Could the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza slow the movement against teaching gender identity concepts in Canadian schools?
A new protest against school policies on gender identity was planned for Saturday, October 21, across Canada, but one of the main organizers of the “1 Million March 4 Children” movement announced Tuesday that he was withdrawing due to fears of dissent related to the Israeli -Palestinian relationship will be canceled conflict.
Kamel el-Sheikh, co-founder of the group “Hands Off Our Kids” and one of the main figures of the movement that mobilized thousands of people in several Canadian cities on September 20, raises security fears related to a possible escalation of the conflict between Israel and Hamas Rest of the region, particularly citing Lebanon and Syria.
Due to unforeseen circumstances and the large number of Canadians concerned about the conflict [israélo-palestinien]Unfortunately, we have to inform you that the event on Saturday, October 21, 2023 is canceled.
In a message to the local organizers’ WhatsApp group, Mr el-Sheikh says anger is currently incredibly high as pro-Palestinian protests gain momentum across the country. The Palestinian issue is at the center of concern and Muslims in Canada are overwhelmed by events in the Middle East.
He also claims he cannot guarantee the safety of children and families due to possible unrest in Calgary, Edmonton, Montreal, Toronto, Windsor and Ottawa, citing in particular the risk of remote counter-demonstrations. left-wing Antifa movement.
However, Mr. el-Sheikh, a 43-year-old entrepreneur from Ottawa, says the demonstration will be postponed until a later date when sentiment has calmed down.
Cracks in the clockwork
According to Mr. el-Sheikh, organizational divisions were already emerging in the movement when Hands Off Our Kids spokesperson Bahira Abdulsalam was removed from the group for breach of trust and conspiring to overthrow the leadership.
Ms. Abdulsalam, who ran in the Toronto municipal election, was contacted by phone and confirmed she was no longer part of the Hands Off Our Kids group. At the same time, she stated that she had founded her own group “Leave Kids Alone”. But, she assures, this movement is a people’s movement, there is no single leader […] and that makes us strong.
According to her, there will continue to be demonstrations on Saturday, particularly in Ontario, in cities such as Toronto, Burlington, Mississauga and Kingston.
Regarding the safety of the participants, we are in contact with the police and have not yet been informed of any threats against us, assures Ms. Abdulsalam.
It’s certain what happens [au Moyen-Orient] is huge and affects us all. But our movement is above all a Canadian movement. We must put aside our differences and focus on what unites us: the education of our children.
On her X account (formerly Twitter), Ms. Abdulsalam writes: The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been used as a strategy to create divisions within the parental rights movement. It is important to be aware of this and not fall into this trap. […] Despite our different religious beliefs, political opinions and cultural backgrounds, we are united by our common love for our children.
“We oppose any form of violence, especially when it harms children and women, regardless of their religion or where in the world it occurs,” she added.
On October 7, Hamas launched a bloody attack on Israel that killed more than 1,300 people, most of them civilians. On the Palestinian side, around 3,000 people died in Israeli retaliatory strikes in the Gaza Strip, which is controlled by Hamas and has been under Israeli blockade since 2006.
As part of his publications on X, many Internet users accuse him of dividing the movement by refusing to explicitly condemn Hamas.
In addition, the Facebook group 1 Million March 4 Children, led by Mahmoud Mourra, one of the organizers of the recent demonstration against gender identity at school, also distanced itself from Kamel el-Sheikh’s Hands Off Our Kids group.
We are a people’s movement. We do not belong to any organization, said a message posted Tuesday in the Facebook group, which has more than 36,000 subscribers. One group withdrew from the march and posted a statement on its website saying the march was canceled. This group does not represent all parents who walk. We are not canceling anything at this time.
We are in this fight for our children, it is still written. Let’s not let other unrelated problems get in our way. If we don’t advocate for our children, no one else will.
Called to respond to this announcement, Kamel el-Sheikh had few words to say: Mr. Mourra is no longer part of our movement. He only speaks for himself.
Mr. Mourra, who is in Calgary, told Radio-Canada that his children’s future in Canada is far more important to him than the ongoing war in the Middle East. Palestine is more than 13,000 kilometers away from here, he said in a telephone interview.
It is certain that there will always be people who try to cause problems at demonstrations, but we live in a country that is still safe and where we can express ourselves freely, and that is what we want to do .