Why Does Bernie Farber lead a crusade to stifle criticism of Islamic Jew-hatred?

On May 4, 2019, there was a demonstration in downtown Toronto. People carried signs that read:

Ontario newspaper: “Muslims will fight Jews and kill them.”

Toronto book: “The Muslims will dominate the Jews.”

Canadian Imams: “Jews are sons of pigs and apes.”

Bernie Farber was appalled. He shared his disgust in this tweet.

“This pic was visible to numerous @TorontoPoliceofficers during a racist rally in downtown Toronto late last week. It is IMO a violation of our anti hate laws. @antihateca @CIJAinfo why no action?”

Farber calls this hate, and the rally, racist. He is right about the hate. But the rally? The rally exposed hateful, racist statements from modern Muslim commentaries. And these statements, these messages are antisemitic. Was that the hate he was attacking? The antisemitism from Islamic sources? Or was he going after the demonstrators from Pegida Canada who shared the message?

Was Farber going after the message or the messengers?

Islam sees itself as one of the three Abrahamic religions. Not too long ago, Christianity and Catholicism, the second of the Abrahamic religions, shared anti-Semitic tropes in their churches. Canada put an end to that.

Farber tweeted to CIJA, a Jewish organization, but no tweets to any Islamic organization questioning the statements. What does he want from Jewish organizations?

A comment on the thread read “Looks like there were some Islamophobic Jews there.” Think about that. Think about the mindset of anyone posting this: Jews with an irrational fear of Islam. Really? Kill the Jews? I take that personally. That Jews will be dominated by Muslims? That’s OK? That isn’t a tad scary? A little bit anti-Semitic? It’s OK for Jews to be called sons of apes and pigs? And if Jews stand up to these statements, others in our fair country call us Islamophobic Jews.

This is not the first time that Farber has defended antisemitic comments made by Muslims. He defended Imam Elkasrawy despite the fact that the Imams’ prayed to Allah to purify Al-Aqsa Mosque from the filth of the Jews and to the demise of the enemies of Islam (“slay them one by one”). Elkasrawy’s social media posts reveal his positions on Jews, Hamas, Muslim Brotherhood, Al-Qaida affiliate in Syria, ISIS  attacks in France. Even after being confronted with the overwhelming evidence in this case, Bernie Farber refused to retract his false statements in defence of imam Ayman Elkasrawy. See more on this case here and here.

Pegida Canada clearly announced its intention to protest against antisemitism in Canada and invited Canadians to join its rally in Toronto. On April 27, 2019 Pegida Canada tweeted:

“3/3 Our idea is to enlighten the public so they, in turn, get on the government’s butt about these issues. Join us May 4 @ 2 pm, 361 University Ave in Toronto. We will be addressing the very real problem of antisemitism.”

Jenny Hill from Pegida Canada dedicated her entire speech to the scourge of antisemitism in Canada.

“May is Jewish heritage month in Canada. However, Antisemitism is a continuing and growing problem in the world today.”

Hill defended the right of the Jewish people to self determination in their historic homeland and read a long list of antisemitic statements made by Muslim religious leader and entities in Canada. To read Hill’s report on the rally and her speech click here.

Farber heads the Canadian Anti-Hate Network. He bases his “hate accusations” on this definition:

“A hate group is a group which, as demonstrated by statements by its leaders or its activities, is overtly hateful towards, or creates an environment of overt hatred towards, an identifiable group as defined in the Criminal Code, the Canadian Human Rights Act, and/or the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. “. . . identifiable group means any section of the public distinguished by colour, race, religion, national or ethnic origin, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or mental or physical disability.”

Criminal Code (R.S.C., 1985, c. C-46) 318 (4)

“… the prohibited grounds of discrimination are race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression…”

Canadian Human Rights Act R.S.C., 1985, c. H-6 3 (1)

“Every individual is equal before and under the law and has the right to the equal protection and equal benefit of the law without discrimination and, in particular, without discrimination based on race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age or mental or physical disability.”

Farber adds another layer.

“Hate groups will be narrowly identified under this definition. The Canadian Anti-Hate Network, however, may separately identify groups or individuals as ‘Groups/Individuals of Concern’ if we believe their words or actions support or contribute to a climate of hostility against groups identified by colour, race, religion, national or ethnic origin, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or mental or physical disability.”

Read the signs, again.

Ontario newspaper: “Muslims will fight Jews and kill them.”

Toronto book: “The Muslims will dominate the Jews.”

Canadian Imams: “Jews are sons of pigs and apes.”

Instead of attacking the source of the hate; from Islamic sources, Bernie Farber, executive director of CAHN  along with Amira Elghawaby, board member and Evan Balgord, executive director, has chosen to attack “the messenger” Pegida, the organization with the courage to speak up; for the Jews, too many of whom have been silenced by people like Farber who scream Islamophobia at every opportunity. Islamophobia is the irrational fear of Islam. Any Jew reading these comments, these messages from the modern Muslim commentaries, has every rational reason to be afraid.

Bernie Farber recently admitted that “Anti-Hate Network” doesn’t investigate Muslim Jew-Israel hate. In statements on social media Bernie Farber wrote: “We research all aspects of white supremacy. That is what our resources allow,” and “@antihateca [Anti-Hate Network] focuses on extreme rt [right] wing terrorism because we have limited resources.” Not only that he and his Anti-Hate Network does not investigate Islamic Jew-hatred, Bernie Farber is leading a crusade to stifle others expose antisemitism and warns the Jewish community of the hate speech against them. What has happened to Bernie Farber? What went wrong? What are his hidden motives?

Here is the media inquiry I sent to Bernie Farber on May 6, 2019. He did not respond.

Media Inquiry,

Mr. Farber,

Re: your tweet:

“This pic was visible to numerous @TorontoPolice officers during a racist rally in downtown Toronto late last week. It is IMO a violation of our anti hate laws. @antihateca @CIJAinfo why no action?”

Link:

BernieFarber on Twitter “This pic was visible to numerous @TorontoPolice officers during a racist rally in downtown Toronto late last week. It is IMO a violation of our anti hate laws. @antihateca @CIJAinfo why no action?” twitter.com

Questions:

Why did you state that the “rally” (Pegida Canada’s rally against antisemitism) is “a violation of our anti-hate laws”?

Do you maintain that notifying the public about hate speech against the Jews is a hate crime?

Do you maintain that criticizing hate speech against the Jews is a hate crime?

Your statement implies that you believe that the signs shown in the picture are hate speech. The signs feature statements by Canadian imams and quotes from Islamic books shared online by Canadian Islamic organizations.

Did you contact Pegida Canada to learn more about the sources of these hateful statements against the Jews before posting the tweet?

Why didn’t you condemn the Canadian Imams and Canadian Islamic organizations that share these hateful messages against the Jews?

Please respond by 9:00 AM Tuesday May 7 2019. If you need more time, let me know.

From the Ethics of the Fathers: “Rabbi Tarfon used to say, it is not incumbent upon you to complete the task, but you are not exempt from undertaking it.”