The Passions Unleashed by Dominating Hatred

"[The Al Quds Day rally has] long been a venue for antisemitism, hatred, intimidation and the glorification of terrorism."

"While the judge cited Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms, when we talk about rights we need to be clear that every person has the right to safety and security."

"We need to be clear that no one in Canada has the right to incite violence or free licence to intimidate and hate."

"I won't stop working to put an end to the hatred and division that runs too rampant on Canada's streets." "I won't stop working to protect the greatest province in the greatest country in the world."

Ontario Premier Doug Ford 

 

"The Attorney General has known for at least a year that the Al Quds rally would take place around this time. The Attorney General relies on statements made by protest organizers that date back to 2016. The province of Ontario did not pass any laws or regulations to deal with this event. It did not invoke the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. E.9."

"Even allowing for rapidly moving current events, the Attorney General should not have come to court mere hours before the rally was set to start. There was no possibility of cross-examination on any of the affidavits and the oral argument was necessarily truncated. Such a compressed timetable puts the court in a difficult position."

"There is no evidence that participants at last year’s rally incited hatred or engaged in hate speech. There is no evidence before me of any criminality arising out of this rally in the past, much less evidence that could satisfy me that there is a ‘strong case’ that there will be criminal activity this year."

Ontario Superior Court Justice Robert Centa 

Protesters and counter-protesters demonstrate by the U.S. Consulate during a rally for Al-Quds Day in Toronto, on Saturday, March 14, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sammy Kogan

 

"It was a political show by Ford. He doesn't need any court order. He's a premier and he has a duty, he has power and full authority to implement the law."

"If Ford, [Prime Minister] Mark Carney, Toronto police, [Toronto] Mayor [Olivia] Chow, they don't want to do their job, we the people ... have the duty to stand."

Salmon Sima, Iranian refugee, Canadian activist  

The Premier of Ontario tasked his attorney general to seek a court injunction against the annually ritualized Al Quds Day taking place in Toronto. The injunction application stated: "There is a serious risk of violence arising from or occurring at the rally", including mischief, intimidation and in the process ignoring Criminal Code hate laws that include public incitement of hatred, or wilful promotion of antisemitism. Rally organizers along with the Al-Quds Committee, the Palestinian Youth Movement, Lebanese4Palestine and the Canada-banned terrorist group Samidoun linked with the PFLP were sued by the Province.

Al-Quds Day is a creation of the  Islamic Republic of Iran, dating from the 1979 revolution when the Palestinian 'cause' was taken up by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Quds, the Arabic name for Jerusalem, the contested ancient city of Judean ancestral heritage claimed by the nascent state of Arabic 'Palestine' as their capital, championed by the Iranian regime, became the purpose of the annual rally, a disguised scheme to invalidate Israel's claim to the city and to portray Israel as an interloper, not the rightful claimant through ancient indigeneity. 

Wherever Islamists have settled in the West they subscribe to this historical revisionism and mount such an infamous rally in world capitals.

On Saturday, 14 March, in Toronto, an estimated 4,500 people turned out to the pro-Palestinian rally with a double purpose this year, a protest against the U.S.-Israel bombardment of the Islamic Republic, that very regime that two months earlier slaughtered tens of thousands of Iranian protesters who marched for the end of the regime in cities across Iran, only to be met with armed police action shooting protesters to death, arresting untold numbers to be tortured in Iran's hated prisons. 

 

This is the country that has the Middle East and the West on edge over their nuclear program and medium-to-long-range missiles.

 

A counter-protest also took place outside the U.S. Consulate in Toronto Saturday. (Mercedes Gaztambide/CBC)

 

A counter-rally was staged by Iranian Canadians opposed to the Islamic theocracy that has transformed their country of origin into a pariah in the Middle East and abroad for its broad range of human rights crimes, its well-known support for terrorism and its control of terrorist groups in Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and the Palestinian Territories. Both supporters of Israel, Canadians of Jewish extraction carrying Israeli flags and Iranian Canadians carrying the original flag of Iran under its dynastic Shahs were present to wave their Canadian flags in allegiance to the country which under the Liberal government appears to be signalling that allegiance is now misplaced.

 

Mere days following shots being fired at the U.S. Consulate at University Avenue and Armour Street, the Al-Quds rally attendees made their presence known. They stood on the south side of Armoury Street, holding up Palestinian flags and calling for an end to the war in Iran. On the opposite, north side, counter-demonstrators waved Israeli, pre-Revolutionary Iranian and Trump 2028 flags, along with Canadian flags. 

