism. Toronto has been assailed, as has Montreal, Vancouver and other Canadian cities, with a series of vandalism against Jewish-owned businesses; synagogues have been fire-bombed, Jewish parochial schools have been shot at, and one of the criminals involved in these activities has been caught and charged. And then released on bail.

 

Charged with 29 criminal counts, 32 year old Amir Arvahi Azar has also been charged with "advocating genocide", a charge "rarely laid in Canada", Toronto police noted, under a section of the Criminal Code. Azar stands accused of five incidents of arson targeting Toronto Jewish sites, along with breaking windows, making telephoned threats, and posting a trail of online threats that met the threshold for criminal hate speech. 

Damage to Pride of Israel synagogue in Toronto on June 30, 2024 that was allegedly part of an antisemitic hate crime spree by Amir Arvahi Azar. B'nai Brith Canada

The property crimes he was responsible for, all occurring during the last eight months of 2024 -- were among an uptick unprecedented in the city's history in vandalism, arson and shooting attacks that targeted Canadian Jewish sites following the October 7 Hamas-conducted terrorist massacres in southern Israel that slaughtered 1,200 people, and abducted 250 infants, women and men for use as pawns in a later exchange of innocent civilians for Palestinians imprisoned in Israeli jails for criminal acts against Israelis.

 

Most notably, Azar stands accused of breaking large front windows of the Pride of Israel synagogue on June 30; one of two antisemitic attacks he perpetrated over the long Canada Day weekend. The other was windows broken at Kehillat Shaarei Torah Synagogue. From both sites security footage recorded a man on a motorcycle, his identity hidden by a full-face helmet. Kehillat Shaarei Torah had been targeted by vandalism, graffiti or arson in eight separate events since October 7. 

The general vicinity of a perennial anti-Israel demonstration at Bathurst Street and Sheppard Avenue attracted many of Azar's attacks, as an intersection thought of as the heart of the Toronto Jewish community. The gatherings at the intersection were rife with chants for 'intifada', and on one occasion a demonstrator cosplayed as Yahya Sinwar, former leader of the Hamas terrorist group in Gaza.

 

Along with charges for arson, criminal harassment, threats and mischief, Azar was charged with multiple gun charges including two counts of possessing a prohibited weapon. Materials for forging illegal credit cards were also found in his possession by police. Yet, despite the seriousness of these charges, more specifics of the case could not be provided as a result of a "court imposed publication ban", the police statement revealed, concluding that Azar "has been released following a bail hearing with several conditions imposed".

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre speaks at a news conference at the Pride of Israel Synagogue in Toronto a few months after it was the target of vandalism, Oct. 10, 2024. Photo by Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press/File

The Islamist Mainstreaming of Antisemitism Across Canada

"There's been a long history of concern about Al-Quds Day, which is an annual hateful protest, an event that calls for the elimination and eradication of the State of Israel." 

"That often ends up bringing out folks who are glorifying terrorists and waving Hamas flags and calling for the death of Jews, and I think in a country like Canada, that is morally objectionable."

Toronto city councillor Brad Bradford

 

"Many people who grew up there do not recognize the city anymore."

"They are shocked and disheartened by the hate and threats that's taken over in many aspects of day-to-day life, particularly targeting the Jewish community."

"The rallies are nothing more than hate gatherings."

James Pasternak, Toronto city councillor 

"Sights like these [Hamas-supporting mobs], are no longer uncommon because Canada's Liberal government has refused to stand against even the most vile behaviour happening in plain view."

"Our Canadian values are under attack right before our eyes -- pretending not to see it is simply shameful."

Deputy Conservative party leader Melissa Lantsman

 

"In the past, Al-Quds Day rallies, particularly in Toronto, have crossed the line into promotion of hate, antisemitism and support for designated terrorist organizations."

"I will be asking the Mayor of Montreal and police to ensure that all federal and provincial laws and municipal bylaws are strictly enforced and that police have a clear plan to do this and will immediately step in the second the line into illegality is crossed."

Mount Royal MP Anthony Housefather 

 

Another annual Al-Quds Day across the country is planned for Sunday. Like all such previous events, it is anticipated the rallies will be rife with antisemitic chants that glorify terrorism. Politicians and community leaders, given the number and frequency of similar rallies that have taken place across Canada for the past year and a half following the October 7, 2023, rampage of deadly violence against Israeli civilians in farming communities in southern Israel that killed 1,200 children, women and men, saw organized 'protests' in support not of the victims of the deadly attack, but the Palestinians responsible for the savagery who portray themselves as the victims.

