Students Supporting Israel, Toronto Metropolitan University

"I had organized a private Students Supporting Israel [SSI] event featuring speakers from the Israel Defense Forces. We planned this as an opportunity for open conversation, a chance for students to ask questions and hear first-hand perspectives. It was not a rally or a protest. It was a dialogue, the very kind that universities claim to champion."

"Yet Toronto Metropolitan University had denied our request to host the event on campus three times, citing vague safety concerns. This was in stark contrast to Students for Justice in Palestine [SJP], which continues to host events freely and publicly on campus."

"Out of an abundance of caution, we rented a private room off campus and invited only a few trusted attendees. We thought we had created a safe space. We were wrong."

"Shortly before the event began, a group of SJP-affiliated protesters discovered our location. This masked group stormed the building, chanting 'Free Palestine', 'IDF off our campus' and 'Shame, shame IDF', 'Shame, shame SSI'."

Liat Schwartz, head, SSI group at TMU  

Toronto Metropolitan University campus in downtown Toronto.Kenneth Armstrong/TorontoToday

  

The surprised and shocked members of the Students Support Israel group at TMU, did their best to keep the intruders out of the event, to keep the door secured. One of the masked protesters, a drill bit in hand, used it to smash the glass of the door, and shattered it. Police were called while students continued to attempt to barricade themselves from the masked group shouting invectives. The group of students associated with Students for Justice in Palestine were threatening and violent, at an event that precluded their attendance.

 

This November 5 event shattered the sense of personal security of the Jewish TMU students gathered to attend an information-sharing session in the privacy of a rented venue. The attacking group, all of them masked, all holding iphones and taking videos of the ensuing chaos they had created, sought to intimidate and to deliver the message that they had a right to do whatever they felt, while those they attacked had no right to be there, to be engaged in their own private event.

 

Honest Reporting Canada critique

 

The featured guest speaker for the evening, an American-Israeli reservist was prepared to discuss his personal experiences as a soldier in the Israel Defense Forces reserves, while mentioning his background as the nephew of an Israeli man who had been kidnapped and then murdered by the Palestinian terrorist  group Hamas. Instead of an informational session he was faced with an unexpected situation of violent confrontation, hostile threats and a situation that was speedily escalating. He calmly said something to the effect of 'everybody out' and ushered several of the protesters out of the door they had  smashed.

 

When the police arrived they took control of the situation, and faced with a group of violent agitators decided to arrest five who appeared to balk at following police orders to cease and desist. They were charged with illegal entry to a private venue, and a level of criminal activity. The police also were interested in identifying who among them had destroyed the entrance door to the  venue. And eventually they did, charging a sixth person. A 26-year-old charged with assault, forcible entry and two counts of mischief under $5,000.  

 

Anti-Israel activists disrupting a pro-Israel student event at Toronto Metropolitan University, November 5, 2025. (Video screenshot/X)

 

As for the firm but gentle assistance given by the IDF reservist in defenestrating the intruders, many of whom took videos of the kindly act, the Students for Justice in Palestine group lost no time in circulating one of the videos with the caption that an IDF soldier was guilty of 'brutalizing' their (masked and violent) members at an event they had no business being involved with. 

  

 

 

"What TMU must confront now is not just a question of security but of principle. Will the university enforce its own policies fairly? Will it protect all students equally? Ore will it continue to allow intimidation to masquerade as activism?"

"Because when a university denies one group the right to assemble or speak while enabling another to disrupt and destroy, it is no longer neutral, it is complicit."

Liat Schwarts, president, Students Supporting Israel, at Toronto Metropolitan University 

Student Social Issues Intimidation on Canadian Campuses

"Inescapable from our study is the recognition that classroom discussions on controversial topics on university campuses fail to reflect the actual cross-section of opinions of students in the classroom."

"[Of 760 university students surveyed, 48.1 percent expressed reluctance to reveal their opinions on a] controversial political issue." 

"The data reveal that the students most comfortable sharing their views at Canadian universities identify as follows: liberal, secular, racialized, homosexual, gender-nonconforming."

