Good Works with Results | CAEF Bulletin, Feb 20, 2026
- CAEF
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House of Commons Petitions
Petition e-7123 – Apology for Interning of Jewish Refugess in WWII
CAEF distributed a recent e-petition, E-7123 to be introduced in parliament by Anthony Housefather, MP asking the Government of Canada to more formally apologize for interning 2,300 Jewish refugees during WWII, most because they had a German background. Sadly they were held in camps with actual Nazis who had fled to Canada.
The full motion calls on the government of Canada to create educational materials, mark the 9 sites of the internment camps with information plaques, and teach the next and future generations about this blot on Canadian history. Along with the “none is too many”, policy of the day that kept Jews out of the country, rather than rescuing them, this action enhanced the trauma of war survivors, of those fleeing the death camps and many who has already lost family and were seeking refuge. Living amongst the haters and killers was an ongoing trauma. That Canada turned away a ship load of Jews that arrived on our shores, was a catastrophe and has been recognized and an apology made, but the descendants of the refugees feel that more needs to be said and done to correct the failures of the times. This is a vacuum that CAEF has recognized and is pleased to be working with descendants through the leadership of Ian Darragh, the adopted son of a Jewish refugee.
It is noteworthy that Canada apologized for interning Italians, Ukrainians and the Japanese who were already settled here, and provided funding to educate about the situation that affected the Italians interned, but has not properly acted on the acknowledgement given by former Prime Minister Trudeau in 2018 that Jewish refugees, victims of the Shoah, were grievously mistreated. One of those signing, shared this:
"Just to let you know that I signed the petition and it has had a strong emotional impact on me. Finally the trauma that my father experienced here in Canada, after being imprisoned in Buchenwald, may be recognized by others. He suffered in silence for the rest of his life."
Canadians who have not yet signed, may do so here. At press time: 705 signatures.
Petition E-7069
Petition E-6079, sponsored by Roman Baber MP, calls on the Government of Canada to stop the harassment of Israeli Canadians at the border by Canada Border Services Agency officers, and to stop the discrimination against Canadian charities operating in Israel by the Canada Revenue Agency. It calls on the Government to reject a petition by NDP MP Heather McPherson to issue warnings to all Canadians that national service in Israel could subject them to criminal charges.
Please sign Petition E-7069 here. At press time: 3,980 signatures.
Petition E-7152
In solidarity with our Iranian brothers and sisters, we invite you to consider signing House of Commons Petition E-7152, sponsored by Melissa Lantsman MP, to de-recognize the current regime in Iran that is continually repressing its own people and threatening and attacking Israel, with a secular and democratic transitional government.
Please sign Petition E-7152 here. At press time: 40,685 signatures.
Alert re Petition E-7108 – Kosher and Halal Slaughter
CAEF will be launching a counter-petition against E-7108, which seeks measures to be taken to curtail the preparation of kosher meat in Canada. This petition sponsored by Bloc Quebecois MP Martin Champoux directly threatens the ability of observant Jews to fulfil the requirements of a religious life, and thereby their civic equality and religious freedom in Canada. It equally affects the rights of Muslim Canadians to the same. We will be launching a counter-petition in the coming days.
Action on Petition to the International Federation of Social Workers
CAEF is pleased to thank all who signed the petition to CASW and NASW asking for their support in opposing a motion on February 18th at the International conference that aimed at expelling the Israeli Union of Social Workers. Over 13,000 signed the petition!! CAEF delivered the petition and signatures to both national entities in advance of the meeting. The good news is that the National Association of Social Workers, NASW, issued a statement in the 11th hour, referenced by the Jewish Social Work Consortium: “NASW issued a public statement opposing the suspension or expulsion of the Israeli Union of Social Workers from the International Federation of Social Workers. In a moment when remaining quiet would have been easier, NASW chose transparency and moral clarity. We are deeply grateful for this clear and public commitment and appreciate NASW’s decision to take a principled stand.”
Following the vote at IFSW, the CASW issued a statement and sent a letter to CAEF.
Excerpt from Letter to CAEF from CASW-Acts president, Fred Phelps;
"CASW acknowledges that advocates requested that the organization make a public statement, for or against the motions, prior to the IFSW Special General Meeting. However, CASW chose not to take a definitive public position on the vote; rather choosing to provide both sides of the motions an opportunity to present their arguments. That said, CASW has voted against previous censures of the IUSW based on the position that the application of the IFSW Global Ethical Principles must be consistent across all members.
