Fighting Racism with Racism

"In response to the Canadian government cutting anti-racism funding for an organization whose co-founder has a history of antisemitic tweets, The Lawfare Project, in partnership with RE-LAW LLP, just submitted a FOIA request to find out why the Department of Canadian Heritage worked with this organization."

"The Community Media Advocacy Centre received $133,800 from the Department of Canadian Heritage, according to Housing, Diversity and Inclusion Minister Ahmed Hussen. The funding, which was meant for an anti-racism strategy for Canadian broadcasting, went to an organization whose senior consultant, Laith Marouf, made antisemitic comments."

"Justin Trudeau's government said it will take steps to ensure this does not happen again. However, The Lawfare Project is seeking to find out how this happened in the first place."

"The Lawfare Project has requested copies of all communications between the government and the Community Media Advocacy Centre and/or Marouf. The organization also requested copies of all documents — including briefing notes, reports, memos, media lines, and communications — relating to the Community Media Advocacy Centre."

"The purpose of the FOIA request is to compel the government to disclose key documents and communications that should uncover how they came to form this absurd partnership, when they discovered Marouf’s virulent antisemitic views, and why this was discovered only after contracts were signed, funds were disbursed, and some of CMAC’s programs and projects took place."

 

"The FOIA request is an important step to find out how Canadian taxpayer money could have funded Jew-hatred. It is unacceptable to say that this merely slipped through the cracks. We are determined to investigate exactly how the Department of Canadian Heritage funded this organization."

"How can people trust a system that provides anti-racism funding to racists themselves? Jewish Canadians should not have to worry about whether or not their taxpayer money is going directly to fund conspiracy theories."

Brooke Goldstein, Founder and Executive Director, The Lawfare Project 

Housing, Diversity and Inclusion Minister Ahmed Hussen has asked Canadian Heritage to 'look closely at the situation' in response to what he called 'unacceptable behaviour' by Laith Marouf, a senior consultant involved in a government-funded project to combat racism in broadcasting. (Andrew Vaughan/The Canadian Press)

 

The strange carelessness and oblivion of the current Liberal-led government of Canada under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau which goes into overdrive when a citizen uses crude language to address his frustration with the mandates and misappropriation of government funds along with excessive taxes reflecting this government's fixation on destroying Western Canada's industries revolving around its natural energy resources, feigning outrage that a Cabinet minister would be met with hostility was used as a devious move to distract the attention of the public from yet another government outrageous stumble. 

 

A well-known user of social media who aims spitefully insulting comments at minority groups, at Western governments, at Blacks and Indigenous peoples, and above all, at venting venom at Jews and the state of Israel, inveigled his way as a professional communicator into various places of trust, coming away with hefty contracts from a number of government ministries. The man, a racist whose bigotry encompassed a wide range of victims, was hired by Heritage Canada to operate a number of training sessions for Canadian media on anti-racism.

 

Any reasonable onlooker might feel it should be standard procedure when handing out lucrative contracts to those posing as professional communicators to deduce through an internet search of social media what his qualifications might be and whether the candidate has a clean record on what he claimed to be anti-racism credentials. None, apparently did. The contract from Heritage Canada was launched in May and at his first session, Laith Marouf, (the founder and principal communicator and sole employee of the profesional group he established -- Community Media Advocacy Centre -- aside from his wife), began his first lecture with a scathing attack on Jews and on 'apartheid' Israel.

 

It took a casual search by a telecommunications consultant to discover an unfolding situation, where a serial social media poster of vile racist commentary to reveal the man's background with the foreground of a government-of-Canada-sponsored program on anti-racism. The absurdity of this sordid connection could be lost on no unbiased mind. A Liberal Member of Parliament Antony Housefather, become aware of the situation with this man and spoke to his ministerial colleague, MP Ahmed Hussen, warning him that the man he had publicly praised and co-signed a contract with was a racist. To no avail.

 

Finally, when the story broke and was reported in the news, Minister Hussen was appalled, stating the government mantra that "anti-semitism has no place in Canada", and that he intended to demand an explanation from the Community Media Advocacy Centre, why it had hired a racist as a senior consultant. This, from a senior government minister who had earlier praised the man stating how proud his government was to launch such a program with the estimable assistance of the consultant, beaming beside him in a public announcement.

