Edmonton Jewish Community stands in solidarity with Muslim Community against hate

(March 15, 2019) – The Jewish Federation of Edmonton condemns the devastating and horrific shootings at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, which resulted in the murder of 49 worshipers and the injury of many others.

On behalf of the Edmonton Jewish Community, Steven Shafir, president of the Jewish Federation of Edmonton reached out to the Mac Rahma and Al Rashid Mosques in Edmonton as well as to the Edmonton Council of Muslim Communities in response to today’s horrific events in Christchurch.

He stated, “Our hearts go out to the families of those murdered, to those injured, and to all of our brothers and sisters in the Muslim community worldwide.  We will continue to fight against hate, Islamophobia, and growing intolerance, white supremacy, racism, and extremism both at home and abroad.

“On behalf of the Edmonton Jewish Community, I would like to convey our dismay on hearing about the recent Terrorism in New Zealand. It is very unfortunate that there are individuals in the world who choose to express hateful messages directed against a religious group such as yourselves.

“We join with our national and international colleagues in urging everyone, especially those in media, to refrain from sharing the shooter’s manifesto and video footage of the shooting, and we call on social media platforms to immediately remove them. We must ensure that social media is not used as a platform by those who hate and those who incite, intimidate, threaten or defame people based on their race, religion or gender.  Hateful activities have no place in our society, including on social media.

“We in the Edmonton Jewish Community know what it is like to be the target of this type of hateful and provocative conduct, and have experienced this kind of vandalism before, and continue to experience it, most recently at our day school last fall.  As you stood by our community after the tragedy in Pittsburgh, we stand with you now.

“Again, we want you and your entire community to know that we stand in solidarity with you in the face of this tragedy, and that you can count on us to continue to build and maintain the kind of society here in Edmonton in which we all want to live in, where peace, harmony and security trump violence, intolerance and fear.

“I hope that we are able to find a time to stand together in the future where one of our communities is not grieving as a result of hate and fear.”