Scurrilous Antisemitic Doxxing

"The Canadian Jews on this list are quite possibly the most unflappable members of our Jewish community. I don't think we'll be intimidated by it, if that's the intention. I don't think it's an acceptable thing to happen in Canada."

"It's kind of sad that in this day and age, it's such a show of courage to stand up for the Canadian Jewish community. It shouldn't be hard for our leaders in Canada to denounce hatred of Jews."

"I'm not going to hide under a rock. It's who I am. I'm proud of my service and there's no way I'll hide it. But to put us out there, it feels like it is a bit targeted. What's the purpose of that?"

Rebecca Garner, Canadian citizen 

"The soldier is most likely to have grown up in a Greater Toronto Area neighbourhood with a larger-than-average proportion of Jewish residents in what they'd describe as a Zionist household."

"[On average the type of Canadian who becomes an IDF soldier is] a white Jewish man born and raised in Canada who immigrated to Israel in their late teens with the express purpose of joining its military."

"[Readers can send in tips] about other Canadians that have joined the Israeli military [for the ongoing  database project]."

"[This is] an entirely reader-funded publication that puts the working class first."

"There is nothing antisemitic about the website as the individuals were included based on their service in the Israeli military, not their religious identity."

"We did not take the website down, and are working to restore it. We expect it to be restored soon."

Davide Mastracci, author of online list --  Find IDF Soldiers -- published in The Maple 

"I stand in solidarity with [Canada's] Jewish community. When they target one of us, they are targeting all of us."

"The people being targeted are Canadians. It's a Canadian issue when Canadians are doxxed. Additionally, I know some of the people on the list. I have stood with them in Toronto, and I will continue to stand with them and Canada's Jewish community against this blatant campaign."

"I want the community to know that you are not alone and, together, we will fight to restore the city and country that we knew and love."

Member of Parliament Kevin Vuong

 

"I am a public figure. Last year, I was disinvited on March 8 [to an International Women's Day event in Ontario] because I served in the IDF [Israel Defense Forces]."

"I got death threats ... just absolutely ridiculous."

"[I am] not at all [intimidated by the list]."

Leah Goldstein, public speaker

Leah Goldstein, now 56, lived in Israel from age 17 until 32. She was a world champion kickboxer, an experience that qualified her to become head of instruction for Krav Maga, the IDF fighting system for Israeli soldiers. She had been invited as a keynote speaker last March for an International Women's Day event. Her invitation was cancelled when a group cited her service in the Israeli military, claiming her to be tainted by her collaboration with a military that had entered Gaza to destroy the Hamas terrorist group responsible for an epic-magnitude invasion of Israel of sadist savagery leaving 1,200 civilians -- from infants to adults -- slaughtered, and 120 taken hostage.

 

In the atmosphere circulating within Canada sponsored in large part by the Liberal government of Justin Trudeau whose embrace of Critical Race Theory and DEI set the stage for the domination of progressive-left activism, which paved the way for antisemitic rallies led by Palestinian student groups whose hostile actions against Canadian Jews won the support of a significant number of academics and university students, isolation of Jews in Canada along with threats against the Jewish community became normalized and tolerated. For her part, the targeting of Leah Goldstein resulted in the collapse of her once-numerous speaking engagements. 

When Rebecca Garner, 34 years of age, discovered her name placed on a list that formed part of a database titled "Find IDF Soldiers" she was fairly well taken-aback. An article titled "Meet 85 Canadians that have Fought for Israel" was featured in an online publication -- The Maple -- which was linked to the list. Having served from 2011 to 2014 in the IDF, Garner characterized the list and the article as a "pretty clear expression of hatred for Jews". Born and  raised in Canada, she was motivated to join the IDF in tribute to her Holocaust-survivor grandparents.

 

The article in question states its purpose is meant to provide a database, according to its author, of "mini-profiles for as many Canadians that have fought in the Israeli military at any point as I could find (because) there is little existing research in Canada beyond one-off news articles about who these soldiers are and how they came to make the life choices that they did".

"Throughout this time, the Israeli military has been credibly accused by and/or before major international bodies of ethnic cleansing, war crimes, apartheid, and now genocide. Israeli soldiers have also provided the physical force necessary to uphold practices the Canadian government has condemned, such as the occupation of the West Bank and the creation of new settlements. Despite this, the Canadian government has shown no interest in making it illegal for its citizens to join the Israeli military, preventing them from doing so or even keeping track of them."

Davide Mastracci

The author of these provocatively innocent pieces denies they are meant as doxxing articles; merely devices of keeping track of Canadian Jews who distinguish themselves as lending their efforts as Jews to the Jewish state, in its defence. Nothing malicious about that, is there? A running database for the convenience of any readers interested in perhaps making contact with those listed, out of curiosity, certainly nothing more. The Maple website is meant to serve the ordinary person, it states, and quite ordinarily many persons in Canada share an overriding conviction of Jews as 'the hated other'.

 

The list happens to include Israel's Special Envoy for Combatting Antisemitism, Michal Cotler-Wunsh, design expert on The Morning Show Shai DeLuca, journalist and author Matti Friedman, and cyclist and public speaker Leah Goldstein. It also included Ben Mizrahi, who made use of his army medic training in an effort to save lives. He was murdered by Hamas terrorists on October 7. 

"[The publication of this list is a] shameful attempt at intimidation."

"There is a long history of Canadians, particularly those with dual citizenship, who have served in the militaries of democratic allies of Canada, whether in countries like Israel, the United States, or the United Kingdom."

"In fact, some of the people in this list served as far back at the 1940s. Others on the list have lived in Israel for decades and have written books about their military service."

