Muslim Occupation of Canadian Schools

"Israel was established after its neighbours rejected a United Nations plan to partition the land between Jews and Arabs. As it was founded, [Israel] joined the United Nations in 1949. The legitimacy of Israel as a Jewish state is completely insusceptible to question, and the attempt to represent it as entirely a wrongful occupation of anyone else's territory is not even slightly sustainable."

"The Jews have transformed a primitive country in one lifetime into a sophisticated and prosperous democratic state where the deserts now bloom, and [as] a nuclear power."

"The Jews have been in what is now Israel for more than 5,000 years. The Phoenicians, Jews, Egyptians, Syrians, Persians, Macedonians, Seleucids Romans, Byzantines, Arabians, Turks, and British have governed there, but not the Palestinians."

"The elimination by force of Israel is impossible and all attempts to do so are doomed in advance, as well as illegal."

Conrad Black, Canadian businessman, publisher, writer, historian

"Over 700,000 Palestinians were forcefully expelled from their homes, more than 15,000 were massacred, and over 500 of their villages were destroyed."

"To uphold our commitment to social justice, decolonization and reconciliation, it is imperative that we ensure students do not leave the education system completely ignorant of the history of Palestine and Israel. We cannot have yet another generation grow up believing it's 'too complicated' or 'too sensitive'."

Pro-Palestinian 'activist' group letter, British Columbia

Action Alert #30   Demand That the Nakba Be Added to the BC Curriculum-- Muslim Alert

"[The proposal in the letter sent to the NDP British Columbia government] is a distortion of 'what happened in 1948'."

"It omits the fact that the [Arab] Palestinians launched the war in defiance of the proposal by the international community [UN partition plan]."

"That's not in there and neither is the second part of the war, which was launched by the Arab states when they invaded Israel in May 1948."

"It doesn't explain why 700,000 Jews were uprooted from the Arab states in which they had lived until 1948, under pressure by Arab societies and Arab governments, creating a Jewish refugee problem. None of this is explained or touched upon at all in that proposal they made."

Israeli historian, pre-eminent scholar, Benny Morris

 

"Students in British Columbia learn about history throughout the K-12 curriculum -- including references to international wars and global conflicts."

"At the local level, school districts and teachers us their professional judgement when choosing to incorporate current and historical conflicts into their lesson planning that align with the required learning standards of the curriculum."

British Columbia education ministry statement

Protesters hold an effigy of Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during a rally to call for a ceasefire, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas in Gaza, on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada March 9, 2024.

(photo credit: REUTERS/Ismail Shakil)

Organizers of an open letter demanding a new curriculum in British Columbia's school system that would feature politicized content on the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians include the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Network which has its headquarters in Vancouver, and which is known to have close associations with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, widely acknowledged as a terrorist group, listed on Canada's designated list of international terrorist organizations. 

Samidoun has recognition from Germany -- the 20th century's infamous, most lethal proponent of acidic antisemitism -- as a major proponent of repulsive racist hatred toward Jews, and as such is not only deemed a terrorist group, but is proscribed from operating in Germany, in accord with its laws against Holocaust denial and antisemitism in a state dedication to rejecting its shameful past in recognition of its monumental debt to humanity. 

In Justin Trudeau's Canada, with the Liberal leader's eye fixed on a large and growing voting bloc, unwilling to hazard alienating Arab/Palestinian/Muslim votes, Samidoun with its well-known penchant for demonizing Israel and Jews is nonchalantly permitted to operate. On October 7, even while Hamas began committing its widespread atrocities in southern Israel, Samidoun's statement glorified the ongoing massacre:

"The resistance is rising throughout occupied Palestine, smashing the siege on Gaza with a comprehensive  offensive, confronting the occupier by land, air and sea", completing its jubilant sentiment over sadistic savagery with images of terrorists clad in keffiyehs.

The British Columbia education ministry responded to the letter non-committally, leaving open an opportunity for committed antisemites in its public school system to proceed with their own biased interpretation, apart from, or filling in the regular school curriculum by advising parents to contact their child's teacher or principal should they wish to discuss what is being taught in the school their children attend.

