Israel supporters rally & demand release of hostages six months after Hamas attack

Six months after the horrific Oct. 7 Hamas terror attack against Israel, Jewish communities and their supporters gathered in solidarity across Canada, participating in vigils and mourning the 1,200 who were killed while calling for the release of the approximately 130 remaining hostages still held by Hamas. Rebel News was on location at Calgary’s Olympic Plaza where one of these rallies was taking place.

While global support for Israel following the attack seemed unanimous at first, it wasn’t long before Hamas apologists were protesting in cities around the world and shockingly governments and activists on both the left and right were embracing the propaganda of a terrorist organization.

Trudeau government officials, and sadly many Canadian citizens, quickly seemed willing to set aside the fact that Hamas launched a nightmarish terror attack and were still holding Israelis hostage. Before long more condemnation was being volleyed at Israel for targeting the terrorists who attacked them than had ever been directed towards Hamas. Worse still, calls for a ceasefire by politicians and activists alike no longer included any discussion of the release of the hostages still being held.

In truly bizarro world fashion, activists, academics, and politicians have succeeded in branding Israel as the oppressor and Hamas (and their supporters) as the oppressed, even though it was Hamas that launched a terror attack and is still holding hostages. That Marxist narrative, despite glaring evidence to disprove it, has stuck in the minds of many, and as a consequence they believe that anything Hamas does is justified. Many have excused, denied, and reframed the undeniable and ongoing horrors perpetrated by Hamas to align with this backwards worldview.

This inverted oppressor/oppressed narrative is why Hamas supporters can seemingly chant antisemitic and genocidal propaganda unfettered in Canadian streets, while a journalist who dares to even question their rhetoric, as we have seen recently with our own David Menzies, gets arrested.

There is also an underlying antisemitism that is advancing terrorist sympathies. In speaking with people at the Calgary pro-Israel demonstration, we couldn’t help but think of the Chilean mining accident that took place in 2010, in which the world watched and waited with bated breath for over two months as rescue efforts ultimately succeeded in saving many lives.

By contrast, the relative global indifference to the 130 plus men, women and children who have been held captive by Hamas for over six months is truly shocking, and as one Israel supporter at the event shared, grounded in bigotry against Jews.

The 70 or so Israel supporters gathered in Calgary to insist that the victims of Hamas, both those who died on October 7 and those still being held since that time, are indeed the victims, and that those still being held the must be released immediately. Many also shared that Hamas must surrender entirely or be eradicated for peace to return to the region.

We also asked demonstrators, many of whom were Jewish, if the radical antisemitism that is being imported to Canada via mass immigration should prompt Jewish communities to reconsider their historically pro-immigration positions and call for stricter limits.

Rebel News also had the opportunity to speak to a woman who recently returned from Israel and visited the sites of the attacks as well as an Iranian woman who has received threats for standing with Israel and denouncing Hamas extremism.

An anti-Israel event was scheduled to oppose this peaceful demonstration, but it was contained at City Hall and aside from rude comments and jeering police kept the events isolated from each other and no conflicts arose.

However, it was reported to us that one counter-demonstrator told a family of Jews in attendance that he was glad their children had been kidnapped, while many Israel supporters by contrast shared their sympathy for the suffering being endured by Palestinians as a result of Hamas’ disregard for human life.