Editor's Note: After publication, we heard again from Mr. Abdulla who was concerned that his comments were taken out of context. With respect to his twitter handle @RafeBalawi, it was suggested to the Western Standard that Balawi is a Palestinian village, and the handle was not to suggest a connection with the deceased suicide bomber Human al-Balawi.Winnipeg café owner Rafe Abdulla “strongly” denies he posted tweets saying Arab Jews are “more despicable than Westerners,” Britain should be “destroyed and burned,” and “murder by force” is just punishment for treasonous Zionists.He's a "peaceful” man he told the Western Standard Friday — and a victim of someone “looking to be popular” who hacked his now closed Twitter ("X") account.If that’s so, Abdulla is the unfortunate victim of a nasty hacker, many times over a few years.The Western Standard obtained dozens of screenshots of tweets and retweets on the account of Rafe Hasan Abdulla, @RafeBalawi, which has a photo of the owner of Winnipeg’s Yafa Café.@RafeBalawi? What an interesting handle. And certainly, only an unfortunate coincidence that it matches the last name of Human al-Balawi, a Jordanian double agent and a revered jihadist who killed seven CIA employees in a 2010 suicide bombing in Afghanistan when they gathered to give him a birthday cake.Originally posted in Arabic, the English version of the tweets is provided by Google Translate, on the account Abdulla admitted was his.“Jews of Arab origin are more despicable than Westerners. A Jew is a Jew, regardless of his gender.” — 2022-5-13“We were too quick to judge Hitler Days and years proved that he was right when he decided to burn the Jews and establish the Great Holocaust for them.” — 2022-5-13“Whoever does not see Israel as our enemy, he is our enemy.” — 22-06-25“I wish the city of London in Britain to meet the fate of Kiev in Ukraine. Perhaps the bones of Balfour groaning and groaning under the dirt.” — 2022-02-26“Everyone who defends homosexuality, lesbianism and inter-sex is mentally disturbed. Even animals do not do what these retarded people do. They are working against nature.” — Date not available“Britain must be burned and destroyed because it has been the center of misguidance and conspiracies for more than 600 years, and there is no problem in this world that does not have a hand in it.” — Date not available“Every person who joins the Zionist army, whether he fights or not, whether he is a Muslim of all his sects or a Christian, is under the rule of divine law a murderer and the rule of high treason is applied to him, which is murder by force.” — Date not available“Praise be to God who healed the breasts of the mothers, sisters and daughters of the martyrs by seeing you suffer.” — 2023-04-09The account posted a picture of Jews with blood dripping from their mouths, baring fangs and towering over a baby. And another of a black woman bowing before King Charles lll with the caption: “Monkey in human form.” .On its Facebook page, Abdulla’s popular Yafa Café in Winnipeg’s King Edward neighbourhood, shows five-star reviews for its Middle Eastern cuisine.It features images and videos of mouth-watering dishes.It also has posts accusing Israel of genocide, pledging solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza and urges people to join in Winnipeg protests. It advertises the sale of Save Gaza T-shirts, koffiyehs, and cookies with 100% of the proceeds from the latter going to the controversial United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).Yafa’s FB page also features a post by Jomay Amora-Dueck calling on followers to boycott “genocide-supporting brands” including Starbucks, McDonald's, Amazon, Burger King, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Procter & Gamble, Dove, KFC, Selena Gomez' Rare beauty products, Tim Hortons, Pampers, etc.”Abdulla insisted he would never post vile tweets promoting hate and terrorism.But he has been “called out on some of his social media posts,” said one concerned community member who asked to remain anonymous.“These are tweets and retweets that were publicly available. At the time, Mr. Abdulla’s Twitter account was set to public.”“That’s just a small sample of vile, hateful and promoting terrorism screen shots collected over the years.”“This gentleman, if you can call him that, is in my neighbourhood.”Some community members “vulnerable to hate speech” are always on edge.“This neighborhood being close to the airport has become in increasing numbers home to people fleeing war.”Pro-Hamas rallies are held Saturdays at nearby CF Polo Park.Numerous social media posts are of concern.“Sure, this isn’t the only one. In Winnipeg people who post and retweet things like this, they feel sort of insulated from consequences because they just assume that they’re not going to face consequences because their followers agree with them.’