Noah Shack, Interim President, Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs

One notable reader comment to the published article: "This article has nothing to do with freedom of speech; it is a clear accomplice and a precursor to something like Kristallnacht. One can try to camouflage the idea of this article and present themselves as an innocent investigator of an interesting issue. However, a wolf in sheep's clothing is betrayed by its large wolf's tail and a huge stack of yellow Jewish stars, ready to be sewn onto the Canadians who served in the IDF."

Canada, Fundraising Haven for Palestinian Terrorism

"It is such an honour to be here in Beirut today, one among a sea of over a million people in collective tribute, mourning, love and commitment to the road of resistance and liberation exemplified by Sayyed Hassan Nasralla and Sayyed Hisham Safieddine."

Charlotte Kates, Canadian citizen, co-founder, Samidoun Terrorist group, Vancouver-based

 

"Today, I attended the funeral of Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut."

"During the ceremony, Israeli warplanes flew low over the stadium on two occasions, provoking a defiant response from tens of thousands of mourners."

Dimitri Lascaris, lawyer 'activist journalist', Canadian citizen 

"Barakat [Khaled Barakat, Samidoun co-founder] has previously publicly acknowledged Samidoun's affiliation with the PFLP [Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine terrorist group outlawed in Canada], despite direction from PFLP leadership to maintain the confidential nature of the relationship."

U.S. Treasury Department statement

Charlotte Kates posted this photo on her X account with the following caption: "It is such an honor to be here in Beirut today, one among a sea of over a million people in collective tribute, mourning, love and commitment to the road of resistance and liberation exemplified by Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and Sayyed Hisham Safieddine." Photo by Charlotte Kates /X

Charlotte Kates, who styles herself an 'international coordinator' for Samidoun, circulated photographs of herself at the Beirut 'funeral' of Hezbollah's leader Hassan Nasrallah, while holding a Samidoun flag. Apart from her presence at the event, two other Canadians were in attendance to mourn the assassination by Israeli airstrikes of Hassan Nasrallah and Hashem Safieddine, leaders of the Islamist terror group. Representatives of Islamist terrorist groups gathered in their tens of thousands to pay homage to the two acclaimed terrorist leaders, beloved of the Islamic Republic of Iran theocratic leadership and its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

 

Lebanon's largest sports arena was used as a venue for this public funeral, where mass chants of 'death to Israel, 'death to America' rang out. The current head of Hezbollah, Naim Qassam, gave a keynote address to the crowd -- remotely, in fear he would become the third in succession to be assassinated by the military of the country that remains the sole target of Islam's terrorist contingent. 

It is telling just how deeply Islamist terrorism has infiltrated Canada at all levels of society, from its growing Muslim population, ascending to become stealth-acting members of government at every level. Dimitri Lascaris, one of the three Canadians attending this notorious event was a candidate for the leadership of the far left Green Party of Canada in 2020; a former chair of the board of directors for Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East. Yet another innocuous-sounding title for yet another group whose purpose is to slander Israel, to mount divestment campaigns in BDS and to persuade others that Palestinians are entitled to the Judean ancestral land that present-day Israel sits upon.

 

The Israel Air Force flyby Lascaris referred to in a video he shot of the warplanes buzzing the funeral was confirmed by Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz to include the very types of aircraft used to assassinate both Nasrallah and Safieddine in separate incidents; intended to send a 'message' to the faithful in Hezbollah. "You will specialize in funerals, and we will [specialize] in victories", he had stated. 

Born in the United States, Kates claims Canadian citizenship, living in Vancouver since 2009, founding Samidoun with her husband Khaled Barakat, a high-ranking member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, recognized as a terrorist group in Canada since 2003. Samidoun was also declared a terror entity following Samidoun organizers seen burning a Canadian flag on the steps of the Vancouver Art Gallery, leading chants of "death to Canada", during one of their pro-Hamas demonstrations following the events of October 7, 2023 when Hamas operatives by the thousands that included PFLP members, stormed across the border from Gaza into Israel to perpetrate a savage bloodbath killing 1,200 and taking 120 Israeli children, elderly, women and men along with foreign farm workers into Gaza as hostages.

 

To say that the current Liberal-led Justin Trudeau government is soft on Palestinian terrorism is a bit of an understatement. Despite the fact that these terrorist groups are classed as such in Canada, no level of government has acted to outlaw them and arrest those supporting them in Canada. Their ongoing representations on behalf of Palestinian terrorism, openly supporting the sadistic savagery of October 7, the mutilation and rapes of Israeli girls and women, the torching of Israeli homes with entire families inside, the wholesale slaughter of a high percentage of Israelis living in border kibbutzim (communal farming villages), with no official intervention, much less action on the part of Canadian police forces.

 

The United States assigning terror status to Samidoun, stated that the group headquartered in Canada functions as an "international fundraiser" for the PFLP. While in Lebanon, Barakat writes openly about co-ordinating 'resistance' activities with Hezbollah. "This country Lebanon, will fight, and will emerge stronger and unified, trampling the criminal Zionists and imperialists", he stated while praising the Al-Aqsa Flood, so named by Hamas as a titular nomenclature for the massive bloodletting October 7 campaign of 2023. 

Also present for the funeral last Sunday for Nasrallah, Barakat made an on-camera appearance for the English-language propaganda outlet of the Islamic Republic of Iran: "Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah was an exceptional historical leader and we are very lucky that we lived in his time", he stated, lauding the Hezbollah leader whose butchery against Israel gained him fame in the Islamist world of terrorism. Barakat also boasts Canadian citizenship.

 

Despite having been designated by Canada as a terrorist group, Samidoun's website and social media channels continue to function openly with no intervention by any government agency. They continue their solicitation of donations, while continuing to support the BDS movement, and although under suspicion of terrorism activity and subject to court-ordered conditions barring Kates from attending public protests she was still able to travel to Iran where she accepted an Islamic Human Rights Award in recognition of her "anti-Zionist activities". 