 

Those familiar with the events and who deplore them for their celebration and support of deadly violence are warning civil society and taking measures to ensure that law enforcement be prepared to protect the Jewish Canadian community which has been ceaselessly targeted by antisemitism through organized marches and demonstrations, many of which take place deliberately in Jewish-majority enclaves of Canadian cities. 

 

Typically, the events take place toward the end of the Islamic holiday of Ramadan. They materialized in 1979 following the Iranian Revolution when Iran's Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini -- whose Islamist ideology has created Shiite terrorist groups like Hezbollah and the Yemeni Houthis, arming, training and focusing them on the destruction of Israel -- adopted the idea of the "liberation" of Jerusalem [Al-Quds in Arabic]. The demonstrations that take place globally call for "Death to Israel", "Death to America", while effigies and flags are burned. 

"Al-Quds Day is not just another protest or demonstration."

"It is a state-sponsored, anti-Israel event, orchestrated annually by the Iranian regime to support the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps [IRGC] -- a Canadian-listed terrorist organization -- in its efforts to destabilize the Middle East and spread hatred against Israel, Jews, and Western democratic values around the world."

The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs

Large rallies for the Al-Quds Day marches have been planned across Canada, in Toronto, Calgary, Vancouver and Montreal. Astonishingly, in the past decade, immigration, refugee intake and illegal migration has given Canada large populations of Muslims from the Middle East and North Africa. The Palestinian Youth Movement is featured in posters for the Toronto and Montreal rallies, a group that supports the October 7 terror attacks. Samidoun, a group designated as a terror entity by the federal government is still permitted to organize events such as these in Canada without demur from the Federal Liberal government.

 

Toronto city councillors James Pasternak and Brad Bradford have demanded that the city and Toronto police enforce the Hate Rallies policy to protect the Jewish community and ensure 'every necessary precaution is taken'. There is frustration with the mainstreaming of antisemitism across the Greater Toronto Area since the invasion by Hamas of Israel on October 7, 2023. 

An Al-Quds Day rally in Toronto, 2014. Photo by YouTube/Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center

 

"As with all demonstrations and large gatherings, police will be there to ensure public safety."

"In addition to a visible frontline officer presence, we will also have officers from our specialized Hate Crime Unit on the ground, to immediately gather evidence and investigate any suspected hate crimes, or hate speech, or signage."

Toronto Police Service spokeswoman Stephanie Sayer

 

Return The Hostages, Live and Dead, Or Face The Consequences

"Gaza residents, this is a final warning. The first Sinwar ruined Gaza and the second Sinwar will completely obliterate it [referring to the slain leader of Hamas, Yahya Sinwar, and to his brother, Mohammed Sinwar, a senior Hamas military commander who is thought to have succeeded him]."

"The Air Force strikes against Hamas terrorists were just the first step. Things will become much more difficult, and you will pay the full price."

"[If the hostages are not released and Hamas is not removed from Gaza], Israel will operate with strength you have not yet seen."

"Take the U.S. president’s advice. Return the hostages and remove Hamas, and other options will open up for you, including leaving for other places in the world for those who desire."

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz

Defense Minister Israel Katz visits the Tel Nof Airbase, March 18, 2025. (Ariel Hermoni/Defense Ministry)

 Since the Israel Defence Forces were given orders to restart operations in Gaza, several senior Hamas commanders were killed, both military and government officials. Yasser Muhammad Harb Musa, responsible for security affairs in the Hamas political bureau who promoted and directed terrorist actions against Israel, among them, along with Muhammad Al-Jarnasi, head of the Hamas Emergency Committee.

"As part of his role, Musa handled the advancement and guidance of terror attacks against the State of Israel", advised the IDF and Shin Bet, adding he was considered to have been a confidant to slain Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar. Mohammed Jamasi, whose role was also described: "Over the years, Jamasi held key positions in the political bureau and the leadership of the movement and as part of his role in the war, he coordinated a significant portion of the Hamas regime’s government activity in the Gaza Strip, including the guidance of terror attacks against the State of Israel."