“Everything that you see there is in Arabic. The only reason non-Arabic speaking people would know about this is thanks to Google Translate being integrated into Twitter ("X").”Winnipeg police, including the Hate Crimes Unit, have been busy investigating suspected hate-motivated reports, particularly following the savage October 7th massacre of 1,200 Israelis by Hamas terrorists.That includes incidents of property damage, a window in a residential home with visible Jewish religious symbols being shot out and racially motivated social media posts.Police have used huge resources to monitor ongoing Palestinian/Israeli protests.“We can live side by side. We used to live side by side before. We have no difference between the Muslims, Christians and the Jews,” Abdulla recently told Global News.“Most of my dealings with the media, mostly that I’m a peaceful man and I’m looking forward to live side by side with every religion,” he told the Western Standard.“I’m not a fanatic.”He insisted he is a victim of “somebody running after me.”“I have no account with Twitter at all. It was closed a long time ago.”“I’m sure there is somebody hacked my name, my Twitter account. They did what they did, that’s why I closed it.”“I complained to Twitter. Nobody answered me. I complained even to the police also. They said ‘We can’t do anything.’”Some of those tweets are serious offences under the Criminal Code, falling under the hate propaganda section: advocating genocide, public incitement of hatred, willful promotion of hatred and mischief relating to religious property, educational institutions, etc.A January 8th post on Abdulla’s Facebook page accused the Western world of being “complicit” in heinous crimes by Israel — for which there’s no evidence.“Israel is continuing the practice of mass torture as human experimentation.”“Israel is holding thousands of Palestinians in Gaza hostage in the Sde Teiman ‘Concentration Camp.’”“Put in cages, starved, tied, blindfolded, tortured, per an Israeli soldier that gave a harrowing testimony,” it said.A picture of men behind barbed wire was posted.“All along the West has been complicit in Israel's actions.”“This isn't only about Israel.”Surely, someone cares enough to help the man clear his name tarnished by an evil hacker. Police are obliged to thoroughly investigate this travesty.
Editor's Note: After publication, we heard again from Mr. Abdulla who was concerned that his comments were taken out of context. With respect to his twitter handle @RafeBalawi, it was suggested to the Western Standard that Balawi is a Palestinian village, and the handle was not to suggest a connection with the deceased suicide bomber Human al-Balawi.Winnipeg café owner Rafe Abdulla “strongly” denies he posted tweets saying Arab Jews are “more despicable than Westerners,” Britain should be “destroyed and burned,” and “murder by force” is just punishment for treasonous Zionists.He's a "peaceful” man he told the Western Standard Friday — and a victim of someone “looking to be popular” who hacked his now closed Twitter ("X") account.If that’s so, Abdulla is the unfortunate victim of a nasty hacker, many times over a few years.The Western Standard obtained dozens of screenshots of tweets and retweets on the account of Rafe Hasan Abdulla, @RafeBalawi, which has a photo of the owner of Winnipeg’s Yafa Café.@RafeBalawi? What an interesting handle. And certainly, only an unfortunate coincidence that it matches the last name of Human al-Balawi, a Jordanian double agent and a revered jihadist who killed seven CIA employees in a 2010 suicide bombing in Afghanistan when they gathered to give him a birthday cake.Originally posted in Arabic, the English version of the tweets is provided by Google Translate, on the account Abdulla admitted was his.“Jews of Arab origin are more despicable than Westerners. A Jew is a Jew, regardless of his gender.” — 2022-5-13“We were too quick to judge Hitler Days and years proved that he was right when he decided to burn the Jews and establish the Great Holocaust for them.” — 2022-5-13“Whoever does not see Israel as our enemy, he is our enemy.” — 22-06-25“I wish the city of London in Britain to meet the fate of Kiev in Ukraine. Perhaps the bones of Balfour groaning and groaning under the dirt.” — 2022-02-26“Everyone who defends homosexuality, lesbianism and inter-sex is mentally disturbed. Even animals do not do what these retarded people do. They are working against nature.” — Date not available“Britain must be burned and destroyed because it has been the center of misguidance and conspiracies for more than 600 years, and there is no problem in this world that does not have a hand in it.” — Date not available“Every person who joins the Zionist