Close X
Saturday, November 30, 2024
ADVT 
National

Eby deplores 'most hateful' speech praising Hamas attack, as UBC protest camp begins

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 29 Apr, 2024 03:21 PM
  • Eby deplores 'most hateful' speech praising Hamas attack, as UBC protest camp begins

Charlotte Kates of the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network told the rally outside the Vancouver Art Gallery on Friday that the attack was "heroic and brave." 

Eby said the comments about the attack, that killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were "the most hateful" he could imagine.

"Celebrating the murder, the rape of innocent people attending a music festival, it's awful," Eby said at an unrelated news conference on Monday. 

"It's reprehensible, and it shouldn't take place in British Columbia. There is clearly an element of some individuals using an international tragedy to promote hate that's completely unacceptable."

Kates and Samidoun did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Eby also remarked on an encampment by pro-Palestinian protesters that began at the University of B.C. on Monday. 

Similar camps have appeared on campuses across the United States, as well as at McGill University in Montreal and the University of Ottawa.

At McGill, activists have set up dozens of tents. The university said Monday morning it had seen video evidence of some protesters using "unequivocally antisemitic language and intimidating behaviour" during the protest.

The UBC camp included about 20 tents on MacInnes Field by noon Monday.

Eby said a university campus, while a protected space for free speech, should foster a safe space for students of all backgrounds, especially for Jewish students during a time they feel "particularly alone on campuses and need additional support to feel safe."

"I have no reason to doubt that the leadership, both student and administration, at UBC will find that balance between ensuring students are safe and making sure that atmosphere of free exchange of ideas can continue to take place on campus."

In a series of messages posted on social media platform X, UBC protest organizers have asked supporters to bring tents and sandbags, as well as food, water, first aid and generators.

Naisha Khan, a spokeswoman for the protest camp, said tents started going up at 5 a.m. Monday, with attendees from UBC, Simon Fraser University and Emily Carr University of Art and Design.

Khan said they wouldn't leave until UBC supported the Palestinian right to "resistance," and the right of return to what is now Israel.

In a written response, UBC spokesman Matthew Ramsey said the school is monitoring the situation and keeping in contact with the RCMP.

Protests must "be taken with respect for others and within the boundaries of university policy and the law," he said.

"We also remind everyone that hate and intolerance have no place at UBC," Ramsey said. "The university must be a place of reasoned debate where conflicting views can peacefully coexist."

Before Eby, the Vancouver Art Gallery rally had drawn condemnation from Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim, who called it a "celebration of terrorism and antisemitism."

Sim said in a post on X on Sunday that people who "spew this vile hatred" were not welcome in the city.

Liberal member for Vancouver Granville Taleeb Noormohamed said on X that "glorifying Oct. 7 is unacceptable" and "does nothing to promote peace," while B.C. Opposition Leader Kevin Falcon called the speech a "celebration of the heinous murder of Jews."

MORE National ARTICLES

B.C. government targets 'profiteers' with legislation to bring in flipping tax

B.C. government targets 'profiteers' with legislation to bring in flipping tax
Finance Minister Katrine Conroy told the legislature that the tax is aimed at speculators who use housing only to turn a quick profit and it will make "profiteers think twice about a practice that inflates housing costs during a housing crisis."

B.C. government targets 'profiteers' with legislation to bring in flipping tax

BC Hydro wants more clean power to help meet demand, clean energy targets

BC Hydro wants more clean power to help meet demand, clean energy targets
BC Hydro is looking for more clean power to add to its grids as electricity demands are expected to increase by 15 per cent in the next six years. The Ministry of Energy, Mines and Low Carbon Innovation says the Crown power utility has issued its first call in 15 years and is looking to acquire about 3,000 gigawatt hours per year. 

BC Hydro wants more clean power to help meet demand, clean energy targets

Canadian man killed providing aid in Gaza was a military veteran with a young son

Canadian man killed providing aid in Gaza was a military veteran with a young son
A Canadian man killed along with six other aid workers in the Gaza Strip on Monday is a military veteran from Quebec who leaves behind a partner and a one-year-old son. Jacob Flickinger, 33, was one of seven people in a convoy of World Central Kitchen vehicles when it was hit by an Israeli airstrike in what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has described as a tragic mistake.

Canadian man killed providing aid in Gaza was a military veteran with a young son

Speed limiting devices to become mandatory on heavy B.C. commercial trucks

Speed limiting devices to become mandatory on heavy B.C. commercial trucks
The British Columbia Transportation Ministry says commercial trucks above a certain weight will soon be required to be fitted with technology to limit how fast they travel on provincial roadways.  The ministry says the "speed-limiter devices" will be mandatory on April 5 for commercial trucks weighing more than 11,793 kilograms and if they were built after 1994. 

Speed limiting devices to become mandatory on heavy B.C. commercial trucks

Banff bus fire strands U.K. students on ski trip; no injuries

Banff bus fire strands U.K. students on ski trip; no injuries
Two dozen youth visiting from the United Kingdom were shuttled to safety after their tour bus caught fire on a scenic highway in Banff National Park.  At about 5 p.m. yesterday, R-C-M-P in Lake Louise were called to the fire on the Icefields Parkway.  

Banff bus fire strands U.K. students on ski trip; no injuries

Solo skier dies in avalanche in eastern B.C. Rockies

Solo skier dies in avalanche in eastern B.C. Rockies
A solo skier has been found dead days after an avalanche in eastern British Columbia.  Avalanche Canada says the snow slide happened Friday on Cathedral Mountain in Yoho National Park.

Solo skier dies in avalanche in eastern B.C. Rockies