The Infamous Marouf Back in Business Glorifying Jihad

 

"Knowing that there is a huge gap left in news programming in English that is supportive of resistance and the right to liberation ... we decided to bring together our communities here to start a project, a community television station."

"It's not established in Canada. It's not based in Canada. There's no connection there."

Laith Marouf, principal, Community Media Advocacy Centre

"The largest Jewish White Supremacist accounts in Apartheid Canada are mounting a disinformation campaign against our Community Television station."

"[Free Palestine Television [FPTV] is unaffiliated with any political party or groups, including Al-Tajammu which hosted our studios for a brief time and we have since moved as we expanded."

FPTV statement

Laith Marouf in 2010 Photo by Peter McCabe / THE GAZETTE

The very man whom the Trudeau government hired to head its anti-racism program as a consultant who would fulfill his contract with the federal government's Heritage department by holding study groups to identify racism and teach how best to fight against it effectively, began each of his lectures by slandering Israel as an occupying force in Palestine, demeaning and desecrating the territory with its presence, persecuting Palestinians, forcefully controlling them; his version of  addressing racism.

This is a man with a traceable record. Any input of his name and the name of his consultancy would have revealed the many racist, antisemitic, anti-Black, anti-Francophone slanders he regularly posted on social media. When it was revealed by a journalistic investigation that this blatant antisemite was employed by a government agency to further its program on anti-racism in the media, a storm of controversy ensued. The ministers of two involved government departments claim they were blindsided.

Eventually an 'investigation' took place and the contract was retracted, while recovery of funds paid out to the man was initiated, all  under public scrutiny. Jewish groups, for one, were not impressed. It was pointed out that the most cursory of online searches would have revealed the nature of experience the man had with racism, since he was a significant proponent of racism personally, casting himself as an expert in fighting it.

 

 

Soon after the Hamas slaughter of Israeli Civilians on October 7 the launch of Free Palestine Television took place. It featured footage of the Hamas attacks on Israelis, on soldiers, along with manoeuvres from Hamas-linked militias such as the Mujahideen Brigades and the Al-Qassam Brigades operating out of Gaza and the West Bank. Speeches with live translation to English from Hezbollah chief Nasrallah were published, along with press releases from various terror groups such as Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a group of Iran-linked militias.

Marouf's history of social media posts about Jews, Francophones and Blacks exemplified his credentials as a racist. One of his posts read: "You know all those loud mouthed bags of human feces; a.k.a. the Jewish White Supremacists...when we liberate Palestine and they have to go back to where they come from, they will return to being low voiced b-----s of their Christian/Secular White Supremacist Masters." Although the government heads who hired this hateful man claimed to have known nothing about his inclinations, it was revealed his social media posts were known, and nothing was done.

Until newspapers reveled what became a scandal in summer of 2022. Canadian Heritage since has pledged that changes have taken place; it vets funding requests for community and anti-racism projects differently now. Such embarrassing and Liberal-government-harmful revelations are to be avoided, when and if at all possible in the future. That one of the ministers involved is himself Muslim does explain to a degree the lack of concern over vivid antisemitism given free rein in government programs.

As for recovering the funds through a collections agency, the Canada Revenue Agency and the courts, no success has been realized. Marouf has changed his place of residence from Canada to Beirut, Lebanon. From whence has become a regular on social media programs with his personal opinions on Palestinian politics, Israel and allied geopolitical issues. A state-owned Russian broadcaster has seen fit to  have him appear on Sputnik News and programs by the Russian propaganda network Russia Today. The FPTV station is based out of Lebanon, staffed by students, professors and members of the community.

Wed Jan 3 @ 8am PST / 11am EST / 6pm Beirut, FPTV will be broadcasting today a live English interpretation of Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah’s speech at 6pm Quds time, FPTV

 

The FPTV website identifies its launch "with the outbreak of the Al-Aqsa Flood", the name given to the October 7 massacre in Israel. A Friday report by the Middle East Forum think tank claimed FPTV was linked to the Lebanon-based group Al-Tajammu, "an international pro-Iranian platform to leverage the resistance axis against the U.S., Israel and their allies", according to Michael Barak, a researcher at the Institute for Counter Terrorism at Reichmann University in Israel.

Free Palestine TV, according to the Middle East Forum report was "established in Canada. FPTV hosted a fundraiser for the channel in mid-December on Zoom. Guest speakers featured were prominent figures in Indigenous advocacy in Canada. Sleydo', known as Molly Wickham, a Wet'suwet'en chief and opponent of the Coastal GasLink B.C; Judy Da Silva, member of the Grassy Narrows First Nation in Ontario; and Isaac Murdoch, artist and member of the Serpent River First Nation