To: admin@heritagefest.ca
cc: info@edjfed.org
Re: Disqualify the Israel Pavilion from Heritage Days
To Whom It May Concern,
This Instagram video of the revisionist history being supported by Edmonton’s Heritage Days festival at the Israel pavilion is despicable in three ways:
The pavilion personnel, provided by the Jewish Federation of Edmonton, were chanting “There is no Palestine”, when Palestine (estimated to be more than 5,000 years old) predates Israel, created in 1948. These chants are no doubt intended to justify the ongoing occupation of Palestine and genocide of Palestinians being carried out by Israel and the United States. It is like singing there is no Iran, irony intended to relate to the second issue.
The T-shirts of the people chanting these degrading statements were also covered with lies. There is absolutely zero evidence that that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) massacred 40,000+ Iranians in the Mossad-led protests which erupted across Iran in January of 2026. Protests, no doubt, intended to provide cover for the illegal and unprovoked aggression carried out by the US-Israel war machine on February 28, 2026, officially resulted in 3,117 fatalities. Here’s an image of the January 2, 2026 Tweet by Former U.S. Secretary of State and CIA Director Mike Pompeo—tagging President Trump, Marco Rubio, and the current CIA director—explaining his support for “every Mossad agent walking beside” the Iranians protesting.
The ongoing genocide in Palestine, expanded into Lebanon now, should not be supported by the City of Edmonton in any way. This pavilion should not have been included in the first place, for these reasons. The Jewish Federation of Edmonton proved this to you in the Instagram video capturing their lies and hate.
As a person born and raised in Edmonton, I remember Heritage Days being a place to celebrate cultures and feel a sense of shared love for humanity. Allowing hate speech, propaganda-lined clothing, and inviting institutions which provide ongoing cover for the genocide of Palestinian or Lebanese people, war crimes perpetrated in Iran, or the “Greater Israel” agenda in any form, is the last thing Heritage Days should be supporting today. It’s nearly three years since October 7, 2023, triggering calls from the majority, 2/3, of Canadians wanting a ceasefire and end to the moral outrage in Palestine: shame.
Make a public apology and withdraw your support for an Israeli Pavilion at Heritage Days.
Until the Greater Israel project is put to rest, the genocide and displacement stops, and reparations are agreed upon.
Sincerely,
Jenny Yeremiy, P. Geoph
Calgary, Alberta POSTAL CODE
It would be questionable for Heritage Days to preemptively bar any culture from participating.
But, it would an existential threat to Heritage Days if it did not immediately eject any participant that used its platform at Heritage Days to denigrate another culture.
Heritage Days needs to be alert but not judgemental, when it comes to the Middle East.