 

The Al-Quds crowd held up large banners with the insignia of the Islamic Republic of Iran. On this occasion, Iranian regime flags outnumbered those of the Palestinian flags, mourners carried portraits of the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and protesters urged support of retaliatory attacks on Israel from the Islamic Republic that has always outwardly threatened to destroy the Jewish state. 

 

This display of pure, unadulterated hatred for Israel's right of existence, inflamed by the support of terror against 'colonialism' and 'unjust wars', aiming directly at Israel's right to defend itself from existential threats represents the sole purpose of such events. And Iranian Canadians will have none of it, knowing all too well that it is that state theocratic regime that has destroyed their country.

Unit: Hate Crime Unit

Case #: 2026-538606

Published: Sunday, March 15, 2026, 10:32 AM

The Toronto Police Service is making the public aware of two arrests made at the Al-Quds Day demonstration. 

On Saturday, March 14, 2026, the Al-Quds Day demonstration took place in the University Avenue and Armoury Street area. In addition to those attending the Al-Quds Day demonstration, counter-demonstrators were also present. During two unrelated incidents, two men were arrested. 

It is alleged that:

• the accused, a male participating in the counter-demonstration, engaged with the victim, a participant in the Al-Quds demonstration, who was holding a stick with an Islamic Republic of Iran flag attached
• the accused began swinging his arms and fists at the victim, breaking the stick and causing pieces of it to strike the victim in the head

Mostafa Shabanian Bashmandoost, 39, of Toronto, was arrested and charged with:

1. Assault
2. Criminal Harassment
3. Theft Under $5000
4. Possession of Property Obtained by Crime Under $5000
5. Public Incitement of Hatred

He is scheduled to appear in court at the Toronto Regional Bail Centre, 2201 Finch Avenue West, on Sunday, March 15, 2026, at 10 a.m., in room 105.

These investigations are being treated as suspected hate-motivated offences.

 

Farshid McVandifar, 56, of Toronto, was arrested and charged with:

1. Mischief – Damage Property Under $5000
2. Assault

He is scheduled to appear at the Ontario Court of Justice, 10 Armoury Street, on Wednesday, July 22, 2026, at 11 a.m., in room 203.

It is further alleged that:

• the second accused, a male participating in the counter demonstration, followed the victim, a participant of the Al-Quds demonstration, who was wearing an Islamic Republic of Iran flag on their back
• the accused spat on the victim and ripped the flag off their back
• the accused returned into the crowd and was later located among the counter demonstration group
• the accused was then observed to be lighting an Islamic Republic of Iran flag on fire and wearing Islamic Republic of Iran flags attached to the soles of his shoes.

As usual, when police attend to these events, it is those who are victimized, threatened through the intimidation of double-speak that are driven to respond with action that reflects their outrage at the malice directed against those who subscribe to liberty and the defence of  human rights, who are held accountable for disturbances, rarely those who mount such radicalized pure-hate events whose purpose is achieved through the police applied courtesy of enablement... 

Toronto police said Thursday they planned to increase their presence in the area of the rally. (Mercedes Gaztambide/CBC)

 

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

 

Co-Opting Canada for Islam

"[The] Islamophobia industry [is enabled by] self-proclaimed Muslim dissidents, reformers and ex-Muslims [who] act as instigators and propagators of anti-Islamic narratives as well as validating and authorizing the circulation of these tropes."

"[I have] comprehensively outlined the machinations of Canada's Islamophobia industry."

"[Moderate Muslims and mainstream Jewish organizations] share political and ideological mandates that involve the demonization and vilification of Islam and Muslims and often work in concert to foment controversies and spread Islamophobic narratives and conspiracy theories."

Jasmine Zine, Professor, Sociology and Muslim Studies Option, Wilfred Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario

BDS protesters at McGill University FILE PHOTO

 

Religious studies professors, sociology professors,  history professors, they dominate increasingly in Western institutes of higher learning, and bring to academia and to the public, their perspective and narratives focusing on the legitimacy of Islam as a religion of peace, while painting with a broad brush of Islamic condemnation any individual or group that dares point out that Islam today represents offshoots of extreme religious devotion wreaking havoc worldwide as Muslim terrorist groups.

Fundamentalist ideologically-driven fanatics on a mission to force the greater Muslim population to a more 'pure' and authentic vision of Islam excising all the relaxed, Western- and democracy-ringed versions of the original that may blur the stark distinction of Islamic values, precepts and mores from those of any other religion, laws, cultures or value systems. In the process, to demonstrate just how serious they are, these groups known more familiarly as Islamist terrorists rampage through non-Muslim and Muslim societies alike, intent on vengeance against those failing to place Islam on the pedestal demanded for it.

