The Subjective Politicisation of Canadian Universities

"It's been 21 years since I attended the first 'Israeli Apartheid Week' at the University of Toronto. Since then, I have been on the front lines witnessing countless demonstrations, anti-Israel speakers and even the now infamous 'boycott, divestment and sanctions' campaigns promulgating hate against the Jewish state and Jewish students. The situation has only gotten worse for our children."

"Who would have thought that the Palestinian flag would make an acceptable appearance at some graduation ceremonies this past spring?"

"The consequences of these sobering statistics are transforming how Jewish students live and learn as they and their parents worry for their safety, given the report's finding that 22 percent have experienced some sort of physical violence."

Avi Abraham Benlolo, CEO, The Abraham Global Peace Initiative 

Arab Israelis make up: 22% of Israel's population   David Jacobs, X

 

Jewish-Canadian students are preparing to return to their university studies for the 2026 school year. The past three years, since October 7, 2023, academic attendance has taught Jewish students, all the way from elementary school, up to high school and post-secondary institutions that they are very special indeed. They are the only minority group in Canada that has been exposed to raw hate, from their teachers, through an altered curriculum, and from their non-Jewish classmates. School trustees rather than focus on academic performance and excellence in the role of schools in teaching a new Canadian generation have been involved in identity politics. School administrations wanly reject antisemitism, but not without pairing it with 'Islamophobia'.

 

What no one seems to want to mention is that these waves of torrid hate toward Jews long kept under wraps within the civilized society Canada once prided itself on being, has been unleashed by Palestinian students with support from the larger Canadian Muslim population involved in the slander of Israel and the none-too-subtle harassment of Canada's Jewish population, with an especial focus on the most vulnerable; the children of Canada's Jewish community. A community dwarfed in size by the presence of a much larger Muslim population which over the last decade has grown enormously through immigration, refugee intake and acceptance of illegal migrants. 

 

For three years and counting, Jewish students and Jewish faculty members of universities across Canada have had to cope with campus encampments dedicated to validating, supporting and mounting campaigns addressed to maligning, belittling, isolating the presence of Jews on campus as dread and unforgivable 'Zionists' who support the right of Jews to favour and defend the Jewish homeland of Israel, the Jewish state reborn on its ancient ancestral geographic footprint in the Middle East. 

 

A sign is seen urging the university's pension plan to divest from companies that do business with Israel, at the encampment set up at the University of Toronto in May 2024. Photo by Jesse Kline/National Post

• A professor wrote that we need to kill all Zionists, that she had worked with them and saw how evil they were.
• I was told by a professor, in class, in the middle of the lecture, that Jews belong in Poland and need to go back.
• I faced extreme pressure from other student organizations to release a statement against Zionism in my position as president of the (redacted) student union, and had my name placed on a list circulating on and off campus as a 'known Zionist'.
• Professor assigned us to listen to a podcast that discussed how Zionism was similar to Nazism, which was  unrelated to the course.
• I was harassed online ... She went as far as spamming my art page for five days straight, sending me radical reels, calling my elderly family 'killers'.
• Residents at my on-campus residence started rumours about me that I am a child killer, white supremacist, racist, and Zionist, all because these people found out that I was Jewish.
• Jews were described as greedy for money in a lecture.
• In a course that had nothing to do with Israel, my professor spent three weeks talking about Gaza and the creation of the State of Israel. He never mentioned the Holocaust as a precursor to its founding, repeatedly calling the state a 'Zionist political project'.
• When discussing characters in a book, my professor described one character by saying that 'based on his last name, he is clearly Jewish and probably has a hooked nose'.
• Working in my labs, I have had people refuse to work with me due to my Jewish identity and purposely try to mess up my data.
• Several faculty members in my program minimized the Holocaust or used it to condemn the Israeli response immediately after October 7.
• Shortly after October 7, I told my PhD supervisor that I did not feel safe on campus and she replied: 'Well, you should see the other side'.
• A member of my anti-racism research lab at the university minimized the impact of the Holocaust while the other lab members remained silent. For example, she said: 'The Holocaust was not the first time gas chambers were used. They were first used against Indigenous peoples in Canada.' When I raised this with my research supervisor, now tenured, her reaction was to protect the student responsible. For example, she said: 'What happens in the lab stays in the lab'.

