B.C. college instructor fired over Hamas comments reinstated

2025/11/21 Leave a comment

Her comment appears to lack self-awareness given the nature of much of academic discourse:

Langara Faculty Association president Pauline Greaves said in a statement that she is grateful the troubling episode has come to a close.

“I understand many in our community were hurt and offended by what Dr. Knight said. But collegial dialogue and tolerance for views we don’t like are the bedrock of a robust, engaged academic environment.”

Source: B.C. college instructor fired over Hamas comments reinstated

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Palestinians living in Gaza lose lawsuits that would force Canada to process crisis travel visas

2025/11/15 2 Comments

Of note (inability to leave Gaza for biometrics):

Palestinians in Gaza who applied to join relatives in Canada two years ago under Ottawa’s crisis immigration policy but haven’t received travel visas lost their lawsuits trying to force officials to act despite security problems in the war-torn region.

Four similar court actions asked the Federal Court to order officials with Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) to process their temporary resident visa applications.

Justice Henry S. Brown said the stories of applicants in Gaza were “heartbreaking” but he could not issue the orders they sought.

The court cases stem from Ottawa’s announcement of a “temporary public policy to facilitate temporary resident visas for certain extended family affected by the crisis in Gaza,” which took effect on Jan. 9, 2024.

It was supposed to provide quick refuge for Palestinians with relatives who are either Canadian citizens or permanent residents and willing to be an “anchor relative” in Canada.

The Gaza policy was capped at 5,000 visas. Court heard that almost two years later there are about 4,200 unprocessed applicants.

The policy was similar in purpose to emergency policies for Ukrainians fleeing Russia’s invasion, Afghans fleeing the Taliban’s return to power, and those in danger zones after an earthquake in Türkiye and Syria. The policies remove some criteria normally needed to enter Canada to speed things up in a crisis.

…He agreed with the applicants that the government has a legal duty to process visa applications made under the policy. He also agreed with the government that officers did not have a duty to process applications within a particular timeframe.

“I am satisfied the Applicant has a legitimate expectation to his application being dealt with in a timely manner. However, this expectation only arises when the Applicant meets all the conditions of the Policy and provides biometric information (which he is unable to do),” Brown wrote.

Brown found that Canada’s policy did not allow visa officers to override other regulations on immigration, and those regulations require a biometric check. The government argued that Ottawa has a duty to maintain the integrity of Canada’s immigration system and Brown agreed.

“The root cause of the Applicant’s failure to provide his biometric data is of course the changed operational context, namely the closure of the Rafah crossing which made obtaining and submitting biometrics impossible.”

He said because of that, the applicants did not meet the threshold for a court order forcing the government to act because that required all elements of a process to be complete before unreasonable delay can be determined.

All cases were denied.

Source: Palestinians living in Gaza lose lawsuits that would force Canada to process crisis travel visas

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Gessen: How to Be a Good Citizen of a Bad Country

2025/11/04 Leave a comment

Good read on the dilemmas some Israelis are facing:

…Dekel was trying to shift some of the responsibility for his own actions — his own resistance, which he felt was insufficient — onto unnamed others, and in doing so he was telling an important truth about resistance in general. Seeing other people act makes it less frightening to join in protest. Even more important is an unspoken principle my conversations with these Israelis reminded me of: To be a good citizen of a bad state, one has to do scary things. It may be writing an op-ed calling for your own country’s isolation, as Sfard did, knowing that it would cost him friendships and get him branded a traitor. It may be using your body to shield someone more vulnerable, as Greenberg does. It may be withdrawing your economic cooperation. It is weighing leaving against staying, moral obligation against fear, flying under the radar against taking a risk — and opting for the risk.

Source: How to Be a Good Citizen of a Bad Country

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Former justice minister Irwin Cotler calls on Israel to end war, starvation in Gaza

2025/08/16 Leave a comment

Better late than never:

Former Liberal justice minister Irwin Cotler has joined thousands of Jews calling on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to end the war and starvation in Gaza.

The longtime human rights activist is a staunch supporter of Israel and has faced death threats from Iran over his support for the Jewish state and democracy worldwide. He has signed an open letter saying Netanyahu is jeopardizing peace at home and abroad.

“The policies and rhetoric of the government you lead are doing lasting damage to Israel, its standing in the world and the prospects of secure peace for all Israelis and Palestinians,” the letter reads.

“This has severe consequences for Israel but also for the well-being, security and unity of Jewish communities around the world.”