 

At the Annual General Meeting of the British Columbia Teachers’ Federation (BCTF), teacher delegates passed a historic motion about Palestine. The motion asked the BCTF to push the Ministry of Education to include the Nakba and the military occupation of Gaza and the West Bank in the BC curriculum.  Spring Magazine

These 'social activists' looking to improve on the reality of historical events they view with the jaundiced eye of cherished victimhood, sent their letter with its demands to Rachna Singh, British Columbia's minister of Education and Child Care, insisting social studies curricula in the province be overhauled to draw attention to the "Nakba" (catastrophe) that Palestinians mourn and Jews celebrate, as the formal rebirth of the State of Israel.

This refers to the time when five Arab countries responded to the declaration of statehood for Israel by amassing a collective military assault on the nascent Jewish State. Historian Gil Troy's thought was the implementation of a constructive lesson plan could alternately examine support for partition and the two-state solution from then-diplomat Lester B. Pearson, later Nobel Laureate, and Prime Minister of Canada. A lesson plan that would provoke students "to think for themselves" not reliant on "partisan lies" as a service to young students.

Samidoun was not alone in writing the letter with its appeal for justification in 'adjusting' history. There was input by other interested 'pro-Palestinian' (the preferred term to 'anti-Israel, anti-Jew) groups such as Teachers 4 Palestine BC, Palestinian Youth Movement Vancouver, and Independent Jewish Voices, a fringe group promoting Holocaust denial conspiracies which doesn't hesitate to participate in events staged by antisemites and sympathizers of terrorism aimed at Jews and Israel.

Israeli infantry making a full assault on Egyptian forces in the Negev area of Israel during the war of independence. Photo by Keystone/Getty Images

"By not acknowledging that most Palestinian Arabs rejected the compromise -- and encouraged terrorist attacks on their Palestinian Jewish neighbours -- the petition, and implicitly the curriculum doesn't explain how the war truly began."

"[The letter demanding school curricula be altered, is an example of] twistory, not history [framed to perpetuate a simplistic] misleading [narrative with no educational value]."

"And it, of course, ignores the invasion by outside Arab armies in May 1948, when the Jews, who accepted the compromise, launched Israel, as per the UN's vision."

"It overlooks the United Nations' attempt at compromise -- in its 1947 Partition Plan, which recognized the historical legitimacy of Jewish ties to the land. It also ignores the fact that Canada voted for the partition and that a great Canadian leader, Lester B. Pearson, had a leading role in drawing up the proposed compromise."

"The letter takes a complicated conflict, which could be taught sensitively and thoughtfully, with a nuance and respect for the truth, and reduces it to a one-sided opportunity to erase the history of Israel, the legitimacy of Zionism, the depth of Jewish ties to the land -- while bashing Canada along the way."

Distinguished historian Gil Troy, McGill University academic

No Tolerance in Germany for Antisemitism

"One thing is particularly important to me."

"As a result of the German crime against humanity of the Holocaust comes our special responsibility for the protection of Jews and for the protection of the State of Israel. This responsibility is part of our identity today."

"Anyone who doesn't share our values can't get a German passport. We have drawn a crystal clear red line here."

"Antisemitism, racism and other forms of contempt for humanity rule out naturalization."

German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser 

Several hundred people demonstrate under the slogan "Stop the genocide in Gaza! Stop the occupation of Palestine!" in Frankfurt city center.

Andreas Arnold/picture alliance/Getty Images

 

Germany, almost uniquely among Western liberal democracies has chosen to crack down on the post-October 7 atrocities-driven celebrations that have broken out led by the Arab, Muslim, Palestinian diaspora settled in the West. Groups dedicated to censoring Israel for the slaughter carried out by Hamas terrorists, claiming they were liberators of Palestinians oppressed by Israel, despite Palestinian lethal violence against the presence of Israel and Jews on ancestral Judaean heritage land, contested by Arab Palestinians as their own.

It is a criminal offence in Germany, punishable by incarceration, to question the Holocaust; racist, antisemitic statements are not viewed with moral equanimity in the country that committed the worst human rights excesses in modern history. A situation compounded by the fact that Germany accepted through immigration of a workforce, refugee intake and illegal migration, the largest contingent of people from the Middle East and North Africa of any European country.

 

A demonstration in support of Israel was held in Munich at the city’s synagogue. Germany’s chancellor has announced bans on activities including burning the Israeli flag and lauding Hamas crimes. Photograph: Michaela Rehle/Reuters

In response to the 'protests' of genocide being committed by Israel in its military incursion into Gaza for the purpose of destroying the terrorist Hamas Gaza government that carried out a one-day campaign of pillage, destruction, mutilations, mass rapes, endless slaughter of children, women and men on civilians in southern Israel in communities bordering Gaza, it is not the terrorists who are acknowledged as the genocidaires, but Israel, in defending itself against such savagery.