National Post Staff 

"Over the past few weeks, CAUT has become aware of a number of disturbing cases in which university administrations have limited or suppressed debate on controversial issues. Whether it is banning posters or noisy demonstrations, we believe such heavy-handed actions constitute a clear threat to the purpose of post-secondary education."
"Not surprisingly, the failures involve bitterly contentious issues. One is Middle East politics. Last month Carleton University and the University of Ottawa banned a student organization poster for Israeli Apartheid Week because the universities felt it too provocative. The poster, by noted political cartoonist Carlos Latuff, shows a stylized Israeli warplane firing a missile at a child holding a teddy bear and standing on ground emblazoned with the word “Gaza.” York University has gone even farther, invoking a noise policy to justify handing club suspensions and fines to student organizations that held counter-protests for and against Israeli government policies."
"In invoking the need to be “respectful” and “civil” and to avoid “provo­cation,” too many universities are suppres­sing free speech and freedom of expression. Some universities are even stretching to invoke hu­man rights’ codes to justify suppression when these codes typically address the right to be free from discrimination in employment and in access to services and accommodations and are not meant to silence cam­pus discussion and debate."
"Our institutions must remember the integrity of their central mission, which is so aptly described in the University of Toronto’s statement of institutional purpose: that “within the unique university context, the most crucial of all human rights are the rights of freedom of speech, academic freedom and freedom of research,” and affirms that “these rights are meaningless unless they entail the right to raise deeply disturbing questions and provocative challenges to the cherished beliefs of society at large and of the university itself.”"
"The statement concludes: “It is this human right to radical, critical teaching and research with which the University has a duty above all to be concerned; for there is no one else, no other institution and no other office, in our modern liberal democracy, which is the custodian of this most precious and vulnerable right of the liberated human spirit.” "

The Canadian Association of University Teachers 

 

 

Montreal Jewish Community's 'Apartheid/Genocide/Israel Challenge

"For the City of Montreal to weigh into this conflict would be inappropriate and exacerbate tensions between communities."

"It is not in the city's purview to dictate foreign policy for its residents, as our federal leaders are elected to do that, and no other elected officials are charged with that mandate."

"[Projet Montreal is guilty of] explosive falsehoods [in labelling Israel an] apartheid [regime and accusing its government of] genocide. [Its motion contains] calculated lies and extreme characterizations." 

B'nai Brith Canada 

 

"This is an issue for all Montrealers."

"It's inappropriate for [the City of Montreal] to weigh in on an issue that has nothing to do with everyday Montrealers ... City councillors are elected to run the city, rather than be distracted by things that are lies and dishonest and not factually correct."

"Every single Montrealer should be concerned about this." 

"Jews are facing extreme hostility based on fallacies about apartheid and genocide in a country on the other side of the world."

"Just bringing [the motion up increases the concern for our safety." 

B'nai Brith Canada regional director for Quebec, Paola Samuel 

 

"This is an important message that we are putting in the motion: That we're against antisemitsm, that we're against Islamophobia -- any kind of discrimination and racism."

Projet Montreal Leader Ericka Alneus  

B’nai Brith Canada has written an open letter in response to a Projet Montreal motion due to be tabled on Aug. 24. Photo by Evan Buhler /Montreal Gazette

 

 

A motion by opposition party Projet Montreal to cut institutional ties with the State of Israel, has been placed before Montreal's city council. Introduced on June 4th, the motion calls on city council to "recognize and denounce the apartheid regime in Palestine and the genocide being perpetrated there, and affirm solidarity with Palestinians and other civilian victims of hostilities in the Middle East."

 

 

 

Suspending institutional ties with Israel would be carried out by not inviting state representatives to official events held at city hall "until Israel returns to its internationally recognized borders, ceases its violations of the rights of the Palestinian people, and ends its violations of international law." Set to be presented on June 15 originally, the motion was pushed to August 24, following Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada removing it from the agenda.

 

Mayor Ferrada had proposed an alternative text, the Declaration for Civil Peace, Intercultural Dialogue and Living Together, with the intent of recognizing the plight of all civilians in armed conflicts. Under the council's procedural rules the amendment had not been submitted in advance, and thus carried no force as an act of the city. In response to which B'nai Brith asked the administration to table it properly on August 24, "so that councillors have something to vote for". 

 

The correlation between conflict in the Middle East and resultant increases in antisemitism was highlighted in B'nai Brith's letter. Statistics Canada data indicated that incidents targeting Jewish people peaked at 959 in 2023, the very year of the October 7 Hamas attack in southern Israel. The 788 incidents  of last year represented 60 percent greater incident occurrences than the 492 reported by police in 2021. 

 

"The community feels vulnerable. You don't feel unsafe every day walking down the street, but you do feel like you have to be careful who you talk to and if you're going to be honest about how you feel", observed B'nai Brith Canada's Quebec regional director Paola Samuel. 

