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Posted by Al Gordon on 09:20:34 2004/10/26
In Reply to: Can'dn Islamic leader supports killing all Israelis posted by Al Gordon
Tue, October 26, 2004
Muslim leader's remark was clear to me
By Michael Coren -- For the Toronto Sun
I have hosted The Michael Coren Show -- a daily TV program -- for more than six years. It runs every weeknight at 6 p.m. on CTS, a faith-based station that is carried on basic cable in almost all of Ontario and on satellite in the rest of Canada.
I'm proud of what we do and it's always slightly irritated me that in spite of our large audience and quality of debate and guests, we receive so little publicity. We can't afford a large press department and, let's be candid, we're not treated equally in the media because of the religious foundations of CTS.
After the events of the past week, though, I'm not sure if I can complain anymore about lack of exposure. A week ago today, we featured a show on terrorism. A panel of four people were asked, who is a terrorist and who is a victim?
One guest was Dr. Mohamad Elmasry, a professor at the University of Waterloo and president of The Canadian Islamic Congress. On camera, he said all Israelis were legitimate targets for Palestinian suicide bombers: "They are part of the Israeli army, even if they have civilian clothes."
I asked him to reiterate, clarify or even withdraw his statement. Withdrawal did not occur. So anyone, I responded, over the age of 18, man or woman, even a doctor or a nurse, is a valid target? El-Masry answered with a simple "Yes."
We never ambush people on our show, and I made sure that in this case my guest had plenty of time to reconsider. Indeed, we carried the discussion over a commercial break into another segment of the program. The second Muslim guest, a lawyer, appeared obviously stunned by the remarks and disassociated himself from the statements.
As of yesterday, the story had been covered in almost every newspaper in the country, and carried by wire services from Alaska to Alabama. Television and radio pounced on it as well.
Muslim and Arab organizations have expressed outrage at the remarks and called for Elmasry to resign. His university has condemned the comments. Jewish leaders are profoundly angry -- and government security officials in Ottawa are even reviewing tapes of the show.
The situation has not been helped by a weekend press release from Elmasry's organziation that referred to his comments as "regrettable and misunderstood."
Palestinian view
"Dr. Elmasry, did not, does not, and will not condone the widely-held Palestinian view that any form of armed resistance against civilians that includes suicide bombing constitutes a legitimate military operation against the Israeli occupation," the statement says.
Elmasry "was presenting not his own views, but those of a significant segment of Palestinians under occupation," it continues, quoting him as saying: "I sincerely regret that my comments were misunderstood and, as a result, caused offence."
Now just hold on. If Elmasry regrets the comments, surely he should make a public apology and confirm that he does not in fact believe that every adult Israeli is a valid target for a suicide bomber.
I can only judge by what he said, repeatedly, as he sat only feet away from me. It was abundantly clear to me. In fact, Elmasry gave a long preamble where he compared the intifada to the French Resistance to the Nazis during World War II.
Here is what I find deeply ironic about all this. Elmasry's group issues a regular report outlining what it sees as anti-Muslim attitudes in Canadian media. The report complains of insufficient Muslim voices in journalism and biased reporting.
Yet the president of this organization is invited onto a one-hour show to give his opinions and allowed by the host to repeat those opinions. They are then reprinted in hundreds of newspapers. In this case, it seems it is not the media or some anti-Muslim fanatic who has shamed Muslims but the leader of the Canadian Islamic Congress himself.
Extreme statement
I know many if not most of the leaders of Canada's Muslim and Arab communities, and I have never heard such an extreme statement. I am confident Elmasry that the comments Elmasry made on my show do not represent the views of Canada's Palestinian diaspora, nor the vast majority of Muslims in this country.
The Israel/Palestine issue demands a new paradigm of justice and equality. It does not require violent platitudes and feeble generalizations.
We have to be able to admit when we're wrong. Especially when we're so terribly, horribly wrong.
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