The Ontario Provincial Police said last week its hate crimes and extremism unit was investigating online writings by Mr. Hossain that make derogatory comments about Jews and call for a genocide against them.
“The university is moving on this issue in a serious fashion and we’re going to let our due process work through and see what happens beyond that,” university spokesman Keith Marnoch said yesterday.
Canadian Jewish Congress CEO Bernie Farber said the Jewish community was “now breathing a sigh of relief ” knowing that Mr. Hossain was suspended. “York has done the right thing.”
The Bangladeshi-Canadian, who claims to know the ringleader of the Toronto 18 bomb plot, has been familiar to police since he posted messages online three years ago supporting terrorist attacks in Canada.
At the time, the OPP brought a hate crimes case against him over his comments about Jews but Attorney-General Chris Bentley decided not to press charges because he said Mr. Hossain was undergoing rehabilitation to correct his offensive behavior.
But Mr. Hossain has recently resumed his online campaign on a conspiracy-theory website called Filthy Jewish Terrorists. On it, he blames Jews for terrorist attacks that were actually carried out by Islamist extremists, refers to Jews, Christians and non-extremist Muslims using offensive terms and says that “a genocide should be perpetrated against the Jewish populations of North America and Europe.”
After the Post reported on the police investigation, Mr. Hossain was unapologetic and defended his support for a genocide against Jews, writing, “Yes, I can call for the slaughter of an entire people.”
Canada’s hate crimes law prohibits supporting or promoting genocide, as well as the communication of statements (other than in private conversation) that willfully promote hatred against an identifiable group.
“We are going to move forward with a tribunal on this,” Mr. Marnoch said, adding that while such a hearing must take place within 60 days, it would not take that long in this case.
“It’ll be done well within that time frame,” he said. “We want all of our students, all of our community members, to be safe and knowing that they can be.”
