Herewith, more on the cherished spiritual values of the Canadian Islamic Congress and its president, Dr. M. Elmasry.
Sun, October 31, 2004 Elmasry reveals true colours Our ears don't play tricks when hatemongers speak out both sides of their mouths By Licia Corbella One short month after Sept.11, 2001, a small Toronto-area newspaper called Crescent International described arch terrorist Osama bin Laden as someone who "stands up to the West in the name of Islam." The actual date of that article was Oct. 16, 2001. In that same edition, the argument is made that the West is really to blame for 9/11, owing to "the far greater tragedies taking place in Iraq, Palestine and now in Afghanistan." Remember, that was published on Oct. 16, 2001, before the war in Iraq or Afghanistan. Indeed, just five days after the cataclysmic terrorist events of 9/11, in an article published on Sept. 16, 2001 -- when we were all still feeling so raw and edgy -- the hit on the Pentagon was described as "legitimate" and the Sept. 11 attacks as "successful" , which can be read at its own website (muslimedia.com). Long before Sept. 11, however, Crescent International -- started up and edited for two decades by Zafar Bangash -- published on Feb. 16, 1998 that Canada is a "fully paid-up member of the Anglo-Saxon mafia, which is responsible for most of the recorded genocides in the world." Despite these charming opinions -- and there are many many more -- the Canadian Islamic Congress (CIC) awarded Bangash and his bi-monthly paper a "media excellence award" in 2001. So, why is this of any interest now? Well, Mohamed Elmasry, president of the CIC is that charming fella who recently advocated the genocide of Israeli Jews while having a little chat with Michael Coren, a Sun columnist, when he appeared as a guest on the Michael Coren Live Show, which runs every weeknight on an Ontario cable channel. On the show, Elmasry said any Israeli over the age of 18 was a legitimate target of suicide bombers because they are all members of the Israeli army. "Anyone and everyone in Israel -- irrespective of gender-- over the age of 18 is a valid target?" host Michael Coren asked. "Yes, I would say," Elmasry responded. The Halton regional police intelligence bureau, whose responsibilities include investigating possible hate crimes, is probing the incident, police said. In a release issued later by the CIC, Elmasry said he was only expressing the view of many Palestinians, not his personal opinion. He said he regretted that his comments "were misunderstood and, as a result, caused offence." Elmasry's comments have been widely condemned and his explanation considered "cowardly." Coren has said it was not apparent that Elmasry was expressing anyone's opinion but his own and was even offered the opportunity to clarify his position or even retract it. He did not. Last Sunday in a CIC release, Elmasry said he was trying to express the view of many Palestinians, not his own opinion. "Dr. Elmasry did not, does not, and will not condone the widely-held Palestinian view that any form of armed resistance against civilians ... constitutes a legitimate military operation against the Israeli occupation, and not a terrorist activity," the release states. The University of Waterloo, where Elmasry is a professor of computer engineering, is also reviewing the incident and rightly condemned his comments as "abhorrent." The CIC board accepted Elmasry's apology, such that it is, but would not accept his resignation, stating: "One unintentional mistake does not wipe out an exemplary record of more than 30 years." So, just how exemplary? Surely such views don't just pop up out of the blue? I started digging around. Elmasry, as already noted, is president of the CIC and Elmasry personally awarded Zafar Bangash the CIC's media excellence award, despite the hate so frequently published on the pages of Crescent International. Elmasry has also appeared on panels with Bangash. In May 2002, while appearing on Global Sunday, then hosted by Charles Adler, Elmasry was asked about "honouring the founder of a publication that seeks to export Iranian-style theocracy to other countries, including, by the way, to Israel." "Well, we have a freedom of the press if you notice," he answered. "Everybody is entitled to his opinion ..." Sure, and he's clearly of the opinion that those kinds of opinions should be honoured as "media excellence." What has happened here is finally Elmasry's true colours have been exposed. The same has happened to a Muslim leader under attack for calling Jews "brothers of monkeys and swine" and for calling on all real Muslims to die martyrs deaths in "offensive jihad." Sheik Younus Kathrada, who teaches at the Dar al-Madinah Islamic Society's information centre in East Vancouver, says his remarks in a recorded lecture were taken out of context. Phew! What a relief. We can all rest a lot easier now. Both men say their statements of hate against Jews and their calls to kill them were "taken out of context." The injured parties here, in case you were unclear, are not Jewish people, but these Muslim leaders themselves. They are the victims, or so they would have us believe. But don't believe them. It is not our ears that are playing tricks on us. It is not our eyes. It is not sloppy reporting. It is their forked tongues. They have been engaged in speaking out of both sides of their mouths for so long -- saying things about tolerance and love to the Canadian public in general on the one hand and comments of hate and jihad and intolerance to their followers on the other -- that they just got a little mixed up is all. Nevertheless, how much do you want to bet both men will be invited back to the interfaith speaking circuits real soon? Accessed 17 Aug 2005, http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/Columnists/Calgary/Licia_Corbella/2004/10/31/6 94019.html [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. 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