 

Montreal Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada is joined by Projet Montréal city councillor Ericka Alneus, left, and Montreal North borough mayor Christine Black, at City Hall in Montreal Monday, June 15, 2026. Photo by John Mahoney /Montreal Gazette

 

"[Projet Montreal is being] deceitful and inflammatory [in conflating Israel with Apartheid South Africa as part of the motion."

"Canada has rejected the view that Israel's actions constitute apartheid."

"The war in the Middle East is highly polarizing, impacting Jewish Canadians, Israelis, Palestinians, Muslims, Iranians, and others who call this city their home." 

"All have powerful emotions and beliefs about the past three years."

"Montreal must be a place for each and every one of us."

B'nai Brith Canada 

How Well is Canada Led by its New Economics Expert PM Mark Carney?

"It's hard to imagine why an unelected senator should be travelling anywhere outside of the country on taxpayers' dime, so Gagne billing taxpayers almost $1million to fly around the world is completely unacceptable."

"Prime Minister Mark Carney needs to hold Gagne accountable and make sure senators aren't globe-trotting on the taxpayer credit card." 

Franco Terrazzano, Canadian Taxpayers Federation 

 

"Despite their current prevalence in Canada, research has consistently shown that corporate welfare is largely wasteful and generally fails to achieve its stated goals."

Alex Whalen, director, Atlantic Canada Prosperity Initiative, Fraser Institute

 

"[According to a newly published study by the Fraser Institute, corporate subsidies are unfair to businesses that don't receive them, with research showing] there is little connection between sustained, widespread economic growth or job creation and corporate subsidies."

"[Several studies offer various conclusions around the] wasteful nature [of corporate subsidies, including the incentive for firms to lobby government instead of delivering better services]."

Fraser Institute

Senate Speaker Raymonde Gagné    Courtesy of the Senate of Canada

 

Between 2007 and 2015, according to data, spending on subsidies to Canadian businesses (corporate welfare) increased from $22.2 billion to $25.1 billion; 23.8 percent. That increase rose to 44.2 percent from 2014 to 2019. By 2024 the figure was $87.7 billion, tripling and more, the 2015 figure. "Corporate welfare" is defined by the Fraser Institute as payments from government to private businesses intended to achieve specific objectives that are not payments for goods or services rendered". Rather they are paid with an economic objective; to boost a particular industry or to achieve job growth.

 

When accounting for inflation and population, the study found that spending on subsidies increased in every province and at the federal level between 2015 and 2024. Years that coincide with the ruling governing tenure of the Liberal Party, first under PM Justin Trudeau, no economic wizard he, and followed by the former Governor of the Bank of England, internationally renowned economic wizard, who left the Exchequer in a bit of a ruinous state. 

 

Mr. Carney's recent sovereign wealth fund, the Canada Strong Fund, patterned on the one he installed in Britain and generally viewed as a failure, faces criticism from Conservative thinkers for its role in helping the government of Canada to hand out more "corporate welfare", from a fund that as it happens, operates with government-borrowed money. 

 

 

 

In other areas where government appointees have felt entitled to lavish taxpayer funds on personal vanity travels, Canada's recent-past Governor General Mary Simon led the way on entitlements. From rather too-ample clothing allowances, to out-of-this world costs of on-board travel sumptuous catering and reservations at sky-high pricey hotel accommodations, Mary Simon taught the Canadian public just how grand entitlements were for her.

"Taxpayers caught the governor general billing us thousands on absurdly extravagant and expensive trips that she should never have taken in the first place."

"Taxpayers forced the governor general to cut spending following a scandal that included multiple committee testimonies and reports calling for spending restraint. But the governor general hiked travel costs once she thought taxpayers and members of Parliament weren’t looking."

"Now it’s time for MPs to take responsibility and cut wasteful spending at Rideau Hall."

Franco Terrazzano, CTF federal director 

Now it's Raymonde Gagne's turn; she and her entourage billed taxpayers $875,677 on  14 international trips since May of 2023 when she was appointed speaker of the Senate by former PM Justin Trudeau. Since records fail to include costs of her more recent trips to Chile, Tunisia and the Netherlands, total costs of her international trips will total much higher. 

 

Records for her most recent trip of a "courtesy call" by Senator Gagne to Horii Iwao, state minister for Foreign affairs, Japan, turned out to be a 45 minute visit. Yet her entourage included three fellow senators along with two Parliamentary staff and Madam Gagne's husband. That trip alone was $107,594. "If Gagne wants to make a courtesy call to a Japanese politician, then she should pick up the phone instead of billing taxpayers six figures. In what world is it acceptable for an unelected senator to bill taxpayers thousands of dollars for meals and receptions?" queried Franco Terrazzano.

