This source seems a bit sketchy. They publish news anonymously so no one in particular is responsible for it.
I'm not taking a side on this, but an important thing not mentioned in the article is that there is a court ordered publication ban about this case. The tone of the article is very, "well if there's more to it why aren't they saying anything?" They're forbidden by law from saying anything more about it.
Though as you say, they can't release details, not even the name of the accused.
On March 7, 2025, investigators executed a search warrant at a Toronto residence and seized multiple electronic devices. A joint investigation by the Toronto Police Service Hate Crime Unit and INSET subsequently gathered evidence supporting the allegation that the accused acted for the benefit of, and in association with, Hamas, a designated terrorist group.
This "thenorthstar.media" is just publishing what the defense lawyers are saying, but it looks like the guy is actually being accused of having connections with Hamas (a terrorist group), and likely the electronic devices they seized may have evidence of his correspondence with Hamas on it.
Obviously we can only speculate on the evidence until it's presented in court. Innocent until proven guilty and all that. But it's dishonest to claim that he's been arrested for protesting. He is being accused of having connections to Hamas.
Even if he did, Israel terrorists have killed way more people than Hamas ever has. But it's fine and dandy to support Israel, according to the same government that's prosecuting this poor soul.
Poor soul? The guy was blasting out hate speech and may have been doing so under orders from Hamas. He's a shitty person for his hatefulness, the only question is whether his alleged correspondence with Hamas was a criminal act. Which is something for the courts to decide.
Oct 7 had less than 1000 civilian deaths btw, so not thousands. And i dont think they have killed enough before that to make it thousands. Just wanna stay accurate here.
You seemingly ignore the Palestinians that Hamas has killed. They are an oppressive regime, speaking out against them in places they hold power will get you tortured to death. When the ceasefire began, Hamas executed people in the streets to assert dominance.
And you should know Palestinian civilians are not bullet proof from stray bullets fired from Hamas guns. And Hamas IEDs do kill Palestinians at times. They started a war of choice in a densely populated area and it's impossible to avoid civilian casualties in urban combat.
I think if you add up the Israelis and Palestinians Hamas has killed over the years, it's fair to say they've killed thousands of people.
It might barely get you past 2000 but probably not no. Also if you wanna be really nitpicky, Hamas only exists due to Israeli funding and was built to destabilize the peace efforts of the PLO, so you could even argue that these deaths should be attributed to Israel.
It's more the opposite of what the propaganda is telling you. Netanyahu is more the creation of Hamas instead of the other way around. Gaza was under Israeli occupation around 20 years ago. Israel unilaterally withdrew from Gaza and removed all of their settlements there. You know, the thing we always tell them they should do? They did that.
A lot of hope around there being a Palestinian state at that time. But then a plurality of Palestinians voted for Hamas. I suppose they saw Israel's gesture of peace as a sign of weakness. That they should fight Israel even harder to get more. Doesn't matter much now why Palestinians voted for Hamasnow, because when they got power there weren't any elections after that. So even if Palestinians don't want Hamas in power anymore, they can't vote them out. Classic story of fascists taking power with a plurality of the votes and then ending democracy. There was a free Palestinian state in Gaza... for about a year. Then it became a failed state because people got duped by fascists.
So that was the end of Ariel Sharon's gesture of peace with a Palestinian state. Not long after that, Israelis turned to Netanyahu to protect them from the psychopaths that now controlled Gaza.
Many in the "pro-Palestinian" movement are too young to have been around when these things happened. Even if they were, the facts are too inconvenient to admit to. So you aren't going to ever hear about the ugly truth about Hamas from your peer group. There actually was a free Palestinian state in Gaza and it was killed by Hamas. But that was only after Yasser Arafat killed the previous attempt in the 1990s, but that's another story. For there to be a Palestinian state, Palestinians have to choose having a state over hatred of Israel. With the rhetoric I see being promoted, I don't see that happening any time soon.
