Polish Paper Proudly Publishing Hateful Antisemitic Slanders

"To publish something like this in a Canadian newspaper, whether it's in English or non-English, is criminal. It's absolutely criminal to pursue this form of hatred."     "We feel very strongly that this is a case where charges should be laid ... "         "We know that hate speech provisions of the Criminal Code are not often used, but this does cross the threshold."                                                                                  Michael Mostyn, CEO, B'nai B'rith Canada

"The ongoing global pandemic has spurred a fast-spreading epidemic of hate speech and disinformation including conspiracy theories with a clear antisemitic motive."                                                                                                               "Data from the World Jewish Congress shows that in the first months of the pandemic, there was a 30 percent increase in antisemitic content on social media." UN agency UNESCO webinar

The front of the March 25 edition of Glos Polski, with the story headlined “Coronavirus, or fake pandemic.” Glos Polski

Blatantly outrageous racist conspiracy theories were published twice -- the first time in March, then again in April -- in a Polish-Canadian newspaper with firm links to a Polish community group. The tirade claimed that COVID-19 was created by "organized Jewry", and for those who weren't aware of the threat that the Jewish presence imposes on the world community, the emphasis was placed on the 'fact' that Jews are the cause of all that goes wrong in the world. Somewhat similar to the Protocols of the Elders of Zion in intent.

The very same kind of racist propaganda favoured by Nazi Germany that was meant to influence how Jews were viewed by those who read it. To pave the way to complicit genocide. That this kind of hateful message remains current and is unpacked in Canada through the auspices of an ethnic community group in whose country of origin many of the most horrific excesses of the Holocaust took place is quite simply mind-numbing. 

 Turning gullible minds toward the acidic venom of attributing base motivations to another ethnic group is the lowest form of deliberately hateful incivility.

When the publication of the accusations came to the attention of the Jewish human-rights group B'nai B'rith it immediately called attention to the newspaper, alerting police to a public hate crime in violation of the law. In the March 25 edition of Glos Polski which is published in Toronto claiming a readership by Poles "around the globe", the headline read "Coronavirus or fake pandemic". The story was repeated in the weekly publication in a late April edition, with no identifying byline.

"Biological weapons are being worked on in the U.S. and Israel not by just any experts, but (under) the leadership of usually Jewish psychopaths", the story reads, in discussing the origins of COVID-19, suggesting "organized Jewry" can "laugh their heads off" at the COVID-19 crisis to which Jewish social media had used "Goebbelsian propaganda" to manipulate the world with. 

What malignant, base irony when poisonous slander with Goebbels-similarities defames Jews by charging Jewish infamy.

It goes on to claim that the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant was manipulated by Jews, created to attack Gentiles and it is Israel that remains "the cause of all the world's woes", striving in the creation of an Judeo-Polonia state in Poland. Trotting out the tired old tropes of Jews controlling the stock markets of the world. And incredible as it may seem to any half-wit susceptible to Jew-hatred but still capable of distinguishing between fact and fiction, the claim that Vladimir Lenin, Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan were all closet Jews.

No comment could be elicited from the editor of the newspaper, Wieslaw Magiera. And on the polish-canadians.ca website a promotional page describes the rag as a "paper which searches for the Truth, protects the good name of Poles and reminds us of the Polish culture and history". Indeed, yesss! 

According to the same page, Glos Polski is "edited by" (approved by?) the Polish National Union of Canada, verified on its website by the Union describing the paper as its "press body", inextricably linked since the launch in 1951 of the newspaper.

The Polish National Union of Canada mission statement is faultless in its clarity: "A cultural and service organization, a member of the Canadian Polish Congress, whose aim is to promote Polish culture, language, traditions and knowledge of Polish history to the Polish community..." Nowhere does it state to the uninitiated eye that it also promotes anti-Semitism through its printed and online links, its "press body".

It does claim to be one of Canada's largest Polish organizations, however, its role to counter Communist agitation. Presumably while it agitates to promote anti-Semitism. Canada, needless to say, is a vast community of immigrants brought together to share a life in a country dedicated to equality and security for all its residents. Public funding goes out routinely to various ethnic groups through a spirit of formal and institutionalized multiculturalism. To the Union has gone out hundreds of thousands from provincial coffers. An award for good citizenship.

