Latest News

B.C. Imam: Jews Are “Monkeys and Pigs,” Prays for Their Destruction

November 24, 2020
B’nai Brith Canada
Victoria, B.C. – B’nai Brith Canada has reached out to police following the revelation of another act of incitement by a firebrand religious figure.

In a Facebook post flagged Monday by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, Younus Kathrada calls Jews “Brothers of monkeys and khanzeer” (pigs in Arabic), and calls on Allah to “Tear them apart.” The suggestion that Jews are related to monkeys and pigs – an unclean animal in both Islam and Judaism – is a well-known antisemitic smear in the Muslim world.

The post in question was made in 2014, but remains online as of today. Kathrada, who preaches for the “Muslim Youth of Victoria,” made the same allegation in 2004, prompting a police complaint by B’nai Brith at that time. In his 2014 post, Kathrada also prayed for the success of the Chechen jihadists. Notably, one of his congregants travelled to Chechnya to fight Russia and was killed there in 2004.

In October 2019, Kathrada advised his followers not to vote in last year’s federal election, arguing that all Jewish and Christian candidates were “filthy” and “evil.” In January of that year, Kathrada suggested that wishing Christians a merry Christmas was a sin worse than murder.

In April, B’nai Brith warned the B.C. Hate Crimes Unit of YouTube sermons by Kathrada calling on Allah to “humiliate the unbelievers and polytheists” and “destroy the enemies of Islam, the heretics and the atheists.” Kathrada also beseeches divine aid to “grant victory to those waging jihad on your path in every place” and “grant them victory over their enemies and your enemies.” In October, he called French terrorism victim Samuel Paty “a cursed, evil-spirited, filthy excuse for a human being.”

“There must be consequences for years of relentless hate and incitement against Jews and others,” said Michael Mostyn, Chief Executive Officer of B’nai Brith Canada. “The law enforcement and legal system in B.C. showed last week that it can act effectively against hate – but consistency is paramount.”

Last Friday, B.C. man Arthur Topham received a 30-day conditional sentence and three years of probation after posting antisemitic content online. This in turn was a breach of Topham’s previous probation terms, imposed after he was convicted of wilfully promoting hatred against Jews in 2015.