Mississauga mayor compares Hamas leader to Nelson Mandela ahead of vigil for Yahya Sinwar

Amid the ongoing controversy over a planned vigil commemorating Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, the mayor of Mississauga, Ont., compared the deceased terrorist to Nelson Mandela during a council meeting on Wednesday.

The city and Mayor Carolyn Parrish have come under fire for saying that the vigil is protected under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and for refusing to do anything to prevent it from going ahead on public property, at Celebration Square, on Nov. 26.

Local councillor Joe Horneck questioned why the city couldn’t condemn the vigil in its communications, given that Sinwar is widely identified as a terrorist, including by the government of Canada. Sinwar is considered to be the architect behind the October 7 terror attacks against Israel and was killed Oct. 16 by Israeli forces in Gaza.

Parrish responded by drawing a comparison between Sinwar and Mandela, the anti-apartheid activist and first president of South Africa who died in 2013.

“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,” the mayor said.

Mandela and his political party, the African National Congress (ANC), were placed on the U.S. terror list in 1988, during the Ronald Reagan administration, over concerns about the party’s ties to communism and the Soviet Union. According to then-Canadian prime minister Brian Mulroney’s memoir, the decision was made “strictly in East-West Cold War terms.”

Mandela was freed from prison in 1990 and became president in 1994. He was allowed to visit the U.S. multiple times but his name technically remained on the terror list until 2008, when then-secretary of state Condoleezza Rice asked Congress to remove it.

Parrish’s statements comparing Mandela’s activism against South African apartheid to Sinwar — the former leader of a group committed to Israel’s destruction — were widely condemned by leading Jewish voices across the country.

“Making any correlation to Nelson Mandela, a man honoured with the Nobel Peace Prize, to Yayha Sinwar, is despicable. It is an insult to the too-many families who have lost loved ones because of Sinwar, including Canadians,” the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) wrote in a public statement following the mayor’s comments. CIJA said Parrish’s comments “crossed a line,” adding her “moral compass is obviously broken.”

The comments also drew the condemnation of Deborah Lyons, Canada’s special envoy combatting antisemitism.

“Yahya Sinwar was known as the Butcher of Khan Younis. He was responsible for the brutal murders of both Israelis and Palestinians. The idea of a commemoration for him on Canadian soil is atrocious and should be seen as an affront to anyone who cares about Palestinians or Israelis, to anyone who speaks for peace,” the former Canadian ambassador to Israel told the Post in a written statement.

“Rights and freedoms come with responsibilities, as does leadership. To compare this violent murderer with Nelson Mandela is beyond belief. Leaders must be able to see the difference between right and wrong, and have the courage to express it.”

A media representative from Parrish’s office acknowledged receipt of the National Post’s request for comment; however, no response was received in time for publication.

Parrish faced opposition from other council members on Wednesday, including Brad Butt, who said he “was not impressed with the city’s response.”

“Don’t tell me we can’t say to a group, ‘You can’t use Celebration Square’ because of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. I’m sorry. I don’t buy it,” Butt said in an impassioned speech.

Parrish asked a legal representative from the city to explain her position.

“When we’re talking about a public space like Celebration Square, it’s there; it’s available to the public. The right of peaceful assembly would certainly apply in that context,” City Solicitor Graham Walsh said. “If you look at the protests that have been happening across Canada and abroad, over the past year, there are many things happening in those protests that are abhorrent to many, that are uncomfortable, that have not necessarily been such that they would justify a breach to that peaceful assembly. And I would just note that Charter litigation in general is uncomfortable. By its nature, it’s uncomfortable. And freedom of expression, freedom of peaceful assembly, is one of those Charter rights that evokes this level of discomfort.”

The vigil is being organized by Canadian Defenders 4 Human Rights (CD4HR), which promoted Parrish’s comment on its social media account. “Sinwar is our Mandela,” the group wrote on X early Thursday morning. The group has previously applauded Parrish’s statement that the event can go ahead, and defended her against criticism from Jewish community leaders.

Flyers circulating online about the event show a picture of Sinwar emblazoned with the title “Lest we forget our heroes” and red poppies, a national symbol of remembrance for Canadian veterans. The advertisement was updated with the text “Sinwar is our Mandela” on Tuesday, after the Royal Canadian Legion said it had a trademark over the phrase “Lest we forget.”

The group’s leader, Firas Al-Najim, posted a video to X on Tuesday of a speech filmed outside a Royal Canadian Legion branch in Mississauga defending the vigil and insisting it would proceed as scheduled. In the video, Al-Najim is holding a printout of the flyer as he calls Sinwar a “great man” and defends the event. The X post names CD4HR as the organizer of the vigil for “the great hero” and “Axis of resistance martyrs.”

Al-Najim is a local activist who previously applauded the October 7 attacks perpetrated by Hamas and denounced the federal government for keeping the Palestinian group on its terror list.

Peel Regional Police told the Post earlier this week that they were aware of the gathering scheduled for later this month.

“We respect the right to peacefully assemble under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms,” it said in a statement.

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