Muslim Hamas Supporters on Toronto Police Force Praise Oct 7

Toronto cops PRAISE Oct 7 and laugh in shocking official police podcast

Toronto Police have been slammed for an official podcast between two cops who made light of Hamas' terror attack against Israel and praised the 'unbelievable' number of converts to Islam after October 7.

The episode was deleted and the police department apologized for the podcast after major backlash from the Jewish community, which says the tepid response has not gone far enough.

Constables Farhan Ali and Haroon Siddiqui made the shocking remarks on the official Olive Branch Podcast, a project launched to supposedly 'engage' Toronto's Muslim communities.

The clip, which quickly went viral on X, began with Siddiqui telling Ali that social media has elevated the beliefs of Islam since the attacks on October 7, 2023. 

'A lot of people, after October 7, started learning about Islam. And they said, "Ok well what is it with the religion - why is it so hated? Why are they being attacked all the time?'' Siddiqui said. 

He went on to say that the number of 'reverts' to Islam since the attacks was 'unbelievable', using the Islamic framing that everyone was born following Allah and new followers are returning rather than converting.

'They're actually educating themselves,' Siddiqui concluded. 

The term 'revert' instead of 'convert' is used by those who claim Islam is everyone's natural faith and that Christians, Jews or Buddhists are created only through parents and society. 

Farhan Ali (left) and Haroon Siddiqui (right) are partners on the force and serve as Muslim liaison officers

Constables Farhan Ali (left) and Haroon Siddiqui (right) pictured in uniform hosting the Project Olive Branch Podcast 

The clip received a slew of negative comments, with one user writing, 'Cops should not be preaching politics or religion. That's not part of their job description. These talks are divisive.'

'It's totally inappropriate! The uniformed Canadian police officers on what appears to be a police related stream?' another added. 

The episode also discussed Islamophobia in Toronto and how anti-Israel protests can be misconstrued. 

'When we have somebody labelling a certain group as something they're not, all of a sudden now an Islamophobic undertone,' Ali said.

He added that it was important not to confuse Palestinian rallies with rallies for Hamas, noting that people may mistake protests against Israel's actions for support of a terrorist organization. 

'However, the people that are there protesting, they're there for a different cause altogether,' Ali explained. 

In response to the backlash, Toronto Police released a statement apologizing for the remarks and acknowledging that the podcast 'caused significant upset and concern in the Jewish community and beyond.' 

Siddiqui (left) and Ali (right) received backlash for comments they made on an official police podcast 

Chief Myron Demkiw said he ordered a review of procedures and will ensure further content aligns with the department's commitment to respect and inclusion. 

'We recognize the Jewish community's profound pain and anguish as a result of October 7th and the ensuing rise of anti-Semitism,' Demkiw said in a statement.

'I have personally heard from the community about the impact of this podcast, and I'm truly sorry. Our commitment to protecting our Jewish communities remains unwavering.' 

However, the statement didn't seem to appease critics, with the Ontario Vice President for the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs writing a public letter expressing further concern to the police chief. 

'His [Siddiqui] comments suggest a positive outcome stemming from the atrocities of that day, an idea that, given the highly politicized nature of the issue and the fact that he is in police uniform, is especially concerning,' Michelle Stock said.

Stock criticized the officers' ability to express their religious beliefs on an official police podcast and questioned whether the remarks represented the department's stance. 

She added that the remarks were 'deeply troubling' and went on to cite a rise of anti-Semitism in Toronto. 

'Constable Ali's comments fails to acknowledge the intimidation associated with these protests, thus misrepresenting the menacing nature of the demonstrations,' she added. 

Stock claimed that the officers were in breach of the Community Safety and Policing Act, which requires police to only engage in political activity if they are off-duty and not in uniform. 

The Toronto Police has not announced if the officers were penalized or if they were in breach of the law when discussing religion on their podcast. 

Dailymail.com reached out to Constables Ali and Siddiqui for comment but didn't immediately hear back. 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14499391/toronto-cops-police-podcast-october-7.html

The image shared on X that sparked outrage showed a passenger's screen displaying the in-flight map on a flight from Vancouver to Toronto on Monday. The world map was zoomed in and displayed the name 'Palestinian Territories' instead of Israel

1916: Pirate of Basra killed by Turks, given Victoria Cross by Brits

Victoria Cross awarded to 'Pirate of Basra' WWI secret agent who was 'murdered' by Turkish troops in Iraq sells for £200,000

An exceptional posthumous Victoria Cross was awarded to a First World War sailor, who was dubbed the 'Pirate of Basra', has sold for £200,000.

Lieutenant-Commander Charles Henry Cowley took part in a suicidal mission to reinforce the besieged Kut garrison in Mesopotamia, now Iraq, in April 1916.

They were carrying 270 tons of supplies in the SS Julnar, a river steamer, when they were attacked by Turkish machine guns and artillery.

Lieutenant-Commmander Cowley's crew fought valiantly in the face of insurmountable odds until all 15 of them were killed or captured.

The 44-year-old river pilot and secret agent helped evacuate British nationals from Baghdad and also carried troops back and forth on the Euphrates and Tigris at great personal risk for 18 months.

This led to him receiving a death sentence in absentia by the Turks, who described him as a 'pirate', prompting Lieutenant-Commander Cowley to fly the skull and cross-bones flag.

Finally having got their man, the Turks swiftly executed Lieutenant-Commander Cowley, who posthumously received Britain's highest award for gallantry.

The soldier was born in Baghdad but educated in Liverpool before joining the training ship Worcester as a cadet in 1885.

An exceptional posthumous Victoria Cross awarded to the 'Pirate of Basra' has sold for £200,000. Lieutenant-Commander Charles Henry Cowley took part in a suicidal mission to reinforce the beseiged Kut garrison in Mesopotamia, now Iraq , in the First Word War

The Victoria Cross that was awarded to Lieutenant-Commander Charles Henry Cowley

When his father died suddenly in 1889, he returned to Baghdad to live with his mother and quickly learnt Arabic and adopted local customs, like an early day Lawrence of Arabia.

In August 1914, he was in command of the steamer Mejidieh, which was ordered from Basra to Baghdad to evacuate British nationals.

Over the next year and a half, he carried out increasingly daring missions until his final stand on the night of April 24-25, 1916.

His Victoria Cross citation reads: 'On the night of 24/25 April 1916 in Mesopotamia, an attempt was made to reprovision the force besieged at Kut-el-Amara.

'Lieutenant Commander Cowley, with a lieutenant, a sub-lieutenant and 12 ratings, started off with 270 tons of stores up the River Tigris.

Lieutenant-Commander Cowley's crew fought valiantly in the face of insurmountable odds until all 15 of them were killed or captured in April 1916

'Unfortunately Julnar was attacked almost at once by Turkish machine-guns and artillery.

'At Magasis, steel hawsers stretched across the river halted the expedition, the enemy opened fire at point-blank range and Julnar's bridge was smashed.

'Julnar's commander was killed, also several of his crew; Lieutenant-Commander Cowley was taken prisoner with the other survivors and almost certainly executed by the Turks.'

His medal, which emerged from the collection of the late Jason Pilalas, went under the hammer at London-based auctioneers Noonans, of Mayfair.

It was bought by a British private collector of gallantry awards.

Lieutenant-Commander Charles Henry Cowley's Victoria Cross

A scroll presented to Lieutenant-Commander Charles Henry Cowley

The river steamer SS Julnar. It was carrying 270 tons of supplies when it was attacked

Nimrod Dix, deputy chairman of Noonans, said: 'Cowley, had been born in Baghdad, and served on steamships up and down the Tigris and Euphrates rivers pre-hostilities, like his Irish-born father who did a similar job.

'Cowley Jnr mastered Arabic and made many local friends, so was ideally suited to serve as a river-pilot, interpreter, and intelligence agent for the British.

'Therefore, it was a small wonder then that his Turkish captors murdered him after he was taken prisoner in a suicidal attempt to reinforce the Kut garrison in the Julnar, that had been carrying 270 tons of supplies, in April 1916.

'Eighteen months before he was murdered, Cowley was in command of the Mejidieh, and ordered from Basra to Baghdad to evacuate all British nationals who wished to leave.

'His command having then been formally requisitioned by the Royal Navy, he went on to play a critical role in carrying troops back and forth on the Euphrates and Tigris.

'His work came to the attention of the Turks, who sentenced him to death in absentia at a military court hearing held in Baghdad - and even sent him a message declaring him to be a 'pirate'.

'Such accusations appealed to Cowley's sense of humour and, far from being perturbed, he took to flying the skull and cross-bones' flag whenever he returned to Basra.'