The German leadership has formulated a measure to weed out antisemites who plan to seek citizenship in Germany, that fits with its commitment to Israel and the Jewish presence in Germany. A catalogue of over 300 questions which citizenship test questions will be drawn from to comprise appropriate test questions is awaiting final approval. The German magazine Der Spiegel reported on the nature of some of the questions: 

• What is a Jewish house of prayer called?
• When was the State of Israel founded?
• What is the reason for Germany's special responsibility for Israel?
• How is Holocaust denial punished in Germany?
• Who can become a member of the approximately 40 Jewish Maccabi sport clubs in Germany?

The German state of Saxony-Anhalt months earlier prepared a commitment for the "right of the State of Israel to exist" as a requirement for naturalization. Antisemitism and pro-Palestinian declarations and protests have seen Germany crack down on their viral messages of hatred for Israel and provocations against Jews which have proliferated at this time of conflict in Gaza when the Israel Defense Forces mounted a ground assault in retaliation against the horrors of October 7.

 

Strictly monitored speech policies have been enforced on pro-Palestinian protests. Events scheduled to take place at Museum shows, book talks and allied art events have been cancelled. To pass the 33-question citizenship qualifications applicants for German citizenship must answer at least 17 multiple-choice questions correctly within an hour.

 

Over 2,000 antisemitic incidents have been logged by German authorities, prompting leaders in Germany since the October 7 barbarity, to call for improved enforcement of the nation's antisemitism laws.

 

A demonstration in support of Israel was held in Munich at the city’s synagogue. Germany’s chancellor has announced bans on activities including burning the Israeli flag and lauding Hamas crimes. Photograph: Michaela Rehle/Reuters

"Antisemitism has no place in Germany."

"We will do everything to oppose it.We will do this as citizens, and as bearers of political responsibility."

"This includes enforcing existing laws."

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz

Canada's Badge of Shame

"The lines about 'Canada will support Israel'. Really?"

"Now you're not going to deliver weapons to Israel when we're fighting against sheer evil and we haven't finished the job?"

"Minister [Benny] Gantz said in one meeting that you don't take out 80 percent of the fire and leave 20 percent, hoping that  it's going to turn out for the best but knowing that it's going to come back to rage and take over Gaza."

"[Canada's decision] is not going to wear well historically. It might [work] for the moment with public opinion, with their finger in the wind because of the difficult pictures. I get it."

"But this is a moment that Canada is going to have to deal with for 10, 20, 30, 40 years -- that in Israel's darkest hour, they abandoned it."

"That's what they just did and, frankly, I think it's shameful."

Ron Dermer, Israeli minister of Strategic Affairs, member, 5-person Emergency War Cabinet

While responding to a question from Conservative MP Michael Chong, Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly said there are issues with the non-binding motion brought forward by the NDP that would officially recognize Palestinian statehood.

 

Yes, it's certainly true that in the immediate aftermath of the terrorist bloodbath in southern Israel that took place on October 7, 2023 when a flood of Hamas operatives, along with PLFP terrorists and Palestinian Islamic Jihad and even ordinary Palestinian citizens joined in, to perpetrate a series of horrific attacks on Israeli children, women and men that had been well-rehearsed and put into action the world was horrified. That the attackers enjoyed their practised scenarios of mass rape of girls and women, tormenting Israeli non-combatants, engaging in the murder of entire families whose homes they set afire, taking vulnerable citizens, the elderly and the frail, newly-orphaned children hostage back to Gaza, propelled Canada's PM Trudeau to pledge support of Israel's right to defend itself.

 

A collage of screen captures from videos recorded on October 7, 2023 showing Hamas attacks across southern Israel.

 

 

Most Canadians know that Justin Trudeau is a man whose promises are seldom kept; feel-good rhetoric that appeals to the masses from a master of virtuous declarations that no longer surprise Canadians when they are casually abandoned in the greater interests of solidarity with a large Canadian voting bloc comprised of Canadian-domiciled Arabs, Palestinians and Muslims for whom moral debasement leading to atrocities visited upon the helpless is a sign of strength to be celebrated. 

