"I can't ask for more." Non-Extradition, Hassan Diab

"After 43 years of judicial wandering, justice is finally served for this deadly antisemitic attack."

"Everything must now be done to enforce the international arrest warrant."

"CRIF calls on Canada to cooperate with French justice."

Yonathan Arfi, president, Representative Council of French Jewish Institutions (CRIF)

 

"The course puts central emphasis on miscarriages of justice in the context of Canadian extradition law, with close examination of a high-profile extradition case that highlights the pertinent issues."

"[The] 'high-profile extradition case' focuses on Hassan Diab's own [trials and tribulations as an innocent man unjustly accused of being a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, who was responsible for a deadly explosion in 1980 in Paris, at the Rue Copernic synagogue]."

Carleton University course outline in social justice

A French court has found Ottawa academic Hassan Diab guilty in absentia on terrorism charges related to a 1980 synagogue bombing. The question now is will Canada extradite him to face a life sentence? CBC

 

A year ago Palestinian-Canadian Hassan Diab was found by a French court to be guilty of charges that he committed a criminal offence in his involvement with the bombing of the Rue Copernic synagogue. Groups as disparate -- yet linked by their concerns for 'human rights' -- as the Quakers, Amnesty International, Carleton University itself and scores of other groups have called on the federal government not to respond to France's extradition request following Dr. Diab's conviction.

This would be a second extradition; the first one returning him to France had him incarcerated for several years awaiting a trial that was postponed during the search to continue gathering plausible evidence against the man's involvement in a crime that killed four people and injured many others; a deadly attack against French Jews, marking a new era of violence committed by Palestinian or Islamist terrorists in France.

Before his arrest in Canada in 2008, when he was placed under strict bail conditions until he was returned to France in 2018, Diab had taught courses on human rights as a sessional lecturer at Carleton University. From that time in 2006 forward, to the present he is now once again teaching at Carleton University; a third-year course on social justice in action. The action related to social justice is entirely his own experience, emphasizing how an 'innocent man' can be caught up in a web of false intrigues.

Addressed to Carleton University president Jerry Tomberlin, an open letter by B'nai Brith was sent demanding Diab's dismissal. His continued employment at the university, the letter pointed out, "raises significant questions regarding Carleton's dedication to the safety and well-being of its students and staff." The university is well aware of Diab's conviction, and it has voiced their championship of his innocence.

Arriving in Canada in 1993, Diab claims to have been a victim of erroneous identity, that he had no involvement whatever in the bombing; a claim his colleagues at the department of sociology and anthropology at Carleton fully endorse in solidarity with the man they know only as one of their own. In the immediate aftermath of the French conviction last April, Carleton's department of sociology and anthropology sent a communique demanding that Diab's extradition be blocked by the federal Liberal government.

A rally was organized by the department the year before Diab's conviction, for the purpose of claiming that French justice authorities were involved in a sham case against their colleague: "Hassan Diab was not involved at all in that bombing that took place in 1980", an event listing claimed, with the authority of the convinced. It took until the 1990s before Diab became a suspect.

Major areas of circumstantial evidence propelled him into the role of primary suspect; his passport revealed that he entered and exited Europe immediately prior to and following the bombing. Testimony from friends in the hands of French authorities claimed that Diab had connections with the terror group Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. A fiction figure by the name of "Alexander Panadriyu who purportedly planted the bomb, matched descriptions of Diab himself.

 

Firemen standing by the wreckage of a car and motorcycle after a bomb attack at a Paris synagogue on October 3, 1980 that killed four people. (AFP/Getty Images)

 

Other contentious evidence came down to French handwriting analysts finding similarities between Diab's writing style with the fictional Panadriyu on a hotel registration card. On Diab's first extradition in 2014 following a lengthy extradition process when a judge examining the extradition request and allied circumstantial evidence when the handwriting similarity was called into question, failure to proceed to trial after years in prison cast doubt on the extradition and the process of French justice by Canadian authorities.

Released from three years of prison without trial on the ruling of insufficient evidence to proceed, Diab returned to Canada. Finally, in 2021 a decision by the French Supreme Court ordered a re-opening of the case, but Canada was reluctant to extradite him once more; an external review of the case ordered by the federal government left the impression that Canada had erred in acceding to the French request for extradition, given the preceding circumstances.

