The Jury’s Out | CAEF Bulletin, Feb 06, 2026
- CAEF
- 6 hours ago
- 12 min read
What You Can Do – Sign House of Commons Petition E-7069
“Equal rights—unless you’re Jewish, travelled to Israel, or wore the ‘wrong’ uniform.”
House of Commons Petition E-7069 is the petition we are asking our community—and all Canadians who value fairness—to sign. Its purpose is clear and urgent: it calls on the Government of Canada to reject petition e-6783 in its entirety. Petition e-6783, introduced by NDP MP Heather McPherson, seeks to subject Canadians who served in the Israel Defense Forces, travelled to Israel, or support lawful charities connected to Israel to special investigations, border screening, warnings, and potential criminal liability. While framed in legal language, the real-world effect would be to single out Jewish Canadians and Canadians of Israeli origin for treatment not applied to any other group. This runs directly contrary to the Canadian Human Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination based on race, national or ethnic origin, or religion.
Supporting petition e-7069 is about protecting a core Canadian principle: equal treatment under the law. In Canada, people are investigated for individual actions supported by evidence—not because of who they are, where they have family, or the national service they performed in a democratic country. If one community can be targeted in this way today, another can be targeted tomorrow. By signing petition e-7069, we affirm that Jewish Canadians will not be treated as inherently suspect, that lawful service and travel will not trigger discrimination, and that Canadian charities operating within the law will be protected. This is not a foreign policy debate; it is a Canadian civil rights issue. Our voices matter, and now is the time to use them.
(2122 signatures so far)
Legal Update
Ottawa: Jury Trial of Deana SHERIF
As this edition of the CAEF Bulletin goes to press, the jury in the trial of Deana SHERIF completed the first day of deliberations and has been sequestered. SHERIF stands charged on two counts of criminal harassment, two counts of assault with a weapon, and possession of a weapon dangerous to the public peace. SHERIF spent 304 days in pre-trial custody on these charges. From 2023 through 2025 SHERIF was a regular fixture at anti-Israel demonstrations in both Ottawa and the GTA, and gained notoriety through her repeated use of high-pitched high-volume noise devices.
Toronto: Professional Engineers Discipline Committee Hearing - Bahira ABDULSALAM. This week, the Discipline Committee of the Association of Professional Engineers of Ontario (PEO) began its hearing into a complaint filed by CAEF against Bahira ABDULSALAM regarding social media posts that praised Hamas and other terrorist groups, and praised the October 7, 2023 terrorist attacks. Other complaints were filed against ABDULSALAM for social media posts hostile to people in the LGBTQ+ community, as well as for engaging in the public practice of engineering without a PEO Certificate of Authority. In deciding preliminary matters, the Discipline Committee denied a motion by ABDULSALM requesting summary dismissal of the allegations based on lack of jurisdiction of PEO over social media posts of ABDULSALM outside the scope of her professional practice, and over alleged pre-hearing procedural irregularities. She was granted a four-month adjournment to retain counsel and an expert witness. As the second day of the hearing was about to end, ABDULSALAM introduced a 23-point motion that called for, among other things, removal of the PEO legal team headed by Andrew Faith on account of alleged bias, anti-Arab racism and anti-Palestinian racism. The Discipline Committee panel required that this motion be dealt with through written submissions, though they did allow ABDULSALAM to make oral submissions for about 30 minutes on the topic. The hearing resumes on June 8, 2026.
Toronto: York Region Police Investigation into Constables Farhan Ali and Haroon Siddiqui Continues. In March 2025, CAEF President Michael Teper filed a complaint with the Law Enforcement Complaints Agency against two Toronto Police Service officers over their role in Project Olive Branch. Ten months later, the investigation remains in progress. At the time of writing, York Regional Police are investigating the Toronto Police Service in a probe with much larger scope, so further delays are anticipated.
Hate-Motivated Crimes Are Surging: Why Can’t There Be More Consequences?
Tuesday, February 10 | 7:00 p.m. ET
This timely webinar with leading hate crime experts examines what is and is not a crime, why enforcement and prosecution can fall short, and what legal tools exist to better protect communities. Presented by the Canadian Criminal Law Working Group (CCLWG) – a partnership between the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, the Alliance of Canadians Combatting Antisemitism, and the Canadian Jewish Law Association.