Following Justin Trudeau's assurance that Canada believed that Hamas had no place governing Gaza, an acknowledged terrorist group that Canada itself lists as such, Canada chose to vote in favour of a UN ceasefire resolution that failed to make mention of the atrocities perpetrated by the terrorist group in Israel on that hate-filled, fateful day of agony for Israel and joyful celebration for Gaza's Palestinian population. And while initially halting funding to UNWRA when it was revealed that some of its employees were not only members of Hamas but also took part in the bloodbath, Canada took no time in restoring that funding.

And then came the introduction of a proposal launched by the leftist New Democratic Party in Parliament that saw fit to lead the country to unilaterally recognize a Palestinian state. In the wake of its worst disaster, loss of Jewish life and grieving for Israeli infants, teens, girls, women, and the elderly held in Hamas's underground tunnels, abused and continually victimized in an orgy of bestiality hard to fathom but perfectly consonant with Islamist terrorist values, along comes the gift of recognition of legitimacy for the rapists and murderers, whose carnage brought Israeli retaliation against the enclave.

The House of Commons passed a softened NDP motion on Monday night that no longer calls for the federal government to officially recognize Palestinian statehood after last-minute amendments brought in by the governing Liberals.

 

The bloody assaults that took place in Israel on October 7 failed to resonate with an audience of Muslims in Canada who chose to celebrate the atrocities just as the perpetrators of mass rape and the bloodbath took pride in their murderous exploits by videoing them proudly for public distribution. Crowds of Muslims living in Canada came out in numbers to charge Israel with 'genocide' against Palestinians, somehow failing to notice that it is Hamas whose agenda is one of genocide against Jews. In Canada, no effort was made to restrain the Islamic protests against Israeli 'brutality' where cries of 'gas the Jews', 'Intifada', and 'From the river to the sea' rang out, promoting genocide

 

The NDP proposal to promote recognition of a Palestinian state in an amended form called for Canada to "cease the further authorization and transfer of arms exports to Israel". "It is a false premise to pick sides [in the conflict]" airily pronounced Canada's minister of foreign affairs, Melanie Joly. Picking 'sides' would entail, needless to say, support of a fellow democracy in the Middle East, risking raising the violent ire of Canada's extensive Muslim population. Better, in the interests of maintaining good relations and assuring a Liberal vote, to rank Israel's legitimacy alongside that of Hamas.

Canada is sensitive to the issue of approving applications for new permits for military goods produced in Canada to be exported to Israel, busily attempting to verify whether human rights could be violated in the process. Violations of human rights by the most moral military in the world. The absurdity of Canada's position is clarified by the reality that military exports from Canada to Israel amounted to $28.5 million in 2022, In contrast, Israel sold Ottawa more than a billion dollars in weapons systems that included key components for General Dynamics Canada's armoured personnel carriers and Iron Dome radar systems.

American anti-boycott legislation could be impacted by Canada's move. Ranking member on the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Senator Jim Risch, declared himself disappointed that Canada's government chose to halt arms exports to Israel "in its fight against Hamas's unspeakable evil and antisemitic violence". This is the very man who co-sponsored the Israel anti-boycott act in 2018.

Clearly, Canada under Justin Trudeau and his Liberal minions have chosen to part company with their staunchest ally in the Middle East. The murder of over 1,200 Jews in the space of a day, the abduction of 240 children and adult civilians, the impact of which has been minimized in the greater interests of demonstrating compassion for the outcome of the conflict that Hamas initiated and which Israel is determined to destroy to ensure no further October 7's will materialize, has Canada's current government in the grip of a fatal moral malaise.

Protesters hold Palestinian flags during a rally to call for a ceasefire, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas in Gaza, on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada March 9, 2024. REUTERS/Ismail Shakil/File Photo

What's Happened at Canadian Universities Where Canadian Jews are Threatened?

"I have students who are coming into my classes already with a very deep belief in antisemitic lies."

"It's worse where there is very strong activism against what's happening in the Middle East. And it's most painful where you have a lot of Jewish students."

"[Attempts  were made to restrain Jewish students from access to kosher food on campus. A] safe space [needed to be made available in the boardroom for Jewish students in early October] because students didn't feel safe on campus, and faculty didn't either."

"[Posters of Israeli hostages were torn down at a] terrifying rate."