That report concluded that there was "discomfort" in repeating the extradition process when the original process concluded with his dismissal without charges following three years of detention in a French prison. "He was legally extradited having been afforded all appropriate procedural protections. The fact that he was not convicted in France does not render the extradition process flawed", the report concluded.

 

The fact does remain: this is a man who steadfastly contends his innocence, charging mistaken identity was at the core of his ordeal. Yet, unmistakably, he was found guilty of involvement in a terrorist act by a French court of justice. On the basis of circumstantial evidence considered reliable enough to implicate him in the death of four people by terrorist action. By association and the conviction he is labelled a terrorist with past connection to the terror group PLFP. 

 

As such, honouring him as a man of authority on human rights and miscarriages of justice with an academic platform to pursue his personal goal of clearing his name as an innocent beleaguered by an

inefficient French system of justice that sought to placate the rage of French Jews over the actions of violent Islamists and Palestinian terrorists terrorizing and murdering Jews, in a case that has for so long defied solving and closure he is able to manipulate public opinion as a victim of injustice.

"[It's] still devastating to know they [French justice] pursued that biased road which led to the unfortunate decision."

"It was not easy on me or on supporters and [my] family in general."

"[Calling on Trudeau to honour his sentiments that what happened to Diab should not have happened and should never happen again]. That's the simplest and easiest and shortest thing."

"I can't ask for more."

Hassan Diab

Hassan Diab in Ottawa on Friday April 21, 2023. A French court found Diab guilty on Friday in relation to a 1980 bombing of a Paris Synagogue. (Michel Aspirot/CBC)

Solution to MD Shortage -- Or Shorting Out Quality Medical Professionals?

"The government has spoken to Toronto Metropolitan University about their equity admissions."

"While we are making sure that Ontario students are prioritized for medical school seats in Ontario, medical schools must ensure that qualified individuals fill these sets, regardless of their race or background."

Director of Media Relations, for Premier Doug Ford

"[There are many groups in medicine] that traditionally have been under-represented. That is an important part of why we [created] all these pathways in order to bridge that gap."

"There are three [out of six] other medical schools in the province that have lower GPA minimum requirements [than TMU]."

"Applying for medical school is so competitive, there are lots of] highly qualified candidates who never get in and have to give up that dream or pursue their education abroad. We are now tapping into that excellence that just has been left behind. And we are also saying there's a particular group of equity-deserving students that we are welcoming. We are not lowering standards for them. We have no question that we'll be able to fill those seats."

"[Many people facing the MCAT take preparatory courses] which are not cheap. Furthermore, for those who can afford it, they take entire summers off in order to study for this exam. So that becomes an equity issue." 

Dr. Dominick Shelton, dean of admissions, Toronto Metropolitan University med school

 

"If you came from an Indigenous community and you have a low GPA, and you couldn't compete in university, how are you going to compete in medial school?"

"Does that mean you have to lower your standard of teaching?"

"[My concern is] that there's a breed of doctors who are under-trained because they're not pushed hard enough."

"This accelerates that concern."

Dr. Harry Rakowski, Toronto cardiologist

The soon-to-be-opened Toronto Metropolitan University School of Medicine in Brampton, Ont. Photo by Peter J. Thompson/National Post

Toronto Metropolitan University has launched a new medical school in Brampton. It has 94 places open for prospective medical students and anticipates that over 5,000 people will make application to fill that limited number of seats. The school plans to loosen academic qualifications and to screen out prospective students according to race or socioeconomic status. Three-quarters of its 94 medical spaces have been designated to be filled by students who are Black, Indigenous, or who come from 'equity-deserving' groups which includes identifying as LGBTQ, disabled, poor, and 'racialized'. 

To achieve its goals to welcome prospective students in those very particular categories, it has seen fit to loosen common academic requirements. Toronto Metropolitan University plans to forego the common entry test for medical school, requiring only that applicants complete a four-year undergraduate degree of any kind with a minimum Grade Point Average (GPA) of 33, or B+. The school has set aside the requirement for applicants to write the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT). Advertising itself as "one of seven Canadian medical schools that does not require the CAT as it has been widely recognized as a barrier to medical education access and not an accurate predictor of professional acumen and skill".

"But also, there's no evidence to show that one's performance on the MCAT correlates with their success as a physician both during their learning years or beyond", points out Dr. Shelton. TMU's med school has its own admissions process to select "candidates that we know will go on to become excellent physicians", according to Dr. Shelton. "We want to know what are the experiences that have informed the person that you are and that have informed their decision to choose to pursue a career in medicine."

