From the Frying Pan Into the Fire

"On Yom Kippur I went to a synagogue service in Toronto and was met by protesters trying to taunt and intimidate me from entering the building."

"My late father was an Austrian Jew who survived the Holocaust in Romania. And came to Canada as a refugee."

"This year I got an Austrian passport, in case Canada becomes unsafe for me as a Jew. I fear that moment is approaching, here in Canada and elsewhere."

"Jewish Canadians are living in a parallel world. Where police stand guard with guns outside synagogues. And Jewish schools, religious sites and businesses are targeted with bullets."

"And most Canadians have no awareness or understanding." 

Neil Herland, CBC National Radio News reader

An image from Neil Herland's video shows protesters outside the Meridian Arts Centre in Toronto. Photo by @NEILNews/X

 

When attempting to enter a building in Toronto on Monday to attend Yom Kippur service, CBC National Radio News reader Neil Herland spoke of his traumatic experience, a day after a lone gunman attempted to enter the Sons of Jacob Synagogue in Belleville, Ontario with a shotgun. An event that saw an on-duty police constable with the Belleville Police Service shot by the gunman, who despite his severe injury, shot back to deter the terrorist from his goal of killing Jewish worshippers. 

 

The ongoing situation of mobs of Israel-haters descending on Jewish neighbourhoods to harass and threaten the community, and to gather around synagogues to chant invective and threats was to have been addressed by the Toronto Police Service in their solemn promise to maintain vigilance of such situations and disallow them, under the letter of the law, from their death threats against Canadian Jews in Toronto. They appear to have lapsed from that mission.

 

Mr. Herland took videos of a group of people blowing horns and waving Palestinian flags in front of the building where the Song Shul holds annual events at the Meridian Arts Centre, for the purpose of marking the High Holy Days of Judaism, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. The group's shouts from the video included "Palestine will be free". As the news reader walks through he crowd. one of the 'protesters' shouts, shoving a megaphone at his face "You're going to hell!"

 

As he turns to  glance behind him, two individuals hoist a placard upon which is printed "Where's Your Humanity"? One shouts "Zionist alert", through a megaphone. The cantor spoke at the service of his nephew having been murdered in Ukraine in a suspected hate crime on Rosh Hashanah. The guest speaker was an Australian-born university lecturer from Israel, Mark Regev, former Israeli ambassador to the United Kingdom. A complaint had been submitted by a Canadian group called Just Peace Advocates to demand that Regev be barred from entering Canada.

 

Coincidentally, in Belleville, Ontario where the Sunday night attempt to enter the Sons of Jacob Synagogue took place, an active group calling themselves Belleville Justice and Peace assembles every Sunday afternoon with public demonstrations of its Palestinian advocacy. Local Belleville resident Shahid Mahmood one of its members, had been detained by Israeli authorities in May when he had been a participant in the Global Sumud Flotilla. Interesting how all these Jew-hating groups fulminating against the presence of Jews, tend to label their groups with that iconic word "Peace".

 

"Try this in Florida, and you go to prison for five years. Proud to have sponsored the bill to make that happen." U.S. Congressman Randy Fine.  Still from video, Neil Herland

 

Tellingly, it is Neil Herland's employer in Canada, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, paid for by public funding, that is one of the many media outlets in the country that hews to a puzzling but firm decision to describe terrorists as 'militants', or any other word that evades just exactly what they are. Moreover, the CBC uses propaganda straight from the terrorist group Hamas to describe the situation in Gaza, rarely resorting to the use of information from Israeli authorities. 

 

As a supposedly neutral source of objective news, the CBC displays an obvious preference for Palestinian 'victimhood' under cruel Israeli 'occupation', somehow managing to overlook inconsequential details such as Palestinian leadership's devotion to 'pay for slay' and encouragement of Palestinians of all ages to regard Jews in Israel as their mortal enemy toward whose presence they must commit to jihad and self-martyrdom in the cause of 'liberating' Judean ancestral land from the grip of modern Israel. 

