Nabil Nassar, Secretary of the Fatah Movement in Canada. Photo: Facebook.

The head of the Canadian branch of the Palestinian Fatah organization has been identified among the individuals who attended a Canadian parliamentary event to mark the Nov. 29 “International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People” that also featured a Holocaust denier. 

Nabil Nassar, the Secretary of the Fatah Movement in Canada, and Nazih Khatatba, publisher of the antisemitic, Holocaust denying Meshwar Media publication, attended the event hosted by Liberal MP Salma Zahid, chair of the Canada-Palestine Parliamentary Friendship Group. Canada’s Transport Minister Omar Alghabra, Green Party Leader Elizabeth May, and MPs from the Liberal, New Democratic Party (NDP), Bloc Québécois, and Conservative parties were also present.

Nassar was appointed Secretary of Canada’s Fatah Movement, the political party of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas that governs the West Bank, in 2020. He has repeatedly praised terrorists on social media, including a 2020 post expressing support for Ali Hassan Salameh, the mastermind behind the 1972 massacre of Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics. Nassar has also lauded Dalal al-Mughrabi, who participated in the murder of 37 Israelis, including 12 children, in a terrorist attack on a passenger bus in 1978, as “the epitome of the Palestinian woman … a symbol of resistance and pride.”

Khatatba’s Meshwar Media routinely engages in Holocaust denial and other forms of antisemitism. They have described the Holocaust as a Jewish plot and called it the “Holohoax.”

B’nai Brith Canada, a Canadian Jewish rights group, called on Liberal MP Zahid to address the controversy over the “celebratory” Palestinian solidarity event.

“Considering her ongoing history of association with Khatatba, Salma Zahid has a special obligation, particularly in her capacity as Chair of the Canada-Palestine Parliamentary Friendship Group, to reject Meshwar Media and its publisher by name,” said Michael Mostyn, Chief Executive Officer of B’nai Brith Canada. “Additionally, Zahid owes it to the public to better explain through what channels Khatatba gained access to the event on Parliament Hill. Zahid must commit her Friendship Group to end all association with those who distort the Holocaust and pursue antisemitic agendas.”

Zahid issued a statement saying that she had not directly invited Khatatba, pointing out that the invitation was widely distributed in the Palestinian community, and that “we are not able to research the history of every attendee that responded.”

The NDP issued a brief statement denouncing antisemitism and Holocaust denial, saying that it had also not invited Khatatba. The NDP did not immediately respond to The Algemeiner’s request for comment on who had shared the invitation.

Dion J. Pierre contributed to this report.