The same page says Glos Polski is “edited by” the Polish National Union of Canada. On its website, the Union itself describes the paper as its “press body” and says the two have been inextricably linked since Glos Polski’s launch in 1951.

Tracking the Fascists

"Anything that depicts anything regarding Hitler is a very sensitive issue, especially with growing anti-Semitism throughout Canada, the United States and around the world."
"When we receive complaints from the community, we have to respond."
"This is a sensitive issue with the Jewish population and with families of those involved in the Holocaust."
Harvey Levine, regional director, Quebec, B'nai Brith human rights organization

"[Levine] expressed his and the community's shock concerning the fact that the game exists and that we would carry it."
"I'm glad that he spoke to us directly."
"Between our three stores, many copies were sold."
Manager, West Island Tour de Jeux outlet, Montreal

This is a board game, only one of a number, that bases its competitive underpinning on the Third Reich, a battle between fascists and moderates, a political-faux thriller pitting the forces of evil against those who aspire to defeat their agenda of world domination. The kindest thing that can be said about something of this nature -- taking a real-life historical event known for its brutality and vicious Nazi aspiration to extinguish the lives of Europe's Jews in an finely orchestrated genocidal 'final solution' while fighting a world war, is that it trivializes one of the most horrific of humankind's basest atrocities.

Hitler, Nazis, fascism and World War Two are synonymous with genocide and the extermination of six million Jews, as well as political dissenters, Roma, homosexuals, socialists, and society's mentally and physically infirm, all destined for obliteration through a clockwork organization of mass executions. The blueprint for such a game based on the horrific realities of the era reflects a casual disregard for humanity's blackest, bleakest hours. During the Second World War, an estimated 70 million people died, representing 20 million military and 40 million civilians.

Human memory is short, and  history is given short shrift, but this example of profit over morals is nothing short of shocking. Yet this game in particular is advertised as having great popularity and having been rated a nominee for the 2016 Golden Geek Best Party Game. Three Montreal area stores carried the game -- which is widely available online including through Amazon.

Complaints were lodged from the Jewish community of Montreal with the Jewish human rights group B'nai Brith Canada, which then contacted the manager of the Tour de Jeux at its Pointe-Claire outlet. Complaints over the presence in Montreal of the game were also posted on Facebook by troubled Quebecers, rousing B'nai Brith to action. The game, set in 1933's Germany the year Adolf Hitler became chancellor, came on the market several years ago. There are two teams on the fascist Hitler-themed game, liberals and fascists.

The liberals are tasked with finding and stopping Secret Hitler before it's too late, while the fascists sow distrust and install and protect their leader. This is the game's plot, one that B'nai Brith brought to the attention of the store's manager. The West Island manager contacted the store's owner who made the decision to remove the game at his three Montreal locations. The game had been stocked over the holiday period after customer requests.

Distributed worldwide through Amazon, complaints have issued from other Jewish groups, in the United States and Australia. Sales of board games have skyrocketed over the past five years, often emphasizing strategy and co-operation. Although anti-Semitic attacks have increased in volume throughout Canada, the increase of such incidents has been far greater in the Province of Quebec.

It was revealed a year ago through the news media that one of the most influential neo-Nazis lives in Montreal, and organizes a white supremacist network. He is a prolific writer on the Daily Stormer, the extreme-right-wing news website with upwards of 80,000 visitors monthly, and he goes by the name "Zeiger". It is a toxic site trafficking in conspiracy theories, which refers to African Americans as "nogs", to gays as "faggots" and covers the "Race War" and the "Jewish Problem". Anti-fascist investigators have discovered a link to "Zeiger" through a 2002 yearbook from Paul-Gérin-Lajoie-d’Outremont, which Sohier Chaput attended in Grade 10. They saw a resemblance between the 2002 photo of Sohier Chaput and Zeiger’s online profiles.

