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Toronto Church Cancels Event Honouring Terrorist

July 7, 2019

B’nai Brith Canada

TORONTO – A Toronto church has cancelled a previously scheduled event that would have honoured a Palestinian terrorist, following a campaign by B’nai Brith Canada.

On July 13, Trinity-St. Paul’s United Church was set to provide space for the “Ghassan Kanafani Resistance Arts Scholarship Launch,” organized by the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM). Kanafani was a leading member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a designated terrorist entity in Canada, and helped to organize a 1972 attack on Israel’s main airport that left 26 civilians dead.

On Friday, B’nai Brith called on Canadians to condemn the Church’s refusal to call off the event, and circulated a petition to that effect.

Late on Friday night, B’nai Brith received a letter from the Board of Trinity-St. Paul’s United Church, revealing that “The Board has elected to cancel the event.”

“We are relieved that the Church eventually came to the correct decision, to help prevent the shameful glorification of a terrorist,” said Michael Mostyn, Chief Executive Officer of B’nai Brith Canada. “B’nai Brith thanks its supporters for their swift and effective response to our call to action.

“That being said, this story is not over. We will continue to investigate how a youth scholarship named after a notorious terrorist is permitted to function in Canada and the United States, and take all possible steps to thwart it.”