To the Editor:
In May, the National Post published an article by Sam Westrop of the Middle East Forum examining the extremism of Islamic Relief, a prominent Canadian charity. After receiving baseless complaints from Islamic Relief, the Post caved to pressure and bowdlerized his article by removing several factually-established accusations.
Now, in "Inside Rebel Media," your reporter Richard Warnica spuriously describes the Middle East Forum as a "right-wing think tank with a long history of hostility toward Islam," even though the Forum always distinguishes between the Islamic religion and Islamist ideology. We operate on the principle that radical Islam is the problem and moderate Islam is the solution. We also have a long history of cooperating with, employing, and financially supporting reform Muslims trying to free their faith from the grip of extremism.
The National Post has often endorsed the Forum's message, having published 160 of my articles between 1998 and 2016. Yet your editors flat-out refused to fix Warnica's error, writing us that the phrase above "is supported by fair comment," as though a legal defense justifies inaccuracy.
I cannot but wonder why you kowtow to Islamists but knowingly slander the Middle East Forum, including its Muslim colleagues.
Here is the expurgated letter the newspaper published today (and not online) under the title "Moderation the message":
Re: Rebel without applause, Richard Warnica, Aug 19
In "Inside Rebel Media," reporter Richard Warnica describes the Middle East Forum as a "right-wing think tank with a long history of hostility toward Islam." We operate on the principle that radical Islam is the problem and moderate Islam is the solution. We also have a long history of co-operating with, employing, and financially supporting reform Muslims trying to free their faith from the grip of extremism. The National Post has often endorsed the Forum's message, having published 160 of my articles between 1998 and 2016.
