The Jewish Tribune: Rabbis’ declaration divides community

“…perhaps TBR is the real ‘radical fringe Jewish group’ [that] they accuse the JDL of being. I await TBR’s statement of condemnation of recent Islamist terrorist actions in Canada, London and Boston, and especially in Israel. I suspect I’ll be waiting a long time. They seem to only criticize right-wing Jews. What a bunch of hypocrites who claim to be liberal.”

It bears noting that the President of the Toronto Board of Rabbis, Rabbi Baruch Frydman-Kohl, has appeared with Dr. Zakir Naik. Naik is banned from entering Britain for jihadist hate preaching. He was one of the hate preeachers at the university of the London jihad beheaders who killed
Drummer Lee Rigby in Woolwich last week. The Islamic Society at Greenwich University, where both of the London jihad beheaders studied, hosted a series of Muslim hate speakers
and distributed extremist literature (including Naik’s).

But Rabbi Fryman-Kohl condemned me.

“Rabbis’ declaration divides community” Atara Veck, The Jewish Tribune, May 28, 2013 (thanks to Meir)

JERUSALEM-TORONTO – News about the condemnation of American political
commentator Pamela Geller by the Toronto Board of Rabbis (TBR) reached
Israel quickly and was a topic of discussion among several
Canadian-Israelis.

Some assumed that Geller – widely known for her fight against Radical
Islam and commonly labelled an Islamophobe – must be a hatemonger of
sorts, having earned such strong denunciation by a group of rabbis who
rarely issue such statements.

The impetus for the attack against Geller was her recent talk in Toronto on the spread of Radical Islam.

TBR expressed concern that the “only sure result of this event will
be increasing tensions within the Jewish community and between Jews and
Muslims in Toronto.” TBR also referred to the Jewish Defense League
Canada (JDL), which hosted the program, as a “radical fringe Jewish
group.”

Toronto-born Bracha Barbara Goldman, who moved to Israel decades ago, was troubled.

“It reflects a ‘galut’ [Diaspora] mentality,” she said. “Pamela
Geller is not at all racist. She doesn’t speak against Muslims. But she
warns that there’s Radical Islam out there, and that it’s not just
against Jews and Israel; it’s a threat to Western civilization. TBR is
not serving the community well by maligning Geller…. There are serious
threats out there, and we have to face them.”

The event took place at the Toronto Zionist Council (TZC) building,
where JDL is a tenant. It was originally booked at a synagogue where the
rabbi – Mendel Kaplan of Chabad@ Flamingo – is a York Regional Police
(YRP) chaplain. Due to intervention by YRP, which claimed that the event
didn’t conform to YRP’s values of inclusivity, the program was moved to
the Toronto Zionist Council (TZC) building on Lawrence Avenue. No other
synagogue offered its premises.

TZC president Joe Winter was approached by journalists from
mainstream Canadian newspapers, asking him why he had agreed to the
event.

“I said that we have several tenants, all non-profits and supportive
of Israel…. All of them have the right to use our meeting room. The only
requirement is not to do anything to break the law.”

He accused TBR and others of “giving a bad name to Geller…. She is
not a radical. JDL is also being abused; it definitely is not radical.”

Prominent Toronto community activist Larry Zeifman fumed, “While TBR
can’t seem to find the time to condemn Islamism and terror, they find it
appropriate to condemn a Jewish community event that aims to address
that threat.

“Whatever one thinks of Geller and the JDL, perhaps TBR is the real
‘radical fringe Jewish group’ [that] they accuse the JDL of being. I
await TBR’s statement of condemnation of recent Islamist terrorist
actions in Canada, London and Boston, and especially in Israel. I
suspect I’ll be waiting a long time. They seem to only criticize
right-wing Jews. What a bunch of hypocrites who claim to be liberal.

“Also, I find it shocking that the only coverage that the Canadian
Jewish News gave to this event was the condemnation by TBR. A real
community newspaper would cover all important community events and not
just those that Toronto’s most liberal rabbis support. We have such a
community paper. It’s called the Jewish Tribune.”

During a television interview with JDL head Meir Weinstein before the
event, popular Toronto talk-show host Michael Coren said that Geller
would be speaking on his show and that he’d even promote the JDL event.

“She believes in tolerance. She speaks out for persecuted minorities,” and has “no [criminal] convictions,” Coren said.

According to Coren, Geller is “an important voice to be heard.”

Although Coren said he would feature Geller on his show and promote the JDL event, he never did.

At an event last week at Beth Emeth Bais Yehuda synagogue, the
panelists – Daniel Pipes, historian and political analyst; Western
University Professor Salim Mansour, Father Raymond de Souza, National
Post columnist; and Fred Litwin of the Free Thinking Film Society –
while discussing Islam vs Islamism, affirmed that they are not “students
of Pamela Geller.” The audience, most of them concerned about the
current threat of Radical Islam and supportive of Geller, was reportedly
disappointed by the focus on academics rather than what they see as
pressing political issues.

Rabbi Baruch Frydman-Kohl participated in the fourth annual Reviving
the Islamic Spirit conference in 2005, which included a number of
speakers who are on the record for promoting intolerance and terror.

In an email exchange, the Tribune asked why that event was acceptable
to him and whether any of his views have since changed. Also, could it
benefit peace-loving Muslims to have someone speak out against Islamism?
He replied, “The TBR statement speaks for itself.”

Read the rest here.

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James Morley

10 years ago

Read President Putin speech, February 4th,2013, made to the Russian Duma in which he says immigrants must obey Russian laws, or return to wherever they came from.
The speech has a great deal of common sense.

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Andrey

10 years ago

James, don’t rely on Putin’s word. Up to this time middle asian muslims come to Russia not only without visas, but even without foreign passports of their countries. He said that a 1.5 year later Russia will implement a visa regime with these countries. And within these 18 months hordes of illegal immigrants have enough time to enter Russia.

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Jack Kemp

10 years ago

They are not students of Pamela Geller? How about are they students of the Boston bombing and the London beheading? “Beth Emeth” means “House of the Truth” in Hebrew. Why were these people allowed to enter that building? And, it appears, as Rush Limbaugh says of himself, Pamela Geller is “living rent free” in these characters’ heads.”

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KB

10 years ago

Pamela…the reason why the Rabbis’ in Canada did what they did is because of their male egos and rituals. It goes to show that you tell the truth before they can even digest what is happening to them as they are caught in the middle of the foray. I can see it now…how dare this women yada, yada, yada. Blind to the truth, much like the Sanhedrin and the Sadducees did 2000-years ago.

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