“Oct 7 2023”

I always assumed the anniversary of Hamas’s Oct. 7 pogrom in southern Israel would get ugly. Too many in the anti-Israel crowd either don’t believe it happened, or believe the death toll was exaggerated, or think it was a false-flag event. And of course there are some who seem pretty much OK with what actually happened.

I doubt we will see the Hamas loving crowds we did a year ago but I don’t think that means support for Israel’s annihilation has lessened.

Some will have become circumspect fearing real world consequences such as job loss and a few may have renounced their beliefs.

What surprised me last year was the unabashed hatred of the “anti-Zionists”  and also how deep it ran within our institutions. 

Few will consider their support for a Free Palestine a citizenship test.

They believe themselves the best of humanity.

Speak of the Devil – Looks like London is having a large turnout.

One year on from the 7 October Hamas attacks, tough questions are still being asked within Israel about the deadliest day in its history, when the country’s powerful army was caught off guard and swiftly overwhelmed.

The BBC has heard accounts given to families of what happened at one military base that guarded the border with Gaza.

The Nahal Oz base was overrun by Hamas gunmen on the morning of 7 October and more than 60 Israeli soldiers are reported to have been killed – with others taken hostage.

Arrests have been made as tens of thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters gathered in central London ahead of the anniversary of the October 7 attacks in Israel.

Two people have been arrested on suspicion of assaulting an emergency worker, the Metropolitan Police said, as part of a “significant” policing operation in place across the capital in response to planned protest and memorial events.

The #Israel counter-protest has started playing air raid sirens as the #Palestine protesters move past Bush House in London. The police have now moved to stop #Palestine protesters from approaching the #Israeli counter-protest from the rear. pic.twitter.com/zAeoRSHnnl

— Matt Capon (@MattLCapon) October 5, 2024

It has now been a year since Hamas attacked Israel, took hostages, and murdered around 1200, not only Israelis, but also foreign nationals, including eight Canadians. The attack happened thousands of kilometres from where I was teaching, at McGill and Concordia universities, but the effects on campus were shocking and immediate. And I don’t see any sign that universities are prepared for its anniversary, unless you call prepared asking professors to move their classes online, and insisting it has nothing to do with safety.

Police in Toronto and York Region plan on having an increased presence this weekend to mark the one-year anniversary of the Hamas terror attacks on Israel. It is a sad statement on the country that police feel the need to increase patrols ahead of the anniversary of a terrorist attack.

The TPS has become a little less Hamas friendly than they were a year ago.

I do suspect they are instructed to go easy on the Mohammedans so as to avoid violence.

As we began our Zoom call, John Spencer made a statement that should resonate globally. “Everything that the world has heard about Gaza has actually been counterfactual. It has been wrong. What Israel has done to protect civilians, and despite what Hamas has wanted, has been an amazing achievement that I didn’t even, personally as an urban warfare scholar, think was possible.”

Maj. John Spencer speaks from extensive experience. After a long combat career in the U.S. Army, including two tours in Iraq as both soldier and commander, he emerged as one of the world’s foremost experts in urban warfare. Many consider him the top authority in the field.

A federal judge has issued a rare court order temporarily blocking public access to an anti-Israel website, following a complaint by Indigo Books & Music Inc.

Blacklock’s Reporetr says the order, granted by Justice Janet Fuhrer, comes in response to a protest website that falsely accused Indigo of complicity in war crimes against Palestinians.

The best thing that could happen is a swift and forceful joint military response.

After launching 200 missiles against Israel, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on X that his country does not want a war. If the launching of hundreds of missiles against the Israeli civilian population is, as Pezeshkian insinuates, almost a gesture of friendship, I wonder what they will do the day they want to start a war.

The Iranian president also asks Israel not to respond to the attack. Or to the defense, as the Iranians term it. Ayatollah Khamenei, who has the last word, insinuated that Iran had merely defended itself from an alleged Israeli attack, supposedly alluding to the Hezbollah leaders that Israel has managed to wipe off the map. There are a lot of things you can learn about the conflict just by reading the Iranians’ comments to both leaders’ messages.