Handout blaming September 11 responsibility on Muslims is "hateful and malicious," CAIR-CAN

OTTAWA, January 29 (IslamOnline.net) – In what was described as a hate crime, a recent handout by the Israel Action Committee at the University of Western Ontario, Canada, directed hateful stereotypes against Muslims and Arabs.

The Canadian Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-CAN) expressed on Wednesday, January 28, outrage over the anti Muslims attitude expressed by the pro-Israel group, CAIR-CAN website said.

The flyer, which served to reinforce the negative rooted false image of Muslims, showed a picture of the burning World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, while clearly attributing the terrorist act to all Muslims and to Islam as a religion.

The despised handout was handed out on campus, with the effect of portraying Islam and Muslims as inherently violent and oppressive, thereby creating fear and hate.

Muslim students at the campus requested CAIR-CAN to take formal action.

A Hate Crime

An immediate action was taken by CAIR-CAN which declared it will ask the police to investigate this incident as a possible hate crime.

Moreover, it also called on the University of Western Ontario to ensure that discriminating hateful conduct of this sort is not tolerated on campus.

"Such malicious and hurtful stereotypes only lead to misunderstanding and intolerance. There is no place for hate in our society," CAIR-CAN said in a statement issued on Thursday and obtained by IslamOnline.net.

"We expect that the University will review this matter with the urgency and resolve it deserves. We sincerely hope that fellow Canadians will stand with us in denouncing the contents of this venomous handout," the statement added.

Hate crimes against Muslims, Arabs rose to a sky rocketing level following the events of September 11 as blaming them for the attacks, and law enforcement officials were not fully prepared to combat such onslaught, a report by the Human Rights (HRW) Watch advocacy group said on November 14, 2002.

Not only excluded on the American Muslims, attacks against Canadian Muslims began a few days after the September 11 as in September 24, 2001, a mosque in the quiet city of Halifax in Canada was attacked by destroying two large glass windows of the Alrasoul Islamic Society.