Gaza is still under occupation based on the UN itself. Moving your soldiers from inside the occupied land to surrounded it it still occupation
Israel disengagement was stataegic
In October 2004, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's senior adviser, Dov Weissglass, explained the meaning of Sharon's statement further: The significance of the disengagement plan is the freezing of the peace process, and when you freeze that process, you prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state, and you prevent a discussion on the refugees, the borders and Jerusalem. Effectively, this whole package called the Palestinian state, with all that it entails, has been removed indefinitely from our agenda. And all this with authority and permission. All with a presidential blessing and the ratification of both houses of Congress. That is exactly what happened. You know, the term 'peace process' is a bundle of concepts and commitments. The peace process is the establishment of a Palestinian state with all the security risks that entails. The peace process is the evacuation of settlements, it's the return of refugees, it's the partition of Jerusalem. And all that has now been frozen.... what I effectively agreed to with the Americans was that part of the settlements would not be dealt with at all, and the rest will not be dealt with until the Palestinians turn into Finns. That is the significance of what we did
Before hamas even won the election israel already planet to blockade gaza causing lot of suffering and a significant numbers of children to contemplate suicide
Also gaza and the west bank are inseparable as long as an each of Palestine is occupied west bank and gaza , Palestinians has the right to armed resistance
But materially that doesn’t change things. Hamas specifically provoked a war this way. Then they did use civilian infrastructure for operations. They’re not innocent.
But does that excuse the use of white phosphorous cluster bombs and levelling entire cities? No. Denying food aid? No.
This war is incredibly asymmetric, the Hezbollah pager bombings show how deeply Israel has infiltrated these organizations operations. If they wanted they could have done this differently, even if it were more difficult.
The allies killed a ton more civilians during world war 2 intentionally yet we still pick up that side. Whatever you like it or not hamas still attack the israeli occupation forces making thrm a legitimate resistance group.
The politization of terrorism is disgusting why no settler organization are designed as terrorist orgs in canada? Illegal land sale are performed in canada's synaguoges freely
Supporting Hamas and contacting Hamas is a totally different thing than merely supporting Palestinian rights. You can will and should cop a charge for the former but of course not the latter.
But what is "contacting Hamas"? They're still an administrative body. Did he contact the fire brigade? The health ministry? The law enforcement? The militant wing?
That's part of the smoke screen that Israel has thrown up when defining what Hamas is. It's not just a paramilitary organization, it was the actual governing body of Gaza with several divisions that are far removed from the actual fighting.
So when Israel says it's killed 5 Hamas members, it actually killed traffic cops.
Edit: Regardless, to keep in line with actual info from the article and the legal proceedings - the TPS basically followed him around due to his involvement in anti-genocide protests and supposed "hate speech" but wasn't charged with that.
They then contacted the counter terrorism office to conduct a raid on his home (mind you, still no charge) which they claim they found details of communication with a sanctioned group, which then applied the terrorism charge.
I completely and utterly disagree. Both the notion of "supporting" and "terrorist" are so malleable and vague that legislation in this direction can be used to charge anyone for pretty much anything. As such, it has no place in a free and democratic society.
First, the label "terrorist". It should be obvious that terrorism is in the eye of the beholder. Were the resistance movements in WWII terrorists? Depends on who you ask. If you ask me, no. If you ask the nazis, obviously yes. Were the ANC freedom fighters defending themselves against the oppressive system of apartheid, or terrorists disrupting order? How about the folks at euromaidan? How about the elected government of Gazans that runs hospitals and food banks there (as governments do)? Terrorists, apparently.
Then, there's "support". It conjures this image of shady people supplying scary men with crates of AK47s, or sending millions to swiss bank accounts which are then used to buy and develop dirty bombs. And then sure, that sounds like something that should be illegal. But what about treating a wounded "terrorist" in a hospital? Is that support? What about saying you agree with "terrorists"? (For example, I support the Warsaw uprising, I think they did the right thing) According to the UK, that counts! Saying you believe that Palestine action is doing the right thing is an act that is punishable by law there.
The idea that "supporting" "terrorists" should be illegal is an absolutely indefensible position in a free society.
21 Comments
breakfastmtn@lemmy.ca · 25 pts · 2d
This source seems a bit sketchy. They publish news anonymously so no one in particular is responsible for it.
I'm not taking a side on this, but an important thing not mentioned in the article is that there is a court ordered publication ban about this case. The tone of the article is very, "well if there's more to it why aren't they saying anything?" They're forbidden by law from saying anything more about it.
SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca · 5 pts · 2d
It's likely this case:
https://www.tps.ca/media-centre/news-releases/66486/
Though as you say, they can't release details, not even the name of the accused.
This "thenorthstar.media" is just publishing what the defense lawyers are saying, but it looks like the guy is actually being accused of having connections with Hamas (a terrorist group), and likely the electronic devices they seized may have evidence of his correspondence with Hamas on it.
Obviously we can only speculate on the evidence until it's presented in court. Innocent until proven guilty and all that. But it's dishonest to claim that he's been arrested for protesting. He is being accused of having connections to Hamas.
panda_abyss@lemmy.ca · 12 pts · 2d
This seems like a waste of resources to deal with.
Very obviously speaking at lawful protest is legal, I expect a judge to throw this out.
Unless they have real evidence he collaborated with hamas.
To be clear, hamas killed thousands of innocent people, I do not advocate for them, but that does not excuse Israel’s treatment of civilians in Gaza.
Flatworm7591@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 12 pts · 2d
Even if he did, Israel terrorists have killed way more people than Hamas ever has. But it's fine and dandy to support Israel, according to the same government that's prosecuting this poor soul.
SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca · 2 pts · 2d
Poor soul? The guy was blasting out hate speech and may have been doing so under orders from Hamas. He's a shitty person for his hatefulness, the only question is whether his alleged correspondence with Hamas was a criminal act. Which is something for the courts to decide.
unexposedhazard@discuss.tchncs.de · 5 pts · 2d
Oct 7 had less than 1000 civilian deaths btw, so not thousands. And i dont think they have killed enough before that to make it thousands. Just wanna stay accurate here.
SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca · 1 pts · 2d
You seemingly ignore the Palestinians that Hamas has killed. They are an oppressive regime, speaking out against them in places they hold power will get you tortured to death. When the ceasefire began, Hamas executed people in the streets to assert dominance.
And you should know Palestinian civilians are not bullet proof from stray bullets fired from Hamas guns. And Hamas IEDs do kill Palestinians at times. They started a war of choice in a densely populated area and it's impossible to avoid civilian casualties in urban combat.
I think if you add up the Israelis and Palestinians Hamas has killed over the years, it's fair to say they've killed thousands of people.
unexposedhazard@discuss.tchncs.de · 1 pts · 2d
It might barely get you past 2000 but probably not no. Also if you wanna be really nitpicky, Hamas only exists due to Israeli funding and was built to destabilize the peace efforts of the PLO, so you could even argue that these deaths should be attributed to Israel.
SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca · -1 pts · 1d
It's more the opposite of what the propaganda is telling you. Netanyahu is more the creation of Hamas instead of the other way around. Gaza was under Israeli occupation around 20 years ago. Israel unilaterally withdrew from Gaza and removed all of their settlements there. You know, the thing we always tell them they should do? They did that.
A lot of hope around there being a Palestinian state at that time. But then a plurality of Palestinians voted for Hamas. I suppose they saw Israel's gesture of peace as a sign of weakness. That they should fight Israel even harder to get more. Doesn't matter much now why Palestinians voted for Hamasnow, because when they got power there weren't any elections after that. So even if Palestinians don't want Hamas in power anymore, they can't vote them out. Classic story of fascists taking power with a plurality of the votes and then ending democracy. There was a free Palestinian state in Gaza... for about a year. Then it became a failed state because people got duped by fascists.
So that was the end of Ariel Sharon's gesture of peace with a Palestinian state. Not long after that, Israelis turned to Netanyahu to protect them from the psychopaths that now controlled Gaza.
Many in the "pro-Palestinian" movement are too young to have been around when these things happened. Even if they were, the facts are too inconvenient to admit to. So you aren't going to ever hear about the ugly truth about Hamas from your peer group. There actually was a free Palestinian state in Gaza and it was killed by Hamas. But that was only after Yasser Arafat killed the previous attempt in the 1990s, but that's another story. For there to be a Palestinian state, Palestinians have to choose having a state over hatred of Israel. With the rhetoric I see being promoted, I don't see that happening any time soon.
mrdown@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 6h
Gaza is still under occupation based on the UN itself. Moving your soldiers from inside the occupied land to surrounded it it still occupation Israel disengagement was stataegic
Before hamas even won the election israel already planet to blockade gaza causing lot of suffering and a significant numbers of children to contemplate suicide
Also gaza and the west bank are inseparable as long as an each of Palestine is occupied west bank and gaza , Palestinians has the right to armed resistance
panda_abyss@lemmy.ca · 1 pts · 1d
Okay, fair, from Wikipedia
But materially that doesn’t change things. Hamas specifically provoked a war this way. Then they did use civilian infrastructure for operations. They’re not innocent.
But does that excuse the use of white phosphorous cluster bombs and levelling entire cities? No. Denying food aid? No.
This war is incredibly asymmetric, the Hezbollah pager bombings show how deeply Israel has infiltrated these organizations operations. If they wanted they could have done this differently, even if it were more difficult.
avidamoeba@lemmy.ca · -1 pts · 2d
Just over 2000 throughout their existence.
sns@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 4 pts · 2d
Hamas is the lesser evil in comparison to Israel.
mrdown@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 2d
The allies killed a ton more civilians during world war 2 intentionally yet we still pick up that side. Whatever you like it or not hamas still attack the israeli occupation forces making thrm a legitimate resistance group.
The politization of terrorism is disgusting why no settler organization are designed as terrorist orgs in canada? Illegal land sale are performed in canada's synaguoges freely
pentastarm@piefed.ca · 2 pts · 2d
Unless this person was making crediable threats against specific people or places, then this is insanely overblown. Which, I mean tracks for Ford....
melsaskca@lemmy.ca · 6 pts · 1d
Wow, another headline written to lead us down a garden path. Fuck this sensationalistic bullshit.
gibmiser@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 2d
Yeah Lotta that been going around lately
GrackleBirb@lemmy.ca · 2 pts · 1d
Supporting Hamas and contacting Hamas is a totally different thing than merely supporting Palestinian rights. You can will and should cop a charge for the former but of course not the latter.
Rat_in_a_hat@lemmy.ca · 8 pts · 1d
But what is "contacting Hamas"? They're still an administrative body. Did he contact the fire brigade? The health ministry? The law enforcement? The militant wing?
That's part of the smoke screen that Israel has thrown up when defining what Hamas is. It's not just a paramilitary organization, it was the actual governing body of Gaza with several divisions that are far removed from the actual fighting.
So when Israel says it's killed 5 Hamas members, it actually killed traffic cops.
Edit: Regardless, to keep in line with actual info from the article and the legal proceedings - the TPS basically followed him around due to his involvement in anti-genocide protests and supposed "hate speech" but wasn't charged with that.
They then contacted the counter terrorism office to conduct a raid on his home (mind you, still no charge) which they claim they found details of communication with a sanctioned group, which then applied the terrorism charge.
wpb@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 1d
I completely and utterly disagree. Both the notion of "supporting" and "terrorist" are so malleable and vague that legislation in this direction can be used to charge anyone for pretty much anything. As such, it has no place in a free and democratic society.
First, the label "terrorist". It should be obvious that terrorism is in the eye of the beholder. Were the resistance movements in WWII terrorists? Depends on who you ask. If you ask me, no. If you ask the nazis, obviously yes. Were the ANC freedom fighters defending themselves against the oppressive system of apartheid, or terrorists disrupting order? How about the folks at euromaidan? How about the elected government of Gazans that runs hospitals and food banks there (as governments do)? Terrorists, apparently.
Then, there's "support". It conjures this image of shady people supplying scary men with crates of AK47s, or sending millions to swiss bank accounts which are then used to buy and develop dirty bombs. And then sure, that sounds like something that should be illegal. But what about treating a wounded "terrorist" in a hospital? Is that support? What about saying you agree with "terrorists"? (For example, I support the Warsaw uprising, I think they did the right thing) According to the UK, that counts! Saying you believe that Palestine action is doing the right thing is an act that is punishable by law there.
The idea that "supporting" "terrorists" should be illegal is an absolutely indefensible position in a free society.
GrackleBirb@lemmy.ca · 1 pts · 1d
Comparing Hamas to the ANC? Yeah ok we’re done here.
Go back to blasting Kneecap in your rainbow keffiyeh.