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Hamdi Elghoul
Hamdi Elghoul participated in the pro-Hamas encampment at UofT in May 2024. Elghoul is a gun enthusiast who has expressed support for Hamas terrorism, celebrated the murder of Israelis and spread anti-Semitism.
On May 5, 2024, Hamdi Elghoul participated [00:00:15] in the pro-Hamas encampment. He stood at the entrance to the encampment holding a banner that read: “KKKANADA IS ARMING GENOCIDE OF PALESTINE / STOP THE ‘ISRAELI’ OCCUPATION / FREE PALESTINE.”
The term “KKKanada” uses the initials of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) as a way to demonize Canada as white supremacist.
On May 6, 2024, Elghoul was featured [00:00:30] in an Instagram video donating Palestinian flags to the encampment as an initiative of the anti-Israel group Palesign.
On May 11, 2024, Elghoul was featured [00:00:30] in an Instagram video participating in an anti-Israel march, which ended at the encampment.
UofT is located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Hamdi Elghoul’s Participation in the Pro-Hamas Encampment at the University of Toronto (UofT)
On May 2, 2024, activists from the UofT Occupy for Palestine (Occupy UofT) group “stormed down” [00:00:24] the fencing around UofT’s Kings College Circle and set up a pro-Hamas encampment, which they called the “People’s Circle for Palestine.”
That day, Occupy UofT called on “community members to…help us defend our encampment” at an emergency rally in the evening. Protesters chanted [00:02:59] for “intifada” and celebrated “resistance” [00:02:45]. Both terms are calls for terrorism. The activists also chanted [00:01:28; 00:02:21] for Israel’s destruction multiple times.
One speaker, Nabil Jalbout, said [00:09:02]: “...we are not fighting for peace, we are fighting for liberation, because ‘peace’ is a white man's word.” Another speaker, Ahmad Jarrar Hajahmad, claimed [00:05:52]: “All these Israeli and Zionist entities fill all these politicians with money in their pockets…we already know who runs this system…”
Signs displayed at the encampment said: “LONG LIVE THE INTIFADA” and “LIBERATION FOR ALL REQUIRES RESISTANCE FROM ALL.”
On May 4, 2024, anti-Israel protesters at the encampment assaulted a Jewish man, punching him in the stomach as they forcibly took his Israeli flag. The attackers told the man [00:01:02]: “God bless the armed resistance,” and: “Go back to Europe!” They also reportedly called him “a “dirty Jew.”
Protesters “occupied” [00:00:17] the area from May to July 2024, despite UofT’s warning they were trespassing. The group said they would not leave until UofT divested from companies that “sustain Israeli apartheid, occupation and illegal settlement of Palestine” and terminated partnerships with Israeli academic institutions.
Following the October 7, 2023 massacre of nearly 1,200 Israelis, the inverted red triangle - 🔻- became a Hamas symbol. This symbol appeared on large signs at the encampment multiple times. Erin Mackey, one of the primary organizers, is openly pro-Hamas, having used the symbol in her activism. In addition, pro-Hamas marches that began in other parts of the city concluded at the encampment.
On July 3, 2024, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice issued an injunction at the request of UofT’s Governing Council, requiring students to clear the encampment. Occupy UofT dismantled the encampment and wrote [slides 5-6]: “We are just getting started…come fall, every incoming student will hear our message loud and clear…Whatever institution you have access to and influence over - you need to take this campaign there!” The statement concluded: “Long live the intifada.”
The encampment was one of over 140 pro-Hamas and anti-Israel college encampments set up in North America, and over 20 more globally, in the spring of 2024. The first began on April 17, 2024, at Columbia University. The encampments were unofficially known as the “student intifada,” borrowing a term associated with terrorist violence.
Protesters harassed Jewish students, blocked Jews from campus facilities and shouted anti-Semitic slogans. They occupied campus grounds, in many cases illegally, caused property damage, violently took over buildings, celebrated terrorism and promoted the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.
Activists set up encampments to oppose Israel’s right to wage war against the Hamas terror group following October 7, 2023, when Hamas murdered approximately 1,200 people, including 32 American and 8 Canadian citizens. Hamas also kidnapped 252 people, including 11 Americans and the bodies of 2 murdered Canadians. As of May 26, 2024, 125 hostages remained in Hamas captivity.
For more information on the October 7, 2023 terror attacks, see the Canary Mission page on Hamas.
On August 23, 2021, Elghoul posted [slide 11] on his Instagram Stories Highlights a video of himself at a shooting range, captioned: “shooting range therapy🥰.”
On August 30, 2020, Elghoul posted on his Instagram Stories Highlights four videos from a shooting range, including two [slides 2, 3] of him practicing shooting.
On October 7, 2023, Elghoul posted on Facebook: “#طوفان_الأقصي ✌️
[#Al Aqsa Flood].”
