HEZBOLLAH IN WINDSOR
Recently a billboard went up in Windsor, Ontario prominently featuring the Lebanese terrorist leader, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah. The sign baring the images of Nasrallah and other pro-Syrian leaders of Lebanon was soon removed following energetic protests from the city’s Lebanese Christian and Jewish communities. It was an insult, if not a provocation, flung in the face of all those who believe in furthering understanding between all the cultural communities of Canada. In addition, I believe, we should also understand the billboard as a signal that Canada hosts an active terrorism fan club.
Those who were responsible for the sign told the press that they were honoring the defenders of Lebanon, freedom fighters who fought to defend their country’s independence. There was, of course, not one word about the kidnapping of Israeli soldiers, the Iranian supported build-up of rockets, the assassination of Christian leaders who desired Lebanese independence from Syrian domination, the determination of Nasrallah and his organization to destroy Israel, and Hezbollah’s responsibility for the 1994 bombing of the Jewish Community Center in Argentina. Nor was any heed taken of the fact that Hezbollah is proscribed as a terrorist organization by the Canadian government. According to one Christian Lebanese source, the Arabic on the billboard referred to guerilla fighting and certainly not to peace. While a billboard, of this sort, will anger most decent Canadians and not gain support for Hezbollah; I suspect it had another purpose.
Year after year, we have witnessed the rise of anti-Semitic incidents and the most notable feature of B’nai Brith’s findings has been that the majority of identifiable perpetrators have been Arab and Muslim young men. In the last few years we have seen several attempted synagogue, community centre, and Jewish school bombings in places such as Quebec City, Montreal, and Edmonton. All of the identifiable perpetrators have been young Muslim males. We do not know however, what inspires them to such acts. It is clear that anti-Semitic activity in Canada does increase when tensions rise in the Middle East; the Second Lebanon War did, for example, spark a rise in incidents. While one can understand, but not share, the partisan feelings that are provoked, at such moments, it does not explain the leap from feeling to action, from political sympathies with Israel’s opponents to criminal actions against Canada’s Jewish citizens and their institutions.
I think that the Windsor billboard was aimed not only at the general citizenry but also at Arab and Muslim youth. How inspiring it must be for those young people to see Nasrallah smiling down on them. It is, for them, another lesson learned, assuring them that these figures, reviled by most Canadians, are heroic and inspirational figures, to be emulated in their resistance to “the Zionist enemy”. The messages given to them by militant Imams in Wahabi mosques, the lessons learned in some Muslim classrooms, the abundant images of Israeli brutality on Al-Jazeera and other satellite television networks, and the jihadi web sites are reinforced by the billboard and may move some of these young people towards criminal and perhaps, in a few cases, even terrorist actions. Yes, the billboard was up for only a short time but it will be seen, in the milieu of militant Muslims, as an act of resistance against the massive power of the Zionist lobby. At least, I think that is the message which will be read on jihadi websites in the following days.
The Jewish community can be relieved that the sign was quickly removed, as can the Christian Lebanese. There may also be a positive outcome to this episode if it serves as a warning to Canadian Jews, law enforcement authorities and legislators. There is an enemy of Canadian values out there, but only from time to time does it reveal its public face, as it has in Windsor. We must not allow this incident to be understood as merely a product of a small number of misguided Lebanese-Canadian Muslims. Nasrallah’s evil smile will remain if we fail to take the issue of the rising anti-Semitic menace seriously.
Recently a billboard went up in Windsor, Ontario prominently featuring the Lebanese terrorist leader, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah. The sign baring the images of Nasrallah and other pro-Syrian leaders of Lebanon was soon removed following energetic protests from the city’s Lebanese Christian and Jewish communities. It was an insult, if not a provocation, flung in the face of all those who believe in furthering understanding between all the cultural communities of Canada. In addition, I believe, we should also understand the billboard as a signal that Canada hosts an active terrorism fan club.
Those who were responsible for the sign told the press that they were honoring the defenders of Lebanon, freedom fighters who fought to defend their country’s independence. There was, of course, not one word about the kidnapping of Israeli soldiers, the Iranian supported build-up of rockets, the assassination of Christian leaders who desired Lebanese independence from Syrian domination, the determination of Nasrallah and his organization to destroy Israel, and Hezbollah’s responsibility for the 1994 bombing of the Jewish Community Center in Argentina. Nor was any heed taken of the fact that Hezbollah is proscribed as a terrorist organization by the Canadian government. According to one Christian Lebanese source, the Arabic on the billboard referred to guerilla fighting and certainly not to peace. While a billboard, of this sort, will anger most decent Canadians and not gain support for Hezbollah; I suspect it had another purpose.
Year after year, we have witnessed the rise of anti-Semitic incidents and the most notable feature of B’nai Brith’s findings has been that the majority of identifiable perpetrators have been Arab and Muslim young men. In the last few years we have seen several attempted synagogue, community centre, and Jewish school bombings in places such as Quebec City, Montreal, and Edmonton. All of the identifiable perpetrators have been young Muslim males. We do not know however, what inspires them to such acts. It is clear that anti-Semitic activity in Canada does increase when tensions rise in the Middle East; the Second Lebanon War did, for example, spark a rise in incidents. While one can understand, but not share, the partisan feelings that are provoked, at such moments, it does not explain the leap from feeling to action, from political sympathies with Israel’s opponents to criminal actions against Canada’s Jewish citizens and their institutions.
I think that the Windsor billboard was aimed not only at the general citizenry but also at Arab and Muslim youth. How inspiring it must be for those young people to see Nasrallah smiling down on them. It is, for them, another lesson learned, assuring them that these figures, reviled by most Canadians, are heroic and inspirational figures, to be emulated in their resistance to “the Zionist enemy”. The messages given to them by militant Imams in Wahabi mosques, the lessons learned in some Muslim classrooms, the abundant images of Israeli brutality on Al-Jazeera and other satellite television networks, and the jihadi web sites are reinforced by the billboard and may move some of these young people towards criminal and perhaps, in a few cases, even terrorist actions. Yes, the billboard was up for only a short time but it will be seen, in the milieu of militant Muslims, as an act of resistance against the massive power of the Zionist lobby. At least, I think that is the message which will be read on jihadi websites in the following days.
The Jewish community can be relieved that the sign was quickly removed, as can the Christian Lebanese. There may also be a positive outcome to this episode if it serves as a warning to Canadian Jews, law enforcement authorities and legislators. There is an enemy of Canadian values out there, but only from time to time does it reveal its public face, as it has in Windsor. We must not allow this incident to be understood as merely a product of a small number of misguided Lebanese-Canadian Muslims. Nasrallah’s evil smile will remain if we fail to take the issue of the rising anti-Semitic menace seriously.
