weird story: Zionists upset that city says it will not prevent planned vigil, Mayor then says actually the organizing group does not exist, while a different Muslim group says zionists’ attack on mayor distracts from genocide, which in turn offends zionists. Right wing NatPost tries to work some poppy scolding in there too for bonus points

Mississauga Mayor Carolyn Parrish drew ire from Jewish community leaders after she said Saturday that the city, located west of Toronto, would not try to stop the Nov. 26 vigil at Celebration Square in Mississauga. “The City will not interfere with a peaceful vigil, as long as all laws and City by-laws are adhered to,” she wrote at the time, adding that permits are not required for events that use public city property.

On Monday evening, following the backlash to her initial statement, Parrish said in an X post that she had concluded that the event is not real, however, the organizer of the event, Canadian Defenders 4 Human Rights (CD4HR), has maintained in social media posts that the vigil will continue as scheduled.

“Consulted a network of Muslim organizations, serious partners in many activities of our city,” Parrish wrote in a public statement. “I asked them to track down the anonymous notice for a vigil at City Hall. No organization exists. No vigil is planned.” She posted a letter from the Muslim Council of Peel, which said that the event “is not associated with any legitimate organization in Mississauga.”

The letter attached to Parrish’s statement from the Muslim Council of Peel, a local group, denounced “this attack on the mayor,” arguing it “serves only to distract from the genocide and humanitarian crisis in Gaza, where thousands of civilians, including women and children, have lost their lives.” The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) took issue with the mayor circulating a letter that calls Israel’s war on Hamas a “genocide.”

When asked in the comments if anyone had tried reaching out to the email on the flyer, Parrish’s X account responded, “Many did. No response.”

However, when National Post reached out via the email, CD4HR directed the Post to an X video posted Tuesday of a speech by the group’s leader Firas Al-Najim, which was filmed outside a Royal Canadian Legion branch in Mississauga. In the video, he is holding a printout of the flyer as he calls Sinwar a “great man” and defends the event. The X post names CD4HR as the organizer of the vigil for “the great hero” and “Axis of resistance martyrs that sacrificed their honourable lives to support the Palestinians & their struggle for liberation.”

On Tuesday, CD4HR posted what appeared to be an email from The Royal Canadian Legion that requested the removal of the phrase “Lest we forget” as it “is reserved for use regarding fallen Veterans/Remembrance Day and is an infringement upon the trademark held by The Royal Canadian Legion.” The email conceded that use of the poppy flower is okay.

The CH4HR X account then posted a new version of the poster with the text: “Sinwar is our Mandela.”

https://xcancel.com/cd4_hr