Khaled Barakat — the husband of Samidoun leader Charlotte Kates — is seen at a 2015 protest in Brussels in a photo posted on the Samidoun website. Israel’s internal security service alleges that Barakat is a senior figure in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a listed terrorist organization in Canada and elsewhere. Photo by samidoun.net

Cruel and Malicious Agreement Violation

"We will work with determination to bring Shiri home together with all our hostages -- both living and dead -- and ensure that Hamas pays the full price for this cruel and malicious violation of the agreement."

"The sacred memory of Oded Lifshitz and Ariel and Kfir Bibas will be forever enshrined in the heart of the nation."

"May God avenge their blood. And so we will avenge."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu 

"[We have] no interest in retaining any bodies."

"[We have] demonstrated full compliance with the agreement [in recent days and remain] committed to all its terms."

"We reject Netanyahu's threats."

Hamas statement 

Yarden, Shiri, Ariel and Kfir Bibas 

 

The body of Oded Lifshitz, 83 when he was abducted on October 7, 2023, was returned to Israel in a casket. This was a man who lived in a kibbutz on the border of Southern Israel with Gaza. He was an exponent of peace between the two neighbours. And he arranged to pick up and deliver Gazans, including Palestinian children to  hospitals in Israel for medical treatment. He and those others like him who lived in the border kibbutzes believed in peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

 

Palestinian farm workers found regular employment in the Israeli kibbutzes, enabling them to earn a wage far superior than anything they could find in employment-bare Gaza. These Palestinian farm workers became familiar with the Israelis among whom they worked. Comfortable enough that they all ate their meals communally in the kibbutz's dining halls. And it was from among these trusted Palestinian farm workers that Hamas operatives planning the October 7 invasion of the kibbutzim were given hand-drawn maps of the kibbutzes, including which of the structures held members of each kibbutz's security team.

 

Some of the Palestinian civilians accompanying the  terrorist groups during the invasion were familiar to the terrorized Israelis who were being raped, dismembered and slaughtered. Oded Lifshitz was one of them. Of the four caskets that were delivered in a handover from Hamas to the Red Cross, then to waiting Israeli IDF members, two were tiny affairs, holding the bodies of a four-year-old child and a 10-month-old infant, sibling brothers, Kfir and Ariel Bibas.

 

 

Their mother Shiri Bibas was purportedly in one of the two large adult-sized caskets. All were taken to the forensics unit for verification of identity. It was quickly evident that it was not Shiri Bibas in the casket meant to hold her, but the body of an unknown woman from Gaza. Devastating news for her waiting family members, already wholly traumatized by their experiences of the past fifteen months, and particularly so for her husband Yarden, father of their two babies.

 

Hamas responded to the revelation and the fury of Israel by demurring over malicious intention; no, never would they be so inhumanely sadistic, and they would "conduct a thorough review" of the information with respect to the body. Moreover, they demanded the immediate return of the body in Shiri's casket, that of a Palestinian woman. What occurred, they said was an error in remains resulting from Israeli bombing of the area where the Israeli hostages had been held. The following day another casket was  delivered, this time confirmed that it held the body of Shiri Bibas.

 

IDF officers salute a casket containing the body of slain hostage Shiri Silberman Bibas, late on February 21, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)

Hamas had informed Israeli authorities a year ago that the Bibas family, mother and two infants were killed in an Israeli bombing raid into Gaza. They set up a video featuring Yarden Bibas, held separately from  his family, taunting him with the information that his wife and children were dead. No one in Israel believed they were dead, and Yarden, released from captivity two weeks earlier, held steadfast to the idea that they were alive and would be released to him. 

"We identified Shiri Bibas two days after we identified her children. Our examination found no evidence of injuries caused by bombing."

"[The medical staff at Abu Kabir had worked] professionally and carefully to provide clear answers to the Lifshitz and Bibas-Silberman families [since receiving the bodies, first on Thursday and then on Friday night]."

"It’s a difficult day for the families, for us, the medical staff, and for the entire nation of Israel."

Dr. Chen Kugel, director of the National Institute of Forensic Medicine (Abu Kabir) 

On Friday, Israeli Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari cleared  up the Hamas contention that the Bibas babies had been killed along with their mother in an Israeli air strike. Dr. Kugel, the pathologist had already stated that mother Shiri had not died of wounds consistent with an air strike. Then came the statement from Rear Admiral Hagari: "The terrorists did not shoot the two young boys — they killed them with their bare hands. Afterward, they committed horrific acts to cover up these atrocities." 

Shiri Bibas is led into Gaza by her Palestinian abductors, carrying Kfir and Ariel in her arms

Israelis in Deep Mourning, Palestinians in Joyous Celebration

"We share in the deep sorrow of the Lifshitz family. Today, 503 days after the October 7 massacre, we have determined that Oded Lifshitz was murdered in captivity over a year ago."

"[Lifshitz was] murdered in captivity by the Islamic Jihad terrorist organization."

Dr. Chen Kugel, head,  National Center of Forensic Medicine, Israel

 

"503 agonizing days of uncertainty have come to an end."

"Now we can mourn the husband, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather who has been missing from us since October 7."

"Our family’s healing process will begin now and will not end until the last hostage is returned."

Lifshitz family statement

Hamas on Thursday put on a macabre handover ceremony in central Gaza to return the bodies of four Israeli hostages taken on October 7, 2023.   CNN

"Please, world], continue doing everything possible [to ensure all hostages return home]."

"Sadly, my family hasn’t returned to me yet. They are still there. My light is still there, and as long as they’re there, everything here is dark."

"Thanks to you, I was brought back - help me bring the light back to my life."

