Conservative Senator Denise Batters apologized to Liberal MP Omar Alghabra for her “choice of words,” as some rushed to accuse her of tweeting out a racist remark.
Alghabra, who is a parliamentary secretary to Minister of Foreign Affairs Chrystia Freeland, appeared on Power & Politics Wednesday to discuss the ongoing diplomatic spat between Canada and Saudi Arabia. Shortly after his appearance, Batters retweeted a clip of the interview, accusing the Mississauga MP of using government talking points and saying it may have been “interesting” for host Vassy Kapelos to ask Alghabra whether his birthplace “impacts this file for him.”
Senator Batters was absolutely correct in her inquiry, and given Alghabra’s troubling background that points to known past links with jihad terrorist-linked organizations, even more so. Her statement is not random, nor would (or should) any reasonable thinking individual take it as merely a “racist” reference to his birthplace. Unfortunately, her statement was spun that way by some, and to escape a full pounding by the “Islamophobic” battering ram, Batters apologized and went on to explain her reasoning:
Batters replied to Alghabra, saying she meant no offence and that she simply thought Alghabra would have “a unique perspective to offer.” The exchange quickly caught fire online, with several Twitter users condemning Batters. Liberal MP Adam Vaughan described the tweet as “straight up xenophobic bigotry” and called on Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer to expel Batters from caucus. “Casual racism from a sitting senator. Unacceptable,” tweeted Michael Solberg, son of former Conservative MP Monte Solberg. “It is truly a sad day for the Senate, Canadian Politics and the country as a whole…
Alghabra immediately replied via Twitter: “Senator, I’m a proud Canadian who is consistent in defending human rights. How about you?” Alghabra’s previous affiliations and alliances — which will be outlined further along — paint a much truer picture about him than his defense of his own character.
Batters should be applauded, however, in specifying that her “choice of words” was the issue, not her query. One may hope that her query will be taken very seriously and causes Canadians to question and investigate.
In a follow-up incident, Conservative Member of Parliament Blain Calkins “replied to Batter’s initial tweet with a screen grab of a 2005 blog post that insinuated that Alghabra is an Islamist.” That blogpost was updated in a correction that included eyewitnesses. Calkins, however, never referred to the updated information. Instead he “deleted his tweet and apologized for ‘any consternation’ it caused.”
Alghabra told CBC News that Calkins’ tweet was “unbecoming” of a Member of Parliament and that he did not expect a sitting MP to post such “garbage.” Stinging words from Alghabra, considering his background and the justifiable reasons why anyone might be suspicious of him.
Here is a list:
- Omar Alghabra was described by Al Jazeera as a “long-time personal friend of Trudeau” who was at the Liberal leadership convention when Trudeau won. Alghabra commented after the win that “the results were overwhelmingly joyful…It was really incredible to see the results of the hard work come to an end.” Al Jazeera commented that it was “an achievement the Syrian-Canadian can take some credit for.” In that same article, Alghabra commended Trudeau’s vision to engage with Iran and told Al Jazeera: “On the issue of Iran, Trudeau has clearly stated that he is for engagement.” Alghabra also credited Trudeau with having values “in sync” with his own.
- In 2013, Alghabra criticized the Harper government’s decision to cancel relief money sent to Syria via Human Concern International (HCI), which has offices in Beirut, Somalia and Pakistan. HCI was also investigated by U.S. officials, and under the Jean Chretien government in 1997, funding was cut off from HCI, for what official documents called “the group’s terrorism connections.” Then in 2015, the RCMP listed HCI in a terrorism investigation search warrant, when tax records showed that HCI granted $68,820 to the International Relief Fund for the Afflicted and Needy (IRFAN) between 2005 and 2009. An RCMP wiretap also revealed that “the user of the Montreal IRFAN telephone number … was in contact with HCI office in Montreal in October 2013 and December 2013.” IRFAN was declared a terrorist group by the Harper government in April 2014 for transferring approximately $14.6 million dollars to charities associated with Hamas. The Hamas charter calls for the obliteration of Israel.
- Alghabra served as President of the Canadian Arab Federation in 2004, a group that once “issued a press release entitled Listing of terrorist organizations must be put in perspective which opposes the designation of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad as terrorist entities by the Government of Canada.”
- In 2014, a federal court upheld the government’s decision to end funding to the Canadian Arab Federation over its support for terrorist organizations. 74% of a CAF budget for training new immigrants was from taxpayers. The Citizenship and Immigration Minister at the time was Jason Kenney, who “described the CAF as ‘radical and anti-semitic’ [sic] and called the funding arrangement ‘shameful.’” Noted was a comment made by the CEO of the Center for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA), Shimon Fogel: “It’s particularly disturbing to think that an organization that holds views so diametrically opposed to Canada’s values was given a mandate to integrate new Canadians.”
- During Alghabra’s term as President of the CAF, he slammed the National Post report that referred to the Al-Aqsa Brigade as a “terrorist group,” and stated: “CanWest, one of the largest media conglomerates in Canada, is failing its responsibility towards all Canadians, not just Arabs and Muslims.”