 

The Lawfare Project has launched an investigation, requesting information from the government of Canada through a freedom of information request. The investigation is to take place with the partnership of RE-LAW LLP, a Toronto law firm. This is what David Elmaleh, a partner at RE-LAW had to say:

"The government's use of taxpayer funds in this instance is particularly concerning. We are pleased to be assisting the Lawfare Project in its quest to bring these issues of vital public importance into the public domain. The public deserves to know what transpired, and why."

 

The Lawfare Project was founded for the express purpose of bringing justice into the environment of racial denigration of Jews in general and vilification of the State of Israel in particular. And they have been fairly busy. Through the unflaggng work of its executive director, human rights lawyer Brooke Goldstein, they have been "defending the civil and human rights of the Jewish people and fighting discrimination wherever we see it".

 

In the current and growing atmosphere of antisemitism, the Lawfare Project saw Kuwait Airways terminate half of its American operations and inter-European flight routes as a result of its discrimination practised on Israeli passport-holders. Corporations have been stopped from implementing BDS policies through counselling on the legal implications of discriminatory commercial conduct. The U.S. Congress has agreed to hold the United Nations to account for its ongoing promotion and inciting of violent radicalization in Palestinian children through UNRWA refugee camps.

 

Palestinian youths hold weapons during a military-style graduation ceremony after being trained at one of the Hamas-run Liberation Camps in Gaza City in 2015.(Suhaib Salem/Reuters)

 

Canada's Campaign for Inclusivity, Anti-Racism

"I said the contract had to be cancelled. I alerted him and I persistently communicated with the minister in his office, from the day I learned about it, until today, and aggressively demanded that action be taken."

"Action could have been taken more quickly."

"[I am] very pleased that the minister and his office had been collaborative with me, but I believe that the action should have been taken more swiftly."

"[There needs to be a] thorough review in the Department of Heritage as to how this happened [and processes need to be in place to make certain it doesn't re-occur]."

"I think we all want to understand how, when it was relatively simple to Google what Mr. Marouf has said over the last 20 years that was insulting not only to Jews, but to other groups like French Canadians, how the department awarded a contract to a group that is so closely tied to Mr. Marouf and his partner."

"His name was listed as one of the people providing the training at the first few training sessions. Nobody noticed this."

Liberal Member of Parliament, Anthony Housefather

"There is a Canadian Ministry of Heritage that is not accepting accountability despite a vetting process that just wasn't there."

"The key question is, what is the vetting process? How does a guy like this get through?"

"[It's] important for the Heritage committee to get some answers."

Conservative Member of Parliament Melissa Lantsman 

Laith Marouf outside the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in a photo he posted to social media while employed as a Government of Canada “anti-racism” coordinator. In an accompanying caption, Marouf expresses his wish that the memorial (which contains the names of more than 7,000 Black soldiers killed in the conflict) should contain “millions” more names. Photo by Twitter

 

The 'guy' in question over this clumsy, inept mess that saw a Syrian-Palestinian 'activist' whose main purpose in life appears to be the vilification of Israel as an Apartheid oppressor of Palestinians, and whose contempt for Jews and 'Zionist scum' leads him to repeatedly in public forums state his willingness to shoot Jews in the head, slandering them as sub-human, straight out of a Goebbels propaganda manual, found Canada's Heritage Ministry hiring a committed racist as an authoritative speaker on behalf of a government-supported program on anti-racism, spout hatred and divisiveness instead.

Equality and Diversity Minister Ahmed Hussen oversaw a contract between Heritage Canada and the Community Media Advocacy group, whose senior consultant was a well-known racist, to design an anti-racism strategy for the broadcasting sector. The Canadian Press reported a week ago on tweets emanating from that senior consultant, Laith Marouf. After which Minister Hussen stated he requested that Canadian Heritage "look closely at the situation involving disturbing comments made by the individual in question." The follow-up a day later was a formal announcement that funding would be cut to CMAC.

Now a prominent member of Parliament has come forward to reveal that he contacted the minister even before the news was widely reported in the media. In April a press release  from CMAC touted the launch of consultations on building an anti-racism strategy for the Canadian broadcasting sector. "In Canada, diversity is a fact, but inclusion is a choice. Our government is proud to contribute to the initiative", Ahmed Hussein stated in a news release. In point of fact, the Community Media Advocacy Centre is comprised of only two individuals; Marouf and his wife. A little factoid the minister was unaware of when he stated he planned to ask CMAC how they came to hire a racist.