The letter, organized by a group called the London Initiative, calls Israel’s aid restrictions on Gaza “a moral and strategic disaster” that hands a “propaganda victory to Hamas” and undermines the important work of countering Hamas and Iran.

“We do not deny the despicable role of Hamas in stealing aid and preventing its distribution, but nor can we reject the evidence of our eyes and ears as to the extent of the human suffering and the role of your government’s policies in it,” the signatories argue.

The letter also calls out Israel’s failure to suppress settler violence, which it says has helped fuel the current “diplomatic tsunami” of criticism from Israel’s historical peers.

“If Israel’s military, when given the bold order by you, can send a missile through a window in Tehran to take out an Iranian general with unerring accuracy, it surely has the ability to maintain order in the West Bank, prevent Jewish extremist violence, protect Palestinian civilians and apply the law,” the letter says.

The letter also calls out rhetoric used by Netanyahu’s cabinet ministers that it describes as “a moral abomination and a chilul hashem — a desecration of Jewish values and Israel’s founding principles.”

It cites the example of Israeli Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu, who said his government is “erasing Gaza” and that the territory will be entirely Jewish.

Netanyahu governs with a coalition that includes Jewish supremacist parties which have cited religion to advocate for policies widely seen as ethnic cleansing.

“Members of your government have used language of racism, hatred and incitement without censure,” the letter reads.

“Any opportunity to release all the hostages must be seized, and prioritized above appeasing extremist members of your coalition.”

The letter warns that this “language of incitement” erodes efforts to strengthen Jews’ ties to Israel and is “undermining Jewish communities as we face a surge in antisemitic, antizionist hate.”

The letter was also signed by Canadian philanthropist Charles Bronfman, one of the founders of the Birthright program, which sends Jewish youth on trips to Israel.

Its listed signatories also include prominent Canadian professors and volunteers with projects like the New Israel Fund and the Herzl Project, though it notes that the signatories are speaking as individuals and not on behalf of their institutions.

Netanyahu does not appear to have responded directly to the letter since it was made public a week ago, though he defended the war on Sunday, saying Israel’s only choice is to completely defeat Hamas.

Source: Former justice minister Irwin Cotler calls on Israel to end war, starvation in Gaza

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Nicolas: Chers collègues

2025/08/15 Leave a comment

Of note. One question that I always have is the degree to which Palestinian journalists can report on domestic issues and politics, not just the obvious and needed coverage of Israeli actions:

…Troisièmement, j’aimerais qu’on se parle de la place qu’on fait dans toute cette destruction et cette horreur aux voix qui sont elles-mêmes palestiniennes — et même arabes, de manière plus générale.

Vu les positions que je prends moi-même dans mes chroniques, j’ai reçu les confidences de plusieurs collègues qui travaillent ou ont travaillé comme recherchistes dans différents médias francophones et anglophones. On m’a parlé à plusieurs reprises d’une hésitation à mettre en ondes des invités pourtant compétents et qualifiés, mais arabes, sur des questions liées au « Moyen-Orient ». Du surtravail effectué en préentrevue, pour bien vérifier que tout sera bon, lorsqu’on se rend même à l’étape de la discussion.

La question a aussi été dénoncée ces dernières années par des journalistes qui sont eux-mêmes arabes ou palestiniens, surtout dans le Canada anglophone, certains après avoir démissionné de salles de nouvelles et s’être dits fatigués d’être constamment soupçonnés de « manquer d’objectivité », d’être moins professionnels à cause de leurs origines.

Pour les journalistes qui sont eux-mêmes à Gaza — pendant qu’il en reste —, j’aimerais finalement nous amener à réfléchir au fait que la simple notoriété internationale peut rendre politiquement plus épineux de bombarder des individus. Le fait d’interviewer des gens qui vivent un conflit garde non seulement le public informé sur ce qui se passe sur le terrain, mais, dans le contexte, peut aussi être une manière directe de contribuer à sauver des vies.

Source: Chers collègues

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Yakabuski: Montreal Pride finally stands up to the pro-Palestinian bullies 

2025/08/08 2 Comments

Of note:

…The statement did not name any banned groups, but Ga’ava and the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) revealed that they had been suddenly disinvited from the event. In a Facebook post, Ga’ava said the explanation given by Fierté Montréal for its exclusion was related to Ga’ava’s description of certain groups that had previously demanded the organization’s banishment from the parade. Ga’ava’s and CIJA officials had said the groups were “pro-terror” and “pro-Hamas” in a Jewish newspaper article. Ga’ava president Carlos Godoy denied those terms constituted hate speech.