King Charles III receives Canada's Speaker of the Senate Raymonde Gagné during an audience at Buckingham Palace on March 12, 2025. Photo by Aaron Chown /Getty Images

 

A trip to Spain and the United Kingdom including an audience with King Charles III, cost a total of $105,156; the entourage including three other senators, Gagne's spouse, and two staffers in March of 2025. Senator Gagne and seven others took a trip in 2024 to New Zealand for "business calls" in Rotorus, Christchurch and Wellington, for a total cost of $118,965. Senator Gagne posed for a photograph with the mayor of Rotorus Lakes, a popular tourist destination.

 

Senator Gagne, who speaks of her love of travelling, took in Switzerland, France, the United States, Belgium, Brazil Romania, the Czech Republic and South Africa. She had visited 30 counties and almost every continent.  

"A friend encouraged me to travel and I decided to visit the Galapagos Islands with her. As a biology teacher, I have always been fascinated by Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. I had read his book and attended exhibitions on the subject. This trip was an important step for me because I felt the need to keep exploring. I couldn't stay stagnant. It was a pivotal moment, [after the death of her first husband]."

"My current partner also likes to travel, and we have explored India and Japan together. These are countries that are completely different from what we are used to. I cherish those experiences." 

Speaker of the Senate Raymonde Gagne

 

"If senators aren't going to represent anyone but themselves then they need to not represent anyone for a lot less money."

Franco Terrazzano, Canadian Taxpayers Federation 

The Canadian delegation at Rotorua Lakes Council, including HW Tania Tapsell, Mayor. Photo by Office of the Clerk

 

GazaGenoLIE

"The term 'genocide', along with other international legal terms, has been deliberately and systematically hijacked, redefined, inverted and weaponized to demonize, delegitimize, and apply double standards to 'the Jews' among nations."

"This well-orchestrated campaign to spread a modern blood libel accusing Israel of 'genocide' began before any Israeli response to Hamas' genocidal war crimes and crimes against humanity of October 7." 

Michal Cotler Wunsh, CEO, International Legal Forum  

Gaza GenoLIE logo.  (photo credit: Courtesy)

 

A campaign has been launched naming itself the "Gaza GenoLIE", supported by over 35 organizations worldwide in a campaign they have joined for the purpose of debunking "Hamas genocidal propaganda" surrounding the war in Gaza. Organizations beside the International Legal Forum include the Anti-Defamation League, the Scholars for Peace in the Middle East, and the World Jewish Congress. 

 

The claims of genocide were initiated on October 8, 2023, a day following the invasion of southern Israel from Gaza by Palestinian terrorist groups led by Hamas, when 1,200 Israelis, mostly civilian, were slaughtered. A somewhat precipitate accusation, given the reality that Israel's ground operation into Gaza began on October 27. 

 

According to Amnesty International, a number of United Nations bodies and other international groups --their investigations have uncovered evidence that they claim validates the assertions that Israel committed genocide during the Gaza War. Bearing in mind that these very organizations are anything but neutral with respect to their accusations against the Jewish state. 

 

For its part, Israel has repeatedly explained that its military has gone to extraordinary lengths that no other country in a war situation has ever committed to, in striving to limit civilian casualties. This is a war where it is well proven that Palestinian terrorist groups consider the Palestinian public expendable to their plans of attacking Israel and preparing for the response by using their civilian population as shields.

 

People take part in the National March for Palestine - hands off Gaza, a pro-Palestinian protest calling for the government to ''end the genocide and stop arming Israel'', in London, Britain, January 31, 2026. (credit: REUTERS/Jack Taylor)

 

There is a double purpose in that tried-and-true strategy; the first being that using human shields results in the actual terrorists having the protection of soft bodies, and the second that those civilians -- all the better when women and particularly children are killed in the line of battle -- are welcome fodder for public relations campaigns that move the hearts and minds of Western democracies.

 

While acknowledging that some 70,000 people have perished in the war situation deliberately created by Hamas schemes to not only lethally assault Israeli civilian populations -- but to successfully sketch out a scenario naively believed in the West amenable to having its latent simmering antisemitism aroused by the accusations of Israeli 'genocide' against the forever-victims of Palestine -- their terrorist leaders celebrate scoring in their campaign of slander and isolation of Jews from the rest of society. 