"[A] widening socioeconomic disparity between physicians-in-training and their future population may exacerbate inequities in access to care."

"A large body of evidence suggests that medical students from traditionally disadvantaged backgrounds, such as those who are part of visible minority populations or have rural or low socioeconomic backgrounds are more likely to practise in areas with physician shortage."

"[1,288 Canadian medical students surveyed] were less likely, compared to the Canadian Census population, to identify as Black (1.7 percent vs 6.4 percent) or Aboriginal (3.5 percent vs 7.4 percent)."

Cross Sectional Study published in BMC Medical Education

 Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced two years earlier his government will proceed with TMU's school of medicine. "These new seats will help train doctors of the future. Someone born in Brampton, who went to high school in Brampton, will now be able to go to med school here at this campus." The need in Brampton for more GPs is "pretty significant", Dr. Shelton points out. "That's why a lot of people end up in walk-in clinics and emergency departments. Without a doubt it is a major issue and we're going to be part of addressing that problem."

 

"In Canada, preferential admission policies are wide-spread because our laws allow for affirmative action and reverse discrimination."

"Provincial human rights codes apply to university admission policies. In Ontario for example, the human right code allows for 'special programs' that amount to preferential treatment. Our Charter (which probably does not apply directly to university admissions, since universities are not governments) says the same."

"No one claims that there is racial discrimination in the NBA just because the number of white players is not consistent with the percentage of white people in the population."

"[Admission policies like TMU's are] unfair on multiple levels. They are unfair to people who are being excluded because of their race, but they are also unfair to the people who would otherwise get in on their own merits."

"If you're a Black medical student today these policies disadvantage you because they cloak you with special treatment, even though you didn't need it and didn't get it."

"I think we need more doctors. I think we need more doctors who are excellent in Canada. If they are Black and Indigenous, then fantastic."

Bruce Pardy, law professor, Queen's University

"There are many people who see our process as disadvantaging them. But it's not about who's been disadvantaged here, in terms of our application process. It's about who has been under-represented that, through our equitable process of admissions, that we're not giving an opportunity to enter the medical field."

"Evidence has shown that when someone undergoes their education in a particular region, they are more likely to stay in that region and work [there] if there already is a pre-existing connection."

"[Brampton is] underserved from a health human resources standpoint. And we want to address that need."

Dr. Dominick Shelton

Dr. Dominick Shelton, TMU's medical school Dean of Admissions at his home, Tuesday October 29, 2024. Photo by Peter J. Thompson /National Post

Failed Canada-India Diplomatic Relations

"To remain somewhat viable and respectable in the eyes of the United States and Canada and Britain -- the Western world -- he claims to be non-violent."

"And if he didn't [the media] wouldn't give him a nano-second of coverage."

"I think he has bamboozled all of you for a long time."

Ujjal Dosanjh, Sikh, former B.C. premier/federal cabinet minister

"We are just trying to tell India and the world that it's a ticking time bomb which could detonate due to India's constant policy of violently crushing even the peaceful initiative of a referendum."

"The [Prime Minister Narendra] Modi regime's constant policy of crushing the Sikh peoples' initiative of ballots with bullets may, against our wishes, push this purely political conflict into a cycle of violence...SFJ's videos are not inflammatory but rather informatory."

"People under occupation from Punjab to Palestine will react and violence begets violence. If India is going to keep occupying Punjab, there will be a reaction."

"SFK believes in ballots, SFJ believes in votes. The liberation of Punjab is on the cards. India, the choice is yours: ballot or bullet."

Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, exponent, Sikh independence movement: Khalistan

Sikh activist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun stands for a photograph in New York City on Oct. 25. Jeenah Moon for NPR

 

Pannun is a Canadian-American lawyer who has raised an issue of a global referendum to verify the Sikh independence-from-India movement, in a call to split India for the purpose of dividing the Punjab as a gift to Sikhs who view it as their homeland, one they call Khalistan. He is at great pains to deliver the message to Western democracies that his is the voice of reason, and his movement is one of moderation, wanting nothing other than recognition of the right of Sikhs to become a sovereign nation free of India.

He heads the group Sikhs for Justice. And in his online presence speaking for Sikhs for Justice, Pannun's rhetoric is volatile, his social-media posts appear to promote violence. Based in New York, Pannun speaks of the need to "balkanize" India in his mission to carve Punjab away from India's 'occupation', and includes support for other independence movements as well. Including common cause with Chinese President Xi Jinping, recommending he forcefully seize a disputed corner of Indian territory.

