Saturday, August 11, 2012

Peter Kent Speaks Out Against the Al Quds Day Hatefest

Begging the question, what took you guys so long, Pete?
TORONTO — A senior member of the Harper government has condemned a Queen’s Park decision to allow an anti-Israel rally to be held on its lawn next week.

Peter Kent, Minister of Environment and MP for Thornhill, said the Sergeant-at-Arms was wrong to approve a repeat of an event that offended Jewish groups.

“Video recordings of last year’s ‘Rally’ document hate speech, racism, anti-Semitism, and support for listed organizations that clearly exceed the limits of Canadian freedoms of free assembly and free speech,” read a statement from Mr. Kent Friday.

The event is in support of the International Day of Al-Quds, which invites “peace loving people to voice their opposition to the unjust and illegal occupation” of religious sites in Jerusalem, according to the event’s website. Al-Quds is the Arabic term for Jerusalem.

Toronto Jewish groups took issue with video footage of last year’s Al-Quds day at Queen’s Park, which depicted speakers likening Israel to a cancer and waving Hezbollah flags.
Ontario Premier Dalton McWindy couldn't agree more, though, of course, he himself is powerless to do anything about it:
Last week, the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Students wrote a letter to Premier Dalton McGuinty urging him to ensure this year’s event was barred from the legislature’s grounds.

At a news conference Thursday, Mr. McGuinty said the issue is the jurisdiction of Sergeant-at-Arms and the Speaker.

“But let me just say something as a Premier,” he said. “We believe in freedom of speech, but there are some limits associated with that so we will not tolerate intolerances, we will not tolerate hate.”
Well, at least we know where Dalton stands on the issue. Or rather, how adept he is at he daintily side stepping it. And Sarge, his enforcer? Let's just say he's really big on "protocol, rules and procedures":
Sergeant-at-Arms Dennis Clark said his office receives hundreds of applications a year and “it would be very rare for us to deny an application.”

Mr. Clark said protocol is to meet with all organizers to outline the rules and procedures for a demonstration at Queen’s Park.

“When they walk away they know what they can and can’t do,” he said.

According to a Queen’s Park application, those rules include abiding all laws and volume limits and demonstrators must not enter the building.

“Illegal signs or speeches, such as obscenity or hate propaganda are strictly prohibited,” reads the “Guidelines” section of the application, which is available on the Ontario government’s website.
What Sarge is trying to say is that it is entirely legal for Khomeinists to display the flags of Hezbo, an illegal terrorist organization and, shades of the Third Reich, to rant that "Zionists" are a deadly cancer who are corrupting/infesting the planet. Try saying something similar about Khomeinists, though, and you can be sure you'd be shut down quicker than you can say "the Grand Ayatollah Khomeini." Come next Saturday, the day of the seethe-a-thon, we shall see with whom the cops deal more harshly, the protesters or the counter-protesters. I say it's a logical twelve to seven that the anti-Khomeinists are in for a rougher ride.

1 comment:

PersonOfTheBook said...

"Destroy Israel" day goes beyond reasonable protest and actually IS a hate-fest.

The authorities state that they have no will to enforce it. Enforcement is a critical component of rule of law. Either it exists or it doesn't.