Mohammed Elmasry, President of the Canadian Islamic Congress, is cheesed off because the Conservative government has made a point of ignoring his organisation’s views on Middle East policy.  So, of course, he whinges to the press.

The Canadian Islamic Congress says it has been continually snubbed by the Conservative government and says it has abandoned trying to influence Canada's efforts to play a role in the Middle East peace process until the next federal election in Canada.

"We gave up on having a constructive dialogue with the current government on any foreign policy issue," Mohammed Elmasry, president of the CIC, said in an interview Tuesday as [Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime] Bernier began a six-day trip that was to start today in Saudi Arabia.

Both the present Foreign Affairs Minister, Maxime Bernier, and his predecessor, Peter MacKay, have refused to meet with the CIC.  Maybe that has something to do with Mr Elmasry’s statement that every Israeli citizen over the age of 18, in military uniform or not, is a legitimate target for Palestinian terrorists.

The CIC has been in the news recently, of course, for giving material support to the four Muslim law students in their effort to intimidate Maclean’s magazine for publishing a Mark Steyn article that the students found insensitive and offensive.

"We tried to communicate our position on Afghanistan, on the Middle East on U.S. interference in Lebanon, the threat of the U.S. on Iran," said Elmasry. "It is either following the lead of the U.S. or it doesn't have a policy of its own.

"Either way, it is really bad for Canada and for the people of the area."

That sounds very insensitive and offensive.  Canada’s current and former ministers of foreign affairs have grounds for a human rights complaint; certainly, grounds more substantial than the four Muslim law students have for theirs.

h/t: Dust My Broom

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