An article posted by a B.C. Muslim newspaper about an “Israeli conspiracy to kidnap children” for their organs is being condemned by Jewish and Islamic groups alike.
Yesterday al-Ameen, which bills itself as British Columbia’s “most widely read Muslim newspaper,” posted on their website a story headlined “Ukrainian kids, new victims of Israeli organ theft,” which originally came from Iran’s television network, Press TV.
Al-Ameen also has a print edition with a circulation of about 3,000.
B’Nai Brith Canada called the al-Ameen posting a “hideous blood libel against the Jewish community and has no place in Canada or anywhere else.”
Hesham Nabih, an executive and spokesman for the B.C. Muslim Association, condemned the article as racist and anti-Jewish.
“We don’t endorse conflict between Jews and Muslims. We don’t need that stuff. Some people are so full of hatred.”
The organ theft story claims there is a massive conspiracy by Israelis to kidnap children and use them for “spare parts.”
"[I]srael has brought some 25,000 Ukrainian children into the occupied entity over the past two years in order to harvest their organs,” it says. The al-Ameen posting also mentions a “Ukrainian man’s fruitless search for 15 children who had been adopted in Israel. The children had clearly been taken by Israeli medical centers, where they were used for ‘spare parts.’ ”
The article said a Ukrainian philosophy professor and author, attending a “pseudo-academic conference in the Ukrainian capital, Kiev,” warned those in attendance that “all Ukrainians [should] be made aware of the genocide Israel was perpetrating.”
Mohammed Bhamji, the managing editor of al-Ameen, said he did not think the story was racist or inflammatory “because it was reported in the media.”
"[But] I don’t have the facts. When we got that story on the Internet we assumed it was true. We are not professional journalists. We are just a community-based newspaper about anything that has to do with Islam. The best we can do is trust the sources. We don’t have the resources to find out if each and every story is true.”
Al-Ameen’s website said the paper “vigilantly strives to maintain its news contents purely in accordance with the Islamic teachings and have raised the bar high above all other news reporting agencies, in regards to the content, the quality, as well as the goods and services it promotes -- which must also be in “strict” compliance -- falling within the realm of Muslim lifestyles.”
Frank Dimant, executive vice-president of B’nai Brith, said the source of the story -- Press TV -- is “the official mouthpiece of the terrorist-sponsoring Iranian regime.”
However, Mr. Dimant, in the group’s press release, demanded an apology from the B.C. Muslim Association for the article. He pointed to al-Ameen’s website that states the “editorial board members are also the members of the BCMA Executive Board, and others devote their time and efforts towards its betterment.”
But Mr. Bhamji said during an interview that there is actually no connection with the B.C. Muslim Association and the reference on the web site “did not mean we’re literally connected. We are connected to the entire community.”
“The B.C. Muslim Association has nothing to do with al-Ameen,” said Mr. Nabih.
“The article in question does not in any way reflect the views of the BCMA, its executives or its members, nor any other article that has been in the paper,” he said. “Any connection between our group and al-Ameen is a lie.
“Not everyone claiming to be a Muslim represents Islam or other Muslims or in some cases understand the true teaching of Islam,” he added. “We should learn from history and stop harming our communities.”