White nationalists, neo-Nazis and members of the alt-right exchange volleys of pepper spray with counter-protesters at Charlottesville in August 2011: For Zeiger, the €œpath of questioning€ began early. He says in a podcast that he was 14 when he read about the Holocaust and €œrealized that it was a hoax.€ Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

A 'new generation' of white men are said to be inspired by the Daily Stormer's writers along with Zeiger's Nazi-glorifying articles, the man who has helped the spread of this fascist ideology across North America. Presumably, it is among this lot in particular that a passion for this board game emanates....

Normalizing Anti-Semitism as 'Insensitive'

"The anti-Semitic tropes of Zionists controlling governments and of dual loyalty are two of the more abhorrent expressions of paranoid anti-Jewish conspiracy theories."
"Radical and racist statements such as these must result in the immediate disqualification of a candidate for political office. It is unacceptable for any candidate to speak in this deplorable fashion toward any religious minority."
Michael Mostyn, chief executive, B'nai Brith Canada
 
"In January of 2017, Guillet celebrated the release of Raed Salah, a Hamas-aligned activist who has accused Jews of staging the 9/11 terror attacks and has claimed that Jews use children's blood for baking 'holy bread'. The candidate went on to hail Salah as a 'jihad-fighter', and 'frontier-fighter' whom 'Allah will surely support'. Guillet offered his congratulations to Salah on being freed from 'the prisons of occupied Palestine', and prayed that he will some day be successful in the fight to liberate 'the whole of Palestine'. Salah had been serving a nine-month prison term in Israel for 'incitement to violence and racism'."
"In a late 2017 interview with Radio Canada International, Guillet called Israel an apartheid state. Guillet also accused Jared Kushner, the Jewish son-in-law of U.S. President Donald Trump, of directing his government to support an 'Israel first' agenda. He accused Kushner of dual loyalty because of his Jewish background and inaccurately described him as an 'ultra-Orthodox' and 'fundamentalist' Jew."
"Guillet has also stated on Facebook that 'the Zionists control American politics', promoting the common antisemitic trope of Jews manipulating world governments."
B'nai Brith Canada Website

Imam Hassan Guillet has been dropped as a candidate by the Liberal Party of Canada following claims he made anti-Semitic comments. (CBC)

B'nai Brith launched a campaign against the nominated candidacy for the October federal election, of a Montreal-based imam, Hassan  Guillet, a Lebanese by birth who had emigrated to Canada in 1974, and who had made a celebrated eulogy at the funeral of three of the Muslim men who had died after a deadly attack in a Quebec City mosque where in 2017 six people were killed and 19 other worshippers were wounded when a man opened fire at the mosque where 57 people were present. 

The human rights lobby group's overtures to the Liberal Party of Canada succeeded in the Liberal Party revoking Mr. Guillet's candidacy for the Montreal riding he wished to represent. It was historically a riding represented by Italian Members of Parliament, reflecting their majority numbers in the riding. 

Of more recent vintage, a demographic change has taken place where, Mr. Guillet claimed that Muslims now represent as many of the riding population as do Italians. He claimed to be able to speak Italian, and that he would represent the interests of all those in the riding. Perhaps not all, if others living there happened to be Jews however, since his fairly acid remarks on Jews and Israel could fairly be ascribed to an anti-Semitic attitude.

"Anti-Semitism is unfortunately all too real in Canada and threatens the safety and security of Jewish-Canadians. As political leaders, we need to speak out and condemn it at every opportunity", responded the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, Andrew Scheer. Under the previous Conservative-led government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper it was not a matter of debate whether Canada was a friend of Israel and was dedicated to protecting Canada's Jewish population from discriminatory hatred.

"Following a thorough internal review process that has been ongoing for a few weeks, the Liberal Party of Canada has made the decision to revoke the candidacy of Mr. Guillet for the riding of Saint-Leonard -Saint-Michel in this fall's election."
"[Hassan Guillet's comments] are not aligned with the values of the Liberal Party."
Parker Lund, Liberal Party spokesperson

In fact, the Liberal Party in a statement issued for the media and public consumption said:
"The insensitive comments made by Hassan Guillet are not aligned with the values of the Liberal Party of Canada", which is in and of itself rather remarkable. 

