Did you know there are Canadians among us who are inspired by a mass-murderer?
Canadians who take their cue not from our constitution or the values we have developed over the past 400 years of western civilization, but from the words of a hate-monger whose sinister image to this day instils fear and casts a shadow of misery wherever his tentacles reach.
Indeed, there are such Canadians, and on Aug. 18 they'll defile the lawns of the Ontario Legislature to rally to the call of Ayatollah Khomeini for the destruction of the State of Israel -- the observance of "Al-Quds Day."
Khomeini first introduced Al Quds Day rallies in Iran in 1979, ostensibly to show solidarity with the rights of Palestinians.
However, the real agenda was to undermine and sabotage the Camp David Accords signed by Egyptian President Anwar El Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin on Sept. 17, 1978.
Khomeini's message was not one of peace and reconciliation. He was not fighting for the right of the Palestinians for a state of their own, at peace with Israel. In fact, he declared:
Palestine merely became the fig leaf behind which Khomeini and his fellow Islamists -- ranging from Shia Hezbollah to the Sunni Muslim Brotherhood -- camouflaged their deep-seated Jewish hatred.
This is why most of the people who attend these rallies are not Palestinian or Iranians, but Shia Pakistanis, radical backers of the Muslim Brotherhood, pro- Hezbollah Lebanese and a scattering of left-wing useful idiots.
Last year when this motley crew of Khomeini cheerleaders descended on Queen's Park, they were led by a lifetime backer of the Iranian Islamic regime and a fan of Osama bin Laden, Zafar Bangash.
Mocking U.S. President Barack Obama as "that black man in the White House" and Israel as a "parasitical state," Bangash declared amid cheers of Allah O Akbar:
Equal citizens? Tell that to the Christians of Egypt and Hindus of Pakistan; the Kurds of Turkey and the Baloch of Iran.
Another speaker belched out this conspiracy of the Jews:
"Wherever you see injustice happening, understand that there is a 1%, 2% or 100% involvement of the 'Zionist Regime'. The same Zionist regime that sucks the resources, the blood that belong to the people all across the world.
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These words are vintage hatred with barely concealed threats to eradicate the state of Israel from the map of the world. Seeped in anti-Semitism, such language had not accorded respect in the West after the 1940s, until now.
Dennis Clark, the Sergeant-at-Arms at Queen's Park, has given his blessing to this hate fest to continue in the tradition of last year, despite a year-long protest by human rights organizations.
A shameful decision that speaks of the lack of a spine among so many in positions of power, who when confronted with Islamist rhetoric simply succumb. The fear of being labelled as racist trumps all other concerns.
Lost in this is the question of the Palestinians. When will they see their independent state and live as free citizens like the rest of us? From East Timor to Eritrea; Bosnia to Bangladesh, countries have emerged from occupation, so why not Palestine?
It seems Iran and its Islamist puppets are the last people who wish to see an Independent Palestine. For if that ever happens, how will these anti-Semites satiate their hatred of the Jew?
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*This column originally appeared in the Toronto SUN