Jewish Canadians, Victims of Antisemitic Violence

"Jewish people must be able to worship safely. To live free, open, proud Jewish Lives."

"Canada's government will do everything in our power to support law enforcement in ensuring that the perpetrator is held accountable to the fullest extent of the law."

"My thoughts are with the injured officer and his family, and the entire Jewish community."

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney

 

"This vile antisemitic violence in Canada must end, and this Liberal government must act now to protect our people."

"Jewish Canadians must once again be able to live in their communities and pray in their places of worship without fear of being shot at or attacked."

Opposition Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre 

Sons of Jacob Synagogue, Belleville, Ontario

 

Of the two political leaders' statements with respect to the latest violent attack on a synagogue in Ontario, that of the prime minister of Canada is one of studied sanctimony. This is a prime minister who cannot mouth 'antisemitism' without pairing it with 'Islamophobia'. One descriptive is a reality, the second is a mockery. It is not Jews who worldwide commit terrorist acts -- against Western symbols and non-Muslims but jihad-infested Muslims who are also creating mortal carnage among their own. Under this Liberal government the gates of Canada were flung wide open to welcome largely unvetted migrants, refugees and immigrants from cultures reflecting Islamic values incapable of ever accommodating themselves to Democratic and human rights laws.

 

On Sunday evening in Belleville, Ontario, at the cusp of the arrival of the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, the Day of Atonement...Yom Kippur, congregants in the Sons of Jacob Synagogue became suddenly alert to the sounds of gunfire. Outside, on the street near the  synagogue, sat a Belleville police officer in an unmarked vehicle, on protective duty at the synagogue. Approached by a man with a shotgun, Constable Jeffrey Smith was shot and seriously injured. Nonetheless, he returned fire and with the assistance of another officer who soon arrived detained the attacker from his intent to enter the synagogue.

 

A barrage of shots rang out, many hitting the synagogue, before the attacker was subdued. His goal was obvious, to murder Jews at prayer during the most sacred day of the year for Jews. His injuries were critical. Both the assailant who was identified as a former member of the Canadian Armed Forces in Alberta, and Constable Smith were taken to Kingston General Hospital. Constable Smith will survive his ordeal, the would-be terrorist succumbed to his wounds and in this way 'justice was done'.

 

Politicians declare their horror at the violent event and thoughts of the possible outcome with scores of people dead. In Toronto, Mayor Olivia Chow expressed her insincere sympathy: "My thoughts are with the Jewish community and the injured officer in Belleville. The Jewish community will see an increased police presence as we take precautions to keep people safe." This is a mayor who refused to take part in a discussion on rampant antisemitism in Toronto. 

"Jewish Torontonians should not need police presence to observe Yom Kippur, or to simply live their day-to-day lives."

"As long as we contend with rising antisemitism and hate, we will spare no expense keeping the community safe."

Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow 

These hypocritical words of comforting empathy from a mayor of all the people who has somehow found herself unable to support the Jewish community, preferring the company of Muslim associations where she obligingly mouths condemnation of Israel for its 'genocidal' actions in Gaza, effectively smearing the Toronto Jewish community even further at a time of rancid, growing antisemitism expressed in threats and covert vandalization of Jewish businesses, houses of prayer, children's schools and old-age homes.

 

On the board of Allies for a Strong Canada, dedicated to mobilizing non-Jewish Canadians in an effort to fight antisemitism in Canada, Laryssa Waler expressed her goal to have decision-makers and policy leaders understand that "it's not the responsibility of the Jewish community to solve antisemitism". The plain fact is that Jews in Canada have been abandoned by their governments at all levels, who are all too aware of the weight of the voting bloc of Canada's new Muslim demographic, as opposed to the infinitely smaller Jewish presence of far longer presence.