Yarden Bibas, husband of Shiri Bibas, father of Ariel 4, and Kfir Bibas, 10 months

 

A Hamas terrorist stands on a stage in Khan Younis, Gaza, next to the coffins of four Israeli hostages.

Eyad Baba/AFP/Getty Images

Four coffins, four Israeli hostages held by Hamas terrorists in Gaza, finally returned to their families in Israel for burial. Four souls murdered by Palestinian terrorists; each of those deaths represent a 'victory' to those soulless ghouls for whom the handover was an occasion of pomp and ceremony whose cynicism and cruelty plumbed the depths of human depravity. All the more so the sadism involved in returning not the body of the mother of the two little boys, but that of a Palestinian Gazan woman in her stead. An 'error' rectified the following day with smirking cruelty.

 

The caskets were carried by Hamas members through an organized crowd of Palestinian civilians from Gaza; men, women and children in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza City. The transfer was livestreamed by The Associated Press, CNBC, CNN, with hordes of Palestinians celebrating, loud music enlivening the event.  The American news networks there to witness and to convey in living technicolour the victory parade of murdered infants, their mother, an elderly peacemaker who made a specialty of catering to the needs of his Palestinian neighbours from his kibbutz in southern Israel.

 

A stage had been built by Hamas to showcase the event as a triumph. The backdrop held a caricature of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, showing him as a bloodsucking vampire, an antisemitic trope that Hitler would have approved of. The Bibas family is shown below, flooded in red, symbolic of their deaths. Demonstrative of the way they died, cruelly. The infants by strangulation, their bodies mangled to leave the impression that an Israeli airstrike had caused their deaths. 

In some of the featured videos of this sinister event, Palestinian children were shown dancing on the stage. "I have no words. Palestinian children in Gaza celebrating after the Bibas babies' and their mother's along with Oded Lipschitz's coffins were presented on the same stage. Oded used to drive Palestinian children to hospitals in Israel for treatment", wrote Israeli writer Hen Mazzig. 

"Their bodies were handed over to the Red Cross today after Hamas paraded them in Gaza in a shocking display of cruelty and propaganda."

"Hamas's treatment of these victims in death is as abhorrent as their treatment in life. The terror group labelled each casket with 'Date of arrest: October 7' -- a blatant distortion of the truth."

"These innocent civilians were not arrested; they were violently kidnapped from their homes during Hamas's brutal attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, and murdered in captivity."

World Jewish Congress

For the earlier release of other, living hostages, freed in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in a lopsided ratio of four hostages for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, some of whom were handed life sentences for the murder of Israelis, the celebratory protocol was somewhat different. The women were crowded by masked, uniformed terrorists holding their rifles, crushed close to the vehicles that would carry them to freedom by the press of Palestinian civilians taking joy and pride in the event.

 

The former hostages paraded through jeering crowds, forced to smile for photographs with their captors. For the occasion of the release of the four dead Israelis, unlike the previous events where, despite the disgusting spectacle of terrorist cheerleading, Israelis welcoming the hostages home were buoyant and joyful. On this occasion,  however, a solemn hush descended, widespread grief and suffering seen on the faces of those paying their respect to the homecoming of two little boys, their mother and an 83-year-old hostage. 

"Our hearts -- the hearts of n entire nation -- lie in tatters."

"On behalf of the State of Israel, I bow my head and ask for forgiveness."

"Forgiveness for not protecting you on that terrible day."

"Forgiveness for not bringing you home safely."

Israeli President Isaac Herzog

Shiri, Ariel, and Kfir Bibas are shown in this photo.

The Savagery Behind the Handover of Murdered Israeli Infants

Hamas terrorists gather at the site of the handing over of the bodies of four Israeli hostages including the Bibas family, who have become symbols of the hostage crisis that has gripped the region since the Gaza war broke out. (Eyad Baba/AFP)

"[The Bibas family's story is] very, very tragic. It's hard to look at their pictures and not cry for their fate and feel emotional."

"You can see what wonderful people they are, and how sweet the little children are."

"I'm trying to express hope, the optimism that they would be released."

Israeli artist/activist Zeev Engelmayer 

"[Yarden] believes that the claim that Shiri and the children were killed is Hamas's speculation, and if  he believes it -- who are we to say otherwise?"

"We draw strength from him, from his faith."

Jimmy Miller, cousin of Shiri Bibas 

A year or more ago, Hamas informed the IDF that Shiri Bibas and her four-year-old son Ariel, and Kfir, 9 months, were killed in an Israeli Defense Forces airstrike in Khan Younis. Intelligence agents, citing no evidence, refused to give the report authentication, and hopes were high that the three would eventually be returned to Israel through a prisoner exchange. The infants' father, Yarden, had been  kidnapped separately from his family. During his imprisonment he was subjected to psychological torture, informed that his family was dead, his reaction filmed in a video for media distribution.

 

The coffins containing the bodies of, from right to left, Shiri Bibas, her two children, Ariel and Kfir, and Oded Lifshitz, who was 83 when he was abducted, are displayed on a stage before being handed over to the Red Cross by Hamas in Khan Younis on Thursday. (Abdel Kareem Hana/AP)

 

Despite which, or perhaps because of which, their  relatives and supporters held out hope that they would all survive their captivity. "They are breaking into our house ... it feels like the end", the children's father wrote to his sister during the attack on their home in Kibbutz Nir Oz in southern Israel on October 7, 2023. Videos that the terrorists themselves had taken with body cams as they hunted down Israeli civilians, raping, torturing, killing, torching homes with entire families inside, showed Hamas operatives and Palestinian civilians moving house to house slaughtering young and old.