"President [Xi] Jinping -- now is the time to order the Chinese army to take Arunachal Padesh back."

"By 2047, the current boundaries and borders of India will be redrawn, and the current borders and boundaries will be wiped out from the world map."

"2024, one India. 2047, none India."

Gurpatwant Singh Pannum

Protesters hold yellow flags with the word Khalistan, as well as a banner with the picture of Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh. Photograph:(Reuters)

 

"Violence begets violence" he warns; India has a choice between his referendum and possible armed rebellion: "ballots or bullets", comparing Palestinians to Sikhs in Punjab. In November, Sikhs, he said, should boycott Air India; those who fly on November 19 could endanger themselves. The shadow of 1985's bombing of an Air India flight by Sikh terrorists in Canada. Present at a Calgary rally for Sikhs, he led a chant: "Liberate Punjab, Kill India", a mild display of 'moderation'.

The non-binding referendum run by Sikhs for Justice asks whether Sikhs in Canada, Europe and anywhere the Sikh diaspora exists, asks whether there is support for making Punjab an independent country. Within India itself the issue appears to be of no moment. It is among the large expatriate Sikh community outside India -- particularly in Canada where the largest expatriate community lives -- that the issue of Sikh separation from Hindu India resonates and where Sikh fanatics overwhelm the Sikh-Canadian population uninvolved in the movement.

New Delhi, for which the prospect of such a separation is a non-starter, views Pannum as a terrorist. Interpol has been asked by India to issue a "red notice" for the arrest of the man. After deeming the request political or religious, not criminal, Interpol refused. Canada's large and influential Sikh population -- some 800,000 in number -- does not support political Sikhism/Khalistanis, but they are threatened and silent, harassed and fearful. Canada's Liberal government, however, appears to cater to the Khalistanis; some high-ranking Cabinet members who are Sikh are sympathetic to the Khalistan cause.

 

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau waits to speak to a crowd during Khalsa day celebrations at City Hall in Toronto, Sunday, April 28, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Cole Burston

 

Narendra Modi's government is fiercely opposed, needless to say, and disappointed and frustrated with the Trudeau government's response to its request for extradition of a number of Sikh-Canadians who have been found guilty of violent criminal activities in India. Justin Trudeau's public accusation of the government of India's involvement in the assassination of a committed Khalistani, denied by India, has caused a diplomatic rift in relations between the two countries, each expelling the others' diplomats.

Pannum, from his social media pulpit speaks of "genocidal violence" against Sikhs. In particular memory of the 40 years that have passed since a massacre of Sikhs by Hindus enraged after Indira Ghandi was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards. Sikhs for Justice, he announced in a video, was in support of independence movements in the Indian states of Assam, Nagaland, Manipur and Kashmir. Another, earlier video had him connecting the Palestinian-Israeli conflict to the situation in Punjab: "People under occupation from Punjab to Palestine will react and violence begets violence".

 

 

 

 

"We have repeatedly raised our strong concerns regarding the violent imagery being used by extremist elements in Canada against our political leadership. Display of posters of Indian diplomats have also been put out across Canada threatening violence against them."

"Celebration and glorification of violence should not be a part of any civilized society. Democratic countries which respect the rule of law should not allow intimidation by radical elements in the name of freedom of expression."

"[We are concerned over the] security of our diplomatic representatives in Canada. [Ottawa should stop giving space to] criminal and secessionist elements."

Randhir Jaiswal, spokesperson, India’s foreign ministry

UNRWA -- Rotten Through to the Core

`UNRWA has taken steps to address allegations regarding individual employees`support for terrorist organizations and demonstrated its willingness to pursue and implement reform of internal processes.`

Statement co-signed by Canada, Australia, France, Germany, Japan, South Korea and Britain

The opening assembly of the Knesset’s winter session. (Yoav Dudkevitch/TPS-IL)

 

And despite having been updated in full by the Israeli government on the UNRWA propensity to hire Gazan Palestinians who just also happen to be members of terrorist groups, Hamas among them, somehow evidence is not proof enough to believe Israel over the word of innocence from the UN body some of whose employees took active participation on the barbaric sadism of October 7 in southern Israel. ``Ìt is not just a few rotten apples ... UNRWA in Gaza is a rotten tree entirely infected with terrorist operatives``, they were assured by the Israeli Foreign Ministry.

