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.
We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.
If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO