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On the third anniversary of the Hamas-led October 7 attacks in Israel, Montréal4Palestine plans to gather outside a building used by Québec’s executive offices in Montréal. The group’s flyer calls supporters to 770 Sherbrooke Street West at 6 p.m. on October 7. Above an image of masked figures, it reads: “Respect Existence or Expect Resistance.”
Québec government records have identified the building as the Montréal office of the premier. A government directory also lists executive-council staff there.
Who Is Behind the Protest?
Montréal4Palestine, also known as M4P, has held recurring protests since the war began in October 2023. It describes itself as a community movement seeking the “total liberation of Palestine,” while its Telegram channel calls for the land’s “complete decolonization.”
Montréal4Palestine co-founder Mahmoud Khalil has led demonstrations in Montréal and Ottawa since the group began in 2021 under the name Canada Sanction Israel. A former Concordia University student, he described the group in a 2024 interview as “openly resistance-oriented and supportive.” Its stated demands include Canadian sanctions and an arms embargo against Israel.
Khalil’s own rhetoric has gone further. At an Ottawa rally two days after the October 7, 2023, attacks, he led a chant praising Mohammed Deif, the Hamas commander who helped plan the assault. At a Montréal rally in January 2025, he called on the “resistance” to “repeat the strike” and “kidnap the soldiers and free the prisoners,” according to video of his remarks. He described the group and its members as “openly resistance-oriented and supportive.” Le Journal de Montréal has identified Bara Abuhamed as another M4P leader.
A Previous Event Honouring a Hamas Leader
In August 2024, M4P promoted a Montréal event called “Night of Rage” in honour of Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas leader killed in Iran days earlier. Le Journal de Montréal reported that Iyad AbuHamed, speaking at the event, invoked jihad and pledged loyalty to “the resistance.”
Ahead of the first October 7 anniversary in 2024, M4P and Khalil were among the defendants named in a ten-day Québec Superior Court injunction concerning protests at Concordia University. The order prohibited the named defendants from blocking access to specified university buildings or intimidating and harassing people entering and leaving them.
The planned demonstration will bring a group whose co-founder has praised a Hamas commander and called on the “resistance” to “repeat the strike” outside offices used by Québec’s executive government on the anniversary of the October 7 attacks.
Are we planning a counter protest or will we bitch out as usual. Last time I went alone to city hall on 24 aug and got arrested and Jews critiqued my actions as not a good look. Ffs.