"On each controversial issue, the majority of students are uncomfortable -- often very reluctant -- thinking through their views out loud." 

Researchers, Aristotle Foundation for Public Policy 

For university students, fear of speaking out changes drastically based on their identity, a new survey found. Photo by Taehoon Kim/Bloomberg/File

 

According to a comprehensive survey newly published by the Aristotle Foundation for Public Policy, close to fifty percent of all Canadian university students actively conceal their opinions with respect to controversial matters, in fear of being sanctioned or suffering mistreatment. As a result, 48.1 percent of 760 university students in the survey expressed reluctance in revealing an opinion on a "controversial political issue"; 27.5 percent were somewhat reluctant, and 20.6 percent were very reluctant. 

 

On the other hand, when respondents were asked about issuing their views on a "non-controversial" issue, 93.4 percent claimed it was not a problem. A student's identity was critical with respect to apprehensions over speaking out. Campus environments where all opinions or views could be expressed without consequence were described by some groups, while others felt campuses have become places where a lack of self-censorship risked poor grades, peer rejection and even campus authority investigation. 

 

Identifying as either "non-binary" or a non-specified third gender, respondents expressed greater confidence than any other cohort airing their views without consequences. One survey question asked respondents to discuss a "controversial gender issue" in class, restraining themselves for fear of being reported to campus authorities for expressing hate or discrimination. Non-binary and third-gender respondents expressed 87.1 percent confidence this would never fall to them.

 

On the other hand, male and female respondents were guarded, with only 31.4 percent of men and 47.7 percent of women feeling they could speak candidly without risk of backlash. When respondents were questioned whether their gender opinions would result in punishment with a lower grade, 71 percent of non-binary and third-gender respondents said they had no concerns, while 32.7 percent of men and 48.8 percent of women had similar reactions.

 

Of white and Hispanic students, 50 percent of Hispanic and 46 percent of white students preferred to remain out of class discussions on hot-button issues. This survey is one of several Canadian polls to recently reveal campus environments increasingly unwelcoming for Jewish students. The question, if a "controversial religious issue" was discussed in class, elicited a 69 percent Jewish response of reluctance to speak. Of Muslim students, only 36 percent would be reticent about speaking. 

 

Interestingly, the Aristotle survey concluded that moderate or conservative opinions represent at the present time, the plurality of students' political views on Canadian campuses. 38.7 percent of respondents reported "moderate", "conservative" or "libertarian" opinions, as opposed to 37 percent who reported liberal sentiments. The Aristotle survey respondents were disproportionately non-white and women, historically tending to lean left in political views. And although moderates and conservatives represent a plurality, it was they who felt most besieged for their political views.

 

46.2 percent of students were found by the survey to state they were badly treated or treated unfairly as a result of their political views, while 6.6 percent said they have become targets weekly. For this survey, the Aristotle Foundation for Public Policy touched base with 760 students from 34 Canadian universities, with the use of a questionnaire based on the Heterodox Academy's Campus Expression survey.  

"The disparity in perceived freedom to express one’s views among students holding differing views is not limited to political views but was also observed in other areas such as religion. Despite religious students outnumbering non-religious students two to one, it is the non-religious who are considerably more comfortable in a university classroom discussing controversial issues about faith and religion. The data reveals particular concerns around the experience of Catholic, Muslim, and Jewish students, with the latter reporting considerable mistreatment in their university experience. Jewish students participating in our study are four times more likely than the average student to be “very reluctant” to speak up and share their views on religion in class discussions. This fear of expressing their viewpoints correlates to a concerning outcome in the study, whereby 15 percent of Jewish students reported experiencing daily abuse on campus for being Jewish, and 84 percent reported experiencing antisemitism at university at least once a year. By contrast, 90 percent of agnostics, 86.6 percent of atheists, and 75.5 percent of students who elected not to disclose their religious affiliation reported never being treated badly or unfairly, as a university student, because of their religious views. In other words, an agnostic or atheist student from our study population is six times more likely than a Jewish student to report never being treated badly or unfairly for their views on religion. Not a single agnostic, atheist, or “prefer not to say” participant in our study reported daily mistreatment."  