The two were among a list of several senior Hamas leaders killed since the renewed offensive, including Hamas’s de facto prime minister of the Strip. The launching of the 'limited ground operation' in northern Gaza Wednesday's statement to retake part of a corridor bisecting the territory was an announcement found wanting in the usual European capitals and spoke of a needless escalatory move that had the potential of rekindling a larger regional conflict. 

 

Israel, always sensitive to criticism from its fellow democracies in Europe, felt that this time it had an obligation to itself to suspend the ceasefire whose purpose was a prisoner-for-hostage exchange that Hamas made a mockery of. 

Part of the Netzarim corridor bisecting northern Gaza from the south, from which the IDF had withdrawn as part of the January-initiated ceasefire with Hamas, has now been retaken. Hamas has received due warning once more that Israel's attacks against it would become fiercer should dozens of remaining hostages held for over 17 months in Gaza not be freed. Hamas appears to have been completely disinterested.

 

The intention is that the Israeli military ground operation in Gaza would create a "partial buffer between northern and southern Gaza". The six-kilometre Netzarim Corridor was previously used by Israel as a military zone during the conflict, running from the Israeli border to the coast, south of Gaza City, severing the largest metropolitan area and the rest of the north from the south in the territory. Israeli defence minister Katz announced that the military was preparing to order Palestinians in Gaza to evacuate from combat zones.

 

"The IDF calls on media outlets to act with caution regarding unverified reports", the military announced after reports circulated that the IDF had struck a United Nations compound located in the central Gaza Strip's Deir al-Balah area.  Military spokesperson Lt.Col. Nadav Shoshani explained that the explosion could not have been caused by Israeli fire. "There were no forces around that building, no aerial attacks on that area", he said.

 

The Gaza Health Ministry operated by the Hamas terrorists had claimed earlier on Wednesday that an Israeli Air Force strike had killed a UN employee, wounding five others. As in the past such claims have been disproved as the usual terrorist ploys to point Israel out as the source of such targeting, when so often the real culprits have been the terrorists themselves catapulting their rockets, going short and falling on their own territory with resultant casualties.

 

The IDF pointed out as it has done on a multitude of occasions that it strikes only Hamas operatives, blaming civilian deaths on Hamas since it operates within densely populated areas in a deliberate scheme to have Israel appear responsible for civilian casualties that Hamas itself relies upon for its propaganda efforts to convince the West that Israel is carrying out a 'genocide' of Palestinians. Gaza's Health Ministry records deliberately fail to distinguish civilians from combatants.

 

The Israeli military, explained Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahyu, went into action when Hamas rebuffed several proposals from U.S. Middle East envoy Steven Witkoff to extend the ceasefire in the enclave during the Ramada and Passover holidays. "Israel will, from now on, act against Hamas with increasing military strength." The goal of the military campaign in Gaza remains to achieve "the objectives of the war as they have been determined by the political echelon, including the release of all of our hostages, the living and the deceased", read a statement from the Prime Minister's office.

Israeli troops seen as the military re-enters the Gaza Strip   IDF Spokesperson's unit

 

Israel's Relentless Drive to Destroy Hamas

"It is time for the countries of the world to take seriously our unwavering commitment to bring back all our hostages home and defeat the enemy."

"Nothing will stop us from fighting to free our hostages, who have been held in brutal Hamas captivity for 527 days."

"We will show no mercy against our enemies while our hostages languish in Hamas terror tunnels."

Danny Danon, Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations

Israeli troops in southern Gaza. Pic: IDF handout

Extensive strikes have been conducted against Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip by the Israeli military on Monday, negating a ceasefire that had exacerbated the pain of Israel's hostage families in the terrorists' hollow gestures of complying with the rules of hostage return while mocking the process as a generous gesture on the part of the Palestinian terrorists. The 'ceasefire' that had given Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and other such groups the opportunity to recruit, rearm and reaffirm their ironclad intention to continue planning and executing attacks on Israel for which the October 7, 2023 invasion and savagery remains their model.

 

In essence, the 'ceasefire' had ended itself when Israeli intelligence analyzed the intention of Hamas leaders to carry on with their death mission for Israel, leading to the inescapable conclusion that the only fitting response to the situation would be a return to Israel's original goal of wiping out the entirety of the Hamas organization; fighters, leaders, weapons stocks, organizational capability. The essentially vital target, the removal of the Hamas leadership.