Yet, even so, condemnation was fairly universal from most of Israel`s democratic allies when the Israeli government made the decision to sever all ties with UNRWA, charging that the UN body is irreparably involved with terrorism. Which failed to give thoughtful pause to Canada`s foreign affairs minister Melanie Joly who threw her support to the agency that Canada continues to support financially with an annual $25 million.

Israel provided ample evidence that UNRWA facilities were appropriated by Hamas for use as command posts. That roughly one hundred Hamas commanders and operatives were on the UNRWA payroll. Israel made it clear that despite its determination to no longer cooperate with the corrupt UN agency which has pleaded ignorance of the content of the Palestinian school curricula which it supplies, and its complicity in demonizing Israel, encouraging Palestinians to reject attempts at peace, it intends to continue work with other UN agencies in the provision of humanitarian aid to Gaza.

 

Hamas terrorist Muhammad Abu Attawi and UNRWA staffer during the attack on a bomb shelter near Kibbutz Re’im on October 7, 2023. (Israel Defense Forces)

 

Under the former government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Canada`s UNRWA funding had been suspended for the very reason that it was recognized the agency`s agenda was fundamentally anti-Israel and corrupted with institutionalized antisemitism. One of the first acts of the new Trudeau government in foreign affairs had been restoration of federal funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine. It had been briefly suspended when proof had initially been given of its employee complicity in October 7, but speedily restored.

International Development Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau had stated that UNRWA would no longer be funding terrorist groups, with UNRWA instituting a `very robust oversight and reporting framework`. Perhaps she knew something that UNRWA was unaware of, since there was much that the agency purported to be unaware of with respect to its links to Palestinian terrorist groups. This, despite a dossier that up to 2,000 UNRWA employees had ties to Palestinian terrorist groups.

Much less that many schools operated by UNRWA served as entrances to the Hamas underground tunnel network, and that over a dozen known UNRWA employees had taken part in the October 7 massacres of Israel civilians. UNRWA social worker Faisal Ali Mussallem An-Naimi was seen on surveillance video dragging the dead body of a murdered victim at Kibbutz Bee`ri, where over 100 civilians were savagely murdered.

 

This image from video shows Faisal Ali Mussalem al-Naami (right) and another terrorist abducting the body of an Israeli on October 7, 2023. (Screenshot: South First Reporters)

 

Canada`s International Development Minister had claimed to have been assured by UNRWA`s pledge they had `taken immediate measures to strengthen oversight, accountability and transparency` -- for what that was worth. UNRWA fired nine of its employees admitting it seemed credible they had participated in the October 7 attacks, after all. Following the death of Hamas`s Lebanon chief Fateh Sherif Abu el-Amin in an Israeli airstrike, it was confirmed by UNRWA that he was one of their employees, a past chairman of the UNRWA Teachers`Association.

UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini, stated that el-Amin had been placed on administrative leave for political activities -- but his agency had no idea whatever that in him they had employed a senior Hamas commander. `The specific allegation at the time was that he was a part of the local leadership ... I never heard the word command before`, said Lazzarini.

Months before the October 7 atrocities took place. the German magazine BILD published an investigation of rampant antisemitism and incitement to violence among UNRWA teachers and in their textbooks. 

`Ìn an exercise for students in a 9th grade class in Gaza, a Palestinian arson attack on a bus carrying Jews is referred to as a `barbecue`.

`Germany continues to pay for hatred of Jews.`

Israeli soldiers walk inside an evacuated compound of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in Gaza City. Photo by JACK GUEZ/AFP

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the Palestinian Territories

 

"It is  unacceptable for any official -- independent or not -- to engage in Holocaust distortion."

"This is harmful to Jewish communities and others in Canada and across the globe, which is why there have been condemnations of these statements from multiple countries, elected officials and organizations."

Special Canadian Envoy on Antisemitism, Deborah Lyons

"AS UN Special Rapporteur Albanese visits New York, I want to reiterate the U.S. belief she is unfit for her role."

"The United Nations should not tolerate antisemitism from a UN-affiliated official hired to promote human rights."

U.S. Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield

 

"Francesca Albanese has a long history of using antisemitic tropes."

"It is absolutely baffling to me that the United Nations condones her behaviour and does not remove her from her position."

