"Ayman Elkasrawy is a teaching assistant at Ryerson University. In 2016, he publicly made extremely hateful statements about Jews."

"Oh Allah! Count their numbers; slay them one by one and spare not one of them." 

"Oh Allah! Purify the Al-Aqsa Mosque from the filth of the Jews."

CIJ News 

 

"One of Ryerson's core values is our commitment to community and inclusion ... your comments are in contravention of this core value, do not foster a respectful learning environment and reflect adversely on, and are to the detriment of the University."

Ryerson University dismissal letter teaching assistant 

Masjid Toronto on Dundas Street West. FACEBOOK PHOTO

 

Ayman Elkasrawy, a former teaching assistant with Ryerson University in Toronto (renamed Toronto Metropolitan University in 2022) was fired following his having publicly denounced "desecration by the Jews" in 2016 in a prayer delivered in Arabic, at the Masjid mosque in Toronto. There he called for Jews to be slayed 'one by one', none to be spared. At the time the prayer was condemned by Masjid Toronto as well as the Muslim Association of Canada. It was identified by them as "an inappropriate supplication that was offensive to those of Jewish faith".

 

There was additional repercussions when Ryerson University decided to dismiss Elkasrawy from his work as a teaching assistant in the engineering faculty. Elkasrawy's prayer clips were circulated at the time by  CIJ News, now defunct. The translation circulated by CIJ News represented a mistranslation, claimed Elkasrawy's counsel; the comments "twisted, to make them appear inappropriate, violent and antisemitic". 

 

What he actually did say, according to Elkasrawy was: "Oh Allah: has full cognizance of them, slay them one by one, and don't let one escape your punishment. Oh Allah; cleanse the Aqsa Mosque from the desecration by the Jews". Furthermore testifying before the Ontario Human Rights Commission that his 'slay them one by one' statement referred to members of Syria's Assad regime. That he was referring to Israeli control of Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa mosque; however on second thought he would alter the prayer to "the occupying Jews".

 

In a statement university said it learned last week "that a teaching assistant had made disturbing, anti-Semitic comments off-campus" in the summer 2016, and took "appropriate action." (Facebook)

 

On the grounds that he was the victim of an "Islamophobic attack" Elkasrawy  had taken his complaint to the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal. He had been, he claimed, the victim of an Islamophobic attack resulting from posters pasted on the Ryerson University campus with his photograph alongside the caption "fire him now". The posters, Elkasrawy informed the tribunal, were created by "the Islamophobia industry" in which Ryerson had "participated in the Islamophobic attack" by respecting their demands for his dismissal.

 

The Jewish group B'nai Brith had sent a letter to President Mohamed Lachemi of Ryerson University calling for Elkasrawy's dismissal. Following the termination, President Lachemi replied to B'nai Brith with the news that Elkasrawy was "no longer employed by he university", that "we remain actively engaged in addressing antisemitism in our community". 

 

In adjudicator Cherniak's ruling, Lachemi's decision to comment violated the university's usual privacy regulations even while rejecting Elkasrawy's claims of having been fired because he was Muslim.  Ironically, she deemed him a victim of discrimination, relating to the email Ryerson President Mohamed Lachemi, himself a Muslim, sent to B'nai Brith. Which moved her to the decision to award him $7,000 for "injury to dignity, feelings and self-respect". 

 

Ayman Elkasrawy accused of making anti-Semitic statements while leading prayers at his downtown mosque / Cole Burston for the Toronto Star

"Who amongst us has not at some point in their lives said something they wish they could take back and learned a life lesson because of it."

"[The prayer was a] human moment [that ultimately did not represent] his sincerely held beliefs."

"I find that his identity as a Muslim is not the reason he was terminated because there is no evidence to support such a conclusion."

"I find that Dr. Elkasrawy has not presented clear, cogent and convincing evidence that the poster was made by the Islamophobia industry or is Islamophobic on its face."

"I am satisfied that Dr. Elkasrawy's creed was a small factor in President Lachemi's decision to breach Ryerson's confidentiality policy and send an email about Dr. Elkasrawy's employment status to B'nai Brith Canada."

"I award Dr. Elkasrawy a remedy in the sum of $7,000.00 as compensation for injury to dignity, feelings, and self-respect for this Code violation."

Cyndee Cherniak, adjudicator, Ontario Human Rights Tribunal 

Posters that were put up at Ryerson University, calling for Ayman Elkasrawy to be fired.