army, whether he fights or not, whether he is a Muslim of all his sects or a Christian, is under the rule of divine law a murderer and the rule of high treason is applied to him, which is murder by force.” — Date not available“Praise be to God who healed the breasts of the mothers, sisters and daughters of the martyrs by seeing you suffer.” — 2023-04-09The account posted a picture of Jews with blood dripping from their mouths, baring fangs and towering over a baby. And another of a black woman bowing before King Charles lll with the caption: “Monkey in human form.” .On its Facebook page, Abdulla’s popular Yafa Café in Winnipeg’s King Edward neighbourhood, shows five-star reviews for its Middle Eastern cuisine.It features images and videos of mouth-watering dishes.It also has posts accusing Israel of genocide, pledging solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza and urges people to join in Winnipeg protests. It advertises the sale of Save Gaza T-shirts, koffiyehs, and cookies with 100% of the proceeds from the latter going to the controversial United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).Yafa’s FB page also features a post by Jomay Amora-Dueck calling on followers to boycott “genocide-supporting brands” including Starbucks, McDonald's, Amazon, Burger King, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Procter & Gamble, Dove, KFC, Selena Gomez' Rare beauty products, Tim Hortons, Pampers, etc.”Abdulla insisted he would never post vile tweets promoting hate and terrorism.But he has been “called out on some of his social media posts,” said one concerned community member who asked to remain anonymous.“These are tweets and retweets that were publicly available. At the time, Mr. Abdulla’s Twitter account was set to public.”“That’s just a small sample of vile, hateful and promoting terrorism screen shots collected over the years.”“This gentleman, if you can call him that, is in my neighbourhood.”Some community members “vulnerable to hate speech” are always on edge.“This neighborhood being close to the airport has become in increasing numbers home to people fleeing war.”Pro-Hamas rallies are held Saturdays at nearby CF Polo Park.Numerous social media posts are of concern.“Sure, this isn’t the only one. In Winnipeg people who post and retweet things like this, they feel sort of insulated from consequences because they just assume that they’re not going to face consequences because their followers agree with them.’“Everything that you see there is in Arabic. The only reason non-Arabic speaking people would know about this is thanks to Google Translate being integrated into Twitter ("X").”Winnipeg police, including the Hate Crimes Unit, have been busy investigating suspected hate-motivated reports, particularly following the savage October 7th massacre of 1,200 Israelis by Hamas terrorists.That includes incidents of property damage, a window in a residential home with visible Jewish religious symbols being shot out and racially motivated social media posts.Police have used huge resources to monitor ongoing Palestinian/Israeli protests.“We can live side by side. We used to live side by side before. We have no difference between the Muslims, Christians and the Jews,” Abdulla recently told Global News.“Most of my dealings with the media, mostly that I’m a peaceful man and I’m looking forward to live side by side with every religion,” he told the Western Standard.“I’m not a fanatic.”He insisted he is a victim of “somebody running after me.”“I have no account with Twitter at all. It was closed a long time ago.”“I’m sure there is somebody hacked my name, my Twitter account. They did what they did, that’s why I closed it.”“I complained to Twitter. Nobody answered me. I complained even to the police also. They said ‘We can’t do anything.’”Some of those tweets are serious offences under the Criminal Code, falling under the hate propaganda section: advocating genocide, public incitement of hatred, willful promotion of hatred and mischief relating to religious property, educational institutions, etc.A January 8th post on Abdulla’s Facebook page accused the Western world of being “complicit” in heinous crimes by Israel — for which there’s no evidence.“Israel is continuing the practice of mass torture as human experimentation.”“Israel is holding thousands of Palestinians in Gaza hostage in the Sde Teiman ‘Concentration Camp.’”“Put in cages, starved, tied, blindfolded, tortured, per an Israeli soldier that gave a harrowing testimony,” it said.A picture of men behind barbed wire was posted.“All along the West has been complicit in Israel's actions.”“This isn't only about Israel.”Surely, someone cares enough to help the man clear his name tarnished by an evil hacker. Police are obliged to thoroughly investigate this travesty.
