Vigil Planned for Hamas Leader Sinwar in Mississauga, Ontario as Mayor Compares Him to Nelson Mandela

As crazy as things are down here with President-elect Trump appointing Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. as HHS Secretary, Matt Gaetz as Attorney General, Tulsi Gabbard as Director of National Intelligence and Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense, there is plenty of foolishness going on in Canada.

Canadian Hamas supporters are planning to hold a vigil for the late Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in Mississauga, Ontario, just west of Toronto, on November 26th. 

Not only has Mississauga Mayor Carolyn Parrish not seen fit to condemn the event, but she also even went as far as to compare Sinwar to Nelson Mandela:

I just want to point out — and I’m not being facetious — Nelson Mandela was declared a terrorist by the United States of America until the year 2008. Your terrorist and somebody else’s terrorist may be two different things.

Good grief.

Nelson Mandela never organized a massacre of civilians in South Africa or held people in captivity. Sinwar is a man who uttered, "We support the eradication of Israel through armed Jihad and struggle. This is our doctrine."

For her part, Parrish is claiming she did not compare the two. So why mention Mandela at all?

It must be remembered that Parrish spent nearly two decades as a Liberal MP earning headlines when in 2003 during the runup to the War in Iraq she shouted, "Damn Americans! I hate those bastards." Over the next year, Parrish frequently criticized then President George W. Bush and eventually stomped on a doll bearing his likeness on the CBC comedy show This Hour Has 22 Minutes. Not long thereafter, she was expelled from the party caucus by then Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin after she turned her ire on him and on the government.

She remained as an independent MP until 2006 when she turned her attention to municipal politics serving as a city councilor in Mississauga before becoming mayor earlier this year after her predecessor Bonnie Crombie resigned to become leader of the Ontario Liberal Party. 

Before Parrish earned her notoriety, she also gained a reputation for being virulently anti-Israel. In June 2002, Parrish led a parliamentary delegation to Gaza and the West Bank sponsored by Palestine House. Parrish concluded that Israel's conduct was "a crime against humanity." It is also worth noting that Palestine House has its own troubling history of anti-Semitism.

In view of these facts, it is fair to say, despite her protests, that she truly believes Yahya Sinwar is the Palestinian equivalent to Nelson Mandela.

Anti-Semitism flourishes in civil society when the likes of "leaders" like Mississauga Mayor Carolyn Parrish turn a blind eye and glorify Hamas.