B.C. cleric’s words outrage Jews

By WENDY COX

VANCOUVER (CP) - RCMP and Vancouver police are investigating explosive comments made by a Vancouver Muslim cleric who has preached the virtues of "offensive jihad" and called Jews "the brothers of monkeys and swine."

Police authorities said an "active" joint RCMP-Vancouver Police investigation has been underway for "some time."

But Vancouver police Const. Anne Drennan said there are no immediate concerns about the mosque.

"We have no reason to believe at this point that there’s any potential for violence. The fact that we are all aware - both the city police and the RCMP - is a positive thing should anything occur. But at this point, there is nothing to indicate a likelihood of violence breaking out."

But Jewish groups are calling for immediate, decisive action. B’nai Brith has said it’s the first time this kind of Muslim extremism has been firmly documented.

"This is the first time that we have hard evidence. This is not a smoking gun. This is now the fully loaded gun that was fired at the victim," said Frank Dimant, executive vice-president of B’nai Brith.

The mosque was attended regularly by a Vancouver man reported killed in Chechnya. Russian authorities have identified Rudwan Khalil Abubaker as an explosives expert.

The comments are included in lectures posted on the website of the Dar al-Madinah Islamic Society, which operates out of a storefront in east Vancouver.

Sheik Younus Kathrada tells an audience the martyrdom should be the desire of all real Muslims.

Another passage states: "The prophet. . . says that the stone and the tree will say ’Oh Muslim, oh slave of Allah, that verily behind me is a Jew. Then come and kill him.’ "

When reached for comment by The Canadian Press, Kathrada did not deny he made the comments and said his words speak for themselves.

Dimant said B’nai Brith has asked the B.C. Attorney General’s Ministry for an immediate investigation.

A spokesman for the ministry declined to comment.

As well, Dimant wants the Foreign Affairs Department to check out Kathrada’s status in Canada.

Kathrada, a native of South Africa’s Indian community, said he has been at Dar al-Madinah for about six years and before that, was a Muslim chaplain at the University of Victoria after studying in Saudi Arabia.

Dimant said if Kathrada is not a Canadian citizen, he should have his visitation privileges revoked. If he is, his passport should be seized to ensure he does not flee any charges that may be laid.

David Matas, lawyer for B’nai Brith who has written a book on hate and free speech, said Kathrada could be prosecuted under Canada’s hate crime laws against inciting hatred and-or genocide.

Prosecutions under that law were once very difficult and provincial attorneys general were reluctant to lay charges under them.

But after a Supreme Court of Canada case, that changed and Matas said the law is "constitutionally accepted."

"I don’t think that right now it’s subject to the legal pitfalls that it was initially."

Given that Kathrada’s comments are on tape and he has not denied them, Matas said "this seems pretty cut and dried."

Kathrada’s comments were described by a fellow Muslim activist as on the fringe and a distortion of Islam.

The Dar al-Madinah mosque is among a handful of mosques in the Vancouver area that are not affiliated with the B.C. Muslim Association.

On Friday, the Canadian Council on American-Islamic Relations also denounced Kathrada’s comments, calling them "deeply offensive" and not reflective of the views of Canadian Muslims.

"It is a misrepresentation of Islam to suggest that it promotes hate, violence or aggression," said the statement.

However, security experts say Canadians are naive to think Kathrada’s views are unusual among Muslims in Canada.

"We should be shocked, horrified and unsurprised," said David Harris, formerly with CSIS who is now a counter-terrorism expert with Insignis in Ottawa.

Canadians "haven’t realized that Canada is no more what it used to be.

"Our immigration situation now is such that we have some people coming from parts of the world that are not liberal pluralist - parts of the world where multiculturalism is anathema.

"We seem nonetheless to be surprised when we encounter strains of people who are medieval in outlook."

Martin Collacott, who was responsible for counter-terrorism for the Department of Foreign Affairs, said another disturbing aspect of the Kathrada story is the fact that Kathrada appears to have been giving these lectures for some time.

No one in the Muslim community appears to have spoken out.

"If Muslims feel somewhat under the gun since 9-11, they can help fix that by being far more outspoken on the fact that their primary values are Canadian values," said Collacott, who was Canada’s ambassador to Syria and Lebanon in the 1990s.

"We have a broad principle of tolerance in Canada, but that does not provide for being intolerant."

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2004/10/21/679667-cp.html