Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced on Friday that he has instructed the province’s attorney general to “pursue" an injunction to stop the planned Al-Quds Day rally in downtown Toronto on Saturday.
Ford made the statement in a video shared on social media, denouncing the event. “This demonstration is nothing more than a breeding ground for hate and antisemitism. It glorifies violence. It celebrates terrorism. It has no place in Ontario. It has no place in Canada," Ford said.
The premier emphasized the importance of taking swift action, warning that failing to do so would allow hatred to persist. “If we don’t act now, if we don’t act decisively, the hatred won’t stop. Our government has a responsibility to do everything we can to protect our communities and put an end to the hate that we see in our province and country," he added.
The premier’s office told CTV News Toronto that the paperwork for the injunction had not yet been filed.
Ford also expressed confidence that the police would intervene when they observed hate, violence, or the glorification of terrorist groups at the rally. “I believe deeply in our fundamental freedom of speech. But nobody in this province has the right to incite violence, and no one has a free license to hate. We won’t stand for it," the premier said.
Al-Quds Day was established in 1979 by Iran’s revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini as a global day of demonstrations against Israel and in support of the Palestinian Arab cause. Since the early 1980s, rallies marking the day have been held in several cities around the world, including Toronto.
Al-Quds Day has long been associated with anti-Israel rhetoric and calls for the destruction of the Jewish state. The events often feature speakers who glorify terrorist organizations that have carried out attacks against Israel.
At the 2014 Toronto the event, a speaker named Moulana Zaki Baqri called for “Yahoodi," i.e. Jews, to be “dismantled." In 2013 and 2016, speakers called for Israelis to be shot.
In 2018, Sheikh Shafiq Hudda, director of the Islamic Humanitarian Service in Kitchener, Ontario, said during an Al-Quds Day rally that a day will come when we will see "the eradication of the unjust powers, such as the American empire, such as the Israeli Zionists."
Toronto councillors Brad Bradford and James Pasternak also urged the city solicitors to seek an emergency injunction to prevent the rally. However, the city solicitor’s office responded, noting that the rally did not require a permit because of its location, and therefore an injunction could be difficult to pursue.
(Arutz Sheva-Israel National News' North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Israel National News articles, however, is Israeli time.)