Police vehicles on scene after a shooting near a Belleville synagogue on Sept. 20, 2026. CITYNEWS/Bert Dandy

 

"Jewish people can't make non-Jews not hate them. They can't be nicer. They can't be more giving. They can't be more polite. It's on us not to hate them and to defend them and to say loudly 'We live in Canada. You can't hate another group of people."

"In Canada, we would not tolerate any other community being shot at, being harassed. We would lose our collective minds if a Catholic girls' school was shot at three times."

"Are Canadians going to continue to be tolerant of other Canadians being shot at, harassed and made victims of violence for the crime of their religion?"

Laryssa Waler, board member, Allies for a Strong Canada 

Iranian Regime: Crimes Against Humanity

Iranians protest the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in 2022. In a new report Wednesday, Amnesty International said authorities committed crimes against humanity in the regime's deadly crackdown on nationwide protests. (The Associated Press)

"The security forces deployed by the authorities unlawfully killed hundreds of protesters and bystanders, including dozens of children [in the crackdown from September to December 2022]."

"They subjected thousands more to arbitrary arrests, incommunicado detention, enforce disappearance and torture or other ill-treatment."

"They raped and committed other sexual violence against some of those arrested in connection with the protests."

Amnesty International 

 

"She [mother Minoo Majidi] was killed on the street. She had gone to the street. She had gone to the street for change, to shout 'freedom'."

"The world thinks the protests were about freedom for women. They were, but they were also about freedom for people and the right to life."

"Seeking justice is partly for my mum but to help the still many lives who are in danger."

Mahsa Piraei, resident outside Iran 

Photos of the victims of the deadly 2022 crackdown on nationwide protests in Iran after Amini's death ignited the Woman, Life, Freedom movement. Amnesty International 2022 Iran Protest Crackdown Report

 

"Continued global inaction on international justice sends a very dangerous message to the Iranian authorities."

"It effectively signals that they can continue to commit crimes against humanity with absolute impunity." "This normalization of mass protest killings in Iran must end."

 Raha Bahreini, Amnesty International Iran researcher

 

Amnesty International released a major report on Wednesday saying that Iranian authorities committed crimes against humanity during the suppression of the 2022 Woman, Life, Freedom uprising. Secretary General Agnès Callamard, left, spoke at a news conference in London Wednesday, alongside Raha Bahreini, Amnesty International's Iran researcher in London and Mahsa Piraei. (Adrian Di Virgilio/CBC)

 

Amnesty International has released a new report on the Iranian regime's crackdown on the 2022 protests over the death in custody of Kurdish-Iranian Mahsa Amini, arrested on charges of violating strict dress codes for women in Iran, by wearing her hijab a trifle too carelessly for the Iranian morality police. For her casual indiscretion, made by a country girl visiting the Iranian metropolis of Tehran, this was a cardinal, punishable sin and she paid for it with her life. The enraged public demanded justice on her behalf. For their troubles, the justice that was carried out by the regime was additional murders of protesters.

 

Labelling the Iranian regime's response to the public outrage as 'crimes against humanity' that included murder, torture, rape and enforced disappearances, four years following the protests Amnesty named 87 national and regional officials responsible for the carnage wrought on Iranian citizens, exercising a 'right of protest' which was unrecognized as a right by the Islamic Republic. Of the named officials, six were killed four years later in the joint U.S.-Israeli airstrikes; those who were in fact responsible in the chain of command.

 

The Woman, Life, Freedom movement reproaching the theocratic authorities and demanding justice, as horrible as the consequences were, was simply a rehearsal for the much larger, more deadly response by the regime in January of 2026 when in cities across the Islamic Republic, hundreds of thousands of Iranians were out on the streets, demanding that the authorities act to amend the injuriously high cost of living. The performance of that deadly crackdown showed just what the persecutory regime was capable of, on January 8 and 9, 2026.