 

In nearby Kibbutz Be'eri, the killing was methodical, consuming hours of butchery. The video of Kfir and Ariel Bibas held by their frightened, traumatized mother, surrounded by men in civilian clothing as they were being taken hostage to Gaza has been familiar to an international audience. It is an iconic picture of a terrified woman and two infants on their journey to an untimely death. There were other mothers and their children who were more promptly and efficiently killed 500 days ago. Their particulars are unknown to a large general public, the Bibas family is recognized through the proliferation of their visages in pleas to bring the hostages home.

 

A drone view shows Palestinians and militants gathering around Red Cross vehicles on Thursday, the day Hamas hands over the bodies of deceased hostages Oded Lifshitz, Shiri Bibas and her two children, Kfir and Ariel Bibas, in the Gaza Strip. (Stringer/Reuters)

Finally, they were to return home. Not as they were, in the blush of youth and health and a promising future. But in three coffins, one adult-sized, and two whose dimensions tore at the heartstrings of Israelis and Jews everywhere, along with their non-Jewish supporters. Yarden Bibas, freed from captivity only weeks earlier, held out hope against hope that they might somehow have survived the intentions of their brutal captors and he would be reunited with them. They are now reunited, not as he wished and imagined, but as their fate dictated.

 

His two tiny sons will be mourned as tradition demands for their grievous loss. Yet, where is his wife? The body that was returned in a coffin purporting to hold Shiri Bibas was not that of his wife, but that of a stranger whose identity is unknown. A woman who was not an Israeli hostage, a corpse of mystery. More mysteriously sinister is the absence of the Bibas babies' mother, the question hovering ghostlike and fearful, where is she, what happened to her, could she still be among the living?

 

Past masters at sadistic savagery, savouring the pain they impose on those they hate, Hamas has a tradition of exacting anguish, delectating and delighting over the prolongation of deep-seated, maddening anguish, viewing it as a victory over the hated. That inhumanity, from the thousands of terrorists who flooded southern Israel to inflict suffering and death on innocent civilians who had in fact commiserated with the Palestinian civilians living in Gaza, arranging to drive them to medical and hospital services in Israel failed to resonate with the world at large. Nor did the sight of thousands of Gazans surrounding the coffin handovers in celebration of a 'victory'.

 

In a march organized by Within Our Lifetime and co-sponsored by Samidoun, according to Within Our Lifetime, pro-Palestinian protesters rallied in midtown Manhattan on Dec. 25. Selcuk Acar / Anadolu via Getty Images

Out of the woodworks throughout the West came tens of thousands of Palestinians and their Muslim and non-Muslim supporters who had migrated from the countries of their origins to Europe and North America, to demonstrate their solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza, characterizing the raw inhumanity unleashed by Hamas and its sister terrorist groups on Israelis on October 7, as 'understandable', as 'resistance to the occupation'. And nor did the media dispute those popularized 'contextual' sympathies.

 

Mobs of pro-Palestinian, pro-Hamas supporters flocked to the streets of Western cities to express their delight in the comeuppance of Israel, their solidarity with the 'oppressed' Palestinians, their contempt for a Jewish State that imposed its ancestral presence in the Middle East, as a cohort of white, privileged colonizers, dislodging Arab 'Palestinians' from their homeland, crying out for a global Intifada, citing a 'Final Solution', urging Jews everywhere in the diaspora to 'go back to Poland', the messages unmistakable.  

"We know [Hamas] is using the world attention to terrorize people. Should it be covered? It's complicated. This is reality. People died ..."

"We don't want world media to ignore this very important news."

"[Those already traumatized by these events that this week's hostage release] will not be quiet or respectful."

Professor Hagai Levine, Israeli public health physician/researcher

A protest in Australia during the first Gaza war, August 2006. Justin McManus/Fairfax Media via Getty Image

 

 

The Post-Conflict Gaza Conundrum

February 20, senior officials from five Arab states will meet in Riyadh to discuss President Trump’s “Gaza Riviera” proposal, followed by an emergency Arab League summit in Egypt on March 4.

"On February 1, the foreign ministers of Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, along with a representative of the Palestine Liberation Organization, delivered a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio rejecting the administration’s Gaza proposal. “Deportation of Palestinians from their land [will] push the region towards more tension, conflict and instability,” they warned. The missive repeated the perennial demand for a two-state solution but offered no alternatives to Trump’s ideas, nor any tangible Arab role in addressing the immediate challenges posed in Gaza."

"Subsequently, National Security Advisor Mike Waltz suggested that Trump’s proposal was not a definitive U.S. commitment, but rather a starting point for discussion on Gaza’s future disposition. “The president is engaging with our key allies in the region and asking for their input,” he told CBS News on February 5, noting that Trump’s approach would spur “the entire region to come with their own solutions”."

"Tomorrow, officials from Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE will convene for a mini-summit in Riyadh; Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas may attend as well. The meeting will give them a chance to fine-tune Egypt’s purported Gaza plan before rolling it out at the Cairo summit on March 4 and eventually presenting it to the Trump administration."

The Washington Institute for Near East Policy 

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio meets with Saudi Foreign Minister Feb.17/25, AP

 

In a counter to President Donald Trump's proposal to wholesale depopulate the Gaza Strip, with the United States prepared to take it over, Egypt is in the process, in conjunction with other members of the Arab League, of developing an alternate plan to rebuild Gaza. According to Egypt's state-operated Al-Ahram newspaper, the proposal calls for the establishment of "secure areas" within Gaza where Palestinians can live  temporarily, as Egyptian and international construction firms remove the territory's ruined infrastructure and rebuild it.

 

The plan has been shared in discussion with European diplomats, along with Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, according to both Western diplomats and two Egyptian officials. Discussions are also underway on how the reconstruction will be funded. An international conference on Gaza reconstruction may result, according to one of the Egyptian officials, along with an Arab diplomat. The total sum involved is unsurprisingly substantial, at a proposed $20 billion. The proposal remains in the early negotiating stage.

