June 14, 2018
By Benjamin Paul
Communications Associate
B’nai Brith Canada
KITCHENER, Ont. – B’nai Brith Canada is perturbed by revelations that an organization, whose spokesperson called for the “eradication” of Israelis, is receiving federal funding through the Canada Summer Jobs program.
Sheikh Shafiq Huda, listed as the public contact for the Islamic Humanitarian Service in Kitchener, Ont., delivered his incendiary remarks during Saturday’s al-Quds Day rally in downtown Toronto. B’nai Brith is circulating a petition calling on the City of Toronto to put an end to the annual rally on municipal property.
To sign the petition, click here.
Jews must be “dismantled.” Israelis should be “shot,” “run over” and “eradicated.” These are just examples of what takes place at Toronto #alQudsDay rallies. NO MORE.
Plz SIGN OUR PETITION urging Toronto to end the al-Quds Day rally & fine the organizers: https://t.co/pCiTUTUIHp pic.twitter.com/3uu46i8eRR
— B'nai Brith Canada (@bnaibrithcanada) June 12, 2018
On Monday and Tuesday, MPs Steven Blaney and Peter Kent asked MP Patty Hajdu, Minister of Employment, Workforce and Labour, why Ottawa had approved funding for the Islamic Humanitarian Service, in light of Huda’s hateful rhetoric.
“Taxpayer money should not be redirected to groups that spread hatred, just as we continually raise concerns over organizations that violate the requirements for charity status,” said Michael Mostyn, Chief Executive Officer of B’nai Brith Canada. “We have been in contact with the Government of Canada since May about certain groups we believe have inappropriately benefited from the Canada Summer Jobs program.
“The decision to extend funding to the Islamic Humanitarian Service is particularly egregious given that it had been associated with antisemitic rhetoric even in advance of Sheikh Huda’s speech on al-Quds Day.”
A newsletter distributed by the organization, al-Haqq, has been spreading antisemitism for years. The newsletter’s December 2009 issue falsely accused page doesn`t exist anymore Jews of demolishing Muslim holy sites in Saudi Arabia, while an editorial from June of 2010 condemned page doesn`t exist anymore the prosecution of Holocaust deniers Ernst Zundel and James Keegstra as an example of “hypocrisy.”
#BREAKING: B'nai Brith Canada is in the process of filing a complaint with Toronto Police after a speaker at Saturday’s #alQudsDay rally in downtown Toronto called for the “eradication” of Israelis. #onpoli #AlQudsDay2018 https://t.co/OiZBOqBWyh
— B'nai Brith Canada (@bnaibrithcanada) June 10, 2018
As recently as June of 2016, an article in al-Haqq described the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks as a “Zionist-American entrapment of the Saudi subnormal intelligence officials.”
Despite these incidents, the Islamic Humanitarian Service remains designated as a Canadian charitable organization, and even lists the al-Haqq newsletter among its programs on the Canada Revenue Agency website.
