FIRST READING: Liberal MP photographed next to serial organizer of terrorist vigils

Photo of Liberal MP Salma Zahid with Firas Al-Najim. Photo by X.com

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A man with a history of organizing public vigils for terrorist leaders posted a weekend picture of himself alongside a Liberal MP, praising their “nice interaction” and claiming she had promised him she wouldn’t “bow to any Zionist lobbies.”

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Firas Al-Najim has been described by multiple Jewish organizations as a “notorious” Toronto-area anti-Israel activist, with a years-long history of extremist rhetoric targeting Canada’s Jewish and Persian communities.

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On Sunday, Al-Najim posted a photo to X.com of himself alongside Salma Zahid, Liberal MP for Scarborough Centre—Don Valley East.

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In the image, Al-Najim is wearing a Palestinian-style keffiyeh, a hat bearing the flag of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and a shirt and pendant bearing portraits of Iran’s supreme leaders, including the incumbent, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei.

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In between Zahid and Al-Najim is a young girl wearing a hijab.

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In her own social media post that same day, Zahid said she was “approached by a young girl for a photo,” and did not recognize the “older man” accompanying her.

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“I did not notice the shirt he was wearing and I would never have agreed to such a photo if I had,” she said.

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She added, “I unequivocally condemn the IRGC and oppose all foreign interference in Canadian politics,” and that she has always been “an advocate for human rights and peace, and the rights of women and girls.”

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In 2024, Al-Najim was the face of a planned vigil for Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar to be held at Mississauga’s Celebration Square. Occurring just two weeks after Remembrance Day, posters for the event included images of poppies and the phrase “lest we forget.”

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“Commemorating 40 days after the Martyrdom of the leaders of Resistance fighting for Palestinian freedom. Bring candles and pictures,” read a poster circulated by Al-Najim’s group, Canadian Defenders 4 Human rights.

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Hamas, the architect of the October 7 terrorist attacks, has been a listed Canadian terror entity since 2002. “For us, he’s our hero,” Al-Najim said of Sinwar in an interview at the time with Mississauga News.

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More recently, Al-Najim organized another vigil in Toronto for Qassem Soleimani, former commander of the Iranian Quds Force until he was killed in a U.S. air strike in 2020.

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The Quds Force is also a listed Canadian terror entity. The group’s official 2012 citation cites its history of providing “arms, funding and paramilitary training to extremist groups.”

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All the while, Al-Najim has been a regular feature of anti-Israel protests and demonstrations in support of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

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In 2019, B’nai Brith named Al-Najim as the figure in a video screaming invective at a Jewish man in a wheelchair. The man accuses “Zionists” of “claiming this country as if it’s occupied Palestine and calling it now Israel.”

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One of Al-Najim’s last social media posts before uploading the photo of Zahid, in fact, was an apparent death threat against an Israeli politician.