Anti-Jewish Medical School Quotas in Canada

"I was no longer Gill, the Israeli Hebrew-speaking medical student."

"I was now Gill, who had completed his undergraduate degree in New Brunswick, and whose accent sounded somewhat French."

"I stopped wearing identifiable Jewish accessories in academic settings."

"I stopped speaking Hebrew in public. I went into hiding."

Gill Kazevman, M.D.

Jay Solomon, the chief advancement officer at Hillel Ontario, says the court decision that granted the injunction allowed the university to do 'what they should have done a long time ago.' Solomon, whose organization supports Jewish university students in the province, says the encampment protesters created a 'hateful and intimidating environment' for Jewish students on campus. CBC

 

This medical doctor, now 34 years of age, arrived in Canada from Israel in 2012 "full of hope"  that he would discover there an inclusive supportive cultural environment. Applying to medical school in 2017, he first circulated  his CV to physician mentors for their comments: "Their most consistent feedback to me was: 'Do not mention anything relating to Israel'." It was, evidently, back to the 'dark ages', when universities in Canada maintained quotas for accepting Jewish students...

Taking heed, the 22-year-old student removed any mention of his volunteer position with an Israeli ambulance service. He scrubbed the identifiable name of his high school "to minimize the chance of identifying the country in which I went to school. I felt as if I was tearing off a small piece of myself", with every bit of personal information he felt obliged to remove, in honouring the seasoned advice he had been given from others familiar with the anti-Jewish aura pervading universities.

"When COVID sent us all to the virtual realm in 2020 I began to see all kinds of caricatures against Jews. I saw faculty members, people in power, people that I'm supposed to rely on, post horrible things against Jews, against Israelis."

"In 2021, things really exploded. At meetings of student unions, I said I don't feel safe on my campus."

"Other people said I was crying wolf, a common stereotype about Jews."

Gill Kazevman, M.D.

A Canadian citizen since 2022, Dr. Kazevman wrote about his experiences after beginning medical training at the University of Toronto in 2018. Born in Haifa, Israel, when he was 16 an alarm sounded, warning of an impending attack, giving him and his family 20 seconds to take shelter at the closest bomb shelter. A Hezbollah rocket hit his family's home. No one was hurt, but they were understandably traumatized. His uncle persuaded the shocked teen to visit with him in Canada, where he spent a month before returning home.

Six years later he came to Canada to study and moved to Saint John to attend the University of New Brunswick, achieving a degree in health sciences combined with nuclear medicine technology. He decided a career in medicine would be in his future. And then he discovered how imperative it would be to achieve that future, to censor his CV: "If you put these things down, you're not going to get an interview, you're not going to get a spot in medical school", he was advised.

"When I graduated medical school and got accepted to a residency program at the University of Toronto, I had to think long and hard about which hospitals I could work at, based on the response of those hospitals to antisemitic acts and how active people working in that hospital have been on social media."

"There were a few hospitals that were my safe havens, and a few I was afraid to work in."

"I ended up at a really safe place [Michael Garron Hospital]."

"If we don't call out [antisemitism] now, if we don't call out the problem in medicine, it will get worse."

Gill Kazevman, M.D.

He described his experience at medical school when in 2018 the U of T graduate student union announced suspension of supporting kosher food for students, as part of their anti-Israel ethos. And then came "Israel Apartheid Week". Experiences that introduced him to the anti-Israel and anti-Jewish hate prevalent at University of Toronto. Eventually the faculty installed a Senior Advisor on Antisemitism for the Temerty Faculty of Medicine.

In a report released in 2022, Dr. Ayelet Kuper wrote "There are those who do not only cross over the line to anti-Jewish hatred but who do so proudly".

"Chaired by University Professor Arthur Ripstein, the Antisemitism Working Group began its work in December 2020. The Working Group consulted with students, faculty, librarians, and staff from across the tri-campus through a survey, focus groups, and interviews."

"In December 2021, the Working Group released its Report, delivering eight recommendations that address antisemitic racism and antisemitic religious discrimination. Among other key topics, the recommendations addressed definitions of antisemitism, the relationships between academic freedom and inclusion in a university setting, religious observance accommodations, and the provision of kosher food on campus."

University of Toronto

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators on the main campus of the University of Toronto are pictured on July 3, 2024. Demonstrators cleared the encampment on the university's grounds before the 6 p.m. deadline to avoid confrontation with police. (Alex Lupul/CBC)