Liberal MP Anthony Housefather, Liberal special adviser on antisemitism

 

"The recent remarks by Francesca Albanese are unacceptable and incompatible with her duty of impartiality, probity and good faith as an independent Special Rapporteur."

"Antisemitism has no place anywhere."

Canadian mission in Geneva 

"We are calling on the Canadian government to deny her an entry visa, on account of her record of supporting terrorism and antisemitism."

"Given the repeated violent antisemitic attacks in Canada, Albanese's visit -- certain to fuel more hatred and support for terrorism -- poses a national security threat."

Hillel Neuer, chief, UN Watch

United Nations special rapporteur for the Palestinian territories Francesca Albanese has withdrawn from a Montreal conference featuring Charlotte Kates, the founder of Samidoun, a designated terror group

 

Francesca Albanese -- 'special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967' -- appointed by the Human Rights Council of the United Nations is recognized as an independent expert whose reports go directly to the administration of the United Nations. In October this independent expert on human rights spoke of Israel as the Third Reich, on a mission of genocide in Palestine, their goal to create a "pure race". Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was compared by this human rights expert to Adolf Hitler, in July.

A requisite for any human rights position anywhere, is that the holder be seen and heard to be objectively neutral when approaching situations of controversial upheaval. Her outrageous and clearly antisemitic comments have garnered attention and condemnation from various sources who decry her overt bias which reflects a mind steeped deep in the oldest racism in human history. Canada's envoy in combating antisemitism, in condemning Albanese's Holocaust-comparison statements references the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance working definition of antisemitism.

That IHRA definition is one that many countries of the world have endorsed, including Canada, yet it is obvious that Canada's commitment to the IHRA is on the 'virtue' level, entirely lacking the will or the interest in acting responsibly to reflect the IHRA. Its deliberately obtuse and oblivious reaction to the antisemitic flare-ups on the streets of Canada's cities across the country has failed to use existing laws on the prosecution of hate-mongers who commit to both verbal and physical violence in harassing and threatening the Canadian Jewish community.

And although Canada's officially appointed Liberal representative on antisemitism speaks loudly and clearly in support of condemning antisemitism, particularly in its current iteration of mass anti-Israel, pro-Hamas/terrorist gatherings shouting for Jews to 'go back to Europe' where they were exterminated by the millions during World War II, and condemning Israel for 'occupying' its ancestral geographic patrimony claiming it to be rightfully Arab Palestinian heritage 'from the river to the sea', he lacks the moral fibre to separate himself from the Liberal government which has permitted the volatile anarchy of Muslim rage to permeate society.

Canada's minister of foreign affairs, Melanie Joly, has no interest whatever in responding positively to the overtures of Jewish organizations to use the letter of the law to abolish the current racist-mongering public gatherings' ability to broadcast slander against Israel and the Canadian Jewish population. The UN's rapporteur on Palestine has embarked on a public relations campaign of speaking engagements in North America, her itinerary including appearances at the University of Toronto as well as the University of Montreal.

The controversial opinionated remarks assaulting the character of Jews were not confined to post-UN-appointment comments; long before her appointment, Albanese distinguished herself by emitting statements supporting anti-Israel, antisemitic sentiments. She is not oblivious to the uproar over her messaging addressing her obvious anti-Jew rhetoric, and claims to be misunderstood. Calls for her removal from the post she occupies at the UN have elicited a response from her; she is "deeply disappointed" international leaders "have been misled by spurious, recycled allegations against me. Criticism of Israel's actions and polici'es does not render one antisemitic".

Prior to her 2022 appointment at the UN, she had celebrated when the European Union had removed Hamas from a terror group designation in 2014. "America and Europe, one of them subjugated by the Jewish lobby, and the other by the sense of guilt about the Holocaust", she remarked in 2014. She joined her voice to the many justifying the October 7 atrocities as the understandable reaction of an oppressed people. "Today's violence must be put in context", she averred.

"The victims of 7/10 were not killed because of their Judaism, but in reaction to Israel's oppression. France and the international community did nothing to prevent it. My respects to the victims", she wrote in response to French President Emmanuel Macron's statement that the October 7 atrocities represented the "greatest antisemitic massacre of the century". Reports of rape and beheadings were unverified rumours, Albanese wrote, despite that the Hamas charter is explicit in its goal of destroying Israel.

This special rapporteur representing the United Nations' interest in the welfare of Arab Palestinians condemned the Hamas and Hezbollah leaders' deaths, characterizing them as "acts of aggression" -- murder. Yahya Sinwar's death struck her as "quite inhumane".

