B’nai Brith Canada says in an editorial in the October-November issue of the Arabic community newspaper in Windsor Ontario lauded attacks against Israeli citizens, and promoted jihad.
On it’s website B’nai Brith quotes, Michael Mostyn, Chief Executive Officer, B’nai Brith Canada saying, “A number of community newspapers, such as Windsor’s Al Forqan, are directly contributing to the radicalization of Canadian youth by glamorizing murder as a sacred religious duty. Articles such as the one recently published in Al Forqan entitled “The Duty of Jihad”, are a great cause for concern.”
Mohammed Khalifeh, who says he worked as a journalist in Lebanon before coming to Canada eight years ago, is the founder, editor-in-chief, and CEO of Al Forqan. He is quoted in the Windsor Star newspaper as saying he only defended the right of Palestinians to resist Israeli occupation adding, “ My opinion was quoted (by B’nai Brith) in a wrong way”.
He adds that he has criticized not just Israel, but also Isis and Hezbollah as well.
In addition to his role with the newspaper, he had recently been hired on a three month contract by the Multicultural Council of Windsor and Essex as a life skills coach for recent immigrants, including Syrian refugees.
The Multicultural Council provides a number of services including re-settlement programmes, and English language lessons. In light of the allegations the Council said it has suspended him without pay, pending and investigation.
The Council is not saying Khalifeh did anything wrong but will translate the editorial in question from Arabic to English and proceed from there.
Additional information-sources
For reasons beyond our control, and for an undetermined period of time, our comment section is now closed. However, our social networks remain open to your contributions.