An imam who has put himself on record through his statements on social media platforms as totally inimical to the survival of a Jewish State in the hope that 'Palestine' would be 'returned' in its entirety to the Palestinians, and who spoke admiringly of 'jihad' as well as repeating an ancient blood-libel against Judaism, is viewed as 'insensitive' by the Liberals.

These utterly repellent and alarmingly, distinctly anti-Semitic sentiments freely expressed have no place in a civilized, democratic country that guarantees equality and respect to all its citizens. 

That this man could be under the radar but yet his comments detected and known by the Liberal Party of Canada whose nominations committee was mulling over their next step; whether to remove or to simply sit on it in the hopes that no one would notice, and then taking action when it was brought to public attention that a potential Montreal Member of Parliament under the Liberal banner is yet another undercover Islamist should surprise no one.

But it does. And it is gut-wrenchingly disappointing.

The Heroism of Palestinian Martyrs

"...An evening of spoken word, music and food to celebrate the artistic and cultural contributions of Palestinians in the diaspora and showcase the winners of the Ghassan Kanafani Resistance Arts Scholarship in this years [sic] anthology, entitled We feel a country in our bones."
"[The event and scholarship is meant] to provide a space for Palestinians in the diaspora to reflect on their Palestinian identities, positionality and relationships to Palestine. In honour of the works and vision of the heroic novelist, Ghassan Kanafani, the scholarship aims to focus on Palestinian history, our past, present and future struggles, and our multi-faceted identities."
"We reiterate a truth that Ghassan Kanafani held in his life’s work and legacy: art and culture are critical vehicles for resistance."
"[The PYM is] a transnational, independent, grassroots movement of young Palestinians in Palestine and exiled worldwide as a result of the ongoing Zionist colonization and occupation of our homeland."
Palestinian Youth Movement, Toronto chapter 

The logo of the Palestinian Youth Movement

For Palestinians, "resistance" is codeword for violence. The target is Israel and Jewish Israelis. They are viewed by Palestinians -- by the Palestinian Authority which has assiduously groomed the Palestinian population to regard Israel as an 'occupying power' -- as Occupiers of Palestinian land. Originally the nomenclature of 'Palestinian' reflected the Jewish population that lived within their heritage geography of "Palestine". 

The Arabs that gradually migrated, mostly from Jordan and Egypt, into Palestine co-opted the signature designation of a people whom conquest had divested of their heritage, for themselves, denying that Palestine was ever Jewish, that Judaic religious, social and cultural historical heritage ever existed. The fantasy that Arab Palestinians were the rightful residents and owners of the land of Palestine (ancient Judea) and Jews were interlopers whose purpose was to defraud and to deprive Arab Palestinians of their heritage reflects a deliberate fallacy presented as truth.

Palestinian Arabs adamantly refused to accept a divided geography offered them in 1947 as it was to the Jewish population, by the United Nations' Partition Plan. Jews exuberantly celebrated and accepted, Palestinian Arabs mourned the loss of 'their' land and refused to accept the portion allotted them. The surrounding Arab countries, Syria, Jordan, Egypt and Iraq launched a joint offensive against Israel's fledgling military and history was again made in their defeat.

There would be no military 'occupation' of the West Bank and Gaza were it not for the ongoing deadly confrontations between Palestinian Arabs and Israeli Jews and the Israeli military. The bloody carnage that resulted from constant deadly attacks launched by Palestinian 'martyrs' who became 'heroes' of the 'resistance', lionized for their exploits which generations of PA propaganda devices had produced, was only reduced when Israel build a separating wall to protect Israelis from the Palestinian Arab menace.

Ghassan Kanafani (left) with a member of the Japanese Red Army, who carried out the 1972 Lod Airport Massacre

The Palestinian Youth Movement had arranged a rental hall in Toronto for July 13, to launch a 'spoken word, music and food party "to celebrate the artistic and cultural contributions of Palestinians in the diaspora", according to promotional material. Winners of an annual scholarship contest were to be showcased at the event. An online anthology entitled We Feel a Country in Our Bones had been published from the scholarship contest. And the winner of the Ghassan Kanafani Resistance Arts Scholarship was to be feted.