"We call on the Honourable Melanie Joly, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and the Government of Canada to condemn Albanese's behaviour in no uncertain terms."

"Canada  must take a strong stance against any form of antisemitism, particularly when it emanates from individuals in positions of influence such as Albanese."

"Her presence in Canada should not be allowed to pass without a clear response from the government."

"Antisemitism, in all its forms, must be unequivocally condemned, especially when it is cloaked in the guise of human rights advocacy."

Centre for Israel and Public Affairs

Ayelet Levy Shachar, mother of 19-year-old Naama Levy, who was abducted by Hamas during the October 7 attacks, attends a demonstration in Tel Aviv, Israel, on November 4, calling for the immediate release of hostages.   Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters

Adampol Slave Labour/Death Camp, Poland

"We never had the opportunity to lay a flower for any of our beloved ones who died here. But we will mourn them today. Their souls in heaven will always be with us."

"He [his father Jack Pomeranc] had tremendous anxiety and regrets and fear. [He was] crying and apologizing to his family that he wished he [had] saved them, and he could have but he didn't and should have."

"And at that time, I understood very well that this was something I needed to put closure to for him, since he was traumatized all his life from it."

Today we bring closure to this chapter in our lives."

Michael Pomeranc, son of Holocaust survivor

 

After many long years of planning, Michael Pomeranc and his close relatives fulfilled a personal mission when they took part in a ceremony to unveil memorials to murdered Jews during the Second World War. The venue was a forest in Poland. And the memorial was to honour the Jews murdered by German forces. Dozens of Michael Pomeranc's relatives among them, at a little-known German labour camp named Adampol.

During the dedication ceremony, Pomeranc spoke of his childhood in the United States. Where there were no cemeteries that held the remains of his family members, no graves to visit that held the remains of his predecessors in his family tree. Jews were forced to work as slave labourers in fields nearby the Nazi labour camp. Once their usefulness was over, when they became too weak, too ill to continue labouring, they were murdered, in 1943.

Poland, under Nazi German occupation, was the site of many such labour and death camps where Jews had value as slave labourers and when they could no longer perform the labours assigned to them they were scheduled for mass extermination in the death camps. Auschwitz is the most well-known of all such death camps, but it was only one of many, although it was responsible for the extermination of over a million Jews of all ages.

 

Women in the barracks at Auschwitz, Poland, January 1945. Photo taken by a Russian photographer shortly after the liberation of the camp.

 

The event was attended by local schoolchildren in the presence of descendants of Holocaust survivors who witnessed it far from Poland, via livestream. Two living survivors of Adampol are left to contemplate their living hell during that time. Too old and frail to make the trip to Poland. New York city hotelier Pomeranc visited the site 25 years earlier with his father Jack Pomeranc. His father had been imprisoned there but was able to escape, to join Jewish partisans and took part in blowing up Nazi-occupied buildings and train tracks in efforts at war sabotage.

Jack, whose Yiddish name back then was Jankiel, along with a brother and two sisters managed to survive, but his parents and two little sisters, age 3 and 4, along with aunts,  uncles and cousins were all murdered. At the commemoration a memorial with the names of 73 of over 600 victims were included; the only identification so far of those who perished. The organizers' goal is the restoration of identities of as many victims as possible to preserve their memories.

The event is part of a more expansive effort by the Polish Jewish community to commemorate sites of mass murder of Jews during the Holocaust, neglected and unmarked a lifetime after the Second World War. Of the 3.3 million Jews who lived in Poland before the 1939 German invasion, most wee murdered. Polish Chief Rabbi Michael Schudrich along with a group named Zapomniane (Forgotten) aided by non-invasive technologies have succeeded in systematically locating sites of mass burials to mark them for posterity.

So far, witness testimony of local people and technology have aided researchers in identifying over 20 possible mass grave sites in Adampol, verified by a forensic archaeologist who has carried out years of research at the site.

Illustrative photo of electric fences with concrete posts and insulators surrounding the barracks where deportees where held at the Auschwitz concentration and death camp established by the Nazis. (Jack Guez/AFP)

 

UNRWA, Facilitator of Palestinian Terrorism

"UNRWA has taken steps to address allegations regarding individual employees' support for terrorist organizations and demonstrated its willingness to pursue and implement reform of internal processes."