- Also during his term as CAF president, Alghabra wrote to Toronto police chief Bill Blair to protest Blair’s decision to lead a “Walk for Israel.”
- In the letter, which was posted on CAF’s website, Alghabra called Israel “a country that is conducting a brutal and the longest contemporary military occupation in the world. This event coupled with your recent participation in a delegation of police chiefs that went on a six-day trip to Israel on March 1, has begun to create a feeling of genuine distrust and confusion for what appears to be your public endorsement of the practices of the state of Israel.”
- On January 5, 2006, Alghabra told the Jewish Tribute: “I don’t believe that Hamas wants the elimination of Israel.” Surely Alghabra should know what is in the Hamas Charter. The Tribune article also stated that Alghabra “told the Jewish Tribune that he has ‘always spoken out against extremism and violence against civilians.’ But when asked whether he would specifically denounce suicide bombers, he would not comment, claiming that he was being ‘trapped.’”
- Upon the death of one of the worst jihad terrorists ever, Yasser Arafat, “Alghabra’s CAF put out a press release mourning the terrorist’s death with ‘sorrow and regret.’” The release stated: “This is a time of reflection and reaffirmation of commitment to the Palestinian just cause of struggle for freedom and self-determination.”
- At the 38th Parliament, 1st Session’s Subcommittee on Public Safety and National Security of the Standing Committee on Justice, Human Rights, Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, Alghabra opposed an anti-terrorist act brought forward by Liberal Prime Minister Paul Martin. As leader of the CAF, he stated:
“Our concern then as community members was that the Anti-terrorism Act was the wrong response to the events of September 11, 2001. I’ll tell you why it’s wrong. It’s wrong because it trades fundamental Canadian values, such as the rule of law, respect for human dignity, and fairness, to gain a false sense of security. It’s wrong because it’s motivated and conceived out of fear.”
- Alghabra also reportedly said that “he was disappointed Ontario’s decision not to adopt Sharia Islamic law for Muslim divorces during a 2003-2006 debate, calling the move not to take on Muslim law in Canada ‘unfortunate.’”
Islamic supremacist groups and individuals who are associated with the Muslim Brotherhood are notoriously effective at playing the “Islamophobia” canard and making anyone out to be “racist” and “Islamophobic” for merely pointing out concerns about their connections. Their stratagem has been, and will always be, to deny any connection to jihad terrorism, despite evidence to the contrary.
What sometimes happens among rightly concerned Western leaders and citizens is that they may not have the precise information at their fingertips when they make valid — but loose — allegations about someone’s connection to the global jihad or the Muslim Brotherhood, thereby getting themselves into hot water and unwittingly providing a way out for the accused individual or group. We see this demonstrated in the tweets by Batters and Calkins.
Alghabra has connections with terror-linked groups and has misrepresented the facts about Hamas’ goal of obliterating Israel. Canadians have every right to ask questions without accusations of “Islamophobia.” Conversations need to be started about terror-linked groups on Western soil, who they are, what their objectives are, who the Muslim Brotherhood is, and what its goals are — as detailed in its own document, “An Explanatory Memorandum: From the Archives of the Muslim Brotherhood in America Muslim Brotherhood Plan for North America.”
Western leaders need to prioritize the survival of their democracies and the well-being of their citizens. Instead, their focus has shifted to panic about “Islamophobia,” “racism” and “intolerance,” followed by the intimidation, bullying and shaming of anyone who attempts to raise questions and/or expose the truth.
The inconvenient truth is that jihad-linked groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood, as well as violent jihad terror groups such as al Qaeda and the Islamic State have documented their goal of subverting free Western societies and destroying Israel, but too many Westerners continue to pretend that these goals do not exist, or are too afraid to discuss them. One wonders how and why any citizen or leader would have tolerance for those with unsavory associations, yet have zero tolerance for those who raise questions about them.
Take, for example, the UK, where conditions have become so outrageous that Muslim rape gangs were allowed to brutalize innocent girls for years while British authorities did nothing for fear of being called “Islamophobic,” and Muslim MP Naz Shah retweeted (with no political consequences) a call for the victims to “shut-up for the good of diversity.”
In July 2017, the Toronto Sun published an article entitled: “When Canada meets with the Islamic world, who’s calling the shots?” The story addressed the oddity of a Canadian delegation being sent to the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. “The group bills itself as ‘the collective voice of the Muslim world’, representing 57 countries.” Omar Alghabra was one of the delegates. The article goes on:
Canadians might scratch their heads and wonder why we even sent a representative, in this case Liberal parliamentary secretary for foreign affairs Omar Alghabra, since we are not one of those countries.
Eventually, a department tweet emerged: “Showcasing a picture of Alghabra meeting with ambassadors from Djibouti — a largely sharia-compliant country — the tweet said they discussed ‘Canada’s efforts on countering Islamophobia.’”