Central Gaza Strip, February 17/25    AP

These moves are in reflection of an international pushback over President Trump's call for the removal of the Gazan population of approximately two million Palestinians. According to Mr. Trump, the United States is prepared to take over the Gaza Strip, to rebuild it into a "Riviera of the Middle East". Palestinians, under his plan, will not be permitted to reenter the new Gaza. For their part, Palestinians have made it clear they have no intention of leaving Gaza, even as Egypt and Jordan have refused Mr. Trump's call for them to absorb the population of Gaza.

 

In Saudi Arabia on Monday, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated that the United States was interested in hearing alternative proposals. "If the Arab countries have a better plan, then that's great", he said. The proposal, according to Egypt's Al-Ahram newspaper, is designed to "refute American President Trump's logic" and to counter "any other visions or plans that aim to change the geographic and demographic structure of Gaza Strip".  

An agreement on who will govern Gaza in the long term is one critical issue to be determined. The elimination of Hamas as a political or military force in the territory is top of the agenda for Israel, and for obvious reasons. Moreover, should there be consideration of Hamas returning to govern Gaza, international donors are hugely unlikely to contribute to any rebuilding of the Strip. And that would doubtless include both Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Republic, who between them could handily proffer the funds for reconstruction.

 

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi attends the extended format meeting of the BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia on October 23, 2024. ALEXANDER NEMENOV/Pool via REUTERS

 

 

No Way To Land A Plane

"We're in Toronto. We just landed. Our plane crashed. It's upside down."

"Fire department is on site. Were upside down."

"Everybody, most people appear to be okay. We're all getting out."

John Nelson, passenger video

 

"[The plane] impacted [the runway during landing, before parts of the aircraft separated and a fire ensued.]"

"As you can see here, the fuselage came to rest slightly off the right side of the runway, upside down, facing the other direction."

"At this point, it's far too early to say what the cause of this accident might be."

Ken Webster, investigator, Transportation Safety Board

 

"We are very grateful there was no loss of life and relatively minor injuries. [The quick response was due to the] heroic [first responders at the airport]."

"We are very focused on the care and the concern and the passengers and the crew, some of whom have already been reunified with their friends and their families. Others we have in a comfortable place right here at the airport in an environment where they're getting a lot of care and support from my staff."

Deborah Flint, president and CEO, Greater Toronto Airports Authority (GTAA)

 

"[The landing was a ] forceful [event where all of a sudden everything went sideways]."

"The next thing I know, there was kind of a blink, I was upside down and still strapped in."

"It was cement and metal. The absolute initial feeling is just need to get out of this."

Peter Carlson, passenger on the Delta plane

Delta Air Lines plane at Toronto Pearson airport, Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2025.  CTVNews

On Monday, around 3:00 p.m. a social media statement by Toronto Pearson International Airport announced an "incident upon landing", adding that all passengers and crew are "accounted for". "No deaths, thank goodness. That's why (flight) attendants tell everyone to fasten seat belts", a social media statement by Mississauga Mayor Carolyn Parrish followed. A Delta Air Lines plane suffered a crash landing, on the snow-cleared runway.

 

The tower had earlier issued a warning to the pilots to be aware of the potential of an air flow bump in their glide path while the plane began its landing manoeuvres; a result of a preceding aircraft before its entry. The tower at Pearson airport's audio recording indicated that Delta Air Lines Flight 4819 was cleared to land at 2:10 p.m. No additional connection with the Delta flight was recorded and then the tower confirmed at 2:12 p.m. that a plane crashed on runway 23. 

The Meteorological Service of Canada reported that the airport was experiencing blowing snow and winds up to 51 kilometres per hour, gusting to 54 kph. The temperature registered -8.6 C. Immediately after the crash all flight traffic was interrupted, placed on  hold for both arrivals and departures. The New York Post citing flight records, identified the plane as a Mitsubishi CRJ-900LR. Initially there was no word of possible injuries among the passengers debarking.

 

First responders work at the Delta Air Lines plane crash site at Toronto Pearson International Airport in Mississauga, Ont., Monday. (Arlyn McAdorey/Reuters)

 

The rear of the plane was sprayed by an emergency services truck. The Delta Air Lines plane was shown in images posted to social media upside down, with its landing gear pointing skyward, a wing torn completely off, smoke rising from the rear, while passengers were leaving the tarmac. The plane, arriving from Minneapolis, had departed at 11:47 a.m. Outside the plane passengers were moving away from their disabled flight.

 

Passengers walked on the ceiling before managing to evacuate out of the overwing door and the front door. The side of the plane was etched with skid marks close to the front door. The wing rests about 40 metres distant from the plane. Passengers that were injured were taken to hospital, around 20 of them, 17 of whom were eventually released, having suffered minor injuries. Several remain in hospital with more serious injuries, one of whom is a child, taken to Toronto's Sick Kids Hospital. 

A woman in her 40s was sent to Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre wth critical injuries, while a man in his 60s was airlifted to St. Michael's Hospital. Critically injured people reported by Ornge Air Ambulance services added more people than those identified by a local paramedic service spokesperson who spoke of one individual with critical, non-life-threatening injuries and seven others with mild to moderate injuries.

 

Seats may have helped save lives, former transportation safety board investigator says: CBC

 

Elon Musk and Tesla Vehicles in Disfavour

 

"Previously, they were very proud of their car and now we can see that the actions of Elon Musk really divide people, so it's more difficult to be proud of having a Tesla today."

"I think it's going to slow down EV adoption in Canada and I think we're also seeing  fewer purchase incentives in play, which we know has a significant impact."

"All of these things are creating some big headwinds for electrification."

