Late last night it was brought to my attention that an article was submitted on our online newspaper whose content was offensive and anti-Semitic.
The article in question was published on November 11, 2018 by the editor who oversaw the submission process for incoming contributions to the website.
As the editor-in-chief, I would typically be involved in the approval process of any submissions.
However, since October 1st, I had delegated this responsibility as I was focused on seeking the CPC Nomination in the federal riding of Mississauga-Streetsville.
I would like to make the following clear
- I do not share the views of the author of the article in question, and I categorically condemn views which spreads hate directed toward any group
- Once I learned of the existence of the article, I took immediate action to have it removed from the website
- The author of the article has been banned from accessing the website.
- We immediately parted ways with the editor who permitted the publication of the article
- We are conducting a thorough search of the archives for any other submissions by the same author to ensure removal and to declare we have no association
- We commit to work to improve the submission process to prevent such events from occurring in the future.
As a human rights activist, I spent most of my life fighting hatred around the world.
As a Canadian Egyptian writer, I have been a proponent of peace between Egypt and Israel and have written articles in support of the peaceful solution of the Israeli-Arab conflict.
In addition, I stand against terrorism and the hate attached to such activities.
Part of this fight against extremism is standing for the rights of those who face persecution around the world, in particular members of different minorities, such as the Coptic community in Egypt, Christians in Iraq, Syria and Pakistan, and the Jewish community in the Middle East at large.
I deeply regret the offence caused as a result of the publishing of this article.
Please be assured it does not reflect my beliefs and I am confident that it will not be repeated in our publication
Have you written a similar apology in Arabic yet, since your Arabic readers are the ones who read the offensive article to begin with?
Shukran