April 7, 2022
VANCOUVER – B’nai Brith Canada is calling on Canadians to denounce a Vancouver church for facilitating an event glorifying a Palestinian terrorist.
In order to register your outrage at the actions of Grandview Calvary Baptist Church, click here to send an email. Please remember to remain civil.
This coming Saturday, Grandview Calvary Baptist Church is set to provide space for the “Iftar in the Old City,” organized by the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM). Despite its innocuous-sounding name, the event description makes clear the purpose is to honour Ghassan Kanafani, through a scholarship named after him.
Kanafani was a leading member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a designated terrorist entity in Canada. In that role, he forged connections between the PFLP and other far-left terrorist groups, thereby facilitating the 1972 Lod Airport Massacre in which 26 civilians were murdered, including a Canadian woman. Kanafani was assassinated by Israel later that year, for his role in the massacre.
The PYM itself has a long record of glorifying terrorism. In a 2017 email boosting the scholarship, the group hailed “Resistance, whether by pen or gun,” and in 2021, the PYM hailed as a “martyr” Mohammad Shawkat Salima, and in 2018, the PYM translated and posted the last words of “the Martyr Mohammad Tareq,” encouraging further terrorist attacks along the lines of Tareq’s, in which one Israeli was murderedand two others wounded.
“The leadership of the Grandview Calvary Baptist Church should take a long, hard look in the mirror,” said Michael Mostyn, Chief Executive Officer of B’nai Brith Canada.
“Just last week, 11 Israelis were murdered by Palestinian terrorists, and last year, Canadian Jews were subjected to an unprecedented barrage of hatred and violence, in which the PYM played a role. Another terrorist shooting attack took place today in the heart of Tel Aviv, murdering at least two with 12 shot. By hosting this event, the Church is knowingly painting a target on the back of our community.”
In 2019, the Trinity-St. Paul’s United Church in Toronto also planned to host an event by the PYM glorifying Kanafani, but cancelled at the last-minute, following public pressure generated by B’nai Brith.
In December, four groups including the PYM attempted to screen a film honouring Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, another PFLP terrorist, at the University of British Columbia. That event was postponed indefinitely, following community pushback.