"[Jewish students were being followed and filmed on camera.] In classrooms, professors were just riffing on what was happening and often presenting Oct7 as legitimate resistance. ... To hear the rapes and brutality being celebrated as legitimate resistance was just terrifying and deeply wounding [for students with family and friends in Israel]."

"This is a national problem -- it's happening at University of British Columbia, Concordia and across Canadian universities. Where we don't have reports of antisemitism on campus, we have to ask the question, are the Jews feeling safe to report? Is there a history of reporting not being counted or dismissed?"

"And that activism against the state of Israel is being weaponized against the Jews on campus [students, but also staff and faculty]. The criticism of the state is slipping into 'all Zionists' or 'all Jews'."

"It's really hard to walk through a campus when you see posters or people calling for intifada. And that's the reality."

Deidre Butler, director, Max and Tessie Zelikovitz Centre for Jewish Studies, Carleton University; co-chair, Network of Engaged Canadian Academics

Cary Kogan and Deidre Butler, co-chairs of the Network of Engaged Canadian Academics, which is combatting antisemitism on campuses. Photo by National Post

The issue of antisemitism looming large on the campuses of Canadian Universities, targeting Jewish-Canadian students did not just suddenly manifest after October 7 when Hamas terrorists flooded across the border from Gaza into southern Israel -- on a planned, orchestrated, and committed one-day campaign to rape, murder, torture, torment, and take Israeli civilians hostages whether they were infants, teens, families, the elderly, foreign farm workers -- in a day of unheralded mayhem and slaughter. On a somewhat lesser plateau the threats that erupted did so for decades, intensifying in nature and number after October 7.

Before that fateful day, antisemitic attacks against Jews on university campuses spiked any time conflict between Israel and the many and varied Palestinian terror groups ignited new episodes of hate speech and threats manifesting in Canada where Jewish students have been the target of violent messages. The students have been mercilessly harassed, cornered in public spaces, spat upon. A number of prominent Canadian universities and several student unions are now facing class-action lawsuits launched by students with the claim those half-dozen universities permitted a hostile environment against Jews to flourish on their campuses.

 

Which has also led to the creation of the non-partisan Network of Engaged Canadian Academics, inspired by a network of similar purpose that arose in the United States, whose mission is to protect academic freedom and to ensure a "robust and fair dialogue relating to Jewish identity and Israel" is respected. At the same time, the group is engaged in countering a rising tide of antisemitism. Some two hundred faculty members across 27 campuses signed on, many who were witness to "troubling anti-Jewish rhetoric and actions", according to the organizers.

 

According to Dr. Kogan of the University of Ottawa, "there was really no organization in Canada that was helping faculty manage these issues", despite the presence of some organizations representing the interests of Jewish students. As an example of the worst-case scenario confronting Jewish students, a union-issued 'toolkit' encouraged teaching assistants to divert tutorials to teaching on Palestinian liberation and condemnations of the "Zionist Israeli state", irrespective of the course under discussion, at York University. Jewish student organizations like Hillel have see bans issued. 

Some university professors, pointed out Professor Butler, not themselves teaching about the conflict, nonetheless "are bringing the conflict into every discipline. It's not that we want to censor people; we absolutely don't. We want to strengthen academic freedom through viewpoint diversity, from having more perspectives taught." Rather than the one overwhelming narrative "that leaves no place for Jewish identity. It leaves no place to be critical or thoughtful about the history of Israel or Zionism. And it's really a problem. We all need to be worried."

At McGill University in Montreal, a group called Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights celebrated the Hamas attacks on Israel as 'heroic.'   Ryan Remiorz/The Canadian Press

"People are entitled to discuss their points of view, but here we're talking about things that cross the line into hate speech, things that cross the line into incitement of violence and into harassment of Jewish students, regardless of their position vis-a-vis Israel."

"We had people who were not experts on the conflict in the Middle East regurgitating a lot of problematic and inaccurate information, using their classroom as a pulpit to express their opinions outside their areas of expertise."

"[After the Israel-Hamas conflict in 2021], there was a noticeable, what felt like an organized approach trying to de-legitimize Israel and trying to undermine discourse that could allow for multiple perspectives and fruitful dialogue, which is what the academy is about."

Cary Kogan, clinical psychology professor, University of Ottawa, co-founder, Network of Engaged Canadian Academics