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14490853/Victoria-Cross-awarded-WWI-secret-agent-sells-200-000.html

Images taken by a British soldier during the Arab revolt in WW1. In the photograph above, a convoy of horse and carriages are seen preparing to start a 1,000 mile trek to Damascus

British forces' in Mesopotamia, now known as Iraq, as they battled Germany's allies, the Turkish Ottoman Empire. For centuries before the First World War, Mesopotamia had been part of the Turkish Ottoman Empire

Germany had for many years before the war developed Turkey as an ally which it saw as an important part of their eastern expansion. The Turkish army, much of its trade and commerce were led by German advisors. 

Later on in 1916, the Arab revolt, in which Lawrence of Arabia was a central figure, was launched against the Ottoman Empire. Baghdad was captured in March 1917. This image shows a group of people waiting together in Baghdad on a pier head

 Above is the Hit Camp along the bank of the Euphrates, which is one of the longest rivers in Western Asia. The climate was a new experience for the British forces, with temperatures soaring above 40C

Regular flooding was also another weather condition the forces had to battle through. Several men are seen here wading through the water and mud

Tents at the Oxford Bucks camp and Hit town in 1918. 

British troops are seen leaving Hit for England in 1919.The lack of medical arrangements meant wounded men spent up to two weeks on boats before reaching any kind of hospital

In total, more than 40,000 British and Indian forces were killed, with a further 50,000 wounded during the Arab revolt. On the Ottoman side, there were 325,000 deaths. The photographer, Druquer, marveled at the shooting prowess of the Kurdish forces.

He said: 'Along the edge of the water were hundreds of tortoises and birds and wild fowl were plentiful at which the Arabs started shooting but without hitting as far as I could see.' Above shows camp along the bank of the Euphrates

Flies, mosquitoes and other vermin led to high levels of sickness and death during the conflict through disease. A soldier, Mr M.J Taylor, is seen sitting in his car in October, 1918

In another diary entry, Druquer writes with trepidation about an impending 1,000 mile trek to Damascus and Constantinople. This image shows several woman packing their empty cases on to boats before they sail down the river

Above shows a cluster of people leaving on several barges in 1919. British forces closed in on the Turks throughout the autumn of 1917 and into the spring of 1918. The fighting carried on until October 1, when Turkey signed the Armistice

British Soldiers on a Postcard in the Daily Mail 1916

Germany to defy EU Laws by Mass Rejection of Asylum Seekers

Germany plans to 'defy EU laws' with mass rejection of asylum seekers at its borders following spate of terror attacks

Germany's new government is planning to turn away asylum seekers from its borders en masse regardless of agreement from its neighbours, a member of the incoming coalition has claimed.

Jens Spahn, a Christian Democratic Union (CDU) politician and former minister under Angela Merkel, revealed the new policy direction following talks with the Social Democrats (SPD) over the weekend.

Mr Spahn told the Table.Briefings podcast that Germany's neighbours would be informed and possibly coordinated with - apparently contradicting claims made on Saturday that Germany would only turn back asylum seekers in conjunction with its partners.

'We are not making ourselves dependent on the consent of the other countries,' deputy leader of Germany's pseudo-conservative CDU/CSU parliamentary group said on Sunday.

He noted that the existing agreement on migration 'doesn't say agree but in coordination', and that 'we see all the legal bases there to enforce it either way'. 

But critics have already suggested it would be a breach of EU migration law and the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) if adopted. Mr Spahn has previously suggested Germany could leave the ECHR to overcome legal obstacles.

The announcement comes after Austria, to the south, rejected Germany's idea of turning back asylum seekers at the border, insisting it would not accept them either.

The harder line on migration comes in the wake of a spate of terror attacks across Germany in recent months and a shift to the right among voters, with burgeoning support for the conservative Alternative fur Deutschland (AfD) party pressing centrist parties to change course.

German police officers stand guard at a border with France, as all German land borders are subject to random controls to protect internal security and reduce irregular migration, in Kehl, Germany

Friedrich Merz (L), chancellor designate and leader of the Christian Democrats (CDU), and Lars Klingbeil, co-leader of the German Social Democrats (SPD), in Berlin

Germany's fake conservatives under future chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Saturday that his CDU party had come to an agreement in principle with the centre-left SPD to form a coalition government.