 

According to the Gaza GenoLIE website, its purpose is that of an educational initiative relating to the "generated and orchestrated genocide lie promoted by anti-Zionist and antisemitic networks in the United States, Europe and around the world". The campaign argues the most crucial element in claims of genocide is the word "intent"; the 1948 Genocide Convention drafted following the Holocaust refers to certain acts inclusive of killing, causing serious harm, inflicting destructive conditions of life, committed "with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such."

 

A Toronto pedestrian walks past signage stating "End The Genocide In Gaza" as a truck with digital displays of the Israeli citizens taken hostage by Hamas terrorists with signage stating "Bring Them Home" drives by back in November 2023. (Photo Peter J. Thompson/National Post)

 

The convention, they contend, asks whether the perpetrator acted for the specific goal of destroying a protected group. Israel, they argue, waged war to dismantle Hamas and bring the release of the Israeli hostages; the civilian death toll a consequence of urban combat against an enemy that "purposely and cynically embed(ed) itself among its own population."

 

The war Israel fought was to target Hamas, not the Palestinians. When, on October 8, Israel declared war, four aims were made clear: recover the hostages; dismantle Hamas's military capacity; remove Hamas as Gaza's governing authority; ensure Gaza could never again carry out such a horrendous attack.

 

Israel, moreover, issued evacuation warnings in advance of military operations, dropped millions of Arabic-language leaflets and placed tens of millions of phone calls, texts, and recorded messages in Arabic to urge civilians to leave identified combat zones. "None of the aims reference Palestinians. They refer to an armed terror organization -- its fighters, weapons, and rule." 

 

List of all 40 organizations involved in the campaign.

 

"[Hamas's claim of Israel's 'genocide' against Palestinians threatens foundational principles of law by hijacking the term genocide to spread] a modern blood libel [in accusing Israel of committing genocide against the Palestinian people]." 

Michal Cotler Wunsch 

 

 

"An Intensely Hostile Minority can Generate a Disproportionate Number of Incidents Against a Particular Community"

"[Hate crime counts show how] an intensely hostile minority can generate a disproportionate number of incidents against a particular community even when attitudes toward that community are less negative."

"[Half of Canadians express a negative opinion of Islam] but more than half of that group place themselves in the most negative category."

"[Suggesting attitudes are] not merely characterized by uncertainty or discomfort but are fairly entrenched for more than one in four."

"The biggest change is in views toward Judaism." 

Jack Jedwab, president, Association for Canadian Studies 

Statistics Canada recorded 788 hate crimes targeting Jewish people in 2025, down 16 per cent from 943 a year earlier, but still 71 per cent of all religion-motivated incidents. Photo by Ashley Fraser/Postmedia

 

The results of a new opinion poll, commissioned by the Association for Canadian Studies, in a Leger survey, leaves the message that Islam is the most negatively viewed faith in Canada. Even so, public opinion of Judaism was seen to have fallen furthest over a 15-month period, summed up by Jack Jedwab, president of the Association for Canadian Studies that "the biggest change is in views toward Judaism."

 

The opinion of twenty-six percent of Canadians was positive for Islam, while 50 percent gave their opinion as negative; more people were negatively disposed toward Islam which in the poll stood out as the only faith tested where  more people expressed negative opinions than positive.  A year earlier the same question saw the split at 30 percent positive, and 49 percent negative for Islam. 

 

On every survey measure, Judaism shifted, with forty percent saying they had a positive (down from 49 percent) and 32 percent claiming a negative opinion (increased from 25 percent). Nine percent noted their opinion of Judaism as very positive, a decrease from 15 percent, while 12 percent called their Judaism opinion very negative, increased from its former eight percent position. For Islam, on the other hand, 28 percent gave their opinion as very negative increased from 24 percent in March of 2025.

 

According to Leger’s latest survey on perceptions of Israel, only 22% of Canadians say they have a favourable impression of Israel. That is down from 33% in 2023. At the same time, unfavourable views have risen sharply, reaching 61%. The findings point to a major deterioration in public sentiment, even as Canadians continue to hold more balanced views on certain underlying principles tied to security, statehood, and coexistence.  Leger

 

788 hate crimes were recorded by Statistics Canada targeting Jewish people in 2025, a decrease of 15 percent from 943 a year earlier. Which still left the position of 71 percent of all religion-motivated incidents targeting people of Jewish extraction. While religion-motivated hate crime fell 18 percent overall to 1,115 incidents and Muslims were targets in 204, a decease of 11 percent. 

"Christianity] is more familiar and elicits a response from a larger share of Canadians."