In a country like Canada which, like any other has its home-grown bigots and racists, but which is not even marginally culturally and socially racist, the current government has been pleased to demonstrate its progressive credentials by describing Canada as a 'racist country', and with this attitude from the executive branch of the federal government, it is hardly surprising that Muslim academics feel free to slander the country and to accuse Canadians of anti-Islam bias described as "Islamophobia", a term coined by the Muslim Brotherhood after the public impact and reaction stemming from the 9/11 attacks in the U.S.

Even more shocking is the presence of a growing number of mosques throughout Canada, reflecting the growing number of immigrants from North Africa and the Middle East bringing their social culture, religious devotion and Islam-inspired system of justice with them, and where in the mosques incendiary messages of hatred against others are frequently spewed. It has been those messages that have been responsible for recruiting Muslims to the concept of jihad, persuading some to go abroad to fight alongside terror groups like Islamic State.

Yet with all this activity of fanatical Muslim terrorists cutting a swath through the Middle East and Africa with their agenda of slaughtering non-Muslims and Muslims alike in the performance of their martyrdom missions in jihad, people like sociology professor Zine feel free to preach against "Islamophobia", condemning the general population, both non-Muslim and moderate Muslim who abhor the violence engendered by some of the Islamic texts and hadiths along with interpretations of the Koran inimical to peace between people, as "Islamophobia".

Professor Zine recently released a report she titled The Canadian Islamophobia Industry: Mapping Islamophobia's Ecosystem in the Great White North, where she gives insights into "how Islamophobia manifests and is purveyed: in Canada"; a totally skewed perspective of anti-Msulim bigotry in Canada, besmirching wide groups of people as racist, inclusive of Canadian Muslims who practise a moderate Islam. 

Raheel Raza, president of the Council of Muslims Facing Tomorrow, a rational, intelligent and moderate movement within Canada representing the interests of integrated Muslim-Canadians, has been singled out by Professor Zine for special condemnation. Raheel Raza points out that the term "Islamophobia" has no clear definition, unlike the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's antisemitism definition; clear and concise. She points out that Islamophobia is meant to connote heresy.

Ms. Raza also speaks of the mosques that were found to be spreading radical messages, with links to known terrorist groups, for spreading 9/11 conspiracy theories, for refusing to denounce terrorist attacks; indeed promoting them as reflective of the faithful committing to martyrdom on behalf of upholding Islam's sacred injunction to its faithful to spread the word of Islam, committing to proselytizing. What also takes place is hateful attacks against others in the community. 'Solitarity with Palestinians' sees radical groups in Canada mounting slanderous attacks against Israel and Canadian Jews.

 

Children hold anti-Israel signs at the al-Quds Day at the Alberta Legislative grounds in Edmonton (Credit: Facebook: Radical Citizen Media)

The BDS movement, Israel Apartheid Week and Al-Quds Day creates divisions between Canadians of various origins and cultural heritage. Islamists in Canada have infiltrated Canadian universities, as student groups mount verbal and violent conflicts against their Jewish counterparts. Muslims are prone to complaining about Islamophobia and attacks against Islam and Muslims in Canada, yet as Statistics Canada and police reports point out, Jews are the single most-persecuted religious/ethnic group in Canada through antisemitic attacks, followed by Blacks, and then Muslims. And it is Muslims who lead the way to antisemitic attacks.

Al-Quds Day Rally in Toronto, 2022. (Credit: B'nai Brith Canada)

Iranian Malice in Canada

"Because I do say it with pride [member of the "Canadian Infidels", a breakaway from the Finland-based Soldiers of Odin]. Because I'm a proud Canadian."
"And I support Israel. Israel stands for freedom. I don't want sharia law coming here [Toronto]. Mass immigration is tearing our country apart."
"We are not a hate group."
Nick Blanche "Nick the Wolf", Canadian chapter Wolves of Odin

"Every year, we stand up for Palestinians, against oppression and occupation. We don't equate Zionism with Judaism. We want Canada to stand up for human rights and human dignity for Palestinians living undignified lives in their own land."
"We don't need a permit. As Canadians, we have a right of freedom of assembly and freedom of expression."

Ali Mallah, organizer, al-Quds Day rally, University Avenue, Toronto

~Legacy~ נפתלי בן מתתיהו‏ @Immort4l_Legacy Jun 1

Toronto just had an Al-Quds day march downtown where you can see a Hezbollah flag being waved. This is a recognized terrorist organization yet the police did nothing and allowed them to march on the street w/o permit. We stood proud and strong against the hate. #NeverAgain

21 replies 51 retweets 130 likes

Another cynical parody of 'justice for Palestinians', a not-very opaque demonstration of anti-Semitism disguised as concern for Palestinians whose plight their own leaders are responsible for in their never-ending cycle of refusing a peace agreement with Israel, and with it, a sovereign state of their own, the better to suit their end-game of delegitimizing the very existence of the Jewish state in the hope that it will miraculously disintegrate leaving the geography open for full Palestinian possession.