Co-signed (Canada, Australia, France, Germany Japan South Korea, U.K.) statement

"[The new laws in Israel] would de facto render UNRWA's vital operations in Gaza impossible, and seriously hamper its provision of services in the West Bank."

"[The laws stand] in stark contradiction to international law and the fundamental principle of humanity."

Josep Borrell, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy

 

"UNRWA workers involved in terrorist activities against Israel must be held accountable. Since avoiding a humanitarian crisis is also essential, sustained humanitarian aid must remain available in Gaza now and in the future."

"In the 90 days before this legislation takes effect – and after – we stand ready to work with our international partners to ensure Israel continues to facilitate humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza in a way that does not threaten Israel’s security."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

Security personnel work at the UNRWA headquarters, in Jerusalem, May 10, 2024. REUTERS/Ammar Awad/File Photo

 

Israel  has moved to make it illegal for the United Nations' Relief and Works Agency(UNRWA) to continue its operations in Israeli territory. State officials in Israel may no longer, under the law, co-operate with the UN aid agency. A large majority of the Knesset passed the two laws in the wake of ongoing revelations of UNRWA staff complicity in the Hamas October 7, 2023 massacre in southern Israel.

According to an unnamed U.S. State Department official, the Biden Administration is "deeply concerned" over this turn of affairs. Despite which had the United States been the subject of such barbarian savagery, there would be no question of the ferocity of its retaliation against the perpetrators of the inhuman nature of such barbarism against its civilian population by a conscienceless aggressor. Think back to September 11, 2001. For Israel, September 11 and October 7 are interchangeable.

Afghanistan facilitated and nurtured the al-Qaeda conspiracy that resulted in 9/11 which led to a long and ultimately fruitless pursuit of both the Taliban and al-Qaeda. The latter's mastermind was eliminated but the state of mind that he expressed lives on. UNRWA has, since its inception as a permanent crutch for the interminable victimhood of Palestinians aided and abetted and incited its spirit of malevolent intentions against the Jewish state in the interests of destroying Israel.

According to UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini,the legislation "opposes the UN charter and violates the State of Israel's obligations under international law". When in fact, UNRWA's actions over the past 70 years have deliberately nurtured Palestinian Arab resentment, victimhood and hatred against Jews living in their ancestral homeland with the rebirth of Israel on a slender tract of land that represents a small portion of its original homeland. Another portion of which Palestinians rejected outright for their future state in preference to claiming the entire geography as their entitled due.

Accusations of malfeasance against UNRWA are not new; most Palestinians are taught at UNRWA schools throughout the Palestinian territories and in 'refugee camps' in the Arab world, using tainted curricula that fosters hate and terrorism. 30,000 staff are employed by UNRWA, mostly Palestinians. It operates in Jordan and Lebanon as well. The UN agency has long been known to provide cover and income to Palestinian terrorists and actively undermining attempts at peace negotiations.

 

Ayelet Samerano reacts as she screens the video of her son's body being kidnapped to Gaza by an UNRWA social worker, during a UN Watch summit in Geneva, February 26, 2024. (Screenshot: Hostages Families Forum)

 

Evidence surfaced in the wake of October 7 massacres when 1,200 mostly civilian Israelis, men, women, children, the elderly were murdered, another 250 abducted from their homes to be taken as prisoner-hostages back to Gaza to be maltreated, tortured, raped, starved and murdered while being used as barter by Hamas for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. The atrocities were participated in by UNRWA employees who also happened to be members of Hamas.

"A social worker for a so-called humanitarian organization kidnapped my son. How can someone working for an organization that claims to do good in this world do something so cruel and inhumane?" "How can the UN pay this man who dragged my son’s limp body along the ground and then picked him up as if he was a prize into Gaza."

"How many more lives have been ruined by this person, hauling my son like he isn’t even a human being into an UNRWA car?"

Ayelet Samerano, mother of man killed and taken hostage by UNRWA employee to Gaza

Of the over 1,000 Gazans employed by UNRWA, an estimated 450 are members of terrorist organizations located in Gaza, mostly members of Hamas. UNRWA experts dispute that the legislation newly enacted in Israel is in contradiction to international law. Simply put, Israel is not party to treaties compelling it to engage with a group such as UNRWA that actively agitates against the Jewish State. To permit UNRWA to continue its ongoing actions deleterious to Israel's survival would represent a nonsensical act of self-destruction on Israel's part.