Canada has been aggressive in its fight against “Islamophobia,” with a troubling determination to take action against those it deems to be “Islamophobic.” Such initiatives have been propelled by the National Council of Canadian Muslims (formerly CAIR-CAN, an offshoot of CAIR — an unindicted co-conspirator in a jihad terror funding case). Taking “action” against “Islamophobia” is also a feature of the anti-Islamophobia motion M103, disguised under a wider anti-discrimination initiative that eventually cost taxpayers 23 million dollars to implement. The NCCM and IRFAN are included for funds, despite IRFAN being designated a terrorist group by the previous Conservative government.
The government of Canada has a grave Islamic supremacist problem within its ranks, and fear, nervousness and apologies are not the way for concerned citizens and the opposition Conservatives to deal with this problem. Instead, careful analysis and investigation are required. Many among the public are quite aware that they are being oppressed through fear of “Islamophobia” judgements, the criteria of which are being determined by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.
Omar Alghabra even accused the Conservatives of being “Islamophobic” for merely demanding marathon votes in the House of Commons to force the Liberal Government to reveal the cost of the carbon tax to Canadians. Alghabra tweeted:
“You don’t believe Islamophobia exists! You disrespect the importance of Eid! You will be voting all night against funding to veterans, RCMP and CAF members! It’s clear who needs to apologize.”
Taxpayer dollars are flowing into agenda-driven “anti-islamophobia” drives, as well as toward a flood of unvetted migrants who jump the queue at Quebec’s border and take up shelters needed by Canada’s most needy. An undetermined number also bring in with them damaging jihadist beliefs that put Canadians at risk — and Islamic State jihadis were welcomed into Canada by Trudeau. Canadian taxpayers must also foot the bill for the daily costs of the flood of unknown migrants (which includes high-priced medical and dental costs), despite Canada’s own difficulties in adequately caring for its poor, its elderly, and mental health patients. There has been no plan as “Toronto faces refugee shelter crisis,” while the “federal government drags its feet on helping.” These issues are made worse because those at the highest levels are afraid of being branded “racist” and “Islamophobic.”
Omar Alghabra is not the only a questionable sort in government ranks, but he has become the topic of the latest news, which enabled him to score points after apologies were levied, as if he were entirely above all suspicion, despite his record. It is the duty of leaders to raise topics of legitimate concern, and if mistakes are made, then they should be specifically corrected; this should not result in bullying and shaming. There was clearly no intention on the part of either Batters or Calkins to be “racist.” It is Batters who deserves the apology, while Alghabra owes Canada lots of explanations.
“Conservative senator apologizes for tweet citing Liberal MP’s Saudi background,” by Brennan MacDonald, CBC News, August 10, 2018:
Conservative Sen. Denise Batters apologized to Liberal MP Omar Alghabra today for her choice of words in what some interpreted as a racist tweet.
“My intent was to suggest Mr. Alghabra’s experience living in Saudi Arabia would give him unique insight about the difficult situation in which Canada and KSA find themselves,” Batters wrote today in a follow-up to an earlier tweet questioning why Alghabra appeared on CBC’s Power and Politics to address the diplomatic conflict with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
“I absolutely did not intend to suggest that Mr. Alghabra’s birthplace or background has any impact on his ability to represent Canadians on this, or any issue. That is not what I believe, nor what I meant to convey.
“I apologize to Mr. Alghabra and to Canadians for my choice of words.”
Batters deleted her tweet shortly after issuing the apology.
Alghabra tweeted just after this post appeared that he had accepted her apology. “As the Senator told me, ‘this is a lesson to all of us,'” said Alghabra.
“The senator called me and explained what she meant by it. I take her for her word,” Alghabra said in an interview with CBC News.
Alghabra, who is a parliamentary secretary to Minister of Foreign Affairs Chrystia Freeland, appeared on Power & Politics Wednesday to discuss the ongoing diplomatic spat between Canada and Saudi Arabia.
Shortly after his appearance, Batters retweeted a clip of the interview, accusing the Mississauga MP of using government talking points and saying it may have been “interesting” for host Vassy Kapelos to ask Alghabra whether his birthplace “impacts this file for him.”
Asked Thursday how he initially interpreted the tweet, Alghabra said, “I assumed that my place of birth, in her words, had an impact on my judgment.
“When she and I talked, she said that’s not what she meant and that she said it had given me a certain perspective, which is obviously accurate. My background does give me a certain perspective.”
Alghabra was born in Saudi Arabia to a Syrian family.
In response to Batters’s original Twitter message, Alghabra tweeted, “Senator, I’m a proud Canadian who is consistent in defending human rights. How about you?”
Batters replied to Alghabra, saying she meant no offence and that she simply thought Alghabra would have “a unique perspective to offer.”
The exchange quickly caught fire online, with several Twitter users condemning Batters. Liberal MP Adam Vaughan described the tweet as “straight up xenophobic bigotry” and called on Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer to expel Batters from caucus.
“Casual racism from a sitting senator. Unacceptable,” tweeted Michael Solberg, son of former Conservative MP Monte Solberg.
“It is truly a sad day for the Senate, Canadian Politics and the country as a whole,” said Twitter user Ray Leech. “You have the privilege of being a member of the Senate. It’s the Upper Chamber not a Trump rally.”….