'Yemen, Yemen, make us proud': Anti-Israel protesters in Toronto pledge support to Houthi militants (2024)

Anti-Israel demonstrators marched on Saturday and pledged their support to the Houthi rebels, a group that has targeted international shipping lines in recent months.

“Yemen, Yemen, make us proud! Turn another ship around!” protesters chanted in front of City Hall in downtown Toronto, referring to a Yemen-based outfit backed by Iran.

The political slogan of the Houthis is: “God is great, Death to America, death to Israel, damnation to the Jews, victory to Islam.” The refrain has gained steam since Hamas invaded Israel on October 7, after which the Houthis pledged support for the Palestinian terror group.

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The Houthis have repeatedly fired rockets at Israel and container ships passing through the Red Sea bound for the Suez Canal, where an estimated 12 per cent of global trade passes through. Many shipping companies have been forced to reroute trade around the southern tip of Africa to avoid the instability, adding over a week and 3,000 nautical miles to their journeys.

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The “All Out for Gaza” march organized by Toronto4Palestine and PalestinianYouthMovement (PYM) featured chants of, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” “Israel go to hell!” and posters demanding, “Move Isntreal to Florida.”

Toronto4Palestine called for an end to the “brutal 76-year-long occupation,” referring to their goal of dismantling Israel – tied to the state’s establishment in 1948 – rather than advocating for a two-state solution comprised of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Both Toronto4Palestine and PYM celebrated the October 7 atrocities committed by Hamas that led to the deaths of over 1,000 Israelis. The former called the massacres an act of “heroic resistance” that “has shaped a new precedent for our national liberation struggle” in a now-deleted Instagram post. The group also questioned the extent of the October 7 atrocities and traded in Holocaust denial.

“Honest people must ask themselves, ‘Why is the je*wish occupation lying about many of the ‘barbaric’ actions that took place on Saturday?’ They are using these made-up acts of cruelty and barbarism to tell the world a mini Holocaust just happened to them again. Is it possible that if they are lying about these events and creating a false genocide it is likely they may have lied about certain details of a previous big genocide that may have occurred?”

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Both groups were involved earlier this month in an attempt to infiltrate a Jewish community centre featuring participants of all ages. “Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar!” masked anti-Israel demonstrators chanted as they hiked through a wooded area behind the Prosserman Jewish Community Centre, where people of all ages congregated following the event.

The anti-Israel activists, many of them carrying massive Palestine flags and had their faces covered, walked through a Jewish neighbourhood in North York to get to the ravine and intimidated several local residents along the way.

“F***ing filthy f***in Zionist pig,” one masked male demonstrator screamed at an onlooker. “You’re a dirty Zionist rat. That’s what you are. Happy about killing babies, right? Happy about killing babies?”

The rally coincided with another protest led by a group called Canada First, which squared off at Dundas Square and sang the national anthem. The group marched through downtown Toronto and demonstrated outside the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC).

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