Threatening, Overwhelming, Intimidating Municipal Councils

"If my colleagues wanted to champion these types of national and international issues, I would highly encourage them to step aside from their posts on council and to campaign to become a member of Parliament."

New Westminster councillor Daniel Fontaine

"In my 21 years as a trustee, we've had challenging situations in our boardroom but we've never had anything like this, when staff and trustees are put in a place where they are fearful to the point where people are assaulted."

David Green, chair, Peel District School Board

One of several speakers at a recent New Westminster city council meeting that delivered deputations accusing Israel of committing genocide. The meeting was packed with anti-Israel activists who were there to ensure that councilors passed a resolution backing an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. Photo by City of New Westminster livestream

A city council meeting taking place in New Westminster, British Columbia saw itself pitted against delegates in keffiyehs whose presence had one purpose: to pressure councillors to commit to issuing a resolution for an unconditional ceasefire in Gaza. Public deputations were dominated by speakers who each in turn accused Israel of genocide. One Jewish woman in her turn to speak opposed the condemnations and she was "scoffed, sneered, and giggled at from the gallery".

 

This event represented yet another protest organized by Samidoun, a group headquartered in Canada with comfortable association to terror organizations out of Gaza, some of the groups that took part in the October 7 atrocities in Israel included. Samidoun is outlawed in Germany as a group that "supports violence to reach political goals", but not in Canada, which has given it charitable status, even though evidence exists that at least some of the funding it raises is shared with Hamas.

Municipalities have no jurisdiction over foreign affairs, which makes it meaningless for these intimidation tactics to be imposed on municipalities, other than forcing them through sheer strength of numbers and violent threats to appear to support the 'Palestinian cause', which in effect is the Hamas cause for the elimination of Israel and the death of Jews. 

For months -- since the Gaza invasion of Israel that resulted in the gruesome deaths of over 1,200 Israeli children, women, the elderly, men and foreign farm workers, along with Israeli soldiers, the wounding of thousands more and the hostage-taking of 240 infants, teens, women and elderly -- 'pro-Palestinian' groups in Canada have inundated municipal councils with their vociferous presence at meetings to insist through screaming, intimidation and violence, that they condemn Israel's invasion of Gaza.

These events have forced municipalities overwhelmed by 'ceasefire now' activism to set aside municipal affair duties in an effort to isolate themselves from these boisterous and threatening crowds with their well-rehearsed agendas and bullying tactics. At a meeting of the Peel school board in Ontario, protesters overwhelmed events with their demands that the usual agenda be set aside and a series of declarations accusing Israel of genocide be issued.

Brantford City Hall in Ontario was picketed by hundreds of protesters when the Brantford Muslim Association among others orchestrated delegates to pack a city council meeting and fill the speaker's list with their demands. The meeting was described as 'heated', full of 'high emotions'. One speaker's outburst almost led to an ejection from council chambers, but laudable restraint on the part of council tolerated the extreme tactics imposed upon them.

The city council in Brantford had issued a statement denouncing the October 7 attacks as "cowardly terrorist actions", and called for an Israeli flag to be flown in solidarity, publicly denouncing "the actions of Canadian residents who publicly celebrated the cowardly terrorist attacks on the State of Israel". Leading to the local Muslim association expressing "shock and disbelief", that their councillors had sided with Israel. The demonstration that ensued succeeded in city council withdrawing, and apologizing for the pro-Israel statement.

 

Surrey, British Columbia was forced to evacuate council chambers when a meeting was overwhelmed by an anti-Israel delegation chanting, screaming at councillors and accusing the council of being "murderers". An innocuous declaration by Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke's joint condemnation of both antisemitism and Islamophobia infuriated Muslims when she called for peace "In Israel and in Gaza", without making mention of October 7.

 

"I was personally taken aback that they got so cross." The mayor finally saw the need to order a "clearing" of the council chambers for the council to be enabled to control the meeting. "I never thought I was going to have to do" that rare action, she said.

Videos taken from outside the Peel school board meeting show demonstrators surging past security, pushing a large guard into the room. Photo by palestinepdsb /Instagram