[IslamCity] Summary of presentation to York police Aug 31 re complaint against trip to Israel.

Mon, 05 Sep 2005 15:28:41 -0700

Khaled Mouammar <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

Date: Wed, 31 Aug 2005 18:59:28 -0400 (EDT)
From: Khaled Mouammar <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: York Regional Board Meeting of August 31 re complaint against trip to Israel.

To: Khaled Loutfi Mouammar [EMAIL PROTECTED]

Dear All,

 
The following people presented at the meeting today:
 
Khaled Mouammar and Sara Amash made the formal presentation on behalf of the complaint.
 
This was followed by presentations by the following people in support of the complaint:
 
- Issam AlYamani, executive director, Palestine House
- Ali Mallah
- Mohamed Boudjenane, executive director, Canadian Arab Federation
- Ibrahim Hayani
- Ahmad Motiar, Movement for Universal Justice
- Zafar Bangash, Islamic Society of York Region
 
 After that, presentations were made against our complaint by:
 
-  Joel Richler, chair of Canadian Jewish Congress Ontario Region
- Bernie Farber, CEO of Canadian Jewish Congress
 
After hearing the presentations, the Board voted in favour of the Report of its Executive Director, Connie Phillipson, which was produced prior to the meeting and which alleged that the trip complied with the Board's policies.
 
It was evident to us before the meeting that the Board had pre-judged our complaint and made their decision prior to the meeting, and that they were just going through the mechanism of listening to our presentations as a public relations exercise. However, we feel that we accomplished our objective which is to expose the racist and terrorist nature of Israel and the hypocrisy of the Board in paying lip service to their stated policies of serving the "public interest" and providing opportunities to police officials to learn "best practices".
 
The meeting was chaired by David Barrow, a Regional Councillor, who demonstrated total bias in conducting the meeting. He interrupted my presentation a couple of times by alleging that I was not addressing the Board's policy and that I was being offensive and political. However, the same Chair then allowed Bernie Farber to get into a personal tirade against all the presenters supporting the complaint, and accused us all of being part of a conspiracy to demonize Israel and of being anti-Jewish.
 
Following these presentations there was a break and the media interviewed Chief Blair. He once again justified the learning experience from the trip and was full of praise for the way Israel deals with terrorism. He also stated that he was aware that the trip may offend some people but he does not regret going. He then offered, on camera, to meet with representatives of the Arab and Muslim communities to discuss issues of concern. I confronted him with the fact that I had requested a meeting with him prior to submitting my complaint and that he did not even acknowledge my letter. His answer was that things sometimes don't work properly!!!
 
I agree with Ali that the behaviour of the Chair was biased and discriminatory and we should send a letter to the Board complaining about that and about the lack of transparency in the decision process. The Board immediately following the presentations decided to reject our complaint without any discussion and without considering the issues and concerns that were raised. They also brushed over the corrective measures recommended by our complaint.
 
Ali is suggesting that we do the following:
 
- file a complaint against the Chair for exhibiting bias in conducting the meeting. Someone has to find out if there is mechanism for filing such a complaint and to whom it should be made.
 
- hire a lawyer to address the way the decision regarding our complaint was arrived at.
 
It is clear from this exercise that the Board does not adhere in practice to its stated policies.
The trip to Israel was a disservice to the public and could result in our police officials employing worst policing practices, which contradicts the stated objectives of the Board.
 
I would like to thank all those who presented for doing an excellent job and for showing solidarity for our complaint. I am sure that our participation has left a mark on the psyche of the many observers and media (around 50) who were present at the meeting.
 
Khaled


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