On Tuesday, Fierté Montréal reversed itself and lifted the ban on Ga’ava and the CIJA. It apologized to the Jewish community, and particularly Jewish members of Quebec’s LGBTQ community, who felt it had sought to exclude them. What exactly transpired remains unclear, but it is a safe bet that government and corporate sponsors – which account for about 80 per cent of Fierté Montréal’s budget – had something to do with the move. The chairman of Fierté Montréal’s board of directors also resigned on Monday. 

Fierté Montréal’s reversal angered the pro-Palestinian groups that had called for Ga’ava’s exclusion. But it was the correct move. There are legitimate grievances to be aired about the Israeli army’s increasingly disgraceful conduct in Gaza. Yet, attacking Ga’ava appears to have more to do with the role such groups play in underscoring Israel’s protection of LGBTQ rights, in contrast to the oppression LGBTQ persons face in most Arab jurisdictions. That is not a contrast pro-Palestinian activists want to emphasize, perhaps because it exposes their own cognitive dissonance, if not hypocrisy.

These pro-Palestinian LGBTQ activists accuse Israel of “pinkwashing,” or playing up gay rights in Israel to distract attention from its treatment of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. But what they are really seeking to do is to silence anyone who suggests otherwise.

Source: Montreal Pride finally stands up to the pro-Palestinian bullies

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Lederman: There is an abundance of shame – and rightly so – over the calamity in Gaza

2025/08/02 Leave a comment

Indeed:

…As more than 170 former Canadian diplomats, including former ambassador to Israel Jon Allen, wrote in an open letter this week: “If Israel continues on this path, it will lose its standing with the world community, placing the security and the future of the Israeli people in jeopardy.”

This isn’t the most important reason to speak out about the suffering of so many people, of course. That would be the killings, the starvation, the inhumanity.

“Food and health are basic rights,” Dorit Nitzan, director of the School of Public Health at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, told Haaretz. “When we turned them into a bargaining chip, we harmed ourselves, not just our values and morals.” 

Former Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak has issued an “emergency call” for “massive nonviolent civil disobedience” to bring a total shutdown of Israel until there is a change in government. “The Israel of the Declaration of Independence and the Zionist vision is collapsing,” he wrote.

The Union for Reform Judaism also issued a statement this week: “Blocking food, water, medicine, and power—especially for children – is indefensible. Let us not allow our grief to harden into indifference, nor our love for Israel to blind us to the cries of the vulnerable. Let us rise to the moral challenge of this moment.”

Yes. Let us. The moral tragedy of this moment is abundantly clear. 

Source: There is an abundance of shame – and rightly so – over the calamity in Gaza

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Byers: My students spent a semester dissecting the Gaza war. There was much to disagree about

2025/03/24 Leave a comment

Sounds like an informative and respectful discussion, refreshing:

…Our seminar is now over, but I know that my students are following the news from the Middle East. They are watching the resumption of the siege and the bombings, after Mr. Netanyahu walked away from “phase two” of the ceasefire that he’d agreed to with Hamas in January.

The humanitarian situation remains desperate, and it’s time for other actors, including Canada, to constructively engage. In the future, some of my students will lead the way. They’ve demonstrated the ability to debate the most emotionally charged issues objectively, respectfully and empathetically. They’ve gained perspective and depth by learning from, and disagreeing with, each other.

Free and respectful discussion – including the right to peaceful protest – is one of the main reasons we have universities. We have to defend it if free and democratic societies are to survive.

Source: My students spent a semester dissecting the Gaza war. There was much to disagree about

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Gazan families sue Canada for visa application delays

2025/02/21 Leave a comment

Not unexpected but may be hard to prove in court. But ongoing issue in lack of transparency on progress or not of applications:

Eleven families from Gaza are taking the Canadian government to court for prolonging their “exposure to life-threatening and inhumane conditions” by delaying application processing under a program meant to offer relief from the Israeli-Hamas conflict.

The families represent 53 people, including 27 babies and children, who have applied for visas under the temporary resident pathway for Palestinian extended family in Gaza program, launched in January 2024. 

The measure provides a temporary haven for Palestinians directly affected by the war in Gaza who have ties to family members here who are Canadian citizens or permanent residents and are willing to support them.

Canadian anchor relatives are required to submit a web form to the