“San Antonio-based pastor John Hagee’s ‘tone in his comparison of what Christians believe according to the Bible and what Muslims believe according to the Quran’ violated the code of ethics of Toronto station CTS, said Program Manager Rob Sheppard in a letter of apology to a Muslim activist group. (…)
“It wasn’t so much his exact words, Sheppard said, but Hagee’s purported inference Muslims cannot be loyal Americans.” (…)
“In his apology to CAIR Canada, an affilate of Washington, D.C.-based CAIR, a group with ties to Hamas, Sheppard wrote, ‘I trust you will understand that we are very sorry for this incident and we are very aware of the effect it has had on the Muslim community. We have made it very clear that he must follow our code of ethics and any program that does not meet our standard will be rejected.’ (…)
“A program in which Hagee played video of Muslim imams in both the United States and overseas preaching hatred and violence against Jews and Israel upset Muslims and resulted in complaints filed with the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, the equivalent of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, or FCC.” (…)
“Canada’s genocide and hate-propaganda law bars a public statement that ‘willfully promotes hatred’ against groups ‘distinguished by color, race, religion or ethnic origin.’ The code has an article that excuses statements expressed in ‘good faith,’ including religious expression, but judges have ruled against defendants deemed to have intentionally incited hatred. It also has a defense if the accused establishes that the statement in question is true.
“Violators of the law are subject to a prison term of up to two years…”
