WARMINGTON: Mississauga mayor comparing Hamas leader and Nelson Mandela 'despicable'

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Mississauga Mayor Carolyn Parrish strangely comparing a Hamas terrorist leader to Nelson Mandela has resulted in mounting pressure for her to apologize.

So far the mayor has not done so. But saying she “did not” make this comparison, Parrish has rejected the claims of those who have been going after her on social media, saying her words have been taken out of context.

“Every word written gets spun way out of control,” Parrish told the Toronto Sun on Thursday morning. “I would love to respond sincerely to what you just wrote back but it will start another flood of vitriol on social media.”

What I wrote to her was that Mandela did not plan and lead a barbaric attack on innocent people in Israel that saw women raped and children slaughtered.

What she said at council Wednesday has people shaking their heads in bewilderment and disgust.

Saying she is still consulting lawyers on whether or not a planned martyr’s celebration for deceased Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar is protected by Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms, she pushed back on a fellow council member who took the position this man was a terrorist and this event should not happen.

“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,” she said at city council from the mayor’s chair. “Your terrorist and somebody else’s terrorist may be two different things.”

It was a stunning, bizarre conflation.

Needless to say, the comparison of South Africa’s icon former president who began as a prisoner for leading a group battling the horrors of apartheid to the leader of a listed terror group that on Oct. 7 perpetrated a barbaric sneak attack from Gaza on innocent people at a music festival and in kibbutz in Israel, leaving 1,200 dead, 254 taken hostage and many women and children raped, is shocking.

There is no comparison to Mandela, and it was an irresponsible, troubling statement to suggest there is. Ironically, or not so ironically, this was the same narrative laid out in a video by a man believed to be behind organizing the vigil who went as far to say that one day there would be a “Sinwar Day” like there is a Mandela Day.

“Making any correlation to Nelson Mandela, a man honoured with the Nobel Peace Prize, to Yayha Sinwar, is despicable,” said a statement from the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA). “It is an insult to the too-many families who have lost loved ones because of Sinwar, including Canadians.

“Mayor Parrish’s moral compass is obviously broken. Moreover, with this odious comparison, she sullied the reputation of the city she leads. Mississaugans, and frankly Ontarians and Canadians, deserve better. The mayor should apologize immediately for these remarks.”

They also produced the video and audio of Parrish’s explanation which has garnered much commentary — much of it questioning the mayor deciding to go there as much as the comment itself.

But Parrish said the way it is being spun is incorrect.

“I did not compare the two,” said Parrish. “I commented on how perceptions can change over time and how a terrorist for one group can be a hero for others.”

Her critics sure don’t see it that way.

“What the heck is wrong with you?” asked Conservative Deputy Leader and MP Melissa Lantsman on X.

“What a strange hill to die on,” Richard Robertson, B’nai Brith director research and advocacy, wrote.

So many are saying that about Parrish, who has in the past had controversy like the time she stepped on a doll of then U.S. President George W. Bush who had gone to war in Iraq.

“Mississauga Mayor Carolyn Parrish exposes her spinelessness by openly admitting she follows her lawyers’ advice without question, while recklessly equating Yahya Sinwar with Nelson Mandela,” Montreal-area mayor of Hampstead Jeremy Levi posted to X.

“It’s remarkable — and deeply troubling — that someone in a position of leadership shows such a blatant lack of backbone and judgment,” he continued. “True leaders are guided by principles, not legal advisors, and certainly not by morally bankrupt comparisons. In times that demand courage and clarity, Parrish’s stance highlights her shocking deficiency in both.”

Mississauga Councillor Matt Mahoney told the Toronto Sun: “I personally do not believe there is or should be any comparison between this individual and the great humanitarian Nelson Mandela, but I would encourage you to reach out to Mayor Parrish for further comment and clarification.”

As of this publication, Parrish has not clarified it.

“She should walk it back fast,” former Ontario Conservative leader Tim Hudak told John Moore on Newstalk 1010 Thursday morning.

She doesn’t seem to be taking that advice.

Instead she’s taking the “I am always guided by the laws of the land and our lawyer’s interpretation of the same” and she was merely looking for a ruling on whether or not this vigil is protected by the charter.

The problem with this approach is the Canadian government itself regards Hamas as being a “terror entity.” And when you consider that this same mayor and council decided to uphold the city’s ban on street hockey and other sports on the roadways, it’s hard to accept that a group of people celebrating the death of a genocidal murderer is OK when road hockey isn’t.

jwarmington@postmedia.com