The Global Imams Council (GIC) representing Muslim religious leaders from all Islamic denominations, is delighted to hear that the Government of Canada is moving toward outlawing Holocaust Denial and Distortion. We strongly support this community initiative and laud the efforts of the MPs in the Canadian parliament who brought this proposition forward and supported its implementation.
As described correctly by our Canadian colleagues at the Council of Muslims Against Antisemitism (CMAA), antisemitism is a “uniquely pervasive, enduringand lethal form of globalized prejudice” that has become a driving and binding force for extremists and terrorists across the globe. In particular, Holocaust Denial and Distortion is one of the most widespread, malevolent, and egregious of the antisemitic narratives promulgated by these groups seeking to denigrate and demonize the religious and national identity of our Jewish brethren. We view this particularly perverse calumny as unmatched in its virulence in legitimizing hatred, violence and in many cases genocide against the Jewish people, and we unreservedly condemn its promotion in any of its permutations, in the strongest of Islamic terms.
The GIC is the world’s first and largest transnational non-governmental body of Muslim religious Leaders from all Islamic Denominations and Schools of thought, with a rapidly growing number of over 1350 members worldwide. With representation in over 70 countries, the GIC works closely with government departments and security agencies to counter extremism, terrorism and the promotion of genocide. The decision to outlaw Holocaust denial in Canada falls in line with this Council\’s vision for a future based on harmony, coexistence and genuine peace.
In October of the year 2020, our Council collaborated with the Office to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism at the US Department of State to become the first Imams Council to adopt the IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism; and its examples, which include \”denying the fact, scope, mechanisms (e.g. gas chambers) or intentionality of the genocide of the Jewish people at the hands of National Socialist Germany and its supporters and accomplices during WorldWar II (the Holocaust).\” Most recently on February 3, 2022 the GIC publicly endorsed the UN resolution condemning Holocaust Denial.
We congratulate the Jewish Communities of Canada on their country heading in the direction of joining countries like Germany, Austria, Greece, France, Belgiumand the Czech Republic in prohibiting Holocaust Denial. Our Council vows tocontinue combating extremism, terrorism, antisemitism and Holocaust denial.