FYI- I thought the item below (after the break) would be of interest. I welcome your comments.

Written by the Jewish Tribune staff
Monday, 28 July 2008
CALGARY – Mustafa Taj, 21, who viciously assaulted a Jewish teen was recently sentenced to a year in jail and a year of probation. During the attack Taj stated, “I’m Muslim and hate Jews”. To date, it appears that not one official Muslim voice – moderate or otherwise – has condemned the attack.

In November 2006 at the Sunnyside LRT train station, Taj physically attacked 16-year-old Nichola Cordato upon learning she was Jewish. He also assaulted her three friends, who had tried to help her, and called Cordato a “Jewish piece of (crap).”

Judge Bill Cummings said the incident was racially motivated and sentenced the accused to a full year in jail plus a year of probation. During the court proceedings, prosecutor Ken McCaffrey provided evidence of a previous, similar hate-motivated attack by Taj against a black man.

“This is a disturbing case of an individual violently acting out and expressing his hatred for Jews,” said Frank Dimant, executive vice president of B’nai Brith Canada. “The kind of raging anti-Jewish hostility that he expressed surely does not occur in a vacuum. What demands further investigation is where he might have learned this hatred and what can be done to stop its future spread.

“The judge rightly recognized the hate-filled nature of this attack. Such hatred must be condemned not only by the courts but by all communities.”

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