All this to take place at Trinity-St.Paul's United Church in Toronto. Toronto's B'nai Brith appealed to the board of directors of the church to cancel the event's taking place in their auspices, condemning it as "the open glorification of terrorists and murderers". The simple fact being that the memorialized Ghassan Kanafani aside from being a Palestinian writer of note, was also a founding member of the PLFP [Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine], acted as their propagandist and was involved in a terrorist attack in Israel.

"We will not tolerate the open glorification of terrorists and murderers, particularly in a place of worship. Churches should be places of peace, not places where violence and/or terror are glorified", B'nai Brith Canada wrote in a letter to the Church. Moreover, the PLFP has been designated a terrorist group by Public Safety Canada. Ghassan Kanafani was involved in the Lod airport massacre in Israel in 1972, where 26 civilians were killed, a Canadian among them, with 80 other people injured.

B'nai Brith set about contacting its followers as a Jewish advocacy group, through a public petition online inviting Canadians to sign a letter condemning the event -- celebrating the conclusion of the writing contest, open to Palestinians in Canada and the United States -- succeeding in assembling a representative number of signatures supporting the drive to have the event cancelled on the church premises. Which resulted in the PYM's booking of the facilities at the church being cancelled.

"Hundreds of groups rent rooms at [the church] for one-time events over the course of a year. This request was handled as per our processes for such bookings."
"I'm not sure why the Palestinian Youth Movement contacted us The event was initially determined to be in line with the congregation's foci of the arts and peacemaking in the Middle East."
"However, Trinity-St.Paul's and the United Church of Canada condemn violence. The board cancelled the booking when it was clear that hosting it would be inconsistent with church policy."
Colin Phillips, vice-chairman, Board of Directors, Trinity-St.Paul's United Church

We can take an educated guess without cerebral strain, why the PYM contacted the church and contracted with it to host that special event honouring a Palestinian hero of the resistance. The United Church, after all, is fully supportive of the BDS movement and would be very well aware of the role of Palestinian groups like the PYM in persuading Canadian churches, academics and others to view Israel as an occupying power intent on terrorizing Palestinians, penalizing them for challenging Israel's right to exist.

The United Church of Canada would be appalled if any entity, individual or group, challenged its right to divine worship in its churches. Canada, after all, is a free country, one whose Charter of Rights enshrines the concept of full equality of all and the freedom to worship as one wishes. Unlike Israel where a sovereign nation whose most sacred historical site of ancient Judaism is off limits to Jews wishing to worship there, because the Muslim Waqf administered by Jordan will not permit Jews to desecrate a site that Islam conquered, with Jewish prayer.

"We are relieved that the church eventually came to the correct decision, to help prevent the shameful glorification of a terrorist."
"That being said, this story is not over. We will continue to investigate how a  youth scholarship named after a notorious terrorist is permitted to function in Canada and the United States, and take all possible steps to thwart it."
Michael Mostyn, chief executive officer, B'nai Brith Canada

Trinity-St. Paul's United Church in downtown Toronto.   Google Street View

Where There's Smoke, There's Fire

"The statements, to me, are totally ridiculous. They exaggerate and distort stuff that I wrote like 15, 20 years ago and they take citations out of context to make me say things that I did not say."
"And especially implying that I'm some kind of neo-Nazi. It's just, like, totally crazy."
"I did attack LGBTQ groups, because I don't think they represent me as a gay man. They imply that I'm anti-gay. No. This is crazy. I'm gay."
"It's not a question of pandering [Mr. Bernier's defence of Mr. Masse] to anyone today. It's a question of, we've been working together very closely for 15 years. That's why he's [Bernier] defending me."
Martin Masse, friend and adviser to Maxime Bernier, leader, The Peoples' Party

"As a non-profit, nonpartisan human rights organization, B'nai Brith is well known for regularly identifying the promoters of hatred, racism and anti-Semitism from all sectors of Canadian society."
"One would expect that the leader of a federal party would immediately expunge senior staff members who have expressed such radical and repulsive views when it is called to their attention."
"We were shocked that, upon presenting this information to Mr. Bernier, he defended his top adviser, Mr. Masse."
Michael Mostyn, CEO, B'nai Brith Canada

