Filmmaker and indigenous activist Molly Wickham shouted “Free Palestine” during Canada’s Screen Awards on Sunday—the same day an Egyptian terrorist attempted to murder Jewish Americans at a rally in Boulder, Colorado. Wickham, who won best documentary for her film Yintah, took the stage alongside her team and pumped her fist while making the pro-Palestinian statement.
At the same time, Egyptian national Mohamed Sabry Soliman, who entered the U.S. illegally under the Biden administration, reportedly shouted the same phrase as he sprayed Jewish Americans with flammable liquid and used a flamethrower-style device to set them ablaze.
Wickham’s film focuses on indigenous opposition to fossil-fuel companies in Canada. During her acceptance speech, Wickham declared, “Our sovereignty is tied to our collective freedom. Land back. Free Palestine.”
The incident at the awards show is just the latest example of “Free Palestine” being invoked in violent attacks against Jews. In May, two Jewish Americans, Sarah Lynn Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky, were allegedly murdered outside the Israeli embassy in Washington, D.C., by Elias Rodriguez, who was reportedly heard yelling “Free Palestine” during the assault.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has strongly condemned the phrase, calling it the modern equivalent of “Heil Hitler.”
The Canadian Screen Awards also honored other left-wing projects, including the anti-Trump film The Apprentice, a transgender-focused reality show, and a movie by director Andrew Rankin.
The coordinated use of “Free Palestine” at both an awards ceremony and in an anti-Jewish terror attack has raised serious questions about the normalization of antisemitic rhetoric in Western culture.