"[It] consequently has the higher positive rating across the complete sample, but not among respondents who actually express a view."

Jack Jedwab  

In 2023, incidents targeting Jewish people peaked at 959, last year's 788 events being 60 percent above the 492 incidents recorded in 2021. The survey questions posed separately on Jews and Arabs as groups, resulted in 50 percent positive for Jews, 20 points higher than for Judaism, and 44 percent claimed positive for Arabs, as opposed to the 25 percent for Islam. Negative views of Arabs rose to 33 percent from 25 percent in 2025, with negative views of Jews rising two percentage points to 15 percent.

 

Fifty-seven percent of respondents were positive on Christianity, a reduction from the previous 58, while the portion calling for very positive fell six points to 20 percent. On the survey for the first time, Atheism was treated positive by fifty percent, and 29 percent had no opinion. Among Canadians aged 18 to 24, 41 percent were positive for Islam, as opposed to 22 to 25  percent in every other age group. 

 

Among francophone respondents, 15 percent were positive on Islam and 25 percent on Judaism. representing the lowest on both, of any language group. Francophones were the sole group to rate Atheism above Christianity. Judaism sat at 27 percent positive in Quebec, 13 percentage points below the national figure. The online survey reached 1,428 people from June 19 to 21 through an online panel. Sikhism,Hinduism and Buddhism were not among the tested categories. 

 

50% of Canadians Hold a Negative View of Islam. Muslim Network TV

 

"[Antisemitism is producing] an exceptionally high and disproportionate share of religion-motivated criminal incidents."

"[But that] shouldn't diminish the importance of addressing hostility toward all faith communities."

Jack Jedwab, President Association for Canadian Studies 

A "Softer, Compassionate Approach" ... Unrestrained Jew-Hate

"It is our ethical duty to speak out against the genocide being committed against the Palestinian people."

"I was born in apartheid South Africa where my family were lesser humans under the law. Our freedom is incomplete without freedom for the Palestinians."

"I did go to a small number of protests on work days but would take vacation days for that."

"I could no loner bring myself to give my labour to a workplace where people were targeted for speaking out against a genocide, including the bombing of hospitals and the murder and abduction of our Palestinian colleagues."

Kavita Algu, one-time palliative care MD, Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto 

 

"Sinai Health is committed to fostering a respectful, inclusive and professional workplace where all our people feel supported, and patient care remains our top priority."

"We don't share details or comment about our employees, physicians, scientists, learners or volunteers."

"Our highest priority is to ensure accessible and safe care for all."

"[We take] any concerns related to workplace culture, professionalism, or discrimination seriously and address them through established policies and fair, confidential processes."

Mount Sinai Hospital spokesperson 

Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto

 

Dr. Algu worked at Mount Sinai Hospital as a palliative care doctor for a decade. Then came October 7, 2023, and she became an instant advocate for Palestinian rights when Israel responded to the massacre, rapes, mutilations, hostage-taking by Palestinian terrorists flooding into southern Israel from Gaza, led by Hamas. All the propaganda of Palestinian victimhood by a racist-occupying Jewish state that was propagated in the West by willing news media convinced many people, validated by Palestinian student groups marching through Canadian cities to label Israel genocidal, set the stage for savage harassment of Canadian Jews.

 

Mount Sinai Hospital was created in the early 20th century by Jewish-Canadian doctors and other Jewish health-care professionals who found themselves locked out of Canada's health and medical institutions at a time of severe national antisemitism. The hospital gained a reputation as an outstanding institution delivering top health care. And nor did it confine its services to the Jewish-Canadian population; anyone could be treated there, and in time staff expanded to include non-Jewish health practitioners.

 

Dr. Algu resigned from her post at the hospital months after October 7. A result of the palliative care department being roiled with disorder stemming from her anti-Israel activities condemning the Jewish state as genocidal. The hospital administration, alarmed at the sudden dysfunction among formerly collegial medical staff called in a a workplace investigator when Dr Algu lodged a complaint of discrimination. The investigation found that she was disruptive, unprofessional and her disproportionately negative impact in the workplace culture was injurious to the delivery of health care. 

 

 

Some unit physicians declared their feelings of antisemitism within the discord; this when Jewish healthcare workers in other hospitals reported rising prejudice and trauma dismissal resulting from the Hamas attack in Israel, within clinical, academic and social-media institutions. While divisions within the Mount Sinai palliative care unit deepened, departmental heads attempting to be fair and supportive to all, hesitated to delineate clear expectations and boundaries, according to a separate workplace assessment.

