For Immediate Release
Ottawa — B’nai Brith Canada, Canada’s senior Jewish organization, today announced details of the application it has filed in Federal Court (Trial Division) to set aside the Federal Government’s refusal to consider the whole of Hezbollah as a terrorist organization whose assets must be frozen. The Hon. Bill Graham has publicly, and in correspondence with the organization, defended the Government’s position on Hezbollah.
According to Frank Dimant, Executive Vice-President of B’nai Brith Canada, “The updated list of terrorist organizations, published this week by the government, has only been produced after extensive delays. And the whole of Hezbollah is still not named in its entirety under the United Nations Suppression of Terrorism Regulations, despite our numerous requests. Something has to be done. Canadians can no longer tolerate the progress of a government moving at a snail’s pace in dealing with organizations and groups who have shown themselves to be bent on the destruction of the West.”
Mr. Dimant said that, “the government has not yet come to grips with the nature of terror. It takes a whole infrastructure to create a terrorist action. It requires an intricate network of ideologues, propagandists, recruiters, financiers, suppliers of ammunition and even those people who sew the belt in which the bombs will be carried. It is naïve or wrong headed to assume one activity does not feed into the other.”
David Matas, Honourary Senior Counsel for B’nai Brith Canada, filed the application on behalf of the organization.
He noted that, “we have filed this application in order to speed up this process of dealing with Hezbollah in its entirety. The government should have acted already. Our application lists the main reasons we think this is so. Hezbollah is one organization with one set of goals, including killing Jews and destroying Israel. All its wings contribute to this goal and support this message. We are in no position to check Hezbollah’s books to know how all the money raised in Canada is spent. If we do not shut it down in its entirety, we will not have affected its terrorist activities at all.”
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For more information or to arrange interviews:
Rubin Friedman, Consultant: (613) 820-7900
B’nai Brith has been active in Canada since 1875 as the community’s foremost advocacy and volunteer organization.
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