"Mr. Minister: You are taking us for fools. You are calling on CMAC to answer ‘how they came to hire Laith Marouf’?"

"Are you not aware that he and his wife Gretchen King are CMAC? That they and CMAC share the same address?"

"That it was you and Marouf who announced this program?"

 UN Watch executive director Hillel Neuer

"I have a motto: Life is too short for shoes with laces, or for entertaining Jewish White Supremacists with anything but a bullet to the head."

"You know all those loud-mouthed bags of human feces, AKA 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."

Laith Marouf

Canada's Commitment to Anti-Racism

"Colin Powell, the Jamaican house-slave of the Empire who extinguished the lives of millions of people with his lies, died a painful death unable to breath (sic). If there was any good that came from this pandemic, it would be his death on the birthday of the prophet of Islam."

"I have a motto: Life is too short for shoes with laces, or for entertaining Jewish White Supremacists with anything but a bullet to the head."

"lol, I think Frogs have much less IQ than 77, and French is an ugly language."

"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 bitches of thier (sic) Christian/Secular White Supremacist Masters."

Laith Marouf, Anti-racist champion 

The Liberal government has cut funding to an outside group it hired to deliver anti-racism training after it was discovered that one of the group's leaders made antisemitic remarks in social media posts. CBC

Nothing seems to stop this government from negotiating contracts with groups so obviously incapable of delivering programs they are assigned government funding for, after negotiating for their professional services on behalf of government programs. Two years ago it was the Trudeau Liberal government signing a contract with a charitable group whose status was questionable and whose ability to fulfill the guidelines of the program it was assigned to was negligible. A scandal ensued when it emerged the sole-source contract was a personal affair.

The current situation with Heritage Canada and Minister Ahmed Hussen (above) contracting with a group calling itself Community Media Advocacy Centre, to deliver an "anti-racism" seminar program to Canadian broadcasters, has erupted in scandal with the revelation that the group's head consultant is a flaming racist infamous for his social media statements replete with slanders against Israel and comments about 'Jewish White Supremacists', and the urge to kill Jews.

How the government agency could contract out such an important file without background-checking the principals involved is beyond belief. The group's chief consultant, Laith Marouf, is not entirely unknown as an individual whose slanders come straight from the gutter. His Twitter account had been suspended on grounds of "hateful conduct", and he quickly began another account where he continued to promote violence, blaming his problems on the "Zionist lobby".

As far as this man is concerned "Jewish White Supremacists" deserve only a "bullet to the head". A handful of people, made cognizant of the government hiring Marouf in the service of anti-racism was struck with disbelief. Mark Goldberg, a telecommunications consultant, accused Ottawa of "purveying hate on the public dime", noting this not being the only instance when Marouf had collected federal grants for "anti-racism" training.

Backing up 20 years, Marouf was barred from Concordia University for spraying anti-Israel graffiti on university property. Confronted by campus security he became violent, issued a death threat, and two security guards were slightly injured. The following year he was an organizer of a riot outside Condcordia University, preventing an on-campus address by former Israeli Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu. Marouf evidently was a Syrian national whose father had diplomatic immunity in Canada.

A Montreal student-run television station in 2013 suspended him as executive director because of accusations he plunged the station into "crisis" by his "dictatorial" leadership which "drove a lot of people away. A lot of people did not feel comfortable working in the space around him" a CUTV board member stated. In fulfilling the current contract with Heritage Canada, in May speaking in Vancouver, Marouf informed listeners the media was governed by "colonialism and racism", condemning "the Zionist apartheid regime", accusing Israel of a decades long campaign of "genocide".

He also accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of leading a "Nazi-Zionist" alliance conspiring for war with Russia which would favour Israel with an increased flow of Jewish immigration from the embattled country attacked by Russia. His cross-Canada anti-racism tour underway, in July Marouf posted photos of himself giving the middle finger at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington with his personal wish it might contain a "few million" more names.

His lawyer denies that his client is a bigoted racist Not at all. His client had no "animus toward the Jewish faith as a collective group".

"Antisemitism has no place in this country."

"We have provided notice to the Community Media Advocacy Centre (CMAC) that their funding has been cut and their project has been suspended."

"We call on CMAC, an organization claiming to fight racism and hate in Canada to answer to how they came to hire Laith Marouf, and how they plan on rectifying the situation given the nature of his antisemitic and xenophobic comments."

Minister of Inclusion and Diversity, Ahmed Hussen, Heritage Canada