Banned account also contained praise for Ayatollah Khamenei and footage of Canadian Jews being harassed.
An Ontario resident has been blocked by video sharing site TikTok after advocacy by B’nai Brith Canada over his account violating community guidelines for posts praising the Iranian regime and showing footage harassing Canadian Jews.
Posts by Firas Al-Najim are now no longer accessible on TikTok, the advocacy organization said in a statement.
“We are delighted to have established a good rapport with TikTok,” B’nai Brith Canada CEO Michael Mostyn said. “We brought to TikTok’s attention Al-Najim’s problematic content and we were encouraged by the platform’s response to our concerns.”
According to B’nai Brith, Al-Najim is the head of a group calling itself Canadian Defenders 4 Human Rights (CD4HR).
“Al-Najim praises Ayatollah Khamenei and Iran’s theocratic regime and lionizes Qasem Soleimani,” they noted.
Soleimani, who was one of the most prominent members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), listed by Canada recently as a terrorist entity, was assassinated by the United States in 2020. “Firas Al-Najim used his TikTok platform to disseminate vitriolic content that praised the Iranian regime and shared misinformation in attempts to shame Zionists,” Mostyn said. “His TikTok content regularly included his attempts to exorcise Canadian Jews as it contained footage of him and his associates harassing Jewish members of the public.”
Mostyn added: “Al-Najim’s postings frequently crossed the line of what constitutes acceptable free speech. Needless to say, B’nai Brith Canada favours free speech and justifiable criticisms. But when postings are potentially harmful and dangerous, the line absolutely must be drawn and, thankfully, TikTok has done just that.”
B’nai Brith said that it “will continue to work with all social-media platforms in efforts to pre-empt hateful content.”
It noted that Al-Najim has had a history of runs-in with law enforcement and has been denounced by Ontario politicians for staging photo ops they later said were misleading or false.
According to B’nai Brith:
Last October, Al-Najim was charged by York Regional Police with dangerous operation of a motor vehicle, flight from police and possession of a dangerous weapon.
Last July, police intervened at a plaza in Thornhill, Ontario where Al-Najim aggressively protested along with an anti-Israel group in front of a store that sells Israeli goods.
Last summer, Al-Najim was rebuked by MP Iqra Khaled and Mississauga, Ontario Mayor Bonnie Crombie. At a public event, he unfurled an anti-Israel banner behind the two politicians without their knowledge and had a supporter take a photo, later implying that the two supported his message.
In a statement on her web site, Crombie said she took great exception to the sign displayed in the background and its message. She said any comparison to the Holocaust diminishes the memory of its victims.
More recently, Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens condemned Al-Najim for disseminating a four-year-old photograph taken at a picnic and suggesting Dilkens and he were together at a recent event to support Hezbollah, a banned terrorist group. Dilkens accused Al-Najim of clearly attempting to foster animosity and discord.
Source: Arutz 7