After hearing both arguments today, as well as speakers from the IFSW members present, CASW chose to vote against both motions. The CASW vote against suspension or expulsion is consistent with its vote against censure."
Legal Update
The Global Day of Action resulted in a third set of criminal charges for Seyed VORUDI. VORUDI already faces a slew of criminal charges from 2024 and 2025, including Willful Promotion of Hatred against the Jewish Community from a stickering campaign in 2025.
Here is an article about the incident from the Alliance of Canadians Countering Antisemitism (ALCCA) of which CAEF is a member organization: (jay, no line)
Seyed VORUDI
On Saturday, February 14, 2026, Syed VORUDI, 26 of Toronto was arrested and charged with Assault and Wearing a Disguise with Intent to Commit an Indictable Offence.
It is alleged that VORUDI encountered the victim, who was participating in the Global Day of Action Rally in the North York area of Toronto (an event protesting government repression in Iran). VORUDI made anti-Black comments directed at the victim and then punched him in the face and chest. The victim sustained minor injuries. During the assault, it is alleged that VORUDI wore a balaclava to conceal his identity. Toronto Police advise that this investigation is being treated as a suspected hate-motivated offence. It is notable that VORUDI is subject to two earlier release orders:
The first, from October 2024, related to charges of mischief by wilfully interrupting and interfering with the lawful use and enjoyment of public property and wilful promotion of hatred directed at the Jewish and LGBTQ2S+ communities. His co-accused with respect to these charges is Mikhail BYKOV.
The second, from April 2025, related to charges of wilfully interfering in the lawful enjoyment of property at Mel Lastman Square in Toronto, wearing a disguise with intent to commit an indictable offence and failing to comply with the following condition of his release, “Do not make any public statement or make publicly available, directly or indirectly, any statement or material, ascribing negative qualities or behaviour to members of the Jewish community or members of the LGBTQ2S+ community by their membership in either identifiable group".
VORUDI was taken into custody on February 14, 2026, and held for a bail hearing on Sunday, February 15, 2026. He was released from custody again, this time under the supervision of a surety with several conditions including the above condition relating to the Jewish and LGBTQ2S+ communities as well as conditions prohibiting him from attending Mel Lastman Square, engaging in any protest-related activity intended to prevent entry onto or exit from private property or which obstructs public roadways or pedestrian accesses, thoroughfares or sidewalks.
His next appearance is on March 6, 2026, at the Ontario Court of Justice, 10 Armoury Street, Toronto.
Community Impact Statements
CAEF will be delivering Community Impact Statements in Ontario Superior Court and the Quebec Provincial Court in the cases of Deana SHERIF and Yves Gabriel ENGLER respectively, both of which were found guilty of criminal harassment charges.
Jewish Summer Camps Threatened by Predatory Anti-Israel Organizations
The anti-Israel hate mobs are at it again. Led by “Just Peace Advocates”, a concerted and high-profile social media campaign began last week against the Ontario Camps Association’s leadership and against 17 Jewish summer camps across Canada, for the heinous offences of daring to offer programming about Israel, having Israeli children and youth as exchange campers, and employing Israelis or Israeli Canadians as camp staff.
Both the Ontario and Quebec Camps associations, which regulated and accredit children’s camps (both Jewish and non-Jewish) have responded vigorously and courageously, denying any role as arbiters of international conflicts or any intention to be involved in the nationality of staff or campers.
Read CAEF’s statement on the campaign here.
Read Ellin Bessner, February 17, 2026 in the CJNews reporting Jewish responses to this outrageous act of antisemitism.
Lana Melman, CEO of Liberate Art | Author | Entertainment Industry Veteran has set out to interview Hollywood celebrities who have strong voices, commitments to justice for Jews and speak truth about Israel and the anti-Jewish environment they encounter in Hollywood.
Read her interview with Lawrence Bender.
I met Lawrence Bender for breakfast in a noisy hotel restaurant during the Jewish National Fund’s (JNF) 2025 conference, and I came away knowing almost immediately that this wasn’t going to be a standard Hollywood interview.
Yes, Bender is one of the most successful producers of the past three decades — the man behind Pulp Fiction, Good Will Hunting, Kill Bill, Inglourious Basterds, An Inconvenient Truth, and more — but what interested me far more was how openly and thoughtfully he spoke about Jewish identity, Israel, and the growing pressures facing artists who refuse to disavow either.
