Mohamed Elmasry - Appearance On The Michael Coren Show

Appearance On The Michael Coren Show

Asked by Michael Coren in an interview on October 19, 2004 if "...everyone in Israel, irrespective of gender, over the age of 18 is a valid target?", CIC President Mohamed Elmasry responded, "Yes, I would say."

Elmasry later apologized for his remarks calling them his "biggest mistake" in 30 years of public life and offered his resignation which was not accepted by the CIC's board.

The Elmasry affair led to criticisms that the media focussed entirely on the comments of the CIC president while neglecting controversial comments made on the same program by a B'nai Brith official, Adam Aptowitzer who stated that "When Israel uses terror . . . to destroy a home and convince people . . . to be terrified of what the possible consequences are, I'd say that's an acceptable use to terrify somebody." The remarks only received attention several weeks after the broadcast, and after Elmasry's apology and proffered resignation, when a press release by the Canadian Arab Federation highlighted them. Following the CAF press release, Aptowitzer retracted his comments and resigned his position with the B'nai Brith. Toronto Star city editor John Ferri told the Toronto Star's ombud, Don Sellar, "we all had egg on our faces...t was embarrassing for every paper in the city not to get the whole story from the outset."

In a letter to the Toronto Star following Sellar's column, Elmasary complained about the affair:

Canadian news media - including the Star - launched a relentless and unfair attack against the Canadian Islamic Congress (CIC) and me while covering up for weeks the outrageous statements made on the same show by Adam Aptowitzer, then the Ontario chairman of the B'nai Brith Institute of International Affairs. While never referring to Aptowitzer's statements, the media used news stories, editorials, op-ed pieces, columns, photos, front-page coverage, cartoons, and radio and television commentaries to paint a negative picture of CIC and myself which seriously distorts and falsifies the truth. It was widely reported, for example, that "Elmasry said all Israelis over 18 were legitimate targets for suicide bombers." This is totally false.

The media never questioned the completeness or the accuracy of the radio show transcript that was given to them. Instead, they totally and completely relied on the heavily selective one provided to them, which was one-sided and referred only to my remarks, but not to those by Aptowitzer.

Elmasry also criticized Canadian Jewish groups over this incident. In an article entitled "When Jews Target a Canadian Muslim," Elmasry accused the Canadian Jewish Congress (CJC) and Bnai Brith Canada of "putting pressure on my university to fire me" and that his words were "mis-represented to the public exactly as the CJC wished." He also stated that "a Toronto Jewish businessman had threatened to withdraw his financial support for a chair of Jewish studies."

He also criticized the recent bombing of hotels in Taba, Egypt on the grounds that some of the victims there were not Israelis. These remarks prompted harshly-worded responses from representatives of the Canadian Jewish Congress and several prominent Canadian Muslims. At first, Elmasry defended his remarks by insisting that he was merely sharing the standard Palestinian point of view. This led to further charges from his critics, who accused him of using the Palestinians as a scapegoat. In a letter to the Toronto Star, he denied having said what he was reported to have said.