{"id":179951,"date":"2026-08-23T19:45:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-23T19:45:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/179951\/"},"modified":"2026-08-23T19:45:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-23T19:45:11","slug":"ottawa-mayoral-cadidate-pledges-to-raise-palestinian-flag-at-city-hall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/179951\/","title":{"rendered":"Ottawa mayoral cadidate pledges to raise Palestinian flag at city hall"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ottawa mayoral candidate Neil Saravanamuttoo stated in a campaign video posted on Friday on social media that what is happening in Gaza is a genocide and promised that he would \u201craise the Palestinian flag<\/a> at City Hall if elected.\u201d<\/p>\n

Saravanamuttoo, an economist, podcaster, and organizer who previously served as an economic advisor during the 2022 mayoral election and co-founded the municipal governance nonprofit CitySHAPES, registered his candidacy for the October municipal election.<\/p>\n

In the video address filmed outside the site of the Ottawa Palestinian Festival, Saravanamuttoo stated that leaders in positions of authority have a responsibility to call out injustice rather than stand in silence.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs mayor, I will stand with those in our community who are suffering the grief of loss, the anguish of injustice,\u201d Saravanamuttoo said in the video address. \u201cThat\u2019s why, as mayor, I will raise the Palestinian flag at City Hall, as we do for other states.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the video, Saravanamuttoo said, \u201cI\u2019ve read the report of the UN\u2019s independent International Commission of Inquiry<\/a>, and I agree with the Commission\u2019s findings that what\u2019s happening in Gaza is a genocide,\u201d while asserting that \u201c70,000 civilians have been killed in Gaza<\/a>, including 20,000 children.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"PeoplePeople hold Palestinian flags during a solidarity rally to mark the 78th anniversary of the Nakba to commemorate the mass dispossession of Palestinians in 1948, in Berlin, Germany May 16, 2026. (credit: REUTERS\/ANNEGRET HILSE)<\/p>\n

Saravanamuttoo also addressed broader community relations in his campaign launch, stating, \u201cAs mayor, I will stand against Islamophobia, anti-Palestinian discrimination, and antisemitism,\u201d and pledging, \u201cMy door will be open. I\u2019ll use my position to make sure that no community in our city feels unheard.\u201d<\/p>\n

Saravanamuttoo says he’s been prepared to make stance clear<\/p>\n

In an interview with CTV News on Saturday, Saravanamuttoo reportedly said he wanted to make his stance on the issue clear, stating, \u201cI have been prepared to stand up and say that Gaza is a genocide. I agree with the findings of the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on this point.\u201d<\/p>\n

He explained, \u201cPeople want to know as mayor where I stand, and I think people want to know because they want to know what your values are and whether your values align with their values.\u201d<\/p>\n

Saravanamuttoo reportedly added that members of the community have expressed concern about the conflict in Gaza: \u201cThere are a lot of people that say this is just an injustice that is happening, and someone needs to stand up for this. We need to speak truth to power, and there\u2019s been certainly a sense that leaders in Canada<\/a> have not been articulating what we can all see to be the case.\u201d<\/p>\n

Saravanamutto’s comments receive backlash<\/p>\n

Richard Robertson, director of Research and Advocacy at B\u2019nai Brith Canada, said in a statement to The Jerusalem Post, \u201cIt is deeply distressing that a mayoral candidate in Ottawa would choose to make the Israel-Palestine conflict a focal point of his platform. Complex geopolitical issues should not be weaponized to solicit votes. Aspiring civic leaders should be doing their part to end division and unite Canadians.\u201d<\/p>\n

Honest Reporting Canada reacted to the campaign launch on social media, saying, \u201cJudging by his campaign video, one might think he is campaigning to govern Gaza. Rather than explaining how he would improve life for Ottawa residents, Saravanamuttoo focuses entirely on the war in Gaza, repeats the false claim that 70,000 civilians are dead \u2013 while fully excluding Hamas and other Palestinian terror groups from that figure \u2013 and then accuses Israel of the false genocide libel. Ottawans deserve to hear how a mayoral candidate plans to address the issues affecting their city, not an anti-Israel account of a conflict taking place thousands of kilometers away.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ottawa mayoral candidate Neil Saravanamuttoo stated in a campaign video posted on Friday on social media that what…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":179952,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[10178,17,4519,24275,61,56903],"class_list":["post-179951","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ottawa","tag-antizionism","tag-canada","tag-gaza","tag-genocide","tag-ottawa","tag-palestinian-flag"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179951","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=179951"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179951\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/179952"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=179951"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=179951"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=179951"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}