Imam Calls For Genocide Of Jews. Later Clarifies He Only Meant Zionists.

Ayman Elkasrawy, an imam at Masjid Toronto mosque landed himself in hot water after English-subtitled videos (now removed from the mosque’s official YouTube channel) of his calling for the eradication of the Jews began circulating the internet.

According to his LinkedIn profile (and a Research Gate page here), Ayman Elkasrawy is currently working as a teaching assistant at Toronto’s Ryerson University. The same school where late last year a coterie of pro-Palestinian and Muslim groups organized a joint protest against a motion commemorating Holocaust Education Week.

As reported by Jonathan Halevi at CIJ News, the Toronto imam’s prayers were less than favorable to the Jewish people (emphasis added):

“[O Allah!] Give us victory over the disbelieving people… O Allah! Give victory to Islam and raise the standing the Muslims. And humiliate the polytheism and polytheists. O Allah! Give victory (help) to your slaves who believe in the oneness of Allah, O the Lord of the Worlds! O Allah! Give them victory over the criminal people. O Allah! Destroy anyone who killed Muslims. O Allah! Destroy anyone who displaced the sons of the Muslims. O Allah! Count their number; slay them one by one and spare not one of them. O Allah! Purify Al-Aqsa Mosque from the filth of the Jews! O Allah! Purify Al-Aqsa Mosque from the filth of the Jews!“

Elkasrawy subsequently issued an apology – or at least what he thought was an apology – on Twitter:

“Neither I, Masjid Toronto or the congregation harbour any form of hate towards Jews. And so I wish to apologize unreservedly for misspeaking during prayer last Ramadan. I firmly believe that all human beings: Muslims, Jews, Christians and people of all and no faith deserve to live a life free of any threat to their safety. In my supplication my intention was to refer to a very specific political situation that is the result of military occupation. I sincerely regret the offence that my words must have caused.”

After regaling reams of Muslims at his sermons with patent paeans to Jewish genocide, the imam claims he simply “misspoke.”

Attempting to salvage any vestiges of his public image, Elkasrawy jumped back to the age-old “I didn’t mean kill ALL the Jews, only the Israelis! Seriously, I am not a genocidal anti-Semite. I’m just anti-Zionist. That’s a perfectly normal political position to hold.”

Masjid Toronto’s website has Elkasrawy listed as a certified Qur’an instructor. His classes run every Thursday, at around 6 PM. Looks like I’ll have to cancel next week’s personal training session!

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