The language of “flood” is a reference to Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, the name Hamas used for their terror operation on October 7, 2023. It is a reference to the allegation that Jews “threaten” to destroy Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque. This accusation has been a pretext for Arab attacks on Jews long before Israel was founded in 1948. Such propaganda has led to multiple periods of violence against Israeli civilians.
On October 7, 2023, Hamas murdered approximately 1,200 Israelis, kidnapped hundreds and wounded thousands. War crimes included mass rape and torture. Many Palestinian civilians participated in and supported the attacks, and Gazans working in the targeted Israeli communities gave intelligence to Hamas on where to strike.
For more information, see the Canary Mission page on Hamas.
On the same date, Elghoul posted on Facebook Hamas footage of their attacks that day, which included showing and glorifying the murder of Israeli civilians. Elghoul wrote in a caption of the video: “✌️الله أكبر ولله الحمد [God is great and praise be to God].”
On October 8, 2023, Elghoul posted on Facebook more footage from Hamas’ October 7 attack and captioned it: “عن جد شعور حلو ✌️ [Seriously, it’s a nice feeling]”
On October 8, 2023, Elghoul posted on Facebook: “ابو عبيدة بعد قليل✌️[Abu Obeida in a little while✌️].”
Abu Obeida is the official spokesperson for the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades — the armed wing of Hamas.
On April 6, 2024, Elghoul participated [00:05:21] in Toronto’s annual Al Quds Day rally, wearing a sweatshirt with an inverted red triangle on the sleeve.
The Iranian government initiated International Quds Day in 1979, as an annual protest against Israel’s existence. The protest has historically been a platform for anti-Semitism.
The inverted red triangle is a symbol showing support for Hamas and Palestinian terrorism. It was first used by Hamas during the October 7, 2023 Hamas terror attacks to signify an Israeli target.
On May 1, 2024, Elghoul commented on Facebook, referring to Hamas terrorists: “God bless the freedom fighters in Palestine 🙏.”
On May 25, 2024, Elghoul posted on Facebook an image of an inverted red triangle and wrote: “كل من دخل النَفَق نَفَق .. هنا القسام✌️ [Everyone who entered the tunnel, will be lost. Here is Al-Qassam].” This post was a response to the May 24, 2024 Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announcement that it had recovered the bodies of three Israeli civilian hostages who had been murdered on October 7, including two who had been at the Nova music festival.
On August 6, 2024, Elghoul posted on Facebook: خير خلف لخير سلف... ابو ابراهيم القائد الجديد [The best successor to the best predecessor…the new leader”] celebrating Hamas’ appointment of Yahya Sinwar as its new leader.
Yahya (Yehiya) Sinwar masterminded the October 7, 2023 terror attacks on Israel and had been a Hamas leader since the 1980s. Sinwar was nicknamed the “Butcher of Khan Younis” after he admitted to killing 12 suspected Palestinian “collaborators,” and in 1989 was sentenced to four life terms in Israeli prison for crimes including the killing of two Israeli soldiers.
In 2011, Sinwar was released by Israel to Gaza following the Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange deal and resumed his leadership role in Hamas. On October 17, 2024, the Israel Defense Forces eliminated Sinwar in Gaza.
On March 7, 2024, Elghoul participated in an anti-Israel protest held outside one of the largest Orthodox synagogues in North America, the Beth Avraham Yoseph of Toronto (BAYT).
On March 7, 2024, anti-Israel group Palesign co-organized a protest titled: “No Stolen Land Sales,” outside a synagogue in Thornhill, Ontario, which was holding an Israeli real estate expo.
Protesters held [00:11:49] a banner with text that read: “SYNAGOGUES COMPLICIT IN PALESTINIAN ETHNIC CLEANSING.” Protesters also chanted [00:03:00]: “Settlers, go back home, Palestine is our home!” and [00:05:01]: “Palestine is not for sale, Zionists go to hell!”
They also called for [00:00:57] “intifada” and attempted to burn Israeli flags. One rally speaker said [00:03:42]: “...with this little sun they have, all these white people are burning up. Let’s laugh as these white people claim that they are indigenous to [Israel]!”
One way anti-Israel activists spread anti-Semitism and deny Israel’s legitimacy is by claiming that Jews are not indigenous to the Land of Israel.
As of May 2024, Hamdi Elghoul was an activist with the anti-Israel group Palesign.
As of September 2024, Elghoul’s LinkedIn profile said he was a team member at ArcelorMittal Dofasco, a steel manufacturing plant in Hamilton, Ontario, since 2022.
On August 1, 2024, Elghoul posted on his LinkedIn: “I’m getting my diploma in supply chain and operation management so soon I will be seeking a new role…”
As of September 2024, Elghoul’s Facebook said he was located in Hamilton, Ontario. However, his LinkedIn said he was located in Ancaster, Ontario, Canada.