 

To that end, it was confirmed by the Israel Defense Forces that "the Hamas prime minister and a senior government figure in the Gaza Strip", Essam al-Dalis was among a number of senior terrorists eliminated in the early stages of the campaign. As is usual for the IDF, a vital warning had been issued Tuesday urging residents of Gaza within specific areas to immediately evacuate, as the Israeli forces' operations intensified. 

Civilians were called  upon by IDF spokesperson Avichay Adrace, to relocate to designated shelters located in western Gaza City and Khan Yunis to avoid becoming casualties of the attacks. Citing local Gaza health officials, the Associated Press reported that over 400 Palestinians had been killed in the overnight airstrikes. No one can actually be assured of the veracity of any such claims made by either Hamas or any of its operating arms. Hamas, in any event, reporting on casualties makes no differentiation between civilians and its terrorist operatives.

 

Pic: IDF handout

"[An Israeli official] claimed that in recent days during the ceasefire Hamas has been preparing to carry out new attacks against Israel and has taken steps to rearm."

"The official said the IDF kept the operational plan top secret and within a relatively small circle in order to surprise Hamas."

Axios Report

 

"[The IDF is] attacking targets of the Hamas terrorist organization throughout the Gaza Strip in order to achieve the objectives of the war as they have been determined by the political echelon including the release of all of our hostages, the living and the deceased."

"Israel will, from now on, act against Hamas with increasing military strength."

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Office statement

The attack coincided with the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Somewhat similar to Egypt and Syria attacking Israel in 1973 on Yom Kippur, the Judaic holy Day of Atonement. There is an interpretation that this could signal a full resumption of the war, incited by Hamas when terrorists invaded southern Israel on October 7, 2023, thousands of terrorists primed to enact a scene straight out of Hell, complete with mass rape, mutilation, torching of family homes with the residents huddled for safety in their 'safe rooms', where the mostly civilian population of southern Israel's farming kibbutzim were targeted for annihilation.

 

Hamas terrorists stand in formation ahead of a hostage release in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Feb. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Hamas's plans included the hostage-taking of families, the elderly, infants, teens, women, foreign farm workers and Israeli soldiers. Even the dead were considered useful pawns as hostages, bundled off with the terrified living hostages to the extensive tunnel systems of Gaza, to be confined in dark, dank underground cells without natural light, breathing foetid air, and experiencing a lack of adequate food and water and medical supplies. The remaining two dozen hostages believed to still be alive, remain in terrorist hands.

 

"We are shocked, angry and terrified by the deliberate dismantling of the process to return our loved ones from the terrible captivity of Hamas", mourned the Hostages and Missing Families Forum. And one can only commiserate with their anguish, hoping against hope that their loved ones will somehow be returned to them. Hamas enjoys its sadistic cat-and-mouse games with vulnerable and helpless captives.

 

While the United States and Israel have been stepping up attacks across the region this week, the retaliatory campaign against Hamas is being carried out with a view to bringing Israel's goal of eradicating the terrorist group entirely, closer to accomplishment as an end-game goal. In concert with the U.S. launching strikes against Yemen's Houthis spurred on by Iran, Israel has targeted Iran's terrorist proxies in Lebanon and Syria.

 

Israeli soldiers patrol a street in northern Gaza on Wednesday. The Israeli military launched a new ground offensive in Gaza, a day after Israel 'broke a ceasefire' with a punishing series of airstrikes. Jack Guez/AFP via Getty Images

"[U.S. President Donald Trump] has made it clear: Hamas, the Houthis, Iran, all those who seek to terrorize not just Israel but also the United States of America will see a price to pay."

"All hell will break loose."

"[All of] the terrorists in the Middle East [should take Trump] very seriously when he says he is not afraid to stand for law-abiding people ... and our friend and ally Israel."

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt

Canada Versus U.S. President Donald Trump's Trade War

"He's a different guy and doesn't have a history with Trump. There was some baggage with Trudeau."

"That's positive because Trump is very sensitive to personal interactions."

"There's a fine line between going after Trump, and alienating him entirely." 

Daniel Beland, political-science professor, McGill University, Montreal

 

"The difference between [Mark] Carney and Trudeau is Carney doesn't seek to make a point or to virtue-signal. When he goes to see Trump, it's about getting a deal."