Stephane Pascalon, Tesla Inc. fan club 

A line of electric vehicles of the model Y during the start of the production at Tesla's "Gigafactory" in Gruenheide, Germany. Elon Musk, inset. Patrick Pleul / Andrew Harnik/POOL/AFP / Getty Images

 

The latest tide of controversy that has engulfed the world's wealthiest man, owner of Space X, Tesla and the social media site X, has him in bad odour with many of his once-admirers, in particular people who bought into his electric cars both for the prestige involved and to consolidate their dedication to the belief in climate change brought about by human activities. The current government in Canada has mandated that gas-burning vehicles are out and electric vehicles are in; a reflection of its commitment to fighting Climate Change.

 

Tesla owners have among their group which takes pride in owning Musk's signature road vehicle, those who are now reconsidering their Tesla ownership. Others who may now wish to sell their Tesla model, and will not consider replacing it with a new Tesla. The multi-billionaire's more recent full political immersion in support of President Donald J. Trump's second administration appears to many people that fame and fortune, publicity and cavalier attitudes to serious global upheavals are inappropriate entrees to politics.

 

Elon Musk's new position as a confidante of President Trump, one who has offered to assist in the streamlining of government and whose offer has been rewarded by a post in which he has been tasked to cut and eliminate government waste has not resonated well with many people. Mr. Musk's Nazi-style salute at Mr. Trump's inauguration hit a nerve in many peoples' estimation, linking it with his support for the far-right Alternative for Germany party.

A man holds a sign during a protest outside a Tesla showroom in Seattle on Thursday, February 13, 2025. Manuel Valdes/AP Photo

 

Tesla owners report that some among them were treated to aggressive behaviour on the road, reflecting a generalized anger in the public against Tesla owners and the brand's CEO. In a recent survey, some four percent of respondents revealed they didn't plan to buy a Tesla for their next EV, with a smaller number planning to sell the Tesla vehicles they hold at the present time.

 

Vandalism at a Tesla dealership with an obscene remark about Musk spray-painted on an exterior wall has resulted in a police investigation. A post on Reddit showed the graffiti with thousands of votes of approval. A worldwide protest is being organized to take place in front of Tesla service centres. Politico reported earlier in February that a Tesla car showroom in the Netherlands had been graffitied with swastikas and anti-fascist slogans. A Tesla factory in Germany was defaced by protesters.

 

"I know of at least one person personally who was preparing to purchase a Tesla ... within the next month or two and who has since decided to go a  different way", revealed a board member of Electric Vehicle Society, a non-profit advocating for electric mobility in Canada, preparing for a dip in sales reflecting anti-Musk sentiment.

 

Interestingly, rebate data from Transport Canada's zero-emission vehicle program, reports some 33,000 
Teslas received rebates for new purchases in the past year; down on a per-month basis about 15 percent in comparison to the approximately 50,000 Teslas receiving the rebates in the 2023-24 fiscal year. 

A Tesla with a sticker referring to the car's purchase is shown in Concord, Mass., Dec. 15, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Peter Morgan

The Sad Social Plight of Afghanistan's Women

"Our analysis shows that by 2026, the impact of leaving 1.1 million girls out of school and 100,000 women out of university correlates to an increase in early child-bearing by 45 percent and an increase in maternal mortality by up to 50 percent."

Alison Davidian, Country Representative, UN Women in Afghanistan

 

"Women like us, who fought against the Taliban and their ideology, need to be in safety."

"The Taliban shut down and destroyed everything I had in my facility [small farm where she kept animals as an animal-rights activist]. They're also against keeping pets. "

"With such routine [being virtually a prisoner in her own house] life becomes meaningless as you cannot do what you want outside  your home."

"There were days I couldn't get out of  bed [deep in depression]."

Negin, former UNICEF worker from Mazar-e-Sharif, Afghanistan

A 31-year-old woman sits by the window. She used to be an entrepreneur before the Taliban takeover. Photo: UN Women/Sayed Habib Bidell.

Up to four years ago, under the auspices of the U.S.-led international forces that dispelled Taliban rule and searched for the leader of al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, the eminence grise behind the deadly New York/Washington/Pennsylvania aerial suicide attacks of September 11, 2001, Afghanistan had its re-introduction to democracy and women were freed of the restrictive talons of the Taliban imposed upon them since 1989 following the Soviet Union's departure from Afghanistan after its failed invasion. 

 

In the presence of the Western coalition -- the twenty years from 2001 to 2021 introduced the war-torn country to sweeping social and economic changes. Afghans become involved in sports which both genders participated in, as well as music concerts with male and female singers. Cafes and restaurants served both men and women, after the Taliban years when women were not seen in public, confined to their homes, and permitted outside fully covered only in the company of male relatives. 

 

Women could not be treated by male doctors, nor could they attend hospitals meant for men only. Female surgeons in women-only hospitals served in operating room surgical procedures fully garbed in burqas.Women wee lashed in public squares, stoned in sports stadiums and punished for lack of adherence should they refuse to wear the hijab.

 

In contrast to the situation that prevailed under the U.S.-led coalition, when four million girls were enrolled in school from Grades 1 to 12 in the years 2002 to 2021. There were over 80,000 female teachers in over 18,000 schools while 100,000 Afghan women attended universities. The Afghan parliament had 63 elected female MPs, fully one-third of the total legislators; female journalists and media workers challenged male-dominated officialdom. Women served as cabinet ministers, mayors, governors of provinces, while women also operated small businesses, unlike the Taliban years when women were not permitted to work outside of their homes.

 

Until the Taliban succeeded on August 15, 2021 when the Afghan capital Kabul was captured by the resurgent Taliban. Ashraf Ghani, president of the Republic of Afghanistan, backed by the Western coalition fled to the United Arab Emirates and the nation was in chaos, as the United States withdrew all its troops and diplomatic officials in a 'peace deal' with the Taliban, and the allied nations under UN auspices departed, along with the U.S., leaving the country's population in the hands of the Taliban once again.

