Teaching children. Photo: wiki commons.

A Toronto Islamic school whose teaching materials disparaged Jews and encouraged boys to keep fit for jihad will not face criminal charges but police did issue a warning and said they had identified passages in school materials that were of concern.

A York Regional Police report outlining the hate crimes investigation of the East End Madrassah said a review of 30 school syllabus books found portions that “challenged some of Canada’s core values” and “suggested intolerance,” even if they were not criminal, this according to an article in the National Post.

The report confirmed some of the school materials came from books published by Iranian foundations, one of which is an alleged front for the Islamic regime. The Iranian-origin passages referred to Jews as “crafty” and “treacherous,” and contrasted Islam with “the Jews and the Nazis.”

Canada’s chapter of B’nai B’rith was pragmatic in their response to the news: “Of course we can’t be pleased. We believe the criminal code has a role to play, but at this point I understand that they carefully reviewed the material and they determined it doesn’t meet the criminal code provisions, so we can’t be displeased. We need to make sure that our schools and other public institutions aren’t used as vehicle to spread intolerance,”  Anita Bromberg, the organizations  National Director of Legal Affairs, told The Algemeiner.

She added: “If the result of the police investigation in bringing this public is now to cause it to teach the Muslim educators to take this behind closed doors then we have a bigger problem.”

The Friends of the Simon Weisenthal Center, which initially lodged the complaint with police when the anti-semitic materials were discovered in May, issued a statement praising the York Region Police (YRP) for taking action against the school.

“While disappointed that criminal charges were not laid, FSWC believes the YRP conducted a thoughtful and thorough investigation. We have been assured the Force will remain vigilant and agree with its assertion that ‘the degree to which we tolerate the exposure of young impressionable minds to the promotion of a belief or ideology while it denigrates other communities or faiths’ … is a conversation in which all Canadians who care about the values and future of this country need to participate.”