Trudeau, Poilievre condemn chant on Parliament Hill glorifying Hamas attack on Israel

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is condemning a weekend protest on Parliament Hill where a participant openly supported the Hamas attack on Israel last fall.

Trudeau and Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre both say such comments are unacceptable.

Saturday’s protest, which came more than six months into the Israel-Hamas war, featured Palestinian flags and placards calling for an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories.

One video posted online includes the voice of a man praising the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas and its affiliates that killed 1,200 people in Israel.

In a tweet Sunday, Trudeau described some of the rhetoric as “hateful intimidation” and called it “unconscionable.”

Police in Ottawa did not immediately respond when asked if they are investigating the protest.

“Our resistance attacks are proof that we are almost free,” a man can be heard saying in the video from the protest.

“Oct. 7 is proof that we are almost free. Long live Oct. 7, long live the resistance, long live the intifada, long live every form of resistance.”

Intifada is an Arabic word with meanings that include shaking off oppression. In English, it is most commonly associated with two periods of particular intensity in the Israel-Palestine conflict, which included a series of attacks by Palestinian terrorist groups on public venues inside Israel.

“There is a difference between peaceful protest and hateful intimidation,” Trudeau wrote Sunday on X.

“It is unconscionable to glorify the antisemitic violence and murder perpetrated by Hamas on October 7th. This rhetoric has no place in Canada. None.”

Poilievre also called out the messages that were on display Saturday, which he described as “malicious.”

“I condemn these pro-genocide, antisemitic chants,” the Conservative leader said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 22, 2024.

— With files from Stephanie Taylor

Dylan Robertson, The Canadian Press