B'nai Brith Canada denounces 'blood libel' article

A British Columbia Muslim newspaper has pulled an article from its website and issued an apology after being condemned by B’nai Brith Canada for spreading anti-Semitic propaganda.

Al-Ameen Post is a biweekly community newspaper with a circulation of 3,000 that is described on its website as providing a “fair and balanced perspective on the news.” Recently, it published an article in its print edition and on its website that accused Jews of kidnapping 25,000 Ukrainian children in order to harvest their organs in Israel.

The article, headlined “Ukrainian kids, new victims of Israeli organ theft”, was reprinted from Press TV, an Iranian-controlled news agency. It claims that Israelis have been taking children to use for "spare parts."

“This hideous blood libel against the Jewish community has absolutely no place in Canada or anywhere else,” said Frank Dimant, Executive Vice President of B’nai Brith Canada. “It should be a matter for public outcry that the BC Muslim Association, a major Canadian Islamic entity with eight mosques and government-funded schools under its auspices, is behind Al-Ameen and its ravings.”

After hearing from B’nai Brith, the newspaper took the article off its website and issued an apology entitled “To Our Fellow Jewish Canadians – Our Apologies” that appeared in a prominent position on its website.

Al-Ameen’s statement said that the newspaper understood “that our fellow Canadian Jewish community members find some of the contents inappropriate and hurtful.”

It went on to say, “In the spirit of honoring our most cherished Canadian values… the Editorial Board of Al-Ameen Post, without prejudice, extends its honest and sincere apology to our fellow Jewish Canadians for any hurt which may have caused by us publishing or communicating such a news article.”

But, the paper also defended the publication of the article, stating, “The issue of ‘Organ Harvesting in Israel’ was being discussed at the time of our last publication, by major media outlets, and not just Al-Ameen.”

It went on to explain that the BC Muslim Association (BCMA) and Al-Ameen are separate organizations, though members of its editorial board may also be members of the BCMA.

In an email, the BCMA told B’nai Brith that it “has no links to Al-Ameen". Nonetheless, Dimant is still very concerned, noting that Al-Ameen was described as the “house journal” of the BCMA by a National Post commentator.

“We are still very concerned about the fact that an established Islamic organization such as the BCMA has not apologized to the Jewish community for the distribution of the anti-Semitic blood libel published in Al-Ameen, which was disseminated in mosques operated by the BCMA,” he said.

Dimant questioned whether the BCMA had taken adequate measures to inform the students of its BC government-funded schools and the congregants of its mosques that the article was false as well as anti-Semitic.

“What action has the BCMA taken regarding the role of its Vice-President of Planning and Development, Musa Ismail, a man who everyone can acknowledge is one of the three editorial board members of Al-Ameen?” said Dimant.

Reprinted with permission from Shalom Life