Tareq Al-Suwaidan. Photo: Fatma Almeer / Wikimedia Commons

A top Canadian Jewish group expressed deep concern on Thursday regarding a speaker at a scheduled conference of Muslim students who has expressed violently antisemitic sentiments.

The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) described the invitation to cleric Tareq Al-Suwaidan by the Muslim Student Leadership conference, organized by the Muslim Association of Canada (MAC), as “shocking,” describing Al-Suwaidan as “a notorious extremist.”

The CIJA pointed to a series of antisemitic statements by the preacher, including serving as the author of a “Jewish encyclopedia” that denies the Holocaust and describes the Jews as “the most hostile enemies of the Muslim nation.”

Al-Suwaidan has said, “All the mothers of the Islamic nation … should suckle their babies on the hatred of the sons of Zion. We hate them. They are our enemies.”

He then openly engaged in a call for genocide, saying, “We should instill this in the souls of our children until a new generation rises and wipes them off the face of the earth.”

Al-Suwaidan has also engaged in antisemitic conspiracy theories, asserting that “All the wars throughout history … were started by the sons of Zion.”

Due to his extremist statements, Al-Suwaidan has been previously banned from Belgium and Italy.

Shimon Koffler Fogel, the President and CEO of the CIJA, commented, “It is shocking that any organization, especially a registered charity in Canada, would give a platform to those promoting a genocidal form of antisemitism.”

“What we need are initiatives that bring young people together, not a preacher who promotes extreme hate and incites religious violence,” he asserted.

Fogel added, “We are also calling on the Government of Canada to review their granting process to ensure that organizations receiving funding to combat racism are not themselves in need of anti-racism training.”