On June 10, 2014, the Islamist preacher Hamza Chaoui published a text on his Facebook page condemning the World Soccer Cup. The Journal de Montréal reported that Chaoui described soccer as a “scourge” because of “the display of body parts that should be covered and the presence of almost naked players at the end of the game.” On May 3, 2013, on his own YouTube channel, Chaoui introduced himself as the Imam of the mosque at Laval University in Quebec City.
Hamza Chaoui also presented the soccer championship as a stratagem conceived to distract non-Jews from a Jewish plan of world domination. He quoted from a French version of the Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion to justify his position:
[Translation by Point de Bascule] “In order to prevent non-Jewish people from finding out about our new plans and strategies, we will entertain them with many types of games, we will advertise them in newspapers and will invite them to attend the matches. This way, these new pleasures will divert their attention away from the areas of conflicts…”
The Encyclopedia Britannica presents the Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion as a “fraudulent document that served as a pretext and rationale for anti-Semitism in the early 20th century. The document purports to be a report of a series of […] meetings held at Basel, Switzerland, in 1897, at the time of the first Zionist congress. There Jews and Freemasons were said to have made plans to disrupt Christian civilization and erect a world state under their joint rule. […] The Protocols were printed in Russia in abbreviated form in 1903 in the newspaper Znamia (“Banner”) and subsequently (1905) as an addendum to a religious tract by Serge Nilus, a tsarist civil servant. They were translated into German, French, English, and other European languages and soon came to be a classic of anti-Semitic literature. […] The spurious character of the Protocols was first revealed in 1921 by Philip Graves of The Times (London), who demonstrated their obvious resemblance to a satire by the French lawyer Maurice Joly on Napoleon III published in 1864.”
Hamza Chaoui is very prolific on the internet and preaches in many mosques throughout the province of Quebec. Hamza Chaoui’s YouTube channel presents some of his conferences in Quebec City, Montreal, Joliette, Chicoutimi, St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, etc.
Laval University distanced itself from Imam Hamza Chaoui in 2013
In his May 14, 2013 radio show, Dominic Maurais presented excerpts of a speech given by Hamza Chaoui in which the imam advocates for the stoning and the whipping of those who do not comply with sharia law. The presentation was followed by an interview with Point de Bascule director on the subject. The following day, Lise Ravary wrote a column for the Journal de Montréal highlighting Chaoui’s promotion of sharia’s sentences (amputations, beheadings, whipping, stoning, etc.)
After being contacted by a concerned citizen, Laval University answered through its Director for Students Services, Sylvie De Serres, that the University was “closely following the situation” and that it was engaged in discussions with the University’s Muslim Students Association (AEMUL) to ensure “the respect of the diversity of the community’s various ways of thinking.” The concerned citizen posted the University’s answer in the comment section of Lise Ravary’s blog on May 26, 2013.
Shortly after, Hamza Chaoui stopped identifying himself as the Imam of the mosque at Laval University and he started describing himself as an “Imam and preacher, Montreal, Canada.”
https://archive.today/8tIbZ
Laval University official, Sylvie De Serres, tried to counter those who pointed out that then Laval University Imam Hamza Chaoui was radicalizing young Muslim students at her university by saying that one of Imam Chaoui’s radical speeches was not given in her university’s premises but in a mosque in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, south of Montreal. As if the imam’s message is hostile to human rights in one location and respectful of them elsewhere.
Further reading
Point de Bascule: File Hamza Chaoui
Point de Bascule: File Association des étudiants musulmans de l’Université Laval (AEMUL)
Jonathan Halevi (Alternative Angle – September 5, 2013): Sympathizer of Osama Bin Laden’s spiritual father, attended a conference at University of Laval in Quebec