Excerpt:
While Canadians exercised their freedom of expression by venting both positive and negative comments about Prime Minister Stephen Harper's recent trip to Israel, the West Bank and Jordan, a huge controversy has been created by a Muslim organization, which appears to expose the attitude of most Muslims towards Israel and a rise in anti-Semitism. Had this trip been to any other country, probably there would have been no response.
As among those accompanying the Prime Minister were a number of rabbis, a Muslim organization, formerly CAIR-CAN (Council on American-Islamic Relations - Canada), but now known as the National Council of Canadian Muslims [NCCM] , objected to one in particular, Rabbi Mendel Kaplan, who last year had invited to Toronto Pamela Geller, who the NCCM had said would spread hate.
The Prime Minister's spokesman, Jason MacDonald, dismissed the objection. "We will not," he said, "take seriously criticism from an organization with documented ties to a terrorist organization such as Hamas."