No Country For Anyone

It just gets worse:

The Ontario Human Rights Tribunal has sided with a Muslim former teaching assistant who was fired after publicly denouncing "desecration by the Jews," awarding him $7,000 for injury to "dignity, feelings and self-respect."

Although adjudicator Cyndee Cherniak rejected Ayman Elkasrawy's claim that he had been fired due to Islamophobia, she nevertheless approved the cash award due to "circumstantial evidence" that some discrimination may have inflected his dismissal.

In 2016, Elkasrawy was videotaped delivering an Arabic-language prayer at the Masjid Toronto mosque where he called for Jews to be slayed "one by one," and for none to be spared.

The prayer was condemned at the time by both Masjid Toronto and the Muslim Association of Canada, who called it "an inappropriate supplication that was offensive to those of Jewish faith."

It also prompted Elkasrawy's dismissal from Ryerson University (now Toronto Metropolitan University) where he was working as a teaching assistant in the school's engineering faculty.

"One of Ryerson's core values is our commitment to community and inclusion … your comments are in contravention of this core value, do not foster a respectful learning environment and reflect adversely on, and are to the detriment of the University," read his dismissal letter, according to Tribunal filings.

Clips of Elkasrawy's prayer were first circulated by the now-defunct outlet CIJ News, which translated its lines as "Oh Allah! Count their numbers; slay them one by one and spare not one of them. Oh Allah! Purify the Al-Aqsa Mosque from the filth of the Jews!"

In front of the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal, Elkasrawy's counsel said that this was a mistranslation, and that the comments had been "twisted, to make them appear inappropriate, violent and anti-Semitic."

According to Elkasrawy, what he actually said was "Oh Allah; has full cognizance of them, slay them one by one, and don't let one escape your punishment. Oh Allah; cleanse the Aqsa Mosque from the desecration by the Jews."

He testified that the "slay them one by one" statement was unrelated to the second, and referred to members of Syria's Assad regime.

As for the second, Elkasrawy confirmed that he was referring to Israeli control of Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa mosque, but that if he could say it again he would change the prayer to "the occupying Jews."

These explanations were accepted by Cherniak, who characterized the prayer as a "human moment."

 

(Sidebar: what about banning God for Remembrance Day observances?) 

 

More proof that human rights tribunals are legalised vendettas and interference-running. 

**

Was it something you said?:

U.S President Donald Trump’s Republican Party has revoked the CBC/Radio-Canada’s press access to its upcoming midterm convention, citing the public broadcaster’s now-reversed policy not to refer to 9/11 as “terrorism” without direct attribution, National Post has learned.

A CBC spokesperson confirmed Monday that the Republican National Convention (RNC) had revoked access for both CBC and Radio-Canada to its major party gathering on Sept. 9 and 10, ahead of key mid-term elections.

The unusual press credential revocation came following a week of controversy about an internal memo from the broadcaster reminding reporters and editors of a “longstanding language guidance” not to refer to the Sept. 11 attacks as “terrorism” without attribution.

(Sidebar: apparently, flying planes into the sides of buildings doesn't count as terrorism.) 

In an email to National Post, Chuck Thompson, the CBC’s head of public affairs, said the public broadcaster is reviewing the RNC’s decision. “It is a disappointing development; we hope it will be reconsidered,” he wrote.

(Sidebar: I hope it isn't. I hope that you are treated with the contempt you deserve. I hope that everyone calls you out for being an unprofessional, unethical, propaganda-swilling pack of partisan hacks that would have folded and died had it not been propped up by a government that never met an ounce of censorship it didn't like.)

The RNC’s move also appears to be the latest attempt by Trump’s administration and party to fire salvos at Canada since free trade talks between Ottawa and Washington fell apart late last week.

It could suggest Trump’s Republican party is also looking beyond tariffs for ways to pressure Canada during the ongoing trade war.

(Sidebar: no, it sounds like outright disgust to me.)

The RNC did not respond to emailed queries by deadline Monday.

On Friday evening, following media reports about the broadcaster’s memo on the Sept. 11 attacks and ensuing criticism from both sides of the border, the CBC wrote in an editor’s blog that it had reversed the policy.

But earlier in the day, the RNC sent a heated letter to CBC/Radio-Canada revoking all the public broadcaster’s previous-approved press credentials to the upcoming major political gathering in Dallas, TX. The gathering is an important press event as it will unite Republican heavyweights on the eve of key U.S. mid-term elections.

In the missive, the RNC reprised much of the fiery criticism from Trump administration officials last week regarding the CBC’s former policy on the use of the unattributed use of the word terrorism around 9/11. (Radio-Canada did not have such an editorial policy.)

The letter cited social media posts stating CBC had instructed employees “do not refer to the Sept. 11 attacks as terrorist attacks.” It also claimed that the public broadcaster had refused to apologize for the policy.

The letter also said that allowing CBC/Radio-Canada to attend the convention would be an “insult” to victims of the worst terrorist attack in U.S. history.

In a blog post hours later on Friday, Basem Boshra, CBC’s senior director of journalistic standards and public trust, wrote that a leaked memo about the policy “has caused significant concern, anger and hurt for many people who believe CBC News seeks to minimize or obscure the horror of that day and who was behind it.”

 

Then why did you do it, stupid?