Toronto, Canada: Sharia 1, Free Speech 0

Toronto police block speech by anti-Islamist activist but allow terrorists and Islamists to speak freely.

Thu, May 2, 2013

Headlines

by Meira Svirsky

In an unprecedented move clamping down on free speech, Toronto police have threatened a rabbi that if he allows a speech to be given in his synagogue by a well-known anti-Islamist activist, he will lose his job as a chaplain with the force.

Inspector Ricky Veerappan, who is (ironically) from the police force’s “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Bureau” confirmed that he and other officers from the hate crime division met with Rabbi Mendel Kaplan of the Chabad Flamingo Synagogue in the Toronto suburb of Thornhill. Kaplan had rented out space in his synagogue as a venue for a speech to be given by Pamela Geller.

The Toronto Sun quotes Veerappan as saying that the speech, scheduled for May 13, “would not be endorsed by York Regional Police.” Futhermore, Veerapan said that he told Kaplan, “If he did (host Geller), then we’d have to reassess our relationship with (Kaplan).”
Kaplan subsequently cancelled the talk.

Geller is an outspoken critic of radical Islam. Although she is careful not to speak negatively about Muslims or Islam itself, she is known for vocally pointing out the deceptive tactics of Muslim Brotherhood front groups, raising their ire.

The “visit” by the police force to Kaplan came after a Muslim in the community, who Veerappan refused to identify, alerted the police about the scheduled talk.

A spokesman for the sponsors of the talk, was quoted as saying, “I think the police are turning a blind eye to who they should be keeping an eye on,” referring to radical Islamists. The group will look for another venue for the talk.

Commenting on the police action, Tarek Fatah,Tarek Fatah founder of the Muslim Canadian Congress, said, “What this incident shows the depth of infiltration of Islamists in the police forces, both in Toronto, York Regions as well as the RCMP [Royal Canadian Mounted Police]. One may disagree profoundly with Pam Geller, but the police have no right to shut down speaking events citing hate laws when hate against non-Muslims has become institutionalized in many city mosques where clerics pray for the defeat of non-Muslims at the hands of Muslims.”

Veerappan explained the move, saying, “We serve the needs of the entire community. Some of the stuff that Ms. Geller speaks about runs contrary to the values of York Regional Police and the work we do in engaging our communities.”

Ironically, Canadian police had no similar complaint against Tariq Ramadan, who was allowed to speak at the University of Toronto just two months earlier than the scheduled talk by Geller. Ramadan has been described  by Fatah as “a man committed to the goals of worldwide Islamic jihad, as laid out by his mentor Sheikh Qaradawi, and his father, the ‘Trotsky’ of world Islamism, Said Ramadan.”
Ramadan’s grandfather, Hasan Al-Banna, was the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood.

In 2004, the United States revoked Ramadan’s visa citing the "ideological exclusion provision" of the USA Patriot Act. Later, the U.S. formally denied Ramadan's visa based solely on his actions, which included providing material support to a terrorist organization. (In 2010, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton facilitated a visa for Ramadan and he was allowed to enter the U.S.)

In addition, on May 4, convicted terrorist Leila Khaled will be given a platform to speak at the University of British Columbia. Khaled, a notorious member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a listed terrorist organization, is famous for her airplane hijackings in 1969 and 1970.

Toronto has been the site of a number of violent, demeaning and organized incidents against Jewish students by Muslims, with authorities doing little to stop them. In fact, the situation became so bad that a formal complaint was lodged with the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal against York University alleging that the university had actively legitimized an anti-Jewish atmosphere on campus fomented by Islamic elements.

Similar incidents of undemocratic police actions against those speaking out about radical Islam can be found in the U. S. as well. In a May 3, 2012 article, “Allegan, Michigan: Sharia 1, Free Speech 0,” The Clarion Project documented an incident where, after receiving a complaint by CAIR (the Council on American Islamic Relations), police shut down a private event in a rented room that was promoting the American constitution and the “American Laws for American Courts” legislation initiative.

Meira Svirsky is the content coordinator of RadicalIslam.org, the former managing editor of The Daily Texan and the former editor of UTmost magazine.