Vancouver
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Only a week after a terrorist took hostages in a Texas synagogue, two rallies planned in Canadian cities demanding the release of terrorists who have murdered Jews are being described by B’nai Brith Canada as “disturbing.”

Five groups plan to rally in Vancouver, British Columbia on Sunday afternoon at Commercial-Broadway SkyTrain Station. The “Protest and Postering” event will demand “Freedom for Ahmad Sa’adat.”

Sa’adat is the general secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), which has been designated a terrorist entity by Canada, the United States, Japan, the European Union and Australia. He is currently serving a 30-year sentence in an Israeli jail for ordering numerous terrorist attacks, including suicide bombings and the assassination of the Israeli Tourism Minister in 2001.

B’nai Brith noted that Sa’adat is “so notorious” that he was originally arrested and tried by Palestinian Authority, not Israel.

A second rally is scheduled to take place outside the Israeli Consulate in Montreal on Sunday, where protestors will demand not only the release of Sa’adat but also the release of Nasser Abu Hamid, who is serving multiple life sentences for murdering nine Israelis during the First Intifada, before being released from prison as part of the Oslo Accords, and murdering a further seven after that.

“These organized events are a deliberate and callous attempt to foster hate towards the Jewish community by glorifying bloodthirsty and brutal murderers,” B’nai Brith CEO Michael Mostyn said. “Many members of our community no longer feel safe in our synagogues, and these rallies may undermine a sense of security on the streets of our cities as well.

B’nai Brith reported both planned rallies to police Vancouver and Montreal.

“Murdering Jews is a crime, and those who do so deserve to rot in jail. Any attempt to suggest otherwise is antisemitism, plain and simple,” Mostyn said.