Aristotle Foundation 

 

"Gender and sexuality are the most polarizing topics. On one end, they have the largest share of respondents who expressed that they were “very comfortable” (32%) sharing their honest views on a controversial matter in class; yet, gender and sexuality also have the largest share who expressed that they were “very reluctant” (22%). Like race, the gender and sexuality findings are mixed. Those who rarely experience any mistreatment for their gender or sexual orientation—heterosexual males—are, by far, the least likely to feel at liberty to share their views on those issues. Whereas, despite experiencing more frequent mistreatment—90 percent of students who identify as gay, non-binary, or third gender reported experiencing poor or unfair treatment because of their gender at least once a year—gender-nonconforming and non-heterosexual students are the most comfortable sharing their views on controversial gender and sexuality issues in class."

Aristotle Foundation   

 

Supporting Canada Jewish Community Against Antisemitism

"The petition calls for definitive action from the government to provide clarity to law enforcement agencies and provincial and territorial attorneys general, as well as for it to examine and provide clarity on the legality of other slogans, such as 'globalize the intifada' and 'long live October7'."

"It asks and demands that the government convene a national antisemitism summit focused on taking immediate action."

Conservative Member of Parliament Kevin Vuong

 

Since the situation has only gotten worse, and since the rhetoric that we're seeing has only gotten worse, one of the messages that we're trying to bring out that it's not just directed at the Jews."

"A slogan like 'globalize the intifada' has nothing to do with the Jews, has nothing to do with Israel -- and has everything to do with Western democracy."

Talia Klein Leighton, Canadian Women Against Antisemitism

 

"Antisemitism in Canada and abroad is primarily presenting itself through the prism of anti-Zionism, which, in my opinion, is the most pervasive form of antisemitism, and the most perverse in a number of ways."

"That's what's making it so challenging for senior decision-makers in government, business and academia to address it, because they've been taught for decades that it's OK to be vehemently opposed to Israel. [They're told] that's not antisemitic, when in fact, it often is."

"It's something else entirely if you're chanting slogans that call for the erasure of Israel, or if you are obsessively calling for countries to divest."

"[While numerous and often convenient interpretations of 'from the river to the sea' abound, general consensus agrees the chant calls for the eradication of the state of Israel and its citizens -- in favour of a Palestinian-only state from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea]."
Casey Babb, senior fellow, Macdonald-Laurier Institute, Institute for National Security Studies

Kevin Vuong  (Pedro Marques/Facebook/Kevin Vuong)

 

An independent Member of Parliament along with a Jewish group have presented a petition with numerous Canadian signatures to be tabled in the House of Commons to push the government to classify commonly used antisemitic chants as what they really are -- hate speech. Tabled by Spadina-Fort York MP Kevin Vuong, as a response to the increasingly frequent chants heard in pro-Hamas protests and at university campus encampments of obviously anti-Israel phrases such as 'from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free'. 

 

Canada's surprising and growing antisemitism problem has spurred MP Vuong to become one of Parliament's strongest voice against antisemitism.

He has reported to law enforcement troubling incidents targeting him for his campaign against antisemitism. He and his wife have been followed while out for walks in their neighbourhood. Photographs were taken of them from slow-moving vehicles. They found their normal walking route to be lined with posters targeting him for his support of Canada's Jewish population, posters accusing him of "supporting genocide" and other such invidious smears.

With escalating violence and hate being propagated on our streets and in our communities and country, MP Kevin Vuong has worked hard to be a voice advocating for peace and to ensure that Canada's laws are upheld. This includes fighting all forms of hate.

 

Photographs of the drivers, along with their licence plates were given to parliamentary security personnel and to the Toronto police services. The campaign that Mr. Vuong is engaged in has arisen through the inescapable reality of Jews in Canada facing threats, intimidation and violence from organized groups of Muslim Islamists and their non-Muslim 'progressive' enablers whose focus is on the elimination of Israel and the harassment and harm they can do to Jews and establishments of the Jewish community, such as synagogues, parochial schools and community centres.