Speakers:
Rochelle Direnfeld, Senior Criminal Counsel, Alliance of Canadians Combatting Antisemitism
Hank Idsinga, Inspector (Retired), Toronto Police Service
Richard Marceau (Moderator), Senior Vice President and General Counsel, Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs
Joseph Neuberger, Chair, Canadian Jewish Law Association
Mark Sandler, Chair, Alliance of Canadians Combatting Antisemitism
Registrants may also submit real-life scenarios for the panel to address.
Advocacy and Action
URGENT
CAEF, Jewish Social Work Consortium, DARA, and the Jewish Therapy Collective are sponsoring a petition to the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) and the Canadian Association of Social Workers (CASW) to demand they refuse to endorse an antisemitic resolution at the international level.
Support the Kurdish people under threats and terrorism from Iran, Turkey, Syria
Read this request from subscriber Vivienne Ziner, who shares a plea from the leader of Kurdish House in Canada:
The Kurdish people are and have been staunch allies of the Jewish people and of Israel. They have stood with the Jewish community through thick and thin, before, during and after the nightmare of October 7th, 2023.
No one has been more supportive of our community than my dear friend and adopted brother, Chato Wany, President of the Greater Toronto Kurdish House. Now it is our turn to assist our allies in their serious moment of need.
We are asking such a small favour- please- send a Letter of Solidarity and Support to our Kurdish brothers and sisters; that is all we are asking from you.
Please send a Statement of Support and Solidarity on behalf of yourself personally and/or your organization to Chato Wany, President of the Greater Toronto Kurdish House at info@kurdishhouse.com
READ CAEF Press Release concerning the Federal announcement of a new Advisory Council on Rights, Equality and Inclusion.
Read article by Bryan Passifiume in Toronto Sun on CAEF’s statement as well as that of other NGOs on the government’s elimination of the envoys on Antisemitism and Islamophobia, February 5, 2026.
Read article by Marie Woolf in the Globe and Mail, quoting former Special Envoy, Irwin Cotler on the mistake of cancelling the roles and how that will make Jews less safe, February 5, 2026.
Read Letter from Larry Shapiro, Calgary to Editor, The Guardian, re the story on settler-only IDF units functioning as vigilante militia.
Read Letter from Richard Sherman to the Editor of Marlet Magazine, University of Victoria, following the despicable decision by the student body to disallow the registration of a Jewish student body, SSI.
Read CAEF Letter to Worldmeters, February 4, 2026 regarding their false listing of a country of Palestine.
Shurat HaDin, the Israel Law Centre reports “A website in Canada is publishing a target list of Jewish schools, synagogues, and camps, labeling them “connected to the IDF.” This isn’t activism. It’s incitement. And it’s dangerous.
At Shurat HaDin, we’ve demanded Canadian authorities shut it down before someone gets hurt. We remember where this leads. And we will not stay silent.”
Jewish health care workers, patients, educators, face Antisemitism
The stories are sickening, but increasing in frequency and vileness, across North America. Read this report from The Focus Project. Examples of professionals and professional bodies, unions, administrators and student groups actually threatening, cancelling or isolating Jews are included, from different jurisdictions and countries.
Read the report for Talking Points and Actions to Consider. Be Prepared.
International Law is Not Arbitrary
CAEF was pleased to be among the many community sponsors of the evening at the BAYT with Natasha Hausdorff, international law expert and Sr Counsel for UK Lawyers for Israel. Hausdorff, spoke passionately to a Toronto audience of over 500, declaring that most of the media, politicians and activists who scream that Israel is in breach of “international law,” haven’t a clue about that law. She suggested challenging such critics with a simple question: Which International Law and in what way is Israel in breach? Describing how international law has bee weaponized against Israel, Hausdorff gave many examples of the modern blood libels that use recognized international terminology, such as “occupation,” “apartheid,” genocide”, “colonialism”, and “settler violence” to discriminate against and demonize Israel.
Hausdorff explained the use of such terms by so-called human rights and social justice organizations as pure projection-transferring or assuaging one’s guilt by projecting all evil onto the Jews and/or Jewish state. She suggested every accusation is an affirmation of the behaviour by the hater. She described the shift in the “Overton Window,” the range of topics/opinions that are felt to be politically mainstream at any point in time. This window is narrowing where Israel is concerned.
