Stating the obvious

Editorial

Most Muslims would never think of doing something like that." This was one of the comments from a spokesperson for the Canadian Council on American Islamic Relations in the aftermath of the first appearance in court by two men charged with a spate of anti-Semitic attacks in Montreal.

The quote by Sarah Elgazzar, which appeared in the National Post April 14, is ludicrous in its obviousness. No Canadian thinks most Muslims would do such things as bomb Jewish institutions. The relevant issue here is that some do.

The Montreal accused are Canadian-born Muslims. This may be relevant because, like some who have committed violent acts, including parties to the 2005 London transit bombings, these individuals are not products of societies where violence is viewed as legitimate discourse, but emerge from our own culture, where peaceable co-existence is perceived to be the norm.

"We're raising people here with such hatred in their hearts for people that they've never met or had anything to do with," said Jeffrey Boro of Canadian Jewish Congress.

Instead of responding to the charges in a defensive way – by pointing out the obvious reality that most Muslims would never think of doing such a thing – it would be nice for once to hear from Canadian Muslim leaders a flat-out, straightforward, no-holds-barred condemnation of the act itself.

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