Canada’s largest multicultural television channel has promised to no longer broadcast an Arabic-language show after it made an anti-Semitic remark on Twitter, B’nai Brith Canada announced on Wednesday.
“Lama TV,” founded and produced by Lama Aggad, describes itself on YouTube as “the largest Canadian Arabic TV show” airing on the national television stations OMNI and OMNI 2. OMNI is owned by Rogers Sports & Media, a subsidiary of Rogers Communications.
“Lama TV” responded to B’nai Brith Canada’s post, saying: “Veltman is a Jewish surname. Prove to us it isn’t.”
“Disinformation like Lama TV’s tweet plays directly into hateful conspiracy myths and inflames animosity against Canadian Jews, including online,” said B’nai Brith Canada CEO Michael Mostyn. “We commend Rogers for doing the right thing. There can be no room for anti-Semitism or discrimination of any kind in Canadian media.”
B’nai Brith also noted that in a video posted on the show’s YouTube page, Aggad described “Jewish Zionists” as people who “break agreements,” called Israel a “terrorist state” and repeatedly urged viewers to engage in an “electronic intifada.”