A speaker at Al-Quds Day rally held in Toronto on June 9, 2018 read a statement of principles endorsed the organizers of the event:
I will now be reading out the statement of principles that has been put together by the Al-Quds Committee of Toronto.
Number 1 – We are Canadians from all walks of life and religions. We are deeply concerned about human rights and justice for all.
Number 2 – We support Palestinians in their peaceful quest for freedom, democracy and an end to the decades long occupation of Palestine.
Number 3 – We oppose all forms of bigotry and racism including Islamophobia and antisemitism and anti Palestinian hate speech. We oppose Zionism, but not Judaism. We reject the claim that Zionism and Judaism are one and the same. We believe that the goals of Zionism are discriminatory and are profoundly inconsistent with the values of Judaism.
Number 4 – We condemn in particular all acts of violence against innocent civilians.
Number 5 – As conscientious Canadians we demand that our government fulfills its international legal duty to ensure respect by Israel of the Geneva Conventions and other applicable international law. We call on Canada’s government to impose peaceful economic sanctions on Israel until Israel complies fully with this international legal obligations.
As all of your are aware over 7.2 million Palestinians have been forced out of their homes, over 800,000 have been arrested in the past decades and over 9,000 have been killed, including 2,000 children, by the terrorists of the IDF, the Israeli Defense Forces, and the Zionist settlers.
We are gathered here today to condemn the Israeli war crimes, to stand against the extreme racism by the settlers who believe that they have a God given right to oppress the Palestinians as God has chosen the Zionists as the superior race. May God bless all of you for giving a voice to the voiceless and the victims of these heinous crimes.
Notes: During the war the lead to the creation of the State of Israel around 700,000 Palestinian Arabs fled or were expelled from their homes. Many of the Palestinian fatalities and the detainees are operative of designated terrorist groups, including suicide bombers and mass murderers.