There appears to have been a move  of late in the targets of Jewish condemnation; moving from Jewish neighbourhoods to harass and slander while blocking access to public roads and bridges, transferring instead to occupy university grounds by setting up tent encampments to block access to parts of university campuses to Jewish students and faculty. Demands being made by protest organizers, that universities divest anything with a Jewish component, halt academic ties to Jewish universities, among other demands that prioritize Palestinian students for tuition-free studies.

The encampments appear well-funded, and it is clear from various investigations and encounters that the most active components of the people supporting and directing the protests are by no means all students, but rather outsiders who have nothing to do with the universities, who have organized the protests. These anti-Israel groups have made common cause with unions who espouse the 'cause' of Palestinian victimhood and statehood, slandering Israel as an 'occupier' of Palestinian land.

"It's as if Hamas sympathizers within the Arab communities handed off the baton to the far left."

"Islamists in Canada and throughout the world have really been embraced by the far left, that's because they share the same perverse ideologies when it comes to the desire to see the state of Israel, the Jewish state, undone."

"That idea of 'well, the Jews have fled before, we've removed them from the entirety of the Middle East before, we've removed them from much of Europe, we can move them again, that's who they are."

Casey Babb

Supporters walk past a sign at the pro-Palestinian protest encampment on UQAM University campus, in Montreal, on May 27. Photo by Ryan Remiorz/The Canadian Press

And Now, For Jewish Life In Canada....

"The core thing that we have continued to call for is an end to hatred and intolerance in Canada, whether it be antisemitism or Islamophobia."

"We are seeing that events overseas that are devastating and incredibly difficult to watch should not be spilling over into Canadians hating on other Canadians. We are all united in our strength and diversity and our desire for a better country in a better world."

'I'm of course, relieved that no one was hurt [when a Jewish parochial school in Montreal was shot at]. I'm disgusted by these vile and despicable acts of antisemitism. It needs to stop now."

"To Jewish parents and students across the country, we stand with you. We will always work to safeguard your right to live proudly Jewish lives in Canada."

"[The federal government working with local law enforcement will use] all available federal resources to ensure that the perpetrators are held to account."

"We cannot and will not let this antisemitism stand in Canada."

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

Here is a man with the political and moral authority to put a stop to the ongoing rancid threats against the well-being of the Jewish community in Canada and he has, to date, over months of illegal, law-breaking 'pro-Hamas-protests' -- occasionally chided the crowds of masked, keffiyeh-clad Palestinians, Muslim citizens of Canada and their racist-embracing colleagues who identify the treasured victimhood-state of Palestinians by blocking access to public roads, protesting and blocking entry to municipal offices, hospitals, shopping centres with their loud accusations against Israel and posters recommending its demise while shouting choruses of 'Intifada now!' and 'From the river to the sea', along with 'Final Solution' -- done exactly nothing to put a stop to it all.

Police services perform the barest necessity of upholding law and order, even when an effigy of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is hung at a university campus occupation. Jews are told to 'go back to Europe', that they have no place in 'Palestine' and, for that matter, Canada too. The authorities tsch-tsch and deplore the sturm und drang but fail to authorize police forces to make appropriate arrests and lay charges for threatening, violent behavior. We are informed that investigations are underway, that due process must be followed, and nothing interrupts the university encampments and the protestors' sense of entitlement to refuse entry to Jewish students and faculty.

So, on the clear evidence, Canada under this prime minister has not at all seen the safeguarding of a Jewish right to live proudly in Canada. And although he declares the tumult, the threats and the violent antisemitism 'must stop' he does nothing whatever toward achieving that end. Most infuriatingly, whenever he speaks of antisemitism, it is prefaced by references to 'islamophobia'. That, when the reality is that Muslims are at the forefront of the drive to threaten Jewish life in Canada, leading the marches, spewing and spouting slanderous lies in support of their claims of genocide against 'Palestinians'.

"Folks, let's cut to the chase here. What lunatic goes around shooting up schools? That is just unacceptable. Imagine that, imagine a little kid in a school because they're from the Jewish faith, someone goes by and starts shooting through the school windows?"

