Al-Quds Day rally took place in Toronto on April 6, 2024. Four day earlier, Toronto4Palestine issued the following statement:
THIS SATURDAY, WE STAND UNITED AGAINST GENOCIDE IN GAZA! 🇵🇸
Historically a day of protest focused on the Zionist occupation of Jerusalem, Al Quds Day this year will take on a broader significance across occupied Palestine and the world, as our movement for liberation continues to agitate, mobilize and escalate in defence of Palestine and against the genocidal Zionist regime.
Every year on the last Friday of Ramadan, millions pour into the streets to proclaim Al Quds (Jerusalem) as the undivided and unceded capital of Palestine. Al Quds Day is a recommitment to the struggle for Palestinian liberation, and an affirmation of the significance of Palestine to Muslims, Arabs, and people of conscience the world over.
We call upon the masses of the world to join us in organizing actions and mobilizing in defence of Al Quds, Gaza and the Palestinian struggle for liberation and return. We’ll see you this Saturday in the streets!
The organizers of Al-Quds Day in Toronto are Al-Quds Committee Toronto, Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM) and Toronto4Palestine.
Here is the speech delivered by Shaykh Shafiq Hudda, the Office Manager of the Islamic Humanitarian Service in Kitchener, Ontario:
Brothers and sisters in faith and humanity, my Christian brothers and sisters, my Jewish brothers and sisters, spiritualists, natives, all those from different backgrounds, different ethnicities, peace and blessings of God be upon all of you.
Today, we see the largest Al-Quds gathering we have seen in years, and the reason for that is all of your dedication, determination and desire to end the injustice [ظلم], the oppression and the injustices committed by the Zionist state of Israel.
Your participation today and ongoing for the last months has caused our own government to change its policies 180° because of all of you.
You are the source of people’s power. You are the ones who have change the directions of our governments and the peoples and the thoughts of the world. The media has been having no choice but to understand that the people are on one side and our governments who are being manipulated and influenced by the Zionist entity are on another side.
Your power today has shown what it can do my dear sisters and brothers. My brothers and sisters in humanity, today we’ve got people from a number of oppressed backgrounds as well, the Rohingyas. the natives, those who are from Kashmir, those who are from Palestine, those who are throughout the Middle East, and in Africa, the African Americans, the indigenous peoples, all of you are participating today because our voice is our voice united, and the people who are united can never be defeated.
This is your power. Our politicians should be ashamed of themselves. Shame on them!
You know the occupied territories in Gaza and the West Bank are not the only Israeli-occupied territories. You know where the reach of Israel the Zionist have? The White House is an Israeli occupied territory. The US Congress is an occupied territory. That building, that building [the American Consulate in Toronto] is an occupied Israeli territory. The Canadian Parliament is no less.
But because of all of you, it’s changing. If you want to see the manipulation, because sadly, our governments, our politicians, our political leaders, are more loyal to the Zionist state of Israel than they are to Canada and to Canadian values.
This is not what we were founded on. We have always struggled for justice. What? [crowd: justice]. Again [crowd: justice]. We want what? [crowd: justice]. And when do we want it? [crowd: now]. We want what? [crowd: justice].
Tell our politicians, write to them, email them, flood their inboxes. and if you want to see how much influence we have today you will see their loyalties and their dedications are more to Israel than to their own constituents, than to their own people. Why? Because their money comes from Zionism.
You’re having investigations about Chinese influence into Canadian elections, Russian influences into Canadian elections, how about looking into Zionist influences in the Canadian elections?
I will leave today with two things that I would love you to do. Read a book by a former Congressman Paul Findley called They Dare to Speak Out. You will see what happens to people who stand up to the Israeli Zionist lobby in the United States and in various places. Read the book, and then his second book Deliberate Deceptions[: Facing the Facts About the U.S.-Israeli Relationship], Paul Findley, and if you want to see how manipulative the Zionist state can be, and how they can destroy reputations and nations and nation states, read By The Way Of Deception by Victor Ostrovsky.
A little bit of homework my sisters and brothers, because we all care for humanity. We are all here today because our hearts pain for Gaza, our hearts pain for Gaza, our hearts pain for the oppressed, the month of Ramadan.
We will not rest until we see a free Palestine. We will not rest until we see freedom. What do we want? crowd: justice]. When do we want it? [crowd: now].
Let us make sure we stand up for the voice of the oppressed wherever they are, and that is our determination, and we pray that a day will come when we will no longer have to have Al-Quds rally.
We’ll have a Al-Quds rally in here in downtown Toronto. We will have a Al-Quds rally in Al-Quds itself with all the people, our Jewish brothers our Christian brothers and sisters, our Jewish brothers and sisters, with our Muslim brothers and sisters, with the Palestinians, all side by side, hand in hand, shoulder to shoulder, the way we were at the beginning of the last century. God bless you all.