 

Deep divisions arose among some hospital staff in the wake of the Israel-Gaza conflict. An open letter was signed by some doctors including Algu's supervisor from the palliative care unit stating that accusing Israel of "apartheid" or "genocide" was untruthful and antisemitic. In response Dr. Algu wrote an open letter of her own, invoking the Canadian government's intervention to broker a ceasefire and support access to medical aid in Gaza.

 

Another doctor at the palliative care unit, Hershl Berman, posted a screenshot of an earlier tweet by Algu on X. She had demanded the University of Toronto stop investing in companies profiting from what the International Court of Justice "has already deemed plausible genocide". Dr. Algu's name and profile photo appeared on Dr. Berman's post, with the caption: "Just because a loud racist minority is yelling hate and lies does not mean U of T has to bow to their wishes even if those people are doctors". 

 

Another of Dr. Berman's X posts stated that people who would avoid a Jewish doctor who supports Israel were fee to find other doctors, given that there were ample nonracist patients to look after. Dr. Algu stated that the post targeted her specifically, creating an "unsafe professional and academic environment". One that she contended violated Sinai Health's respectful workplace policy, forbidding "any act of discrimination, harassment, bullying, or incivility toward any of Sinai Health's people".

 

The environment assessment found Sinai Health leadership failed to manage challenges relating to the expression of views around Israel-Palestine as the leaders had practised a "softer, compassionate approach" and did not clearly and decisively communicate expectations and boundaries during a complex geopolitical situation. The report concluded that Dr. Algu appeared to have a "disproportionately negative impact" on the workplace culture.  

 

A letter was sent to Dr. Algu by the hospital referencing concerns that she posed a risk to safety, including the investigator's assessment of unspecified colleagues who said her social media advocacy was "irresponsible" and inconsiderate of the impact it had on them. She was notified of potential consequences such as sanctions or penalties that could impact the scope of her practise or ability to work in the health system. 

 

"It was  difficult to walk away from a career path I had invested so much into, and a team I genuinely loved."

"I left accepting that I may no longer get to practise in palliative care."

"I lost my job over Palestine, but I found a deeper commitment to life and justice."

Kavita Algu 

 

"Footage from a protest shared by Sa’d showed Algu speaking, apparently in support of activists arrested for their involvement in Palestine Action, a banned terrorist group in the UK."

"Just before she spoke, Tsabar and another protester were bellowing “long live intifada” on bullhorns. The intifada was a period of Palestinian terrorism from 2000 to 2005 which killed around 1,000 Israelis, mostly civilians."

"The intifada was perpetuated largely by Palestinians in the “West Bank” (Judea & Samaria), though this has not stopped Algu from claiming there is “no Hamas” there, a brazen falsehood."

"Algu practices medicine under Duncan Algu Medicine Professional Corporation, alongside Dallas Duncan, an cardiac anesthesiologist at Toronto General Hospital and assistant professor in the Anesthesiology & Pain Medicine department at University of Toronto."

"Like Algu, Duncan is a prolific social media user, repeatedly demonizing Israel online."

"Algu wrote that the world is “witnessing — a livestreamed extermination of Palestinian life.” As evidence, she cited a United Nations report making those scandalous accusations, evidently expecting readers to be impressed by the magnitude of her source. But her evidence is lacking. It was a measly three authors who authored said report: anti-Jewish conspiracy theorist Miloon Kothari, longtime vocal anti-Israel activist Navi Pillay, and Chris Sidoti, affiliated with the anti-Israel boycott movement."  

Honest Reporting Canada 

One for All, and All for One! Saudi-Turkey-Pakistan Alliance

"[Joint statement announcing the signing of the] Mecca Joint Defence Agreement."

"[A] shared commitment to further strengthening collective security and to promoting peace, security and stability in the region and beyond."

Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Pakistan 

 

"The agreement does not represent an effort to establish a military axis or a sectarian bloc."

"Nor is it linked to any nuclear ambitions or arms race. Rather it is focused on building sustainable capabilities."

"[The agreement] does not constitute a threat to the security of any country in the region."

Saudi Deputy Minister for Public Diplomacy Rayed Krimly 

 

"[The alignment] is clearly oriented toward Iran and meant to address Iran's new strategic approach which is geared toward dominance of the broader Gulf region."

"[The fact that Turkey and Pakistan border Iran means they could exercise a different kind of leverage [on Tehran]."

