November 14, 2021
Dear Ms Russell-Rawlins,
A very concerning student protest has come to our attention and we are asking that you direct your attention to this with all urgency. Below is a video posted on Instagram about this anti-Israel protest held on Friday, which is an example of how Jew hatred is spreading across the TDSB, and must be confronted immediately!
I can send you more postings but I think the video well illustrates the messaging that calls for the destruction of Israel—that translates to genocide! If you have any doubts—“from the river to the sea” is the entire expanse of Israel and calling for it “to be free” is a call for its elimination, but bringing it under Palestinian Arab control has nothing to do with freedom, with democracy, with equality. It is a call for Muslim supremacy, for an end to the only Jewish majority country but also the only democratic country in the Middle East.
Israel provides equal rights to all citizens and also provides the best opportunity for a good life for Arabs, including women, LGBTQ folks and all minorities. There are Islamists in the government and Arabs in all walks of life, so why do TDSB students not know this? Why are Ontario students ignorant of facts, of evidence, of history and the legality of Israel which is as legal as Canada, as legal as Iran, as legal as Syria and every other country in the world? Why do students of the TDSB promote lies, hatred, and enmity towards other human beings?
The Pro-Palestinian movement isn’t about care and concern for a persecuted people, because the only persecution that is experienced by Arabs is brought about by the terrorist regimes that oversee Palestinian Arab life—Hamas and the Palestinian Authority—regimes of terror, Holocaust denial, ethnic cleansing, Islamofacism, and both are intent on the murder of Jews.
As well as being shocked by scenes from this protest in a Canadian neighborhood, it is shocking to see that once again school board educators are praising this outburst of hatred, and Harpreet Ghuman, Superintendent of Education seems to also be praising this outrage. See his tweet here:
It is going to take a major effort and a well-developed plan, initiated immediately, to counter this anti-Jewish, alarming and potentially dangerous event. That students were encouraged by teachers, and involved the neighborhood now makes that part of the city unsafe for Jews. Can you imagine what a Jewish student would feel if attending Marc Garneau Collegiate?
I intend to be in touch with Hon. Marc Garneau with the intent of suggesting he have his name removed for this school if there is no corrective action taken as this protest is an insult to him and every Canadian of goodwill.
CAEF asks that TDSB immediately adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism and implement it! We suggest a mandatory all-in-school educational program, with a few expert speakers to cover Jewish history, Israel’s legal rights and the Israel-Palestinian Arab conflict with evidence not opinion, and do this expediently as the students and community have been mobilized to do damage. Stop Jew hatred Now!
We await your response and plan for action.
Regards,
Anita Bromberg,
President
Andria Spindel,
Executive Director
Canadian Antisemitism Education Foundation
PO Box 77598 Sheppard Plaza PO
Toronto, ON
M3H 6A7