Many Afghan women and girls are forced into unwanted marriages. Photo: UN Women/Sayed Habib Bidell.

"I cried out loud when I got engaged. I felt helpless and found myself in a situation where I had no say in my decisions. I was in my second year of university, studying law and political science, and I aspired to work in the judicial system to protect women’s rights in our country. Unfortunately, my dreams were shattered after the return of the Taliban."

"Many of my friends have faced similar fates, giving up their hopes and marrying against their will. For all girls who have been unable to complete their education, marriage is not a choice but a forced reality."

Mahnaz, from Farah, former university student 

Although the Taliban leadership promised the West, in a bid for acceptance and badly needed investment by the West in economically starved Afghanistan, for international investment, and recognition by global bodies, that women's rights would be observed, that the rights of minority groups in Afghanistan would be protected, they soon returned to the former strictures imposed upon women and girls where both could be punished for not adhering to the Taliban's dress code. 

Once again afghan women could appear in public only covered from head to toe by all-enveloping burqas which also covered their faces. Beyond Grade 6, girls could no longer attend school, and university education for women was banned. No offices and workplaces could accept female employees. Women are banned from public places, parks, and nor may they travel long distances in the absence of a male guardian. Medical training as nurses or midwives no longer is permitted.

 

Ebrahim Naroozi, AP

 

"Several times I was thinking of committing suicide because there was no hope and future for me. Women cannot laugh with one another in public. Women cannot go to parks. Women cannot work and study. Do you see hope for yourself?" Of course not, and it makes you think of ending your life."

"Whenever she sees a Talib, she [her twelve-year-old daughter] is scared of them. That's why she always stays at home and cannot go out. She is depressed all the time."

"Whenever she sees girls going to school and living freely in the West [watching television or on social media], she asks me 'Why don't I have such a life and freedom?' Her question stabs my heart like a dagger."

"The most painful part is that I can't do anything for her."

"In exchange for a peace deal with the Taliban, the world traded Afghan women and their future."

Negin, Afghan woman, Mazar-e-Sharif, Afghanistan

 

Mental Illness Ruled out in Munich Vehicular Homicide

"[In questioning, he admitted deliberately driving into the demonstration and] gave an explanation that I would summarize as religious motivation."

"According to all we know at the moment, I would venture to speak of an Islamist motivation."

"[He posted content with religious references -- such as 'Allah -- protect us always' -- on social media, where he described himself as a body-builder and fitness model]."

"I'm very cautious about making hasty judgements, but based on everything we know at the moment, I would venture to speak of an Islamist motivation for the crime." 

Munich Prosecutor Gabriele Tilmann

A car rammed into a union rally in the Bavarian capital, with authorities saying some 36 were injured.

The 24-year-old Afghan failed refugee applicant who drove a Mini Cooper into a procession of trade union protesters in Munich, after an initial investigation, faces 36 counts of attempted murder, bodily harm and dangerous interference with road traffic. A new charge has been added, however, that of the murder of a 37-year-old woman, and her two-year-old child, both trapped under the charging car as it plowed into the back end of the crowd of union protesters.

 

Police have identified the suspect in the Thursday incident as Farhad N. "Unfortunately, we have to confirm the deaths today of the two-year-old child and her 37-year-old mother," police spokesman Ludwig Waldinger announced on Saturday. Mother and child had been rushed to hospital, along with others who had suffered serious injuries; thus far they are the only injured not to have survived the brutal vehicular assault.

 

According to authorities, the suspect arrived in Germany in 2016. Despite his asylum application having been rejected, he was permitted on humanitarian grounds to remain in Germany, under the theory that should he be deported back to Afghanistan, he might face risks there. In Germany he obtained a valid residence and work permit. Police say now he had no previous criminal record, and no evidence exists of a link to a jihadist group.

 

In January, a 28-year-old Afghan asylum seeker stabbed a group of children in a park in the Bavarian town of Aschaffenburg. On that occasion a two-year-old child and a passerby who attempted to intervene were both killed. A month earlier, a 50-year-old Saudi asylum seeker who posed as a critic of Islam drove a vehicle into a German Christmas market, killing six people, and injuring 299 people.

"The brutality of this crime churns our emotions and renders us speechless."

"[The injured included children, some of them seriously. The person responsible would be] held to account according to the law." 

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier 

Guidi Limmer, deputy head of Bavaria's state criminal police office, revealed that investigators found an online chat, seemingly with relatives, in which the suspect wrote "perhaps I won't be there anymore tomorrow". Police have unveiled nothing that might point to concrete preparations for the attack, or whether anyone else had been involved, although that single line in and of itself might indicate mental preparation.

 

Among the jobs he held, one was a work assignment as a store detective. Prosecutor Tillman advised there was no indication of the involvement of a mental illness. Unless one considers, perhaps, that violent Islamism in and of itself is a symptom of a violent pathology that arises sporadically and spontaneously in the faith-demented minds of such as he. 

One might logically query: what  is the purpose and effect of a rejected asylum claim, if the claimant is permitted regardless, to remain in the country which has rejected his asylum request, issued a work permit and live there as a permanent resident...? And how many rejected asylum claimants demonstrating their contempt for the country's generosity does it take to have a second look at the absurdity of the situation?

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Minister for Justice and Transport Volker Wissing and Munich mayor Dieter Reiter lay flowers as they visit a makeshift memorial for the victims of a suspected ramming attack where a 24-year-old Afghan asylum seeker drove a car into a crowd, as the Munich Security Conference (MSC) takes place in Munich, Germany February 15, 2025. REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach