Al Quds Day hate fest highlights multiculturalism`s failures

They came by the busloads from mosques in Brampton, the Islamic Society of York Region, and Toronto`s Thorncliife Park area to descend like a swarm of angry locust on the seat of Ontario`s government at Queen`s Park. Their speakers, with thick foreign accents and mangled syntax, spoke of how "the Canadian values" are not represented by our elected national government or supporters of the middle east`s only democratic country. Then, amid shouts of  "Allahu Akhbar!," groups of surly disciples of Iran's murderous dictator Ruhollah Khomeini, grubby men trailed by women shrouded from head to foot in chadors and niqabs,  paraded to the American consulate.

Khomeinists al Quds demonstration in Toronto - Aug 18

The reason for it all was the annual hate fest called al Quds Day, which Khomeini began in 1979 as a means of rallying Muslims to the cause of Israel's destruction. This confluence of anger and theocratic fanaticism was closely watched by the media after the hateful invective of last year's al Quds rally in Toronto became a media centerpiece. Learning from the past, this year the speakers were on their best behavior, though a couple of them did flounder into minor moments of anti-Semitism. But aware of the media attention, despite ambitions of imposing an Islamic caliphate upon us, for the most part they restrained their urge to invoke cries for Jihad and Islamic Sharia Law.

Though followers of Iran's despots, most of them were Shites of Pakistani origin. A few were Sunni sycophants of the Iranian regime, like the event's best known and most notorious speaker, the firebrand Muslim demagogue, York Region Islamic Center's Imam, Zafar Bangash.

Amid his denunciations of the "Zionist regime" and Canada's "right-wing, fascist media," on this occasion Bangash didn't extol his idols in Iran. But where he travels, the shadow of the Ayatollahs' dictates are never far away. Earlier this year, at a protest that attracted much less attention, Bangash revealed his absolute devotion to them, saying admiringly, "I consider the Islamic Republic of Iran to be the only Islamic state in the world today...I have met the leadership of the Islamic Republic of Iran and they represent the true values of Islam today.They make us proud of Islam!"

Bangash addresses crowd at Pakistani consulate
in April

Torture and murder of political opponents, deprivation of free speech, the systematic rape of female prisoners placed in jail for crimes such as "immodesty," the persecution of religious and ethnic minorities, Holocaust denial and the absence of democracy is what is imposed by Iran's leaders whom Bangash esteems so highly.

What should be alarming  is that Bangash, an acolyte of the world's leading sponsor and exporter of terrorism,  is considered an influential leader in the Canadian Muslim community. And more like him are arriving from Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, Iran, Libya and other undemocratic bastions of barbaric medieval tribalism every day. Most come to escape the dysfunctional tyranny of their homelands. But too many come as evangelists of hatred and repression.

Rounding Queen's Park to shouts of Allahu Akbar!

And we're bending over backwards to accommodate their intolerance.

On Saturday's al Quds gathering in Toronto, a man walking his dog through the protest at Queen's Park was assaulted by police and threatened with arrest for offending Muslim sensibilities. It sounds too shocking to be believed, but fortunately, the incident was captured on video. Another man was threatened with arrest for inciting a riot. Not because he was urging anyone on to violence, or for disobeying police instructions, but for brandishing an Israeli flag near the Muslim demonstrators.

The idea behind the niqab is that a woman should be completely covered because the female form might entice a Muslim man to ravage her. Similarly, Toronto Police believed that the al Quds demonstrators were so incapable of recognizing other people's right to free expression and likely to become violent that to mollify them they violated the rights of law-abiding Canadian citizens .

Events like this shout out the failings of multiculturalism. Immigrants whose aspirations are not only to resist integration but to impose their oppressive theocratic ideologies on the rest of us are a threat to this nation's safety and security.

The Ministry of Immigration and Citizenship is currently conducting consultations on ways to improve our immigration system. If the al Quds hate fest is any indicator, the system doesn't need an improvement; it needs a complete overhaul.

The Khomeinist mob marches down University Avenue to the American consulate - Aug 18