An arrest warrant has been issued for an imam who made anti-Semitic remarks at a Montreal mosque last December.
Sheikh Muhammad ibn Musa Al Nasr called Jews “the worst of mankind” and said he hoped Muslims would slaughter them on Judgment Day, according to a statement from B’nai Brith Canada.
Al Nasr faces a charge of willfully promoting hatred under Section 319 of the Criminal Code, B’nai Brith said, quoting a police officer with the city’s hate crimes unit.
B’nai Brith lodged the police complaint after learning about the speech, which was made at the Dar al-Arkam mosque in the Montreal neighbourhood of Saint-Michel.
The whereabouts of the imam, who is Palestinian-Jordanian, are unknown, but B’nai Brith suspects he may be in Jordan and is calling for his extradition.
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Montreal’s Jewish community “can sleep safer knowing that there is a price to pay for inciting violence against our community,” B’nai Brith CEO Michael Mostyn said in a statement.
“This incident and others like it demonstrate that anti-Semitism, especially in the guise of religion, remains a serious problem in Canada today,” Mostyn went on. “We hope that these charges will deter future threats and assaults on our community.”
Despite condemnation from some Muslim groups, the mosque has yet to apologize for the sermon.
“In fact, the original Arabic version of the sermon remains posted to the mosque’s YouTube channel, along with dozens of other addresses delivered by Al Nasr,” B’nai Brith pointed out.
B’nai Brith has received no response from the mosque.
The warrant for Al Nasr’s arrest comes on the heels of an investigation into a rapper known as Madd Cold, who is being probed by Montreal police for inciting violence against the Jewish community, following a complaint by B’nai Brith.
B’nai Brith announced on July 14 that songs recorded by Madd Cold (Iraqi-Canadian Jonathan Azaziah) were being removed from online distribution platforms. Two days later, his songs were no longer available on popular platforms such as Soundcloud, BandCamp and Spotify, although YouTube continues to host some of his content.
Azaziah, who calls himself “the Iraqi destroyer of Jewish lies,” has published dozens of songs where he calls members of the Jewish community “demons” and “parasites,” while describing them as servants of Shaytan, (Arabic for Satan), reported the Algemeiner. Many of his verses propagate Holocaust denial, while others advocate genocide, the online newspaper added.
“This is perhaps the most clear-cut case of incitement to violence against the Jewish people in Canada that we have seen in a long time,” Mostyn said in a statement.