After describing the failure of Western countries, notably Canada, to get on the right side of history, to defend the only democratic country in the Middle East and to see the harm coming to all of society, not just Jews, only first against Jews, Hausdorff, offered some positive light on the antizionism/antisemitism we are facing. She noted the resilience, strength, innovation, commitment, shared values and aspirations of the Israeli people, the important interconnection between Israeli Jews and Jews in the diaspora. In reflecting on the incredible generation that re-created Israel, she called for today’s Jews to speak truth to power, to commit facts to memory and use them, to call out the antizionist antisemites, noting that can be Jews too, to work with allies, and to be the army!
Taking the Fight to Ottawa
Tafsik is hosting an important Parliament Meeting in Ottawa to demand our federal government designates Muslim Brotherhood affiliated organizations as terrorist organizations.
To help make the Jewish community’s argument, representatives of various organizations including CAEF and world-renowned advocates, scholars, journalists, and lawyers will be attending Imam Tawhidi (Imam of Peace), Alan Dershowitz, Charles Small, Emily Austin, Dalia Ziada. Danny Eisen, Joe Adam George, Melanie Bennett, Shannon Seban, Nika Jabiyeva, Khalid Ramizy, Jacqueline Lewis, and Anita Bromberg.
Fighting for Israel and Truth
Major Ella Waweya (36) has just been announced as the next IDF’s Arabic spokesperson. She currently serves as the deputy Arabic spokesperson.
Read Full Report on the Hind Rajab Foundation, and its Ties to Terrorism
NGO Monitor reports on this Belgium based, antizionist organization that has filed complaints against IDF soldiers with the ICC.
Stop Antizionism, an Organization and an Institute
While it’s been recognized for years that leftist antisemitism is strongly linked to hatred of Israel, denies the right of Jews to have a homeland, and denigrates and demonizes Israel—it is only recently that a movement has been founded to counter this specific propaganda. The movement, both in Canada and the US, addresses the history of leftist/communist Jew hatred and the penetration of this hatred in institutions, media, academia and its links with Islamist ideology. Understanding the history of this form of Jew hatred is important and it was the basis of an intense, well-researched presentation given by Natasha Pein, one of the founders of Stop Antizionism. For an overview of the history, the concepts that antizionism promotes, tools to identify and counter it, go to the website, https://www.stopantizionism.org/
Further addressing Antizionism is the new Institute for Critical Study of Antizionism founded by Dr. Andrew Pessin.
Read articles in the Substack of Dr. Pessin, and learn about the new Institute:
“ICSA is the newly launched initiative to produce, promote, and disseminate scholarship in the critical study of antizionism. It aims to be housed in or affiliated with a proper university (talks are underway), and to change the current dominant academic discourse (which is deeply anti-Israel and anti-Jewish), with the goal of ultimately reclaiming the academy and even saving Western Civilization (yes, it is that ambitious).”
Learn more and support this important initiative.
Palestinian Arab Children (still) Learn to Kill Jews
This is not new. It has been well and fully documented by the Bedein Center for Near East Policy Research, to which CAEF has provided support for several years, encouraging Canadian donors to fund the excellent documentaries they produce.
Read Leo Pearlman in the Future of Jewish, February 4, 2026 on the Palestinian curriculum that teaches terrorism as documented in the latest report by the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education on the Palestinian Authority’s textbooks.
Recommended Reading
In an extraordinary act of collective moral clarity, more than one hundred of the world's leading Holocaust and genocide scholars have issued a forceful rebuke against what they describe as the cynical corruption of one of the gravest words in human history: genocide. Read more here.
Read article by Joe Adam George in Focus on Western Islamism, January 12, 2026 on recent anti-Western, pro-Caliphate conference held online in Toronto. Themed “Khilafah Is Imminent: What Have You Prepared For It?,” the January 17 conference should be a significant call for action by Canadian politicians, media, civil rights groups, and democracy advocates. Are they waiting until its too late?
Read Tobias Holcman in the Jerusalem Post, February 3, 2026 about revelation of Hamas documents showing their preparing a clandestine approach to maintaining administrative control of Gaza.
Read story in the Times of Israel about complaints brought to the Encyclopedia Britannica which had erased Israel, February 1, 2026.
Read Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz in Isrel365New, January 16, 2026 about the PA propaganda against Israel when facts show it is the PA police that are brutalizing Bedouins.
