TORONTO — The leader of the Jewish Defence League (JDL) in Canada is suing the Canadian Arab Federation (CAF) for defamation.
Lawyers for Meir Weinstein advised CAF president Khalid Mouammar in a letter last week that the suit is being launched over a document posted on the organization’s website that suggests Weinstein is “part of a right-wing terrorist group, a racist and a supremacist.”
The letter adds: “The references to Mr. Weinstein are false and untrue. The damages to Mr. Weinstein as a result of your libelous statements… are substantial.”
Weinstein reactivated the JDL a few months ago after the group had been dormant for several years.
The document that prompted the lawyers’ letter ran on the CAF website last week, but was subsequently removed. It’s a copy of a statement issued by Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR), a student-based organization active on university campuses. The document linked the JDL to an “arson attack [that] targeted the bulletin board of EAST (the East African Students Group), which carried posters and information against racism, Islamophobia and military occupation.
“This attack follows the re-activation in Canada of the JDL, the only Jewish group labelled by the FBI as a ‘right-wing terrorist group,’” the SPHR news release states. “On Feb. 4 at Ryerson University during events held by black and Palestinian students, around 20 JDL members harassed students attending the lecture without police interference. This sent a message to the JDL and other Jewish supremacist individuals that it is acceptable to target visible minorities in our cities.”
SPHR also called on Toronto police to “investigate any links that could be made between the attack on the East African students group and the reconstitution of the JDL in Canada. Inaction on the part of the police will send the wrong message to those who perpetrated this heinous act.”
Weinstein, who is mentioned by name in the SPHR release, said about 50 JDL supporters gathered peacefully outside the Ryerson lecture and handed out written material. He said he plans to also sue SPHR, but started with CAF because, “They are the main Arab organization that meets with government officials and the most respected organization in Canada.
“The purpose is the have them stop spreading false allegations about myself and the JDL.”
Weinstein said he recently reconstituted the JDL in Canada because of concerns over growing anti-Semitism and anti-Israel agitation on campuses.
“We have taken the initiative to combat the spread of hate on campuses and cities in Canada,” he said. “The allegations on their website [attempt] to degrade our organization so that anti-Israel incitement can continue without opposition.
“No one will be allowed to silence us. We’re going to exercise our lawful, democratic rights as Canadian citizens to stop hate,” he said.
CAF executive director Mohamed Boudjenane said the organization had received the lawyers’ letter.
“We’ll look at it and we’ll definitely react to it,” he said.
