Toronto-area Rabbi Withdraws Pamela Geller Invitation After Chat With Police
Rabbi Kaplan (left) as Toronto police chaplainTORONTO - York Regional Police threatened to remove a rabbi as one of the force’s chaplains if he hosted a controversial anti-Islamist speaker at his Thornhill synagogue.
Insp. Ricky Veerappan, of the force’s diversity, equity and inclusion bureau, confirmed he and officers from the service’s hate crimes unit met with Rabbi Mendel Kaplan of the Chabad Flamingo Synagogue on Tuesday.
They expressed concern about an upcoming talk to be given by Pamela Geller, a vocal critic of radical Islam. She protested past plans to build a mosque near Ground Zero in New York City, and has posted anti-Jihad messages in that city’s subway system.
Subsequent to his meeting with police, Kaplan cancelled Geller’s May 13 talk, which was sponsored by the Jewish Defence League (JDL) — a hard-line advocacy group that had rented space in Kaplan’s synagogue for the event.
“I think the police are turning a blind eye to who they should be keeping an eye on,” said the JDL’s Meir Weinstein, referring to radical Islamists. Weinstein said another location will be chosen for Geller’s appearance.
Veerappan said he told Kaplan that Geller’s speech “would not be endorsed by York Regional Police” and that the rabbi’s role as a force chaplain would be thrown into question if he were to permit the event.
“If he did (host Geller), then we’d have to reassess our relationship with (Kaplan),” Veerappan said. “We serve the needs of the entire community. Some of the stuff that Ms. Geller speaks about runs contrary to the values of York Regional Police and the work we do in engaging our communities.”
Veerappan said a member of York Region’s Muslim community, whom he wouldn’t identify, brought Geller’s scheduled talk to the attention of police.
York Regional Police enlist eight chaplains of different faiths to counsel police officers and their families. Among them is a Muslim chaplain, Imam Abdul Hai Patel.
More at Toronto Sun: York Regional Police Threaten Rabbi’s Role as Chaplain Over Pamela Geller Speech
Pamela, of course, is shrieking that this is “Sharia’ suppressing her “Free Speech” even though Canada has no First Amendment.
Kudos to the Toronto police for their prompt action in warning the clueless Mendel Kaplan about the piece of poison he was about to ingest. All congregations need to be made aware that Pamela’s message consists entirely of old, recycled Anti-Semitic myths that simply replace “Jews” with “Muslims.”
My warning to Jewish congregations needs to be more widespread.
And here comes the firehose of rage against your little Babushka for posting this at another blog:
And racist Jew haters like yourself who don’t know the facts are lunatics of the first order & need to be thrown out of Jewish sites & put into cherrem. There is nothing worse than a Jewish Jew hater. You know nothing about Geller & even less about JDL, all you care about is protecting the “upstanding” barbarians called Arabs!!! You should be ashamed of yourself, I certainly am ashamed you & the likes of you!!!
Evidently, you are thoroughly mis-informed. Pamela Geller is a true eishes chayil, a brave woman who is sounding the alarm and exposing the danger of radical islamic ideology every single day. She does not and never has smeared or criticized all muslims. She has meticulously recorded details of jihadist savagery for years, and its stealth and overt shariah encroachment and cancerous spread worldwide. All free peoples should support this amazing woman and her relentless fight to expose evil. G-d bless her.
Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer tell the truth. I’m going to guess that few if any of you VIN readers lived in Saudi Arabia for two and a half years. I did - working for a Saudi military academy. I also worked in South Lebanon for six months. Geller and Spencer are telling us what our politically correct minds don’t want to hear. It isn’t hate. It’s the raw facts. So - before you go screaming liberal tears, wake up and smell the prayer rugs coming to a neighborhood near you. I’m ashamed of the narrowmindedness of our own people.