Read Jame O Mahony in the Jerusalem Post, March 13, 2025 on how SSI formed on an Irish campus, amidst antisemitism and pro-Hamas support.
Read Amanda Eskenasi in the National Post, February 1, 2026 on the HR Report on CBC’s consistent anti-Israel bias.
Read HR Canada Charitable Organization Report, giving data driven analysis of the framing of stories by CBC of the Israel-Hamas conflict.
Read Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz in Israel365News on Iran’s blood libel against Israel while the regime massacres Christians, February 2, 2026.
Read Ohad Tal, MK’s Blog in The Tiimes of Israel, February 2, 2026 on proposed tough, specific legislation with guidelines on how to deal with kidnappings in the future.
Read Ephraim D. Tepler and Itamar Marcus in PMW Bulletin, February 4, 2026 and watch clips from a PA leader on the real value they place on UNRWA to keep alive the fakery of the right of return and the growth of the number of Arab refugees.
Read Adam Louis Klein in Canadian Jewish News, January 13, 2026 on how Antizionism became normalized.
Read article by Rachel Wahba in the Times of Israel, February 5, 2026, on the importance of remembering Mizrachi history, and the impact of Islamism which isn’t new.
Here is an excerpt:” Understand this; Jews under Islam were tolerated, subordinated, taxed, humiliated, and abandoned when times turned bad. Dhimmi status meant “protected” — until it didn’t. Massacres followed instability. Equality never existed.”
Read Andrew Boston in Jihad Watch, December 30, 2025, on the myth of a tolerant Muslim Spain.
Read Jay Rosenzweig, Kevin Vuong in the Toronto Sun, November 6 2025: Jewish, Chinese communities stand together in face of hate in Canada
Read Jordyn Haime in Jewish Telegraphic Agency: Since Oct. 7, antisemitism has exploded online in China. Here’s why.
Recommended Viewing
Watch PMW expose how the PA, with EU and US funds, pays Hamas terrorists and supports in Gaza, a salary equal to that of PA employees. It is a farce, an injustice, a crime but it is not being challenged. Canada contributes to the lie of a Palestinian state and a fake aid agency called UNRWA, a tool of Hamas.
Watch Dr. Andrew Bostom, featured speaker with Coalition for Jewish Values on Rumble, January 11, 2026 about his new book, A Modern Qur’anic Kampf Against the Jews.
Watch Hillel Neuer, President of UN Watch, addressing the UN Human Rights Council’s abandonment of the Iranian people.
Watch Natasha Hausdorff speaking with MK Amichai Chikli on the need to address radicalization in Western civilization.
Watch Sam Westrop, Middle East Forum presents The Irrelevance of the Muslim Brotherhood, noting its an ideology embedded in hundreds of North American organizations, January 12, 2026.
Community Events
If in Halifax, Nova Scotia, register to hear two National Post celebs:
Rob Roberts, Editor in Chief, Recipient of the 2024 CAEF Advocate Award of Excellence, and Dave Gordon, journalist and proud Zionist.
Zoom on Sunday February 15th at 7 pm Eastern Time for an important update on antisemitism/antisemitism from nationally acclaimed author and expert on antisemitism, Dr. Andrew Pessin. Register here.
Andrew Pessin is Professor of Philosophy at Connecticut College and was for many years Campus Bureau Editor for The Algemeiner. He also most recently founded the Institute for the Critical Study of Antizionism. Author of many academic articles and books as well as works of philosophy for a general audience, his books include Israel Breathes, World Condemns (2 vols.); Refuting the Lies Told About Israel; Anti-Zionism on Campus: The University, Free Speech, and BDS; Poisoning the Wells: Antisemitism in America; and The Jewish God Question: What Jewish Thinkers Have Said About God, the Book, the People, and the Land. His articles address many aspects of the campus environment for Jews and for Israel supporters, including the question of whether anti-Zionism is antisemitism (the short answer is that it is). Most recently he has been producing a weekly ten-minute podcast on the highlights (and lowlights) of that week’s campus antisemitism, available via his substack. He has also published four novels, including Nevergreen (2021), an academic satire about campus cancel culture and its deleterious effects on the Jews which, unfortunately, proved prophetic when campuses exploded against Israel and the Jews after the October 7 massacre. His most recent novel, Bright College Years (2024), is about how colleges used to be before they all went crazy.