 

People clash with police during a protest in September 2022 in Tehran, Iran. On Wednesday, Amnesty International released a report detailing the violent police crackdown against people protesting after the death of Mahsa Amini, 22, that month. File photo by EPA-EFE

 

The 1,00-page report issued by Amnesty focused on the 2022 protests. "The extensive evidence gathered and analyzed in our report leaves no doubt: Iranian authorities committed crimes against humanity to crush the 2022 Woman, Life, Freedom uprising", stated Amnesty International's secretary-general, Agnes Callamard. The United Nations was urged to "create an international criminal justice mechanism aimed at prosecuting those most implicated".

 

Of the 87 officials the report named, former supreme leader Ali Khamenei and top figures in the Revolutionary Guard Corps who were killed in the U.S.-Israel war were included. Others, included Ahmad Vahidi, then the interior minister, and at the present time chief of the Revolutionary Guards, remain alive. 

 

Minoo Majidi, 62, was one of those identified by Amnesty, killed by metal pellets as she was protesting in the Western city of Kermanshah in September of 2022. Her daughter, living outside Iran, has become an outspoken critic of the murderous theocracy, advocating for the human rights of the Iranian people. Her focus is on those who were arrested, at risk of execution. Among them Ali Zarei, blinded in one eye during the 2022 protests who took refuge in Germany, then returned to Iran where he was arrested and sentenced to death. "We need to shout out their names", said Mahsa Piraei.  

"[The crackdown on the January protesters represented the] unprecedented massacres of thousands of protesters and bystanders [that] bear the same hallmarks as the crimes against humanity documented in this report, yet on an even deadlier and more staggering scale."

Amnesty International  

Amnesty's investigation identified 87 officials it says must be criminally investigated for committing crimes against humanity for their alleged involvement in implementing state policy of lethal force to crush nationwide protests. (Amnesty International)

 

Critical Race Theory in Action in Ontario Public Schools

"[The slide presentation has ten] anti-oppression agreements. [Among them], I will accept that the institution of Education is an instrumental tool for maintaining and furthering the ideology of white supremacy."

"[The following] agreement [includes a commitment to] dismantle the structures and systems of white supremacy."

York Region elementary school

 

"Dismantling Hate and Oppression [framework where schools are compromised by] colonial ideology [leaving staff unwitting supporters of white supremacy]."

"The ideology of white supremacy impacts attitudes and behaviours in all peoples, regardless of race, culture, gender, or religion and this over time, contributes to these behaviours and attitudes becoming normalized and taken-for-granted."

York Region District School Board framework

 

"'Crazy' [as in schools permitting 'Crazy Hair Day' to take place] is a term that is ableist. It is demeaning to those living with a mental illness and unfairly stigmatizes those whose hair does not conform with the norm on a daily basis as 'crazy'."

"For students and colleagues who, for example, wear hijabs, turbans, or have complex medical needs, are their voices being included in days such as this?"

Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario

School boards in Ontario have transcended the old, familiar, reliable method of educating and preparing children for their futures within the Province of Ontario, where literacy is valued along with numeracy and a knowledge of history, science, geography and other studies which helped produce a well-rounded public school student who at graduation was prepared to go on to secondary school and from there, to post-secondary school academia. That is passe. 

 

Fealty to a new social dynamic that incorporates Critical Race Theory, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, and a good dollop of 'progressive' brings social politics into the equation, for which history, math, literature, and writing may be sacrificed. With the start of the 2026-27 school year, the opportunity to further indoctrinate school staff into the sacred realms of wokeism began by reinforcing the reality of a requirement to destroy white supremacy within the school system. 

"[The equitably competent staff member is one who] actively works to dismantle racist and oppressive school and system practices and structures [and] intentionally names, challenges and addresses white supremacy."

Waterloo Region District School Board 

 

"Equity audits [are practised to ensure schools are appropriately purging themselves of alleged white supremacy]."

"In what ways will you challenge white supremacy culture in your classroom practise?"

"[Educators are required to ask themselves if they avoid classroom practices that emulate "Eurocentric [or] colonial [practices]."

