Killing Canadians 'best way': studentWeb posts spark RCMP probe, free speech debate Stewart Bell, National Post Published: Wednesday, January 30, 2008  While Defence Minister Peter MacKay was visiting Kandahar, a Mississauga university student wrote: "I pray that the Taliban kill our MacKay motherf---er." MORE
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CANADIAN SECURITY CONCERNS WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE THREAT OF ISLAMIC EXTREMISM
In a previous appearance before this subcommittee shortly before 9/11, I cautioned that much would have to be done to fight Canada’s drift into terror-haven status. Six years later, I must tell you that Canada is heavily infiltrated by terrorists. Canada is a recruiting, planning, financing and launch point for international terrorism. And Canada is certainly a target of terrorism. With particular reference to our leading terror threat – Islamic extremism – I will suggest why this has come about, and note the glimmer of hope that has recently emerged. MORE
Fanatics have two tongues
October 24, 2004 | Licia Corbella| I read a list of quotes so filled with hate, so utterly foreign to Canadian values, that I thought I was reading a transcript from a sermon from Saudi Arabia, or the United Arab Emirates, or Iran or, Egypt, or ... well, you get the picture. Almost every day, I get e-mails from the Middle East Media Review Institute (MEMRI) which transcribes sermons, interviews, columns and articles that appear in the Middle East for general consumption and that never fail to make my hair stand on end. But no, these quotes are not from far away, rather they originated in Vancouver, my home town, and emanated from the mouth of Sheik Younus Kathrada, leader of the Dar al-Madinah Islamic Society of Vancouver, who had his inciting lectures recorded for his faithful followers to listen to or read over and over again. Steve Mertl, of The Canadian Press, found one lecture posted on the mosque's website and obtained the recording of another lecture as well. This is what Kathrada says about Jews after Israel assassinated blind Hamas leader and known terrorist Sheik Ahmed Yassin last March. "We know what happened over the last week and how the brothers of the monkeys and the swine assassinated and murdered one of the heroes of Islam, the Salah al-Din of this day and age, Ahmed Yassin. "Once again," he said, referring to Jews, "they've shown their treachery; once again they've shown that they are cowards and that they cannot be trusted. "I mentioned to you a while ago that it should be all of our intentions that one day we be martyred. If it is not I say revise yourself. Look deep into your heart because there is some hypocrisy in it," he tells his audience that often included Vancouverite Rudwan Khalil Abubaker, also known as Rudwan Khalil, who was reported killed in Russia along with three Chechen rebels earlier this month. Russian authorities displayed his Canadian passport and B.C. driver's licence and claimed he was an explosives expert. His family, of course, deny this is possible because he is a "good Muslim." After all, he attended the mosque regularly. And by the look of it, he followed the mosque's teachings very well, better than them anyway, since they're all still alive. "It is inconceivable that a true believer will not desire martyrdom," preached Sheik Kathrada,who when contacted by the CP reporter, did not deny he made those lectures. And who should be targeted in these martyrdom operations? Take a wild guess? The people he refers to as the brothers of monkeys and swine. "Allah informs us in the Qur'an that you will never find people having such animosity towards the believers or such strong animosity towards the believers like the Jews and the mushrikeen (polytheists like Hindus.) "All of these words we seem to have forgotten and the reason we like to remind ourselves of them is because today we hear from amongst those who claim to be Muslims, we hear them telling us that we must have love and we must live in peace with these Jews. And the reality is, like I said, there is never going to be peace with them." How many times do people need to hear that before they believe it and support Israel building a security fence is beyond me. After all, most Palestinian organizations say the same thing, openly. Indeed, most, like Hamas, advocate for nothing less than the full extermination of all Jews and the destruction of Israel. Try and negotiate peace with that mentality. Those who, while speaking English say they want to negotiate peace and abhor suicide bombings, like Yasser Arafat, say the exact opposite when they speak Arabic to their own people. Indeed, that is apparently what Kathrada, a Sunni Muslim, has done in Vancouver. Asiz Khaki of the committee for Racial Justice, who met Kathrada at the opening of a new mosque in suburban Port Coquitlam last year, said Kathrada has been active in the Vancouver area's interfaith movement. "I'm told that he's quite open," said Khaki. "He spoke in very good terms to say we should build bridges with the Abrahamic faiths of Judaism and Christianity and we should be open to dialogue and something like that." That's Kathrada's public Canadian face. Behind the safety of his storefront mosque, he calls for "offensive jihad." Now, people are calling for him to be charged under the hate crimes law. While those who advocate violence against others should be charged and jailed, I sincerely hope he is not charged with uttering hateful statements. Why? Frankly, I think it's more dangerous to stifle such speech. We are all better off knowing where this man really stands and what those who attend his mosque hear and believe too. Police authorities say an "active" joint RCMP-Vancouver Police investigation has been under way for "some time." If he were hiding his speech that would be more difficult. Security experts say Canadians are naive if they 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. "We have some people coming from 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 and yet no one in the Muslim community appears to have spoken out. In other words, they agree. Frankly, I'm grateful to Kathrada, glad he feels comfortable spewing his hate. Finally, what many of us suspected was going on in Canada is proven. It is a relief.
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