Article content

Toronto will get a better picture this weekend of just how much support there was for Iran’s fallen spiritual leader and how much opposition there really is for the war being prosecuted by Israel and America that eliminated him.

Article content

While some local mosques have martyred Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Saturday’s planned protest at the U.S. consulate in Toronto by those mourning his death will provide a bellwether of where Canadians stand on this conflict?

Article content

Article content

Despite what anonymous push polls say, if thousands hit the street to protest Israel and the United States’ cutting off the head of the snake of the Islamist dictatorship last Sunday, it could send a similar message the anti-regime Iranian diaspora showed with their recent massive rallies that brought out tens of thousands peacefully.

However, if there is a small crowd of supporters, or if it gets violent, it will send a message the end could soon be near on the dominance of the 47-year run of the ayatollah and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Either way, “TPS is aware of this planned demonstration,” Toronto Police spokesperson Amy Davey said. “Officers will be in attendance to ensure public safety.”

Article content

What they will be watching for is a collision of two groups on very different sides of this. No one wants to see violence or potential terror. Toronto has already seen a synagogue, Jewish-owned restaurants and an Iranian Canadian-owned boxing gym shot up this week.

Toronto Police face challenge

This is a big challenge for Toronto Police, who will need to be at their very best.

“At a time when Canada’s allies are fighting to rid the world of the regime and the existential threat it poses to both the people of Iran and to democracies around the globe, it is incumbent upon our leaders to refuse to allow our streets to be used to platform the regime’s diabolical ideology,” B’nai Brith Canada’s CEO Simon Wolle said. “If Canada truly wants to stand in solidarity with the Iranian people, it must say no to Al-Quds Day (March 14) and to protests supporting the Iranian regime.”

Article content

Article content

He’s right. And yet this pro-Khamenei protest is happening.

“No to unjust war,” reads a poster circulating online that includes a photo of the deceased Iranian supreme leader overlooking dozens of body bags containing those killed in the military action taken by American and Israeli forces. The poster says the event will be held from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. and it is being organized by “The Muslim Community of GTA” and “endorsed” by “Lebanese 4 Palestine, the Iranian Canadian Congress, Al-Quds Toronto” and the “Palestinian Youth Movement.”

Article content

Many of the same organizers were very vocal on the pro-Palestine efforts – following the slaughter in Israel at the hands of Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023 – during protests downtown and counterprotesting at the Sunday vigils for the Oct. 7 kidnapped hostages at Bathurst St. and Sheppard Ave. W.

No matter how many protest Saturday, media should ask how they can justify the slaughter of what is estimated to be tens of thousands of innocent people protesting in Iran prior to the military action. And the public can ask what goes on behind the walls of at least two GTA mosques that offered martyrdom to the ayatollah.

Article content

As Canadian Defenders 4 Human Rights CD4HR posted on X, for three days, from March 1 to 3, the Masumeen Islamic Centre on Kennedy Rd. in Brampton held martyr services for “Shaheed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.”

The same X account also posted a video of a prayer event “commemorating Iman Khamenei Jr. martyrdom at the Masjid and Imambargah Madina tul ILM in Scarborough” and also of a supporter outside the former Iranian embassy in Ottawa holding a photograph of the supreme leader with the written message above saying, “We salute Iman Khamenei and the Iranian forces defending Iran and the region from the enemies of God and humanity.”

Will those lionizing Khamenei offer any condolences for his thousands of innocent victims?

Article content

Another person who should be asked how this can be glossed over is someone currently running a campaign to not only become federal NDP leader but prime minister, too.

“The initial response to the war is in: Canadians are not on side with the illegal US-Israeli strikes on Iran,” Avi Lewis posted on X. “Nearly half of us – including a supermajority of NDP and Liberal voters – are firmly opposed.”

They will have a chance to prove that Saturday.

“Prime Minister Carney should drop the doublespeak he’s using to cover his complicity with Trump and Netanyahu” and “should come out clearly with the majority of Canadians and his own party who oppose it,” said Lewis.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

Play Video

Prime Minister Carney on the fence

Carney seems to be on the fence. First, he supported Israel and America’s efforts to prevent Iran from gaining nuclear bomb capability, then he pulled it back and said the attack was in a violation of international law. And now he hasn’t ruled deploying Canadian troops.

Article content

But some Canadians know where they stand.

“The idea that anyone in our country would celebrate Khamenei, who headed a regime that has murdered scores of Canadians, is not just disturbing, it’s dangerous,” said Michael Westcott, CEO, Allies for a Strong Canada, which fights antisemitism.

Ariela Kimmel, president of  Winston Wilmont, added, “It’s profoundly disturbing to see people in Toronto, honouring figures like the Ayatollah whose regime was marked by ruthless repression, mass executions and the crushing of dissent.”

On Saturday it will be clearer who those people are and how many of them really exist?

jwarmington@postmedia.com

Article content