Laith Marouf has also repeatedly appeared in outlets which peddle Russian propaganda, conspiracy theories, and Holocaust and genocide denial.
Canadian Anti-Hate Network
Source: PressTV
A consultant for a media advocacy non-profit, which won a grant to combat racism in broadcasting from the Canadian government, has come under scrutiny for antisemitic tweets.
Media outlets reported that Laith Marouf, who is listed as a senior consultant for the Montreal-based Community Media Advocacy Centre, posted a tweet which read, "You know all those loud mouthed bags of human feces, aka the Jewish White Supremacists; when we liberate Palestine and they have to go back to where they come from, they will return to being low voiced bitches of thier (sic) Christian/Secular White Supremacist Masters."
This has prompted Minister Ahmed Hussen, minister of Diversity, Inclusion and Youth of Canada, which manages the Anti-Racism Action Program, to indicate they are investigating the situation further.
In March 2020 Marouf tweeted, “Khazaras [sic], and by extension Ashkenazi Jews, are not Semitic neither by ethnicity or language. They are Arian/Caucasian [sic].” The concept of Khazar Jews is an antisemitic conspiracy theory intended to separate Jewish people from their roots, and ultimately states that true Jews no longer exist.
According to the Canadian Press, Marouf’s lawyer says his client doesn’t have “any animus toward the Jewish faith as a collective group," and says his tweets clearly refer to “Jewish white supremacists” and not Jewish people in general.
The Canadian Anti-Hate Network has also found that Marouf has associations with outlets dealing in conspiracy theories and Russian pro-Kremlin propaganda.
In August 2021, Marouf appeared on a podcast hosted by conspiratorial writer and pro-Assad propagandist Vanessa Beeley. In 2016, a Twitter account belonging to Beeley posted that the 2015 attack on the French satirical weekly newspaper Charlie Hebdo was a false flag. In November 2021, the same account tweeted that "the entire pandemic is based on a fake science myth." In 2014, Beeley shared a link to Twitter that named Kristallnacht as a "Mossad false flag."
Marouf has appeared on a program broadcast by the Iranian state-owned PressTV at least five times. PressTV has a long history of hosting and publishing white supremacists and Holocaust denialists, such as British White Nationalist Party leader Peter Rushton, former KKK Grand Wizard David Duke, and Canadian neo-Nazi Brandon Martinez.
Neo-Nazi Brandon Martinez was formerly a staff writer for the outlet. At the time, his writing focused on Israel and foreign policy. Martinez’s work appears to have been removed from the site.
Marouf has appeared on the Sputnik-ran radio show "The Critical Hour" at least seven times. Sputnik is a Russian state-sponsored media outlet known for spreading pro-Kremlin propaganda. It has disseminated COVID-19 conspiracy theories, such as that the virus is an “Anglo-Saxon” plot to counter China.
Marouf has appeared on the Global Research News Hour radio show at least twice. The show is produced by the Centre for Research on Globalization, better known as Global Research, run by retired Canadian professor Michael Chossudovsky. Global Research is a prolific publisher of conspiracy theories, disinformation, antisemitism, and genocide denialism. For example, Global Research has published many letters from, and interviews with, antisemitic QAnon-adjacent traditionalist Catholic Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano.
Other episodes of the Global Research News Hour have featured Holocaust deniers, including former University of Lethbridge professor, Anthony Hall, and American economist Paul Craig Roberts. Global Research itself has published outright Holocaust denialism.
A 2020 report from the United States Department of State highlighted Global Research as a primary “pillar of Russia’s disinformation and propaganda ecosystem.”
The Canadian Anti-Hate Network has reached out to Laith Marouf for comment. We will update accordingly.
Editor’s note: The Canadian Anti-Hate Network previously received a grant from Canadian Heritage under the Anti-Racism Action Program. The grant period ended in March 2022.
Statements calling for the firing of Canada’s representative on combating Islamophobia were answered with anti-Muslim conspiracy theories and racism.
Sur les réseaux sociaux, des déclarations demandant le renvoi d’Amira Elghawaby attirent des réponses racistes, Islamophobes et complotistes.
With arrests of alleged members in Canada, Slovakia, and two “leaders” in the US, law enforcement is cracking down on the network that has been connected to at least two terror attacks and one plot.