Open Letter to Mayor Parrish

Why is this so hard?

Dear Mayor Parrish,

Words matter.

I know this goes without saying when addressing someone in public office, but for whatever reason, it felt apt to begin by making that clear. As you know, many today wield the principles of freedom of speech when trying to shut down outrage caused by certain words, but simply because you have a right to say something, does not mean you should. Also, yes, there is the law, but there are also morals. There is humanity, there is responsibility, and most of all, there is decency.

Your recent words, I am sad to say, betrayed your decency and morality. It is a shame.

Background

Obviously, this all began several days ago, when the following poster was put on social media:

Apparently, a vigil is planned by the so-called Canadian Defenders 4 Human Rights (CD4HR), on November 26, 2024 in the middle of Mississauga to honour a “hero”, Yahya Sinwar. The intent, per the poster, is to commemorate 40 days since he was “martyred.”

I assume you know the following about Sinwar:

• In his 20s, he acquired the nickname “The Butcher of Khan Younis” for his obsession with killing Palestinians suspected of collaborating Israel;

• In 1989 he was convicted by Israel for murdering four Palestinians, and was sentenced to four life-sentences in prison;

• While in Israeli detention, he was saved by an Israeli doctor who removed a tumour from his brain;

• In 2011, Sinwar was released along with 1,026 other Palestinians as part of a prisoner swap for Israel’s Gilad Shalit, who had been held hostage in Gaza for over five years;

• As leader of Hamas in Gaza, he planned and executed the horrific Oct 7, 2023 massacre, commanding thousands of Hamas fighters to rape, murder, and kidnap as many Israelis as possible, effectively launching a massive war;

• For the majority of the war, despite seeing Gaza destroyed, he refused to release all the hostages, and preferred to see Palestinians killed than Israelis live;

• On October 16, 2024, Sinwar was killed by Israeli soldiers while attempted to flee from Gaza, disguised as a UN worker.

He is known to have said things like, “We support the eradication of Israel through armed Jihad and struggle. This is our doctrine. The occupation must be swept away from all our land.” Also, “We will take down the border and tear out their hearts from their bodies,” and “these are necessary sacrifices,” referring to the Palestinian civilians who have died in Gaza since the war began.

He was no hero.

He was a terrorist.

He killed his own people.

Sacrificed his own people.

Cared little for the Palestinian future.

He hated Israel more than he loved Palestine. His adherents feel the same.

His life and legacy deserves to be forgotten. His death should not be commemorated. Certainly not on the street of a major Canadian city.

Despite your earlier assertions that you did not believe the vigil to be real, it is, and your municipal government will be enabling it. Appealing to the better angels of your nature, or even common sense, are apparently for naught. At least as of today, Peel Regional Police are reported to be working closely with your city to ensure the event remains peaceful, unlike the legacy of the man who will be remembered.

Palestinian Mandela

As you know, the poster has now been changed to the following:

Shedding some of the Remembrance Day imagery, the poster now compares the murderous Sinwar to Mandela (also, I thought the Palestinians already had a “Mandela” in another murderer sitting in prison, Marwan Barghouti, but I digress).

Obviously, any comparison between Sinwar and Mandela is ludicrous. And lazy. And you know that. But rather than panning this outrageous comparison, you gave it oxygen. At today’s City Council meeting you said:

I just want to point out, and I’m not being facetious, Nelson Mandela was declared a terrorist by the United States of America until the year 2008. Your terrorist and somebody else’s terrorist may be two different thing, but I am extremely careful and I do not step out of line.

Let me begin by quoting Austrian psychotherapist Alfred Adler, who once said: “It is easier to fight for one’s principles, than to live up to them.” In other words, there is a difference between advocating for ideals and actually living by them. I quote Adler here because whatever else you may have said in the context of this ridiculous vigil was utterly betrayed, and should be overshadowed by, what you said today in council.

First, it was lazy. “One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter” is far too cliche for this context.

Secondly, what you said today was that the terrorist label doesn’t matter; the US classified Mandela as a terrorist until 2008 even though he was obviously not, so who cares who is called a terrorist, right? Either that or you think that Mandela was a terrorist of some kind? A kindred spirit with Yahya Sinwar? I am really not sure. Or, you just wanted to make sure everyone knew how smart you were by knowing the inanity of America’s approach to South Africa’s 90-year-old saviour (and global icon of human and civil rights) in 2008.

Whatever you meant, it certainly did not show that you are “extremely careful” and that you “do not step out of line.”

I can’t actually believe that anyone needs to distinguish Mandela from Sinwar, but here it goes:

Mandela was a once-in-a-generation individual. He was brilliant, charismatic, and cared deeply for the well-being of both his people and his country. He may have ended up on a terror watch list because of South Africa’s fascistic government policies and what that meant to people fighting against their dictatorial rule of non-whites, but he overcame any bad instincts. He ensured that there was a peaceful transition from apartheid to democracy. My family is from South Africa. I was born there in 1985, where I was classified as “white” from the moment I was born. If not for Mandela, much of my family could have been driven out of South Africa, killed or displaced, along with so many other whites. Mandela however dreamed of a rainbow nation, a country that was the sum of its parts. Everyone was welcome, and the future (at least at the time) was promising.

Sinwar was the opposite. He was a run-of-the-mill terrorist, and someone who very much succumbed to his worst instincts: revenge, murder, rape, indoctrinate, destroy. Not for one day as a Palestinian leader did Sinwar seek to improve his people’s destiny; he only ever sought to destroy Israel. He did not care for his people, and he did not care for his country. The blood of thousands - of Israelis and Palestinians - was on his hands.

Lead

So, in the words of my five-year-old when I steal his french fries: how dare you.

How dare you make this lazy comparison of these two men. How dare you nonchalantly state that what they each stand for is subjective, up for debate. How dare you not condemn this vigil, and affirm that there will be no glorification of terrorists on the streets of your city. How dare you allow this debate to continue, or even take a second of attention away from the real affairs of running a city. How dare you allow this vigil to proceed. This is not what a leader does.

A leader leads. With conviction. With clarity. With purpose. She does not sully the reputation and legacy of a human rights warrior by comparing him with one of history’s worst terrorists. A man easily comparable to Osama Bin Laden, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, Hassan Nasrallah, or any other leader of Al Qaeda, Al Shabbab, Hamas, Hezbollah, or ISIS.

Your words have betrayed your motivations. They show where the Jewish community’s concerns lie on your list of priorities. Apparently, quite low. But this is not just a Jewish fight - it is a fight for civilization, and for right versus wrong.

I honestly don’t understand why this is so hard. Are you afraid to offend those who think Sinwar was a hero? Are you concerned that they will think poorly of you? That you’ll lose their support? That they’ll take you to the Human Rights Tribunal for threatening their freedom to celebrate the life of a Palestinian villain? For taking away their freedom of speech?

I need an explanation, because I simply don’t understand why this, of all things, is something to stand for. Anyone who shows up to that vigil, bearing candles and pictures of a murderer, does not share our values. They do not think of this country, and its potential, the way you and I do. They want to see it changed. It is not simply the act of engaging in a vigil, but it is what the vigil stands for, that matters.

Henry Kissinger once said that, “While we should never give up our principles, we must also realize that we cannot maintain our principles unless we survive.”

With respect, keep that in mind next time you are “extremely careful” with your words in Mississauga’s City Council.

Should you wish to respond to the above, I will publish it with pleasure, and hope it includes your reason for cancelling the Nov 26 rally.

Yours sincerely,

Adam Hummel