Umar Karim, Saudi foreign policy expert, University of Birmingham, England

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif sign a trilateral joint defense agreement Friday in Mecca, Saudi Arabia.  Murat Cetinmuhurdar / Anadolu via Getty Images

 

What an alliance. Saudi Arabia, the keeper of the holiest site in Islam; Mecca. Turkey, with its second-largest military within the membership of the North American Treaty Organization. And Pakistan, the sole Islamic country that possesses nuclear weapons. Saudi Arabia has been confronted by Iran over its custodianship of Mecca. Since Turkey is a member of NATO, should it be attacked by a regional antagonist like Iran, would that bring the NATO alliance into conflict to protect one of its members? As a nuclear power, Pakistan is not exactly the most stable of countries, beset by its own version of the Taliban. 

 

What an alliance of insecure, tribal, sectarian, ancient-antipathies-alive-to-the-present we have here. A trifecta of genuine Islamist Sunni states prepared to confront the Iranian Shi'ite Axis of 'Resistance'. Mind, they do have a lot in common. Each of those Sunni nations view the presence of a Jewish state in the Middle East as a grave offence against Islam's most sacred concept, that land once consecrated to Islam can never return to the aegis of another religion. Never mind that Judean ancestral heritage long predated the appearance of Islam by millennia.

 

As though to emphasize that the Sunni alliance is meant for the promotion of peace and stability in the region, only a few days earlier, Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Asif, stated that his country considers that "Israel is a threat to the entire Muslim world", calling for "a united military front" against it, just a day after Pakistan signed the joint defense agreement with Saudi Arabia and Turkey. "In the context of Israel, all Muslim countries must unite. I have no doubt about this" said Asif.

 

Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis attacked a Saudi Aramco refinery on Sunday, two days after Saudi Arabia forged a defense pact with Turkey and Pakistan. The alliance pledges mutual defense, which means an armed attack on any one member counts as an attack on all. But after Sunday’s attack, it was not immediately clear whether Turkey or Pakistan would respond.  Democracy Now

 

Not to be outdone by Pakistan, Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan always has an opinion about Israel, with his opinions anything but friendly in the least, despite his sanctimonious statements in support of peace and stability in the region. Obviously peace and stability does not include Israel's presence. The champion of Hamas who celebrates the terrorist group's role in 'resistance', claims that Turkey feels threatened by Israel's attacks on Syria and Lebanon. In the former event, protecting the Syrian Druze community against deadly aggression, and in the latter, fighting back against Hezbollah terrorists sending rockets into Israeli communities in the Golan.

 

But for Erdogan it is Israel that is at fault for "aggression" that poses a threat to the world, and must be stopped. "If the Israeli thuggery is not stopped, the consequences will be borne by the entire region and all of humanity", Erdogan thundered in Turkey's parliament. "Israel must be stopped; this is the duty of humanity and the humanitarian front. History must not be allowed to repeat itself", he righteously spouted.

 

And as though modelled on NATO, the foreign ministry of Pakistan explained the pact would recognize that an attack on any member would be regarded as an attack on all; a rule that was "intended to strengthen collective deterrence". One, however, "not aimed at any particular country". 

 

This image taken from video broadcast by Al-Masirah TV, a Houthi-controlled news channel, shows an explosion at the Sanaa International Airport compound during what the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen said were several Saudi airstrikes in Sanaa, Yemen, July 13, 2026. (Al-Masirah TV via AP)

 

Saudi Arabia is being attacked anew by the Houthis in Yemen. That terrorist group is yet another Iranian proxy, doing the work for the Islamic Republic, the head of the snake that calls itself the Axis of Resistance. Yet that attack has gone unaddressed by this new coalition. Saudi Arabia has responded to the Houthi attacks by counterattacking them, and not the source of their orders, which is Iran. Iran is the sole source responsible for the agitation, fear and absolute instability wracking the region.

 

Yet the regional powers that have been targeted by the Islamic Republican Guard Corps that really run the country now, while seeking to protect themselves and their geographic installations from the destructive Iranian missiles and drones sent their way, fail repeatedly to go on the offensive and counter-attack, putting an end to decades of insecurity wrought by Shi'ite Iran in its deliberate goal to entirely destabilize the region and ensconce itself as the Persian uber-nation in control of the Arab Sunni Middle East.  

"Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan are not trying to replace the United States. They are building the capacity to protect their interests when Washington cannot or will not do so."

"[Riyadh, in particular], wants several layers of security rather than one American umbrella [following the shock of the Iran war]."

Andreas Krieg, King's College London 

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, accompanied by their ministers of Foreign Affairs and Defence, pose after signing a joint defence agreement in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, August 7, 2026. Saudi Press Agency/Handout via REUTERS