CFI Montreal hosting a talk by Dr. Tarek Fatah on myths behind Muslim Anti-Semitism
October 20, 2010
Guest Speaker: Dr. Tarek Fatah, Author: “The Jew is not My Enemy”. Thursday October 28th at 7:00pm. Stephen Leacock Building, Room 232, McGill University. Admission is Free and Open to the Public.
CFI Montreal is pleased to present political activist, writer, and broadcaster Dr. Tarek Fatah as he discusses his new book “The Jew is Not My Enemy: Unveilling the Myths that Fuel Muslim Anti-Semitism”. The talk will be followed by a Q&A session and book signing.
Tarek Fatah is the author of the best-selling book “Chasing a Mirage: The Tragic Illusion of an Islamic State” (Wiley) that was shortlisted for the prestigious Donner Prize in 2008. His recent book, “ The Jew is Not My Enemy” (McClelland & Stewart) “unveils the myths that fuel Muslim anti-Semitism.” Fatah has written for the Toronto Star, the Globe and Mail, the National Post and TIME magazine on the failures of multiculturalism and the threat posed by Islamism to Canada and the West. For his work and perseverance as an activist, writer, and broadcaster despite facing numerous death threats and intimidation by extremists, the National Press Club of Canada awarded Fatah the 2007 Press Freedom Award. In 2002, he received the Queen Elizabeth ii Golden Jubilee Medal. In February 2007, Fatah was included by Maclean’s magazine on a list of 50 Canadians described as “Canada’s most well known and respected personalities.” In December 2008, Canada’s largest circulating newspaper, the Toronto Star , suggested to Prime Minister Stephen Harper that he appoint Tarek Fatah to one of the vacant seats in the Canadian Senate. Toronto Star’s senior editor Bob Hepburn wrote this about Fatah: “A prominent spokesperson for secular and progressive Muslim issues who would bring a much-needed unique perspective to the Senate.” A liberal Muslim, Fatah has been a lifelong critic of the pan-Islamist movement and has written widely on issues affecting Muslims in the West. Born in Pakistan, Fatah was a leftwing student leader in the late 1960s, during which time he was twice imprisoned by successive military dictatorships. He started his career in journalism in 1970 with the now defunct Karachi newspaper, The SUN, moving on to Pakistan Television where he won a number of awards for his role as a pioneering investigative reporter. After yet another military coup in 1977, Fatah moved to Saudi Arabia where he worked 10 years in advertising, while observing up-close the political agenda of Wahabbi Islam and the efforts of the Muslim Brotherhood to establish worldwide tentacles, before migrating to Canada in 1987. In 1995, Fatah ran for a seat in the Ontario legislature on the NDP ticket which he has joined just after arriving in Canada. He served on the party’s provincial executive and the federal council until 2006, when he left the NDP to join the Liberal Party. In 2001, Fatah founded the Muslim Canadian Congress, a Muslim organization dedicated to the separation of religion and state and to an end to what it describes as “gender apartheid” that is practiced in many parts of the Muslim community. Fatah joined others in leading the campaign against the introduction of Sharia Law in Ontario, which led to a number of death threats. Tarek Fatah lives in Cabbagetown, Toronto with his wife and two daughters.