We talked about his upbringing first. Bender grew up in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, the grandson of Jewish immigrants from across Eastern Europe. He was the only Jewish kid in his elementary school, singled out to explain Jewish holidays and later bullied by classmates in ways that, in hindsight, were unmistakably antisemitic. He describes it without bitterness, but with clarity. “It’s odd,” he told me, reflecting on those years, “I didn’t realize how antisemitic that was.”
Israel was present but not central in his childhood — coins in the blue JNF boxes, trees planted to mark milestones, a quiet understanding that Israel mattered. His first real encounter with Israel didn’t come until 2003, during the Second Intifada, when he joined a delegation trying — somewhat naively, he admits — to help advance peace. What he witnessed there, especially the aftermath of a bus bombing in Tel Aviv, left a permanent mark.
That experience forms an essential background for understanding why Bender decided to produce Red Alert, the tense four-part drama about ordinary Israelis attacked by Hamas on October 7, 2023. Like many Jews around the world, he was stunned not only by the brutality of the attacks but by how quickly the victims were abandoned — or worse — by global opinion. “It became clear,” he said, “that the very people who were attacked…did not have the support of the world.”
Bender does not see support for Israel as a break from his progressive values, but as consistent with them. He describes himself as an “October 8 Zionist.”
We spoke candidly about the boycott culture in film and television, the increasing difficulty Israeli-linked projects face in getting distribution, and the way “anti-Zionism” functions as a socially acceptable cover for older forms of Jew-hatred. Bender has seen it play out personally, from protests targeting Israeli films to what he describes as entrenched bias (watch video) within institutions like the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
He also addressed criticism of Red Alert head-on. Some reviewers dismissed it as propaganda; others faulted it for not depicting Israel’s military response. For Bender, those critiques miss the point entirely. “The series was about bearing witness, not persuasion,” he said. “People first have to acknowledge the truth about what happened that day.”
What struck me most was how personally invested he was in the project. “Every pore of my body is in every frame of that show,” he told me. This was not a vanity credit or a symbolic gesture. He read every review. He absorbed every blowback.
There is far more in our conversation than can fit here — about Hollywood, antisemitism, Israel, fear, courage, and what it costs to speak plainly right now. I encourage you to read the full interview in The Jerusalem Post, where Bender speaks in his own words, at length, without filters. It’s worth your time.
The Truth About Muslim Antisemitism
Listen to Bassam Eid, Palestinian Arab journalist and a Zionist. Explain that Hamas does not serve the Palestinian Arabs.
Watch Melanie Philips on the Islamist attack on Western democracies, first against Israel, the Jewish world and then the entire West.
Watch interview of Andrew Pessin with Rabbi Daniel Schonbuch on the Islamic texts that fuel antisemitism.
Watch Tafsik Press Conference, Ottawa, Canada addressing the need to designate the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization.
Recommended Reading
Read Melanie Philips, in her Substack as to Why Bret Stephens is Wrong
Read Gerald Honigman, New England Review, January 18, 2026 on the sell out to Hamas, to Iranian mullahs, incorporated in the Gaza Board of Peace. Is this not a repeat of peace at any cost?
Read Paul Finlayson in his Substack, Freedom to Offend on the Palestinian Fraud, February 18, 2026.
Read article by David Brody in ZOA News, February 5, 2026 on the explosion of Jew hatred in NY under Mayor Mamdani.
Read Christopher Nardi in the National Post, February 11, 2026 on the call to list the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist entity by Jewish organizations at Ottawa press conference.
Read article by Joanne Cohen in the Blogs of The Israel Times, February 13, 2026 on the Cool new model of Jewish women’s advocacy— Canadian Women Against Antisemitism organization.
Read the report by B’nai Brith Canada that shows a significant bias in CBC reporting and all programming. The recently released independent study examining 299 English-language CBC online articles and video segments published between 1 October 2024 and 30 April 2025, showed a clear directional pattern: more than half met the study’s threshold for a pro-Palestinian orientation, fewer than seven per cent met the same threshold in a pro-Israel direction, and under forty per cent were categorized as balanced or neutral.
Read Leonrad Grunstein in an article published February 13, 2026 in Israpundit that calls for the extradition of Khaled Mashal from Qatar to US for terrorism, plotting murder, and his central role in October 7th attacks.