Peel District School Board 

All-staff meetings became the perfect vector to continue the years'-long process of subverting the old meritorious teaching focus from reading,writing and 'rithmetic -- the perennial, valued '3Rs' to the more valuable social context of highlighting for students the verities in unearned entitlements, shame, and condemnation of what was once held securely entrenched in mind preparation of the young for their bountiful, rewarding futures.

 

Official school board materials now instruct teachers in the province-wide system how degrading to social character it is to continue to reward social-cultural imperialism through the ongoing use of its methodology in indoctrination of vulnerable youth with the values of yesteryear, and the imperative of committing to ripping a hole the size of a canyon in the fabric of conventional society based on the social values that enlightenment and democracy held dear, to replace it with a determined, conscientious reversal identifying misplaced respect to be replaced by abject shame while furthering the prospects of people of colour and the 2SLGBTQQAI+community.

 

School boards throughout Ontario have dedicated themselves to converting the educational system from its tired old colonialist syllabus to one more resonant of the values of the current day. "Equity competencies" have become the achievement goal of all teaching staff, should they wish to continue in their chosen profession. "Anti-oppression agreements" are the order of the day. 

 

All 20,000 teachers of the Toronto District School Board were handed a 40-oage guidebook declaring the act of education in an institutional environment reflected "a colonial structure that centres whiteness". One wonders how many of those teachers were struck with the utter stupidity of it all. Thankfully, public backlash persuaded the Toronto District School Board to remove its 'Facilitating Critical Conversations', which the Ministry of Education of Ontario labelled needlessly divisive. There is yet hope. 

 

Toronto Sun.com

 

"Schooling in North America is inherently designed for the benefit of the dominant culture, white, middle-upper class, male, Christian, cisgender, heterosexual, able-bodied, neurotypical."

"Therefore, it must be actively decolonized."

"Race matters -- it is a visible and dominant identity factor in determining people's social political, economic, and cultural experiences."

Toronto District School Board guidebook, 'Facilitating Critical Conversations' 

 

News Media Failure of Clear Professional Publication Standards

The New York Times building. (Jonathan Torgovnik/Getty Images)

 

"Together, these patterns support a narrative in which total casualty figures are treated as civilian losses."

"[The findings demonstrated dependence on aggregate numbers from Hamas limited citations of data on terrorist deaths and] disproportionate doubt directed at different sources." 

Tatiana Glezer, Fifty Global independent research group 

 

"Estimates indicating a high proportion of civilian deaths may contribute to reframing a conflict from war to genocide."

"In this sense, quantitative representations of harm are not neutral; they carry interpretive consequences that shape both public discourse and institutional judgment."

"[The Gaza health ministry] became the primary source of statistical information about the war casualties."

"Overall, this essential disclaimer about the composition of the casualties appeared in only about 15 percent of all analyzed publications."

"[Reporting absent a fuller picture where data comes from can lead to one side being viewed as victims and the other side as] criminal or genocidal [especially in online discourse]."

Selective Sources, Scrutiny, and the Absence of Standards in Military Conflict Coverage study  

Dash cam footage shows an armed Hamas terrorist at the Supernova music festival, near Kibbutz Reim in the Negev desert in southern Israel, on Oct. 7, 2023. Photo by ANONYMOUS/AFP

 

Published in the peer-reviewed journal Digital Hate Review on September 15, the study, Selective Sources, Scrutiny, and the Absence of Standards in Military conflict Coverage, pointed out that major media outlets which included The New York Times, The Guardian and Associated Press, when reporting on the Israel-Hamas war, placed their reliance on casualty figures provided by the Gaza Ministry of Health, an associate arm of the Hamas terrorist organization.

 

Study researchers concluded through this study that journalists cited numbers provided by the ministry in 100 percent of the publications reviewed in the study. Israeli-provided data was cited, in comparison, by only three percent of all articles under review. Triggered by an attack by Palestinian terrorists led by Hamas when thousands crossed the border from Gaza into southern Israel on 7 October 2023, slaughtering 1,200 mostly civilians in Israel, taking 251 children, families, women, men, foreign farm workers and Israeli soldiers back into Gaza, Israel responded by its defense forces entering Gaza to rout out the terrorists.