"The president's transactional, and Carney has a lot of experience in negotiating over the years."

Lisa Raitt, former Conservative cabinet minister

 

"Canada needs to continue having a proportionate response to any and all economic attacks from the U.S."

"We will do that, in part, by keeping our tariffs on the Americans for as long as they have their own tariffs and until the Americans show us respect and make credible, reliable commitments to free and fair trade."

Spokesperson for Carney

From left: U.S. President Donald Trump, Prime Minister Mark Carney and Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre. Trump said on Tuesday “it doesn’t matter” to him which one of the other two wins the next Canadian election. Photo by Roberto Schmidt/AFP via Getty Images; Thomas Padilla/AP; Dave Chan/AFP via Getty Images

 

Since Donald Trump's re-election in the United States, he has repeatedly spoken of Justin Trudeau, while still Prime Minister of Canada, as 'Governor' Trudeau. Strained relations between the two date back to Mr. Trump's first term in office as President of the United States. They since went from cold to downright frozen, with Mr. Trudeau referring in public statements to 'Donald'. And cementing that hostility by calling his tariffs "dumb". But that was a month ago, and PM Trudeau is no more, to the great relief of most Canadians. In his place is the new leader of the Liberal Party, elevated to the Prime Minister's Office at least as long as it takes for an election to be called.

 

U.S. President Donald Trump has made the political situation in Canada even more tense, at a time when the Canadian economy is hobbling along due to poor decision making and inaction in necessary exploitation spheres of Canadian resources by the Liberal government, hobbling business and trade with its overweening focus on the environment to the detriment of the Canadian economy. Thanks to Mr. Trump's truculent, eruptive behaviour it is not only Canada, but Mexico, China, and the European Union, Japan and South Korea whose economic futures have been thrown a fastball with the threat of steep American tariffs. 

 

For the present, PM Mark Carney governs Canada with the mind of a technocrat and global economist. The country's goal, he has said, must be to build the strongest economy in the Group of Seven. The fly in that aspirational ointment is that while Trudeau's embrace of environment issues was inconvenient to economic growth for Canada, Carney's will be even more so, as a committed environmentalist whose past statements and actions distinguished him as every bit as passionate on the issue as his predecessor.

 

Mr. Carney has stated he is in no hurry to visit Washington to meet with the man who has said that Canada is not a viable country. But that it would make a very good 51st state, in surrendering its sovereignty and that it is his intention to destroy the Canadian economy in a bid to convince Canadians that joining the United States is where their destiny lies. Generally speaking, a great preponderance of the Canadian public has no interest whatever in doing such a thing, and the resentment engendered by these repetitive utterances is of magnitudes of disgust.

 

 At the "appropriate time, under a position where there's respect for Canadian sovereignty", stated Mr. Carney, he would be willing to undertake such a trip. On the other hand, the recognition must be there, that no one can talk reason to an unreasonable mind. In the meanwhile, Carney has undertaken trips to France and Britain in a bid to shore up relations with the two founding countries during the colonial days prior to confederation when relations with the Indigenous populations of the country were fraught with all the ills that accompany colonization.

 

Canadian officials from the provincial to the federal governments had been visiting Washington to speak with their counterparts over the issue of tariff threats. Those threats have turned out to be predictive of the man making them having no intention of not imposing them. Threatening further that if counter-tariffs were to be imposed it would be his intention to raise already-high tariffs even more. In the end the U.S. levies have been matched tariff-for-tariff on incoming U.S. goods to Canada, infuriating the U.S. president, that any other country would be so bold as to thwart his intention of one-way tariffs.

 

Canada's official opposition through Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is now appealing to the voting public with his own agenda items; curbing public spending, reducing foreign aid, cutting taxes and stimulating business investments. The frank hope for the future is, once a general election is called and the voters finally have the opportunity to make their choice between a Liberal government that has spent a decade beggaring the economy, mounting a colossal public debt, alienating the country from East to West, transforming its culture and heritage and burdening the country with an impossibly high and divisive immigration rate that has failed its public health service and housing market, Canada will have a new, commonsense Conservative government.  

Prime Minister Mark Carney, while speaking in Iqaluit on Tuesday, announced that Canada will be working alongside Australia to build an early warning radar system in the Arctic.  CBC