Read Lee Haprin in the Jewish News, February 19, 2026 provides an analysis and results from the recent IFSW vote on expelling the Israeli Union of Social Work.
Read article published by Americans for a Safe Israel (AFSI) on February 17, 2026 about the Israeli government’s expansion of law in Judea and Samaria, removing decades of discrimination against Jews.
Read The Focus Project report on Jewish medical professionals and medical students facing hostility.
The Banality of Evil
Read Ariel Kahana’s article in Israel Hayom of interview with K., a Shin Bet investigator who interrogated the Nukhba terrorists. Here are several central paragraphs:
“During the months of the war, K. met the cruelest of murderers, those who committed the inconceivable crimes in the Gaza envelope on October 7. ‘What stands out most there is the banality. As Hannah Arendt said, the banality of evil. An ordinary person who commits acts of atrocity. Some of them were not even Nukhba terrorists. … For example, those who were involved in the kidnapping of the Bibas children were not Hamas terrorists. Many of the perpetrators of the most severe atrocities were not Hamas terrorists at all.’ Kahana: ‘In other words, ordinary Gazans?’. K': ‘Ordinary Gazans who committed acts of atrocity, and without having a magnetic card with a personal number as members of Hamas…. These are people who saw the opportunity, entered and acted.’”
Ideological and Islamist Indoctrination Endangers Western Society
Read articles from Elaine Ellinger’s Substack, Perspectives on Islam, February 13, 2026 regarding the truth behind Sharia Law and how some members of a US congressional sub-committee view it.
Read article by Haley Cohen in the Jewish Insider about activist content being embedded in K-12 that feeds antisemitism, February 9, 2026.
Read Andrew Fox in his Substack on the perversion of language in regards to Israel, the Israel-Hamas war and any subject that is loaded with emotion, February 17, 2026. Here is a key message, “the Israel–Gaza debate is not just polarised. It is de-languaged: the common language that enables persuasion has been replaced by rival moral dialects.”
Where are the Jews?
Toronto-Jews and Allies March with Iranians for Freedom in Iran
postings by Salman Sima, founder of ICARE.
February 14, 2026 estimated 250,000 marched in Toronto, not against Israel, against the Iranian terror regime and for freedom.
Indigenous People of Canada Stand with Indigenous of Israel—The Jews
Read article by Jacob Sivak, October 28, 2025 in the Algemeiner about Canadian Indigenous support and the Indigenous Embassy Jerusalem.
Read Meaghie Champion, October 16, 2023 in her Substack, The Line on the misuse of decolonization to denigrate Israel and the Jews.
Watch George Disbrowe, Pastor of church at Red Sucker Lake. praying for Israel.
Advocacy and Action
Read Letter from Richard Sherman, Florida, to President, Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario re hiring of zionophobic IJV to teach about antisemitism, February 14, 2026.
Read Letter from Larry Shapiro, Calgary, to the American Psychology Association in response to objections to formation of a Jewish branch, despite there being others in the Coalition of National, Racial and Ethnic Psychological Association, February 16, 2026. (Whiffs of antisemtism?).
Read Letter from Larry Shapiro, Calgary to The New Republic, January 16, 2026 in response to an article suggesting the Marwan Barghouti, an imprisoned terrorist is the key to peace.
Read Letter from Richard Sherman to The New Yorker magazine, October 12, 2025 confronting Judith Thurman's claim that Gertrude Stein did not take antisemitism seriously, and pointing out the role of antisemitic Jews.
Read Letter from Fred Phelps, Executive Director, Canadian Association of Social Work (casw-acts) in response to the petition sent by CAEF on behalf of over 12,500 people on February 17th, asking that CASW take an ethical position in voting down the motion at the International Federation of Social Work on February 18th that moved to expel the Israeli Union of Social Workers from the IFSW. CAEF and the co-sponsors of the petition, The Jewish Social Work Consortium, Doctors Against Racism and Antisemitism and The Jewish Therapist Collective, are grateful to acknowledge the principled position taken by CASW.
Community Events
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SCHOLARS CIRCLE PRESENTS ANTIZIONISM: The History of an Ideology A Special Six-Part Series
The Radicalization of Antizionism
Why Soviet Antizionism Did Not Kill and Western Antizionism Does
Lunch and Learn: The Shalom Project
