Shopify, the Ottawa-based multinational e-commerce company, was faced with a dilemma this week: One of its customers was selling T-shirts with swastikas on them using its platform, and the company was facing pressure to take down the store. But oh, free speech! What to do, what to do?!
After President Donald Trump proposed resettling the Arab Muslim settlers currently living in Gaza, there was an outbreak of furious objections from politicians, activists and media outlets.
The objections could be roughly divided into the moral and the practical. The “moral” objection was that it is “wrong” to resettle the population currently occupying Gaza, and the “practical” objection was that it would be impossible to accomplish. Both objections do not hold up.
Palestinian flags wave wildly in the air. Students hiding their faces call for divestment from Israel, and accuse the Jewish State and the McGill administration of genocide.
Chalk graffiti boasts that “zionism=facism.” Somewhere on the bright green grass, a person has laid what looks like a bloodied sheet down, and placed disfigured dolls on top. It is August 29th, and this is the first walkout at McGill during the 2024 school year.
Georgios Tsibouktzakis was born and raised in the Greek town of Evosmos. The Tsibouktzakis family was poor, so after completing elementary school at age 12, Georgios put his studies aside and took a job in a textile factory.
Young Georgios experienced a religious awakening. After studying at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Georgios decided to go to Israel. Why not? Christianity was born in the land of Israel. The Christian Bible is full of references to Judea (no, there is no mention of “Palestine”). After three years, he became a monk and was given the name Father Germanos. He was ordained a priest and deacon. He was assigned to live at the monastery of St. George, not far from Jerusalem in the Judean desert.
US President Donald Trump’s recent statements regarding Qatar’s role in reaching the Israel-Hamas ceasefire-hostage deal surprised many, especially those who are familiar with the Gulf state’s longtime support for radical Islamist groups.
“Qatar is absolutely trying to help,” Trump told reporters in Washington. “I know them well, and they’re doing everything they can. Very tough situation, but they’re absolutely trying to help.”
Netanyahu sends an ultimatum to Hamas
"Following Hamas' decision to not respect the terms of the agreement, If our hostages are not released by Saturday noon, the ceasefire will be lifted, and the IDF will return to intense fighting until Hamas is completely defeated." pic.twitter.com/htNLEYJ7BK
— Hamas Atrocities (@HamasAtrocities) February 11, 2025
A ‘Palestinian state’ is no longer feasible and Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, and Iran want nothing to do with displaced Gazans.
President Trump likes to keep everyone — enemies and friends alike — off balance. He is, as is often said, The Great Disruptor.
Trump’s announcement Tuesday evening that we should take over the Gaza Strip and rebuild it into another Riviera — complete with a Trump Hotel and Casino, I’m sure — not only kept everybody off balance but it made several nations admit things they really didn’t want to.
The big problem with Trump’s plan is that about 2.2 million Gaza residents would have to emigrate — albeit temporarily as Trump indicated Wednesday — to other countries. But nobody wants the residents of Gaza, especially Israel’s Arab neighbors.
Donald Trump has said that his plan to “take over Gaza” would not include a right of return for the more than 2 million Palestinians that he has said have “no alternative” but to leave because of the destruction left by Israel’s military campaign.
The remarks are the latest effective endorsement of ethnic cleansing by the US president, who announced his plan last week during a summit with the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to the outrage of the Arab world and the surprise of even his closest aides.
In the interview with Fox’s Bret Baier, Trump said that he would “own” the Gaza Strip and declared it would be a “real estate development for the future”.
A spokesperson for the armed wing of Hamas says the group is postponing the next scheduled release of Israeli hostages, blaming what he said were Israeli violations of the ceasefire deal.
Three hostages held in Gaza are due to be freed on Saturday in exchange for more Palestinian prisoners held in Israel.
Abu Obeida said the releases would not go ahead until Israel complied with its obligations. He said violations included delaying the return of displaced Palestinians to the north, firing on people, and failing to allow into Gaza humanitarian aid “in all its agreed-upon forms”.
h/t NeoCon
President Donald Trump has said he is “committed to buying and owning” the Gaza Strip and relocating the two million Palestinians living there, despite global condemnation of the plan he unveiled last week.
He told reporters that he might allow Middle East countries to be involved in rebuilding parts of the territory and that he would make sure the Palestinian refugees would “live beautifully”.
Both the Palestinian Authority and the armed group Hamas, whose 16-month war with Israel has caused widespread devastation in Gaza, reiterated that Palestinian land was “not for sale”.
OTTAWA — As conflicts continue to erupt around the globe, a new survey suggests that Canadians are anxious about relationships between groups here at home — particularly between Muslim and Jewish Canadians.
The survey of 1,578 Canadians, conducted by Leger Marketing for the Association for Canadian Studies between Jan. 17 and 19, 2025, asked respondents for their perceptions of relations between Muslim, Jewish, Indigenous, white and other Canadians.
Across Canada, 43 per cent of respondents said the relationship between Muslim and Jewish Canadians was “bad.”
As expected the Islamist apologists are out in force …
Deborah Lyons, Canada’s special envoy on combating antisemitism, said in a media statement that public perceptions of the relationship between Canadian Muslims and Jews don’t always reflect real life. “In truth, these communities share far more in common than many assume, including resilience and perseverance in combating hate and discrimination,” Lyons said.
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“This may indeed be what Canadians think, but it reflects a false and widespread misconception that Israel-Palestine is fundamentally a religious conflict between Jews and Muslims, rather than a political issue about human rights and international law,” Bueckert said.
Released hostages Or Levy, Eli Sharabi, and Ohad Ben Ami crossed the border into Israeli territory on Saturday and arrived at the initial reception point after they were transferred to Israeli forces by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
An initial medical examination reported to Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center and Sheba Medical Center revealed that the former hostages were in serious condition. They appeared starved and may have lost some 30% of their overall weight.
Almost 5,000 Palestinians who applied last year to take part in a special Ottawa program to help them flee war-torn Gaza and join relatives in Canada have been deemed eligible by the government, but so far only 620 – or fewer than 15 per cent – have arrived.
Immigration lawyers representing Palestinians and their Canadian relatives are accusing the government of deliberately stalling applications, and are urging officials to take advantage of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire and reopening of the Rafah crossing to press Israel to allow applicants still in Gaza to exit.
NO Hell NO. Good comments.
Gazans I’m speaking with tell me that if they were allowed to leave the Strip, they would do so willingly. However, that willingness depends on which countries will receive them.
“If they could go to Europe, Canada, Australia, or America, they would certainly go there, far away…
— Ariel Oseran أريئل أوسيران (@ariel_oseran) February 6, 2025
h/t Patti Jo
Much of Tuesday’s press conference between Trump and Netanyahu deserved 10-point headlines.
Netanyahu got what he wanted…the green light to finish up against Hamas. The war will go on. Israel still has scores to settle.
Trump is not enthusiastic about this, but he’s going along from a sense of friendship toward Netanyahu and Israel.
This is something Israel needs to do, for security, for pride, and he is Trump, not Biden, who hindered Israel at every turn.
The Trump administration is considering three potential areas for the absorption of refugee Gazans after President Donald Trump announced that the US plans to take over the Gaza Strip and relocate those currently there to rebuild the area, N12 reported on Wednesday.
According to the report, the areas being considered are Morocco, Puntland, and Somaliland.