 

Security footage at the Kibbutz Be’ri showing Hamas shooting point blank at passengers in a car. Handout

 

By 2025, as part of a U.S.-negotiated peace agreement, the Israeli Defense Forces began withdrawing troops, despite which violence and unrest continue in the region, as Hamas uses the break in the conflict to rearm, recruit and reassert its violent agency in the Gaza Strip, that part not policed by still-present Israeli troops. Hamas remains defiant to the orders given it by a 'peace committee', to surrender their arms. In the interim, any Palestinians in Gaza remaining under Hamas rule, who chafe at the continued domination and persecution, are summarily shot. Rival clan groups in Gaza have attempted to unseat Hamas, inconclusively.

 

It was the focus of the study to research their topic by investigating 1,378 articles that saw publication from March to June of 2024 in eight English-language news outlets, specifically, CNN, BBC, The New York Times, The Guardian, The Washington Post, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Reuters and Associated Press. This was a period when Israeli hostages were still being held in Gaza. These members of the legacy media under study were found not to have made distinctions between terrorists and civilian deaths in their reportage, just as the Gaza Ministry of Health did not.

 

During the war, the study suggests a more comprehensive understanding of deaths could have been achieved through the inclusion of both primary sources: the Israel Defense Forces, providing estimates of terrorist casualties and the Gaza Ministry of Health, which does not. In 2024, the IDF stated that terrorists are classified by them as individuals who were killed while in possession of weapons. Which of the news outlets made mention of the fact that the ministry's figures fail to distinguish between civilians and terrorists were also examined by the study. 

 

Fighters with the Ezz-Al Din Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Hamas terrorist organization, rest on a sidewalk during a patrol in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on January 26, 2020. Photo by SAID KHATIB / AFP

 

The BBC was found to be the outlet that most frequently made note of the ministry's affiliation with Hamas; some 95 percent of its articles. On the other hand, only 5 percent of CNN articles made mention of that fact, and articles appearing in The New York Times and The Washington Post made that mention in merely 2 percent of their articles. As for which outlets made mention that the ministry's figures fail to distinguish between civilians and terrorists, The Associated Press and The Washington Post made that mention in roughly 40 percent of articles; the BBC and Reuters did in 1 to 2 percent of articles.

 

Academic Self-Validation of Jew-hate Through Expressions of Anti-Zionism

"Anti-Zionism is a hate movement. This would be akin to having different white supremacists of various persuasions with university degrees coming together to say, ‘Hey, we need to get our ducks in a row."

"It felt to me like it is an effort to legitimize and really crystallize the idea of anti-Zionism to make it a little more consistent and, of course, palatable to the masses."

"[The university is giving a platform to antisemites by allowing the working group to exist. The word genocide in the description is] one of the most destructive and deadly anti-Jewish libels in history."

"What’s happened in Gaza has been extremely destructive and the suffering there has been unimaginable, but there is a difference between counterterrorism and war and genocide."

"The situation in Gaza was not a war that Israel asked for."

Casey Babb, director, Macdonald-Laurier Institute, Ottawa think tank

 

"It’s difficult to unpack exactly what he’s saying. I would have loved if the university had made a statement immediately. I would have loved even better if the university had never allowed [the working group page] to be put up."

"It’s important to know that people [Jewish students at the university] are not alone, and that this hasn’t gone without notice."

David Jacobs, member, University of Toronto’s governing council  

 

"We still haven’t seen the overall change that’s needed, and no single action is going to make that happen. Rather, we need to continue and develop our sustained holistic approach to the problem of antisemitism on campus."

"Actions directed at individual members of our community because they are Jewish or Israeli or identify as Zionist can be harassment, discrimination, and or violate law policy."