"These guys need to be caught. They need to be punished. they need to be thrown in jail, and I'll tell you we have zero tolerance for this anywhere in Ontario."

"Ontario] will throw every single resource of increased funding for the police [and has committed to] thousands of dollars given to [protect] places of worship."

"Don't come to Canada if you're going to start terrorizing neighbourhoods like this. Simple as that. You want to come to Canada? You want to be a resident of Ontario? You get along with everyone. I don't care what background, what religion, what race you come from."

"We have 110 nationalities here in Ontario, 200 languages being spoken, and guess what? Ninety-nine percent of the people get along. There are wars going on all around the world. But we still get along."

Enough is enough. I've just had it up to here."

"People outside those communities, they've had it too. They aren't used to this happening here in Ontario. I'm done with this stuff."

Ontario Premier Doug Ford 

Ontario Premier Doug Ford (centre) delivers remarks while flanked by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (left) and Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow, during a news conference in Toronto on May 30, 2024. (Arlyn McAdorey/The Canadian Press)

 

Finally, an honest admission of the crux of the problem; the presence through immigration, refugee intake, illegal migration, of Palestinians, of Syrians, of Muslims from the Middle East and North Africa who have come to Canada to find a better life for themselves than they might envision had they remained in their countries of birth where antisemitism is inherent in their heritage, culture and ventilated as a remedy for their frustration over conditions of life that have absolutely zero reliance on the presence of Jews. 

 

 

Justin Trudeau, who has just had members of  his cabinet verify his government's plan to invite thousands more Palestinians from Gaza to join their family members already in Canada as a humanitarian gesture to remove them from the potential line of fire with the Israeli military fighting an existential war with their Gaza government terrorist rulers has chosen to add to the razor-thin sense of security forced on Canada's Jewish population by the venom of Palestinians already in residence in the country where Muslim numbers vastly outpace those of the Jewish population who have had a presence in Canada for  hundreds of  years.

Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow who deliberately missed attending diplomatic ceremonies marking Israel's Independence Day, remarking something to the effect that it was too controversial and had the potential to stir problems from within the wider community which is to say the Muslim component of the Toronto area's large Islamic demographic, said the city has been taking part in "safety walks" collaborating with police, local councillors and some communities. Those 'safety walks' have been imposed on the Jewish community to walk with Jewish children to ensure their safe arrival at school.

That given the toxic atmosphere prevailing since October 7 when Islamist, Hamas-supporting groups began organizing new boycotts and ongoing marches and public protests ending up before the Israeli consulate, in front of Mount Sinai Hospital, in front of Jewish community centres, on bridges leading to Jewish-majority enclaves, some places of worship or schools (read Jewish in both instances) might wish to consider putting in place shatterproof glass, fencing or new lighting as additional protective measures. The question is, why should they even be placed in such a security-compromised position?

To which suggestion, Premier Ford, to his credit responded: "We have to have this in Ontario schools, like where have we gone? Again, we're all just fed up with this nonsense. I'll tell you that. It shouldn't have to be that way." Yes, of course, it should not. Jews should not be forced by sources from within the very city where they have always lived, to feel threatened, worried about the welfare of their children, concerned over whether Jews still can consider Toronto, Ottawa, Halifax, Vancouver, Calgary, safe places to live and raise their families of loyal Canadians. 

 

Now, watch as Premier Ford is crucified by the legacy press, by unions, by the Muslim community...

"The number of antisemitic incidents in Canada more than doubled in 2023 compared with the year prior, according to an annual audit performed by Jewish human rights group B’nai Brith Canada released in May."

"In the audit, the group logged 5,791 incidents that meet the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism. That represented a 109 per cent increase over 2022, when there were 2,769 incidents."

"The bulk of the reported incidents — 4,847 — took place online in the form of harassment. For offline incidents, B’nai Brith said it tracked 77 reports of physical violence compared with 25 the year prior."

"In-person harassment and vandalism – ranging from instances of graffiti to arson – all saw increases over 2022 at 405 and 462 incidents reported, respectively."

Global News