‘Praise the paragliders’: Government-funded journal under review after poem applauds Oct. 7 Hamas attack

Israeli soldiers and journalists gather around a damaged powered paraglider used by terrorists in Kfar Aza, south of Israel bordering Gaza Strip, on October 10, 2023. Photo by THOMAS COEX /AFP via Getty Images

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An internal review is underway after the latest issue of a journal funded by the Canada Council for the Arts appeared to support terrorism as a form of resistance and featured a poem by a Toronto writer who praises the events of October 7.

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The poem, called Flood, was written by Bahar Orang and is featured in The Ex-Puritan.

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In the piece, Orang describes the events of an October morning, a reference to October 7 — the deadliest day for the Jewish community since the Holocaust, when 1,200 Israelis were murdered by Hamas terrorists in 2023.

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“Praise the paragliders, their gentle ascension, their unbroken morning, and of course their triumphant descension…,” she writes.

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Hamas terrorists fired rockets across the border from Gaza into Israel and then used paragliders to invade and attack civilians. Videos and photos obtained by Reuters and CNN showed how those horrific scenes unfolded.

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In the poem, Orang also writes “praise the fighters,” and acknowledges their courage, cunning and patience. She describes “the tanks on fire, the enemy fleeing.”

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“Praise the missiles, the recognitions written in blood on each one, the names carved already into your own flesh,” she continues.

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On the third anniversary of the October 7, mourners in southern Israel were surrounded by portraits of victims killed at the Nova music festival, infiltrated by Hamas terrorists, some who arrived via paragliders. Photo by JOHN WESSELS /AFP via Getty Images

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In a statement to National Post, the arts council said it has “retained legal counsel to assist with our review of this matter.”

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It said that the views expressed in The Ex-Puritan do not reflect the council’s views, although the council “takes concerns regarding the content published in the most recent edition of Ex-Puritan very seriously.”

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In 2024, the journal was awarded a four-year grant with annual funding of $22,000 to support its overall operations.

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“As an arm’s length funder, the Canada Council supports a diverse range of artistic and literary expression across the country, and funded organizations make their own editorial and artistic decisions,” the council’s statement said. “At the same time, freedom of expression is not without limits, and concerns that published content may contravene Canadian law warrant careful review and consideration.”

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Orang was a guest editor for the edition and wrote an editorial note explaining why the issue turns “deliberately toward armed resistance.”

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“Among our obligations as Westerners, one is straightforward: to honour that creation of possibility, even when — or especially when — it takes the systematically disavowed form of armed resistance,” she explains. “Taking resistance seriously in all its forms alters what we, as cultural workers, are able to perceive: the violence already structuring ordinary life, and those who fight it as political agents.”

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Orang’s biography on the website of Book*hug Press, which published her first book in 2020, describes her as an award-winning author who lives and works as a psychiatrist in Toronto. Her work is expected to be featured in Best Canadian Poetry 2027.

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National Post has reached out to Orang’s publisher for comment.

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