"Such actions directed at individuals do not cease to be problematic simply because the word Jewish or Israeli is replaced by the word Zionist."

University of Toronto president Melanie Woodin  

Webpage, The University of Toronto (UofT) Jackman Humanities Institute working group titled "Bridging Theories of Anti-Zionism.  (photo credit: screenshot)

 Leaders from within the Toronto Jewish community have called out the University of Toronto for its 'despicable' research group that has focused on theories surrounding anti-Zionism. The group, Bridging Theories of Anti-Zionism at U of T's Jackman Humanities Institute, is the work of grad students and university faculty having obviously much in common. The question, "What does it mean to critique Zionism as a political ideology, and how have the last three years of genocide in Palestine changed the scholarly engagement with this question?" 

 

That clearly antisemitic hate-charged question is answered with this explanation: "This working group seeks to map these varied streams of anti-Zionist thought and construct a critical genealogy that can inform contemporary scholarship across multiple fields". Scholarly language, in pretense of authenticity of scholarly research to resolve an issue entirely created to give a stamp of academic approval to the curse of antisemitism clothed in integuments of anti-Zionism. 

 

The Jackman Humanities Institute web page that caught the incredulous attention of Dr. David Jacobs, president of the Ontario Association of Radiologists, spurring him to post to social media that he felt dutybound not to overlook "...this latest working group", lest he be "remiss" in his duties, is no longer available; mysteriously removed from public view. Dr. Jacobs' position on the university's governing council makes it all the more imperative that he launch a demand for an enquiry.

 

Anti-Israel protesters outside a Winnipeg synagogue claimed guest speakers from the Israeli Defence Force are “war criminals”   photo credit: Supplied

As he put it, he had expectations that the university would not succumb to permitting any group within its hallowed confines to "indulge in this type of activity", in cognizance of the of the Canadian Heritage 2026 federal report's finding that 95.7 percent of Jewish post-secondary students in Canada revealed that they had experienced or witnessed rank antisemitism on campus throughout the year before. 

 

Director of the Jackman Institute, Professor Randy Boyagoda, issued a statement that it "affirms the academic freedom of the individual faculty members involved with all of its working groups and does not endorse particular perspectives associated with any of them". The Institute, in other words respects academic freedom of study, research and enquiry, leaving it to random faculty members to explore issues of importance to them, unshackled by any measure of moral consequences in reaching unproven rancid conclusions as verified facts. 

"The JHI receives proposals from faculty members seeking to convene working groups on various subjects. These proposals are assessed by fellow faculty members."

"As the new director, I have focused on the re-conceptualization and renewal of the JHI’s programming since taking up my appointment in July."

"This includes working groups, among other activities." 

Randy Boyagoda, director, Jackman Humanities Institute (JHI)  

A demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag inside an anti-Israel encampment at the University of Toronto campus on May 2, 2024. Photo by COLE BURSTON /AFP via Getty Images

  

Roiling Friction in the Middle East

"[The security of the holy site is] a red line, [the kingdom]will not hesitate to take the necessary and deterrent measures [against the Yemeni group]."

"This hostile attempt will also remain a black mark in the record of violations by the extremist terrorist Houthi militia, as a deliberate act intended to provoke the feelings of millions of Muslims."

Turki al-Maliki, spokesperson, Saudi-led Coalition Forces 

 

"[Our targets were Saudi oil facilities and military bases] far removed from the holy places."

"The fabrications and lies propagated by the criminal Saudi regime regarding targeting Mecca cannot deceive anyone."

"There is no threat whatsoever from Yemen to the holy sites."

 Yahya Saree, Houthi military spokesman

 

"Any aggression against Islamic holy sites [would be considered] a condemned act [but] a mere claim of intercepting a drone en route to Mecca cannot constitute grounds for accusing a specific party."

"[The Houthis] explicitly denied [the attempted drone attack]."

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei

 

"[The conflict is on the] brink of further escalation and] dialogue and diplomacy remain the only sustainable path to peace." 

