Following a social media post made by a Canadian Muslim group documenting pro-Israel activists in Toronto wielding a flag of a group classified as a terrorist entity, a Jewish advocacy group challenged the Muslim organization to disavow terrorism themselves.
The National Council of Canadian Muslims shared a photo on X, Wednesday of pro-Israel protesters flying a Kahanist flag, a Jewish supremacist group designated as a terrorist entity by Canada and banned as a political party in the Israeli parliament.
“Flags of the Kahanists, which is a listed terrorist entity, were being flown, as they have been flown for weeks, in the streets of downtown Toronto,” the NCCM said in the post. “Their flag being flown, and their associates marching at the University of Toronto, demands action.”
“Kahane Chai, or Kach, is a marginal, extremist Jewish entity whose goal is the restoration of the biblical state of Israel, replacing democracy with theocracy,” Public Safety Canada said under its listing of Kach as a terrorist group. “Kahane Chai advocates expelling Arabs from Israel, expanding Israel’s boundaries to include the occupied territories and parts of Jordan, and the strict implementation of Jewish law in Israel.”
The Canadian government says Kahane Chai has openly espoused violence against Arabs and advocated the use of the Israeli government to establish a religiously homogenous Jewish state.
“Its activities have included threats to government officials and infrastructure, grenade attacks, armed violence, and bombings,” it said.
The Center for Israel and Jewish Affairs agreed with NCCM’s assessment. It seized on the opportunity to ask the NCCM to support its appeal to the government of Canada to reexamine laws that allow the open display of symbols and flags related to terrorist entities.
“Kahane Chai is a very marginal and insignificant group which does not come even close to representing a meaningful segment of Jewish views on anything. Its flag should not be flown in Canada,” Richard Marceau, the Vice President of External Affairs and General Counsel for CIJA, said in a statement to True North. “Just as we’ve condemned this fringe support for their goals, we’d hope to see self-proclaimed mainstream organizations of other communities do the same.”
Marceau noted that there have been several instances over the last eleven months since the deadly attacks on Oct. 7, of flags belonging to terrorist entities such as Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Hamas and Hezbollah flown in Toronto and the rest of Canada.
As reported by Jewish community group B’nai Brith Canada in August, Deputy Mayor of Toronto Ausma Malik was photographed at a rally in Toronto where a Hezbollah flag was displayed. Hamas flags were flown weeks after the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attack on Israel.
In November 2023, flags of the Islamic regime in Iran were flown, though at the time were not designated as terrorist entities. The Liberal government, after years of requests, designated the IRGC as a terrorist group in June.
At the Walk With Israel march in Toronto, a protester wearing an IRGC logo on his hat taunted marchers.
Other instances of individuals brandishing IRGC flags after the group was designated as a terrorist entity have been recorded in Toronto as well.
“Organizations that have launched missiles towards innocent populations and taken hostages have had their propaganda proudly shown in Canada and it’s why we called for NCCM to condemn the flying of terrorist flags in protests against Israel,” Marceau said. “Propaganda from Hamas and Hezbollah should not be allowed in our country.”
CIJA is calling on NCCM and mainstream community groups like it to condemn Arab terrorist groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah, as CIJA has done with Kahane Chai.
“They should also condemn the use of hateful and terrorism-supporting slogans that are too often used in anti-Israel demonstrations,” Marceau said. “We hope by showing that it’s not difficult to call out entities whose stated goals are violence and extremism other Canadian organizations will follow suit in the numerous times we’ve seen symbols of terror appear in the streets of this country.”
The NCCM did not respond to True North’s requests to comment.