EDITORIAL: Hatred is not welcome here

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The last thing this country needs to import is more hatred. Since Hamas attacked Israel on Oct.7, 2023, there have been marches through our major cities in which participants have uttered antisemitic threats. They’ve climbed the walls of Mt. Sinai Hospital in Toronto and defaced businesses owned by Jewish Canadians. One girls’ school has been shot up three times.

It’s shocking, therefore, to discover that a group calling for the establishment of a caliphate in Canada plans to hold a conference here. Originally planned for a hotel in Mississauga, it’s now been moved to an undisclosed location in Hamilton.

Postmedia columnist Joe Warmington reported recently that the organization Hizb ut-Tahrir Canada planned a meeting for Jan. 18, to discuss how to establish a caliphate in this country.

Up for discussion: “The Khilafah, eliminating the obstacles that are delaying its return,” according to a social media post advertising the conference.

Hizb ut-Tahrir Canada describes itself on its website as a “political party whose ideology is Islam, so politics is its work and Islam is its ideology.”

The British government has designated Hizb ut-Tahrir a terrorist organization and there have been calls from some in the Jewish community for it to be banned in Canada as well.

After Warmington’s column appeared, the organization released a statement denying it was a violent organization.

“Hizb ut-Tahrir categorically rejects the use of violence or material means in its methodology. The accusations linking the party to terrorism, extremism and violent activities are fabrications aimed at tarnishing its reputation,” the statement said.

The organization has described Israel as a “criminal Zionist entity” that needs to be defeated. One topic to be discussed at the conference will be how only the caliphate will “liberate Palestine.”

In a statement on its website, the group said it promotes Islamic values within the Muslim community and pushes back against “the corrupt foundation of liberal democracy and the erroneous thoughts that emanate from it.”

Yes, in Canada, freedom of speech is protected. But we do not welcome voices that seek to stir up hatred against another segment of the population.

A caliphate, by definition, is theocratic, misogynistic, undemocratic and antisemitic. We don’t need one in Canada.