February 26, 2016, TORONTO — B’nai Brith is condemning an editorial by Mohammed Hisham Khalifeh, published in Windsor’s Arabic language Al Forqan newspaper, reported as lauding the ongoing spree of attacks against civilians in Israel as a ‘sacred duty of jihad’.
“A number of community newspapers, such as Windsor’s Al Forqan, are directly contributing to the radicalization of Canadian youth by glamorizing murder as a sacred religious duty,” said Michael Mostyn, Chief Executive Officer, B’nai Brith Canada. “Articles such as the one recently published in Al Forqan entitled “The Duty of Jihad”, are a great cause for concern.
“For more than 30 years, B’nai Brith has compiled an Annual Audit of Antisemitic Incidents. The data gleaned from our extensive history of recording such incidents strongly suggests a correlation between rhetoric, such as that found in Al Forqan, and increasing levels of antisemitism. Calls for violent Jihad and support for listed terrorist groups have no place in a civilized democracy.
“We have written to Michael Coteau, as the newly appointed Minister Responsible for Anti-Racism, Windsor’s police chief, Al Frederick, Federal Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale and Provincial Community Safety Minister Yasir Naqvi, urging them to launch a full investigation of the paper and particularly the offensive editorial published in Issue 33, October – November 2015.”