It is Islamists who have infiltrated their way into Canada, paving the way for a swelling population of Muslims who will hope eventually to persuade Canadian legislators that the implementation of sharia law will benefit the country, a system of law that would supersede Canadian law. It is Islamists who find sympathy for their 'cause' in the understanding of other Canadians who harbour a lethal hatred for Jews finding an outlet for their anti-Semitism in the cause of supporting Palestinians.

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators and counterprotesters rallied outside the U.S. Consulate and marched downtown in Toronto on Saturday during the annual global event known as Al-Quds Day.  Steve Russell, Toronto Star

It is the 'normalization' in Canada of the flags of Hamas and Hezbollah, hoisted at all such demonstrations, allowing Canadians to become familiar with their presence even while the federal government lists those terrorists groups for what they are. It is a new Canadian demographic familiar with their 'rights' under the Canadian Charter guaranteeing them freedom of expression where their anti-Semitism can be cloaked in acceptable speech criticizing Palestinian suffering under Israeli 'occupation'.

The Palestinians 'occupy' the West Bank and the Gaza Strip where both Fatah and Hamas teach Palestinian children to hate Jews and to emulate terrorists in summer camps teaching military manoeuvres and lauding the celebrity of Palestinian 'martyrs' who have succeeded in slaughtering Jews. The slanders, the boycotts, the marches all appeal to a wider audience all of whom profess they have not an iota of anti-Semitic thought in their heads.

For malicious threats the poster below threatening another massacre of Jews -- citing the one that took place fifteen hundred years ago when Islam was in its infancy and conquest was as brutal then as it is now under the Islamic State, Hezbollah and Hamas -- is prepared to once again strike in emulation of that one of ancient origins has its origins in the Islamic Republic of Iran whose ayatollahs aspire to 'wipe Israel off the map of the Middle East', for the presence of a Jewish state on land consecrated to Islam is forbidden.

A sign brandished at the 2019 Toronto al-Quds Day rally (Photo Credit: BlazingCatFur)

Islam came to the Middle East in the 7th Century, a late-comer to what is often referred to as the three great religions of the Abrahamic tradition based on monotheism. Jewish tribes which had lived for a thousand years in the Arabian peninsula were invited by the Prophet Mohammad to leave Judaism for what he declared was god's final and most complete covenant of monotheism.

Mohammad, a local merchant who had lived among Jews and knew the heritage and sacred texts of Judaism declared himself the final messenger of god. He had cut-and-pasted  the history of Judaic sacred texts and traditions and brought the prophets, the legends and the values of Judaism into a manuscript he had devised claiming it came directly from Allah, building upon god's original instructions to his faithful.

Claiming the Koran to be the third iteration of god's word to mankind, Mohammad offered it as proof that Islam was the one true religion. And he resolved to spread the word of Allah by whatever means conceivable, by entreaty, invitation and the scimitar. In a region of the world where tribalism and ancient enmities linked to survival in a geography of limited resources where antagonism over territorial rights ensured constant conflicts, this nomadic desert religion fit the bill.

When the Jews then living in Medina refused to abandon Judaism, which they had worshipped for several thousand years, and swear their allegiance to Islam, the response from Mohammad was war. A number of tribes and territories long linked to Judaism were put to the sword, Khaybar, located 150 kilometers (93 mi) from Medina in the north-western part of the Arabian peninsula, in modern-day Saudi Arabia, among them..

Police officers on the scene of Saturday's demonstration might have upheld the law, for the organizers hadn't bothered to apply to City Hall for a permit so their presence was clearly illegal. But police were no doubt fixated on keeping apart the pro-Palestinian demonstrators and the counter-demonstrators, hefting Israeli flags in defiance of the hate-filled message of those claiming that Palestinians are tormented and killed by Israelis when the opposite is in fact, the case.

Nothing stopped the presence of posters of a a little girl, splattered with blood carried by a little girl at the protest whose poster read: "Israel cages two children every day". "I agree with the sentiment", said a young man holding one end of a huge sign declaring Zionism to be the same as ISIS. "Zionism stands for terrorism because they're killing Palestinians", he said with the confidence of utter conviction.

A group of members of Basij paramilitary force, affiliated to the Revolutionary Guard, chant slogan during the annual Quds, or Jerusalem Day rally in Tehran, Iran, Friday, May 31, 2019. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)