May 8, 2012

TORONTO (JTA) — Police are investigating a Toronto Islamic school following a complaint that it had been teaching its students that Jews are “treacherous” and comparing them to Nazis.

The curriculum at the East End Madrassah, a Sunday school for Muslim children that rents space from a public school, taught boys to exercise so they are “ready for jihad,” refers to “crafty” and “treacherous” Jews and Jewish “plots,” and contrasts Islam with “the Jews and the Nazis.”

By early this week, the school had removed from its website the controversial portion of its curriculum. Later the same day, its website went offline.

The complaint was launched by Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Centre for Holocaust Studies in Toronto.

“We are looking into it,” Masuma Jessa, principal of the East End Madrassah, told Postmedia News.

Canada’s Criminal Code makes it unlawful to publicly and “willfully” promote hatred against any identifiable group.

The Toronto District School Board, from which the madrassah rents space, said it is cooperating with police and noted it has the authority to revoke agreements with any associated school if it is found to be promoting hatred.
 

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