B’NAI BRITH CANADA SLAMS AUTOMATIC DENIAL REFLEX”TO HAMAS THREAT IN CANADA

Toronto, December 5, 2003

For Immediate Release

Toronto, December 5, 2003 — B’nai Brith Canada has slammed the “automatic denial reflex” of an Arab community organization spokesman to concerns about a Canadian accused of being a trained Hamas assassin.

“Given CSIS reports that all major terrorist groups have a presence in Canada where they engage in operations in support of international terrorism, we question why indications of a plot to target Jews or Israeli officials in Canada should generate such automatic skepticism”, stated Rochelle Wilner, National President of B’nai Brith Canada. ““Has the case of Ahmed Ressam been so quickly forgotten?”

Frank Dimant, Executive Vice President, stated: ““We condemn the remarks of Mazen Chouaib, Executive Director of the National Council on Canada-Arab Relations, as reported in today’s Globe and Mail, in which he so easily dismissed the threat to a fellow minority community in Canada. We ask on what information he bases his assertion that Hamas will not mount attacks on our community, when this terrorist group, despite being banned in Canada, is still known to be maintaining a presence here? “We also question the complacent attitude of our government in terms of the security needs of the Jewish community. This is of particular concern given the horrific terrorist attacks that have been carried out just recently in Turkey, Morocco, Kenya and Tunisia, and the increase in harassment, assault and vandalism related to the Middle East conflict that we have documented here in Canada.”

-30-

For more information call Joseph Ben Ami, Director of Communications at (613) 294-7313

B’nai Brith has been active in Canada since 1875 as the Jewish community’s foremost human rights agency.