Yahya Sinwar
Yahya SinwarAbed Rahim Khatib/Flash90

Firas Al Najim, a pro-Iranian activist in Toronto, Canada, is organizing a "vigil" in memory of Hamas' late leader, archterrorist Yahya Sinwar.

Sinwar was the mastermind behind the October 7 massacre.

The event is scheduled for November 26, and will be held at the City Hall in Mississauga, Ontario.

In an announcement, Al Najim said that Mississauga's mayor had approved the event despite pushback from the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA).

"Mayor [Carolyn] Parrish did not give in to the rich pro-Israeli lobby groups, which think that they own Canada and the laws in this country," Al Najim wrote.

He also claimed that the Jewish groups "support the cruelest and most criminal apartheid regime in the world. These lobby groups held a livestream of the Holocaust, and we will mark the memory of our martyrs, who protected the Palestinians who are being oppressed."

"Most of the Palestinians, if not all of them, love the hero Yahya Sinwar," he added, recommending that the public ignore the Jewish lobby groups and the other "evil" organizations.

Canada's federal government lists Hamas as a terrorist entity.

However, Parrish said that she does not have the power to prevent the vigil from being held on public grounds.

"I don’t know if the vigil will take place. The city will not condone it," the Toronto Sun quoted Parrish as saying. She added that she will consult the city's lawyers again.

In a post on X, Parrish wrote that she "consulted a network of Muslim organizations, serious partners in many activities of our city - coaching sports, walkathons for Trillium Hospital and diabetes. I asked them to track down the anonymous notice for a vigil at City Hall. No organization exists. No vigil is planned."

CIJA slammed the announcement, posting, "Canada is facing a crisis of extremism that threatens public safety. Glorifying terrorism must be made illegal in Canada. Dangerous displays like the ones CIJA VP Michelle Stock outlines in this letter to Mayor Carolyn Parrish normalize hateful ideologies, fuel radicalization, and incite violence against communities, including Canadian Jews. Week after week, Jewish communities are targeted by protests and violent acts against schools and synagogues. This has to stop—we need our leaders to take action. The Mayor must use every tool available to ensure this event does not proceed on city property."

In her letter, Stock stressed that it is "wholly inappropriate that city property would be used, and resources sanctioned, for a vigil to celebrate the mastermind behind the Oct. 7 attacks (in Israel), where more than 1,200 women, children and men were brutally murdered and 254 people were kidnapped, of whom many are still held hostage."

"We strongly urge that you use every tool available to ensure this event does not proceed on city property. Permitting this vigil to occur as planned, honoring a genocidal maniac with the blood of thousands of Israelis and Palestinians alike on his hands, would be an affront to the values of freedom, peace and justice that Mississaugans and all Ontarians hold dear."