Canadian Arab Federation (CAF)
In February 2009, Fatah sharply criticized the Canadian Arab Federation (CAF) in an article published in the National Post. Fatah, who received the CAF's highest award in December 2001, stated that the CAF's current leadership has turned the organization "into a mouthpiece for Hamas and Hezbollah in Canada." Fatah stated that the CAF used to sponsor debates on the pros and cons of the Oslo peace accord but today labels "any backer of the two-state solution a traitor to the Muslim cause."
Fatah opened by sharply criticizing CAF President Khaled Mouammar for calling Immigration Minister Jason Kenney a "professional whore" because Mr. Kenney criticized the display of Hamas and Hezbollah flags at a CAF-backed protest rally. Fatah also claimed that the CAF also referred to Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff by the same label. Fatah also criticized Mouammar for sending out an email during 2006 Liberal party leadership campaign which stated that " Rae's wife is a vice-president of the CJC Canadian Jewish Congress, a lobby group which supports Israeli apartheid." Fatah also stated that Mouammar sent Muslim delegates a flyer that stated: "Bob Rae supports Israeli apartheid. Don't elect a leader who supports apartheid."
Fatah stated that CAF's vice-president in Ontario, Ali Mallah, referred to the Muslim Canadian Congress in an online forum as "house negros (sic)." He also claimed that Mallah sent out an e-mail message that was headlined: "Dion, Rae & Cotler: pro-Apartheid & anti-Human Rights." Fatah claimed the message also contained the following remarks:
Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion's handpicked human rights critic, Irwin Cotler, advises Israeli military officials on war planning, on how to spin the media following Israeli war crimes and on how to oppose Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights; 2 Dion's handpicked critic for foreign affairs and co-writer of the Liberal party platform, the unelected Bob Rae is a committee member of the Racist Jewish National Fund. As Israel's leading newspaper Ha'aretz reports: "it's well known that the 'national institutions'—the Jewish Agency and Jewish National Fund—primarily exist to enable institutional discrimination based on ethnicity.
Fatah also claimed that Mallah attacked him personally, claiming that he has "no shred of decency of integrity left" and claiming that he served "Zionist masters."
Fatah concluded by stating that Canada's Arab community should demand that Khaled Mouammar and Ali Mallah step down and "not bring further shame to their community." He then called for a new leadership in the tradition of former leaders John Asfour Jim Kafieh, Jehad Aliweiwi and Raja Khouri.."
Read more about this topic: Tarek Fatah
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