Ex-Imam Removed From Canadian Elections Over Anti-Semitic Comments
MONTREAL (JTA)—The Liberal Party of Canada ousted a candidate for upcoming national election after B’nai Brith Canada revealed past allegedly anti-Semitic comments.
Hassan Guillet, a former imam running for election in a Montreal district, was removed on Friday from contention for the Oct. 21 election. Gulliet gained international attention when he spoke out following a 2017 mosque attack in Quebec City.
But according to B’nai Brith, Guillet’s past has included celebrating the release of a pro-Hamas activist Raed Salah, who said Jews were behind the 9/11 attacks; accusing “Zionists” of controlling U.S. politics; and describing Israel as an “apartheid” state.
B’nai Brith CEO Michael Mostyn welcomed Guillet’s turfing and said, “the anti-Semitic tropes of ‘Zionists controlling governments’ and of ‘dual loyalty’ are two of the more abhorrent expressions of paranoid anti- Jewish conspiracy theories.”
The Liberal Party of Canada said in a statement that Guillet’s past comments “do not correspond to the party’s values.”
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO