Ilana Shneider, CIJ News, with additional info from the
CBC
An investigation by
B’nai Brith Canada – a leading Jewish advocacy group which combats antisemitism
and racism – revealed that al-Saraha – a London, Ontario Arab-language
newspaper published by Abdul-Hadi Shala (عبد الهادي شلا), a Palestinian Arab from the Gaza Strip – engages in gross antisemitism,
Holocaust denial and homophobia.
An article called “The Question Which Everyone Ignores: Why Did Hitler
Kill the Jews?” which was published in al-Saraha’s June/July 2016 issue accuses
Jews of promoting “promiscuity … homosexuality … every
type of sexual deviance.”, denies
that six million Jews were murdered during the Holocaust, claims that “Jewish
propaganda” inflated the number, and blames Jews for the economic collapses of 1870
and 1920.
Until July 21, after al-Saraha’s Jew-hatred was brought to light, the London
and Middlesex Local Immigration Partnership (funded by the Ontario government) had
been recommending Al-Saraha as the go-to source of news for Canadian Muslims,
including new Muslim immigrants.
Michael Mostyn, CEO Of B’nai Brith, called the article an “obscene form
of hate propaganda aimed at Canada’s Jewish community” and said that he is
extremely worried that a community newspaper which hosts advertisements from
mainstream political parties – including a Ramadan greeting from Ontario
Premier Kathleen Wynne and the Ontario Liberal Caucus in the same issue –
publishes antisemitic and Holocaust denying material.
Angry reaction
came from across the province Thursday, including from Ontario Deputy Premier
Deb Matthews.
"I want to condemn, in the
strongest possible terms, the statements in the Al-Saraha article," she
said. "Statements like these, filled with hatred, prejudice and lies, have
no place in our society."
Matthews says, neither she nor the premier knew the
article would be published when they bought advertising space in the magazine.
Matthews says the advertising will stop.
Al-Saraha is one of several Arab-language newspapers in Ontario that have
been found to contain antisemitic articles, as well as articles supporting-terrorism.
On May 2, 2014, Mississauga-based Arabic newspaper “Meshwar” edited by
Dr. Nazih Khatatba who also serves as a board member of Palestine House, which
was de-funded by the previous Conservative government for its “pattern of
support of extremism”, published an article titled “Why the Holocaust is relevant to us?” by Jordanian
Holocaust denier Dr. Ibrahim Alloush who repeated the claim of Palestinian
Authority President Mahmoud Abbas that the “Jewish Holocaust is the biggest crime
in history”, and alleged that the Jews used the “Holohoax” (as Alloush referred
to it) as a pretext to “invade and plunder Palestine” after World War II.
On July 15, 2014, Meshwar published a cartoon featuring Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu as a
bloodthirsty vampire eating a Palestinian child.
On February 21, 2014, Khatatba published an editorial slamming Mahmoud
Abbas for finally admitting that the Holocaust did transpire. In the editorial,
Khatabsa asked: “Why a Palestinian, any Palestinian, has to announce his
‘belief’ in the Holocaust of the Jews, and why should we accept it as truth?
Mr. President (Abbas), I reject the subservience expressed in your statements
and we demand that you stop degrading our dignity and the dignity of our
martyrs and prisoners.”
Al-Forqan, an Arab-language paper based in Windsor, Ontario, founded by
Lebanese-born Mohamad Hisham Khalifeh, came under fire in March 2016 when
Khalifeh wrote that Palestinian knife attacks against Israeli Jews are a
“sacred duty of jihad”. Following a complaint by B’nai Brith, Khalifeh – who
held a position with the Windsor Multicultural Council, an agency funded by
Immigration and Citizenship Canada and which is entrusted with welcoming and
resettlement of Syrian refugees – was subsequently suspended from the Council.
In 2012, Khalifeh, who is well known for his open support of the violent
Palestinian struggle against Israel, posted a poem encouraging Palestinians to
launch armed attacks on Israelis, liberate Palestine and destroy the State of
Israel. In the poem, Khalifeh referred to Israeli Jews as “infidels” and “morally
corrupt people.”
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