"There are no words sufficient to express the depth of pain and sorrow we feel toward this unforgivable and shameful deed."

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif  

Aerial view of the Grand Mosque in Mecca during hajj, May 2026, Saudi Arabia. Saudi Press Agency/Reuters

 

"For the Houthis, as a religiously dominant organization, this would be catastrophic for them—to target Mecca. It’s a lose-lose for them."

"The Houthis are using drones and homemade missiles, so there is a real possibility that the Houthi drone basically misfired."

"[Saudi Arabia] is trying to say that the Houthis are not just waging a political and geo-economic war against them, they are trying to target the most sacred religious site in Islam, and that resonates deeply." 

"Both sides are now engaged not only in military hostilities, but also for the hearts and minds of Arabs and Muslims." 

Fawaz Gerges, professor in international relations, London School of Economics  

Yemen's Houthis were accused by the Saudi-led coalition of targeting the holy city of Mecca. The Muslim world exploded in outrage. Riyadh's statement that it had shot down a drone heading toward Mecca, was rejected as a 'lie' by the Houthis. Renewed violence between the Houthis and Yemen's internationally recognized government backed by Saudi Arabia has pulled both Saudi Arabia and the Houthis back into a conflict situation, with the Houthis once again blockading maritime shipment in the Red Sea, specifically targeting Saudi ships. 

 

The entire Red Sea coast of Yemen was seized a week earlier by the Houthis, along with the vital shipping artery for Saudi oil, the narrow Bab al-Mandab Strait, which Saudi Arabia had turned to as an alternative to the IRGC-blocked Strait of Hormuz as its preferred shipping route. This is not the first time the Houthis were accused of launching attacks toward Mecca, in an earlier conflict. Vowing retaliation, the Saudi coalition warned then that the security of holy sites represented a 'red line', and it has now been reiterated.

 

A commercial vessel is anchored off Yemen's coast at Bab al-Mandab, where Houthi militants have seized new islands, further threatening the world’s oil supply. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

 

During this year's pilgrimage a video was released by the Saudi defence ministry of advanced air defence batteries positioned on Mecca's outskirts, now home to a large number of security forces responsible for crowd control and security. The 57-member Organization of Islamic Cooperation condemned the "heinous attacks ... against the city of Mecca and the Madinah region", after Saudi Arabia issued brief alerts of potential attacks in Mecca and across parts of the south.

 

A wave of ballistic missile and drone attacks launched from Yemen, was the precursor of the alerts. The Houthis have controlled swaths of northern Yemen for years, and in July a large-scale offensive was launched against government forces. The Arabian Peninsula's poorest country has seen 82,000 Yemeni civilians flee their homes in the past month, according to the United Nations. The government, according to the UN Yemeni permanent representative, was fighting to restore "national institutions across every inch of their land", calling on the international community to take action against the Houthis.

 

Muslim pilgrims completing Hajj rituals at Islam's holiest site in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, on May 30, 2026.  Ali Atmaca—Anadolu via Getty Images

 

At the same time, Saudi Arabia and Egypt call for the Red Sea navigation freedom to be restored. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi have jointly called for a unified move "ensuring the freedom and security of maritime navigation" through Hormuz and Bab al-Mandab, linking the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden.

 

It was reported in the U.S. media that the Saudi Crown Prince had personally requested that U.S. President Donald Trump intervene with U.S. forces, a request that was rejected. According to the Houthis, no threat exists to navigation in Bab al-Mandab other than for Saudi vessels. Nonetheless the prospect of potential attacks in the waterway will suffice to ensure its transit appears unattractive to shippers.

 

Meanwhile, disruption in the strait, where the Red Sea represents a gateway to the Suez Canal, which Cairo depends upon for critical foreign revenue is critically threatened, while Saudi Arabia will see its oil revenues collapse with no way to ship its oil to markets abroad, resulting once again in the rise of oil prices globally.