I should say that a number of the claims made in the statement justifying Tarek's withdrawal from the debate appear on the face of it to be untrue. For example, the MCC claim that "the off-duty policemen NAMF had hired for security, had been withdrawn" appears to be false. Or at least, here is a picture of three muscly young fellows wearing jackets that say "Security". They are definitely present in the auditorium, and appear to be police (although their shoulder patches aren't quite the same as those of the T.O. police). Note: Tarek now appears to be suggesting the three are Islamists impersonating police. For another example, the MCC official statement says that another reason Tarek refused to appear was that "no video cameras would be allowed inside the hall". After I pointed out a picture of one of these forbidden video cameras to Tarek, he amended the claim and pointed me to this NAMF news release, which specifically forbids cameras on tripods due to limited space. Hardly a deal breaker or a sign of Insurgent Islamism, as far as I can tell.
But Tarek was just getting warmed up
So this sounds like Tarek is accusing the federal Liberal Party of Canada of approaching Karen Mock and asking her to bow-out of the event, an interpretation that is supported by this further response, which fingers MP Anthony Rota as the cause of Ms. Mock's withdrawal.
It will be interesting to see how this story evolves over the next couple of days. There were apparently some media present at the event, although no MSM stories that I can see as yet.
PS. The entire thread I'm excerpting from Tarek's FB page is here.
