A lawyer representing the organizers of the Al-Quds Day rally in Toronto has sent a cease-and-desist letter to Premier Doug Ford over his social media posts about the demonstration last week. <\/p>\n
In the Wednesday letter, Stephen Ellis, on behalf of the Al Quds Committee, asked Ford to take down all the posts and publicly apologize within the next seven days. <\/p>\n
A day before the Saturday demonstration<\/a>, Premier Ford posted on social media denouncing the event, calling it, among other things, a \u201chateful demonstration\u201d and a \u201cbreeding ground for hate and antisemitism.\u201d<\/p>\n This afternoon, I\u2019ve instructed my Attorney General to pursue an injunction against the Al-Quds Day demonstration planned for Toronto.<\/p>\n Hate, violence and intimidation have no place on the streets of Canada and our government will fight it however we can. pic.twitter.com\/5QbvxxpxOg<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Doug Ford (@fordnation) March 13, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n Ford also said the rally \u201cglorifies violence\u201d and \u201ccelebrates terrorism.\u201d<\/p>\n In another social media post after a judge denied the government\u2019s injunction to stop the event, the premier expressed his disappointment, echoing similar sentiments that the demonstration \u201chas been a venue of antisemitism, hatred, intimidation and the glorification of terrorism.\u201d<\/p>\n I am extremely disappointed that the court has refused to put a stop to Al-Quds Day, which has long been a venue for antisemitism, hatred, intimidation and the glorification of terrorism.<\/p>\n While the judge cited Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms, when we talk about rights we\u2026<\/p>\n \u2014 Doug Ford (@fordnation) March 14, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n In his letter, Ellis noted that the Ontario Superior Court justice who rejected the government\u2019s request for an injunction noted in his decision that \u201cthere is no evidence in the record that there were criminal charges arising out of last year\u2019s Al Quds rally in Toronto, or at the rallies in any of the prior 30 years.\u201d He said that the judge also noted that \u201cthere is no evidence that participants at last year\u2019s rally incited hatred or engaged in hate speech.\u201d<\/p>\n Ellis said that if the premier does not meet their requests, he will escalate matters further, \u201cwhich may include, without limitation, issuing a statement of claim against you personally.\u201d<\/p>\n Ellis claimed in his letter that Ford\u2019s posts, which have been viewed hundreds of thousands of times, were reckless and malicious.<\/p>\n He added that the premier implied that the Al Quds Committee is \u201cracist in its outlook, particularly towards Jewish people\u201d and is \u201ca clear and present danger to the Jewish and\/or Canadian public.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPlease note that these published statements have done and continue to do serious harm to the Al Quds Committee\u2019s reputation,\u201d Ellis wrote.<\/p>\n Saturday\u2019s rally began outside the U.S. consulate before thousands of demonstrators marched through the streets of downtown Toronto.<\/p>\n Toronto police arrested two counter-protesters<\/a> and charged them with assault.<\/p>\n