TORONTO (JTA) — A Palestinian community leader in Toronto said Israelis should be given a two-minute warning before being shot.
Addressing the annual Al-Quds Day rally on Saturday, Elias Hazineh, the former president of Palestine House in suburban Toronto, called for “an ultimatum” to Israelis: “You have to leave Jerusalem. You have to leave Palestine.
“We say get out or you’re dead! We give them two minutes and then we start shooting. And that’s the only way that they will understand,” Hazineh said to cheers from a crowd of approximately 400.
The annual rally took place at a park near the grounds of the Ontario capital building. Last week, the sergeant-at-arms of the Legislature denied a permit to hold the rally on the grounds surrounding the building for reasons of “public safety.”
The move was applauded by Jewish groups, which have monitored previous Al-Quds Day rallies in Toronto.
A global Al-Quds Day was started by the late Iranian cleric Ayatollah Khomeini to press for the “liberation” of Al-Quds, the Arabic name for Jerusalem.
Khomeini “reminded us that Jerusalem is ours and will remain forever ours,” Hazineh added.
Last year, the federal government cut funding to Palestine House, which had offered newcomer settlement and language instruction services, because of what Ottawa called the cultural center’s “pattern of support for extremism.”
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