He said both sides had agreed on tough new steps to limit irregular immigration, including refusing all undocumented migrants at the borders, including asylum seekers. Merz has stressed the need to win back votes from from the AfD, which secured more than 20 per cent of votes in the election.

Spahn said the SPD has been cooperative on the issue: 'We have a common interest in limiting migration.' 

The rejection of asylum seekers at the borders was at the centre of the CDU's campaign in an effort to hold on to voters unsettled by recent attacks on German soil.

Merz has repeatedly pledged not to work with the conservative anti-immigrant AfD party despite their second-place finish, upholding a longstanding 'firewall' not to work with the party.

Outgoing chancellor Olaf Scholz last month extended strict border controls brought in to tackle migration and Islamist terrorism, ahead of the February 23 election.

But the tightening of borders has not been without backlash. The move, which saw 640 people turned back and 17 extremists identified by police in just the first five days, was met with condemnation from several European partners.

German Federal Police check a car on the A1/A30 motorway at the border with Germany, in De Lutte

AfD national chairwoman Alice Weidel speaks at her party's national convention in Riesa, Germany

Anti-immigration sentiment was then stirred online by an attack on March 3, when a car drove into a crowd in the Western city of Mannheim, leaving two dead and at least 25 injured.

Police said they had arrested a man, the driver of a black Ford Fiesta, after what they said was a deliberate attack.

Mannheim was blighted by a mass stabbing last year when a man ambushed and attacked several people at a rally hosted by the anti-Islam Citizen's Movement Pax Europe group.

The defendant, identified by prosecutors as Sulaiman A., is accused of stabbing and seriously injuring six people, including a 29-year-old policeman who died of his injuries. 

At least 39 people, including a two-year-old child, were also injured in Munich last month when a man drove a car into a crowd of 1,000 strikers.

The driver was a 24-year-old Afghan asylum seeker, police said. Scholz responded by saying he 'must be punished and he must leave the country'.

According to the German Press Agency, the suspect came to Germany in 2016 as a minor and had his request for asylum turned down the following year. He was supposed to have been deported in 2020, dpa reported. 

According to Spiegel, he was said to have 'posted suspected Islamist posts' before the crime.

Amid a shift in European policy towards migration, the EU is expected today to open the way for member states to set up migrant return centres outside the bloc following pressure from governments to facilitate deportations. 

The European Commission is to unveil a controversial planned reform of the EU's return system, which critics say is inadequate in its present form. 

Data shows that less than 20 percent of irregular migrants who are ordered to leave Europe currently do so.

'We want to put in place a truly European system for returns, preventing absconding, and facilitating the return of third-country nationals with no right to stay,' commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said Sunday.

A souring of public opinion on migration has fuelled conservative electoral gains in several EU countries, upping pressure on governments to harden their stance.

Led by immigration hawks including Sweden, Italy, Denmark and the Netherlands, EU leaders called in October for urgent new legislation to increase and speed up returns and for the commission to assess 'innovative' ways to counter irregular migration.

Most controversial among them is the creation of 'return hubs' outside the European Union where failed asylum seekers could be sent pending transfer back home.

This is not possible at present as under EU rules migrants can be transferred only to their country of origin or a country they transited from, unless they agree otherwise.

Magnus Brunner, the commissioner for migration, is expected to propose to the European Parliament in Strasbourg legal changes allowing EU countries to strike deals with other nations to set up such centres, according to people familiar with the matter.

An expansion of the conditions under which irregular migrants can be detained is also likely to be featured in the proposal, which will need backing from parliament and member states to become law.

Brussels is currently busy dealing with US tariff threats, an aggressive Russia and the prospect of a collapse in transatlantic relations.

Emergency services and police stand at Paradeplatz in Mannheim, Germany, after a serious incident

Britain's leftist government recently abandoned a similar scheme to deport illegal migrants to Rwanda, and Italian-run facilities to process migrants in Albania are bogged down in the courts.

Yet proponents say there are few viable alternatives.

'If we are not going to do the return hubs, what will we do instead is my question? We have tried other systems for many years, it doesn't work,' Johan Forssell, Sweden's migration minister, told AFP.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14485069/Germany-defy-laws-rejection-asylum-seekers.html

Friedrich Merz

A police officer gestures to a vehicle at a checkpoint on the German-Polish border amid heightened security checks

Migrants queue for lunch at the reception facility for migrants and refugees in Eisenhuettenstadt, Germany