Terrorism  Speaker, I rise before this House today with great concern over the appalling statements made by Mohamed Elmasry, national president of the Canadian Islamic Congress on October 19. Mr. Elmasry had the audacity to state boldfaced that any Israeli in Israel over the age of 18, regardless of who they are or what they believe, is a valid target for homicide bombers.

Terrorism  He said there was never going to be peace with them. We also were very disturbed to hear the comments of Dr. Mohamed Elmasry of the Canadian Islamic Conference who clearly said that any Israeli over the age of 18 constituted a legitimate target for terror. I was further disturbed to read the comments of the Liberal member for Don Valley East who said that “terrorism is the result of the policies of the United States”.

Terrorism  Elmasry acknowledged that he was invited to participate in the broadcast in his capacity as a representative of the Canadian Islamic Congress. His remarks did not bring honour to that organization. His comments about out of uniform Israeli military personnel, indeed all Israelis over 18, being legitimate targets at bus stops crosses a line that does harm to many: the Israelis, the Palestinians themselves, and the Muslim and Jewish communities in Canada.

Human Rights  Mr. Speaker, this morning we were delighted to learn that the Islamic court of appeal in Katsina, Nigeria, had acquitted Amina Lawal. In March 2002, this single mother of four was sentenced by an Islamic court to be stoned to death for giving birth to a child out of wedlock.

Ramadan  Ramadan is a time to focus on family and faith. I hope all Canadians take time to experience and learn more about the Islamic faith.On behalf of the official opposition, I would like to wish all my Muslim brothers and sisters a very successful Ramadan and a joyful celebration of Eid.

Ramadan  In the Muslim lunar calendar, Ramadan is the ninth month and a strict fast is observed. Fasting during Ramadan is the fourth of the five pillars of Islam and is probably the most observed rite among Muslims. More than a billion Muslims throughout the world, including nearly 110,000 Quebeckers, will devote this month to fasting, meditation, devotion to God and self-control.

Supply  When a lot of the world is this strongly against a unilateral action against Iraq with the present evidence, we should think of the dangers of inflaming and giving ammunition to hundreds of terrorists in those Islamic radical groups and we should think of those radical groups inflaming, infiltrating and performing terrorist acts in Canada. We should think of the over 100 million presently very peaceful Indian Muslims in India and the Middle East, or the Islamic world being inflamed by western aggression on Iraq without sufficient evidence, or Arab governments that are presently on our side fighting the war against terrorism with us.

Iraq  It is a valid point. Although I would not care to blanket the whole Islamic community, I think there is definitely some concern as to how action has been taken in the past.

Iraq  In fact his goals are somewhat different from those of the terrorists. Their goals would be an attack against corrupt Islamic states such as Saudi Arabia. It is also an objective for them to change modern Islamic states into ones that are more fundamental. It is a war between Islamic fundamentalism and Islamic moderation.

Iraq  It creates conditions in and of themselves which lead to irrational actions and to conditions where people will respond to irrational rhetoric. The distinction I made was between Islam and Islamism. Islam is a fine religion that has been around for many years but when conditions are left to fester and fester then there is an appeal to Islamism among people which is just not warranted.

Iraq  Never mind that this group confuses Islam and Islamism, a particularly nasty and fascist form of Islam, what truly is worrisome is that while the U.S. is on its little venture in Iraq, Pakistan could be destabilized and the al-Qaeda, or versions thereof, could actually seize weapons of mass destruction.

Supply  If we had this debate before 9/11, there would have been a lot of people on the other side who would have argued that the threat was being exaggerated, that we did not have to worry about these things, and that we did not have to worry about some extremist Islamic agenda. A lot of people would have said that we did not have to worry about that. That it was a myth. Some people would even have said that we were racist if we suggested that. Rather obviously there are people who have a demented view of Islam.

Middle East  This time al-Qaeda is responsible for bombing four separate housing and commercial complexes in Saudi Arabia. This is the type of event that distresses my brothers and sisters in the Islamic Canadian community to the core. Just this morning I had the opportunity to meet with representatives from the Arab community concerned about the government's overreaction to these type of events here at home.

Business of the House  The people who are the masterminds of this have a very distinct geopolitical purpose. They want to go back and make the Middle East a region where Islamic fundamentalism will take hold. The events of September 11 were as directed to countries such as Saudi Arabia as they were to the United States. Islamic fundamentalists see Saudi Arabia as somewhat of a sellout to the larger dream of having a pan-Islamic Middle East based on fundamental Islam.

Terrorism  Each issues religious fatwahs proclaiming Jews and Judaism the perfidious enemy of Islam, distorting Islam in its demeaning of Jews. Each seeks the destruction of peace while repressing Palestinians who seek peace or report on repression, as in the recent Hamas assault on Palestinian journalists.