When you cannot call a spade a spade

According to this Toronto Star online article the Muslim Canadian Congress has requested that Foreign Affairs Minister, Pierre Pettigrew, call in the Israel Ambassador and demand an explanation of remarks made at an interfaith dialogue wherein the Israel Consul General Ya’acov Brosh stated that the majority of terrorists today were Muslim although the majority of Muslims are not themselves terrorists.

What began as an attempt to heal the wounds of Canada's Muslims and Jews has ended by inflaming them. At an evening of dialogue for Muslim-Jewish understanding, remarks by Israel's consul general have prompted the Muslim Canadian Congress to call for an apology, and it has asked Foreign Affairs Minister Pierre Pettigrew to investigate the statements and seek an explanation.

Israeli Consul General Ya'acov Brosh has "set relations back a long way" by implying that Muslims are terrorists, says Tarek Fatah, one of the founders of the congress. "For Muslims who do outreach with the Jewish community at a time when we're being called traitors, it gives us a bloody nose. And the fundamentalists can now say `I told you so.'"

Brosh's remarks were made May 4 at Temple Har Zion Synagogue, after a dialogue aimed at promoting inter-faith understanding, one of a series given by Judea Pearl, father of murdered journalist Daniel Pearl, and Akbar Ahmed, who holds the Ibn Khaldun chair of Islamic Studies at American University in Washington D.C.
(…)
In a brief speech, Brosh said that the majority of terrorists today were Muslims, although the majority of Muslims are not themselves terrorists. He denies that the remarks were intended as an "attack on Muslims." But Muslims who attended the speech said they were hurt and shocked by his words. "I have been president of Muslims Against Terrorism, and I found his implication very hurtful," said Farzana Hassan-Shahid, an inter-faith activist. "It was that all Muslims are lumped together. We think he should apologize for that." Tensions rose after the dialogue ended, and Brosh was invited to speak. He turned to Ahmed — a moderate Muslim — and told him he regretted that more Muslims were not like him. "I told him that regrettably, he was in the minority in the Muslim world today," said Brosh in a phone interview. "Something happened to the Islamic world in the last 50 years, and from anti-Zionism they came to anti-Semitism."
(...)
The Muslim Canadian Congress asked Pettigrew to call in the Israeli ambassador and ask for an explanation of Brosh's remarks, an echo of an incident in January 2003, when Lebanese Ambassador Raymond Baaklini apologized to former Foreign Minister Bill Graham after telling an Arabic language newspaper that Canada outlawed the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah because of pressure from a "Zionist party" controlling most of the Canadian media. Officials at the department of foreign affairs said last night that they would be "seeking clarification by contacting the appropriate representatives." The Muslim congress also called on Canadian Jewish groups to condemn Brosh's remarks.

But Len Rudner, national communications director for the Canadian Jewish Congress, said that a rebuke would be "inappropriate." In the case of Baaklini, he added, "we didn't hold the wider Arab community accountable, or say that it should be condemning him." Fatah said that it was "disappointing" that the organizations would not support their protest.

You know I am perfectly capable of blogging or saying that the majority of terrorists are Swedish Lutherans but not all Swedish Lutherans are terrorists; if Swedish Lutherans were going around hijacking planes into buildings, setting off bombs in cars, buses, nightclubs, and restaurants; or hosting snuff videos on the internet showing Swedish Lutherans beheading non-Lutherans in the name of God - if they were doing so.

The ugly fact is that the majority of terrorists in the world today are Muslim but not all Muslims are terrorists. When you cannot state an obvious fact without a Muslim group attempting to have you slurred or persecuted for stating an ugly truth we are in trouble and no matter how many inter-faith dialogues you hold or how loudly you sing Kumbala that will not change a damn thing. I am sorry the Muslim Canadian Congress finds that statement of fact hurtful but there is nothing I can do to change that except wish it were not so. You can attempt to have me persecuted and considering the current state of free speech in Canada you might meet with success, but even so, you cannot change reality with the power of your denials.

Furthermore, as long as groups like the Muslim Canadian Congress demand apologies and attempt to persecute others for stating the painful facts on the ground, I consciously disconnect from the desire to even attempt a dialogue with the deluded.