"I think Max is pandering to the wrong people by defending the exposed hateful prejudices of his policy adviser."
"Unfortunately it does seem to be a confirmation of sorts that perhaps it's a reflection of desperation for votes, perhaps it's an unwillingness to make hard decisions in a party which is struggling to find its feet."
Peter Kent, former Conservative cabinet minister

"The racist people are not welcome in the party and that won't change. That's crazy. I'm not surprised, [at the charges] because our party's doing very well (in fundraising and fielding candidates)."
"Maybe they [B'nai Brith] want to do that [charge Masse with bigotry] because they’re supporting another party. I think, doing that, they are not doing a favour to their organization. Because it’s [their charges] not credible."
Maxime Bernier, leader, People's Party of Canada

People's Party of Canada Leader Maxime Bernier in January.   Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press

Sooner or later, intense sleuthing from any source looking to unearth the true, underlying intentions, impressions and beliefs of political operatives find what can only be classified as 'incriminating evidence' of beliefs and thought-processes that do betray the presence of prejudice and bigotry and plain old misinformed conclusions on the part of those running for public office or working behind the scenes to aid those politicians whose agendas they support by delving into the record -- often through the Internet, sometimes through otherwise-published commentary -- to dig up old statements.

Every party seems to attract the occasional presence of individuals with ideas, preconceptions and beliefs that are decidedly unsavoury and the revelations that those statements exhibiting their social and political positions identifying them as unsuitable for the position they hold, bring opprobrium to the party they belong to. Generally, any political party that discovers in their midst the presence of those with unacceptable ideological strains of illogic or discriminatory beliefs will make short shrift of distancing themselves.

The "independent investigation" undertaken by B'nai Brith Canada, a Jewish-Canadian group whose focus is on defending human rights and unearthing instances of public abuse against minority groups, in particular Jews, found commentary by Maxime Bernier's right-hand man and personal friend that offended the standards of equality and human rights. In a review of his work for a now-defunct online media outlet, Le Quebecois Libre, the views expressed by Martin Masse failed to pass the standard test of social decency.

His commentary on Israel and U.S. interventionism in the Middle East while defending notorious right-wing ideologues failed to sit well with B'nai Brith, leading them to publish a press release with links to over a dozen articles from the outlet, written by this man in which his prejudices were revealed. In response Messrs. Bernier and Masse speculated that an underlying political agenda motivated the human rights group to accuse Mr. Masse of deceit and bigotry; presumably that B'nai Brith was working to support the Conservative Party of Canada against the breakaway PPC.

B'nai Brith itself is in full denial, holding a "lengthy dossier" reflecting Mr. Masse's sentiments and comments apart from those linked and referred to in their media release. Mr. Masse's defence, for example published in 2002, of France's Jean-Marie Le Pen (since superceded by his more moderate daughter) a man who was convicted several times of denial of the Holocaust, a crime under French law, identifies Mr. Masse's sympathies as linked with those of Mr. Le Pen.

Writing on the same forum about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict his views, sympathetic to the Palestinians, accused Israel of co-opting Zionism as "just another fancy justification for killing and displacing Palestinians", a whopping libel if there ever was one. He accused countries of the West of interventions making the situation in the Middle East even more egregiously violent. The philosophy of libertarianism (the ideological bent of the Internet site he wrote on) should not mitigate toward a pro-Israel position, he averred.

A 2008 article he wrote decried "femi-fascists" in expressing opposition to forcing men-only drinking establishments in Quebec to relent and permit women entry, referring to women's gyms barring men representing a double standard. an absurd equation of unsupportable equivalency. He also characterized groups such as B'nai Brith back in 2000 as "ethnic barons" for which political power is a preoccupying concern. His character revealed by his own words.

Bernier with longtime friend and adviser Martin Masse, who has helped Mr. Bernier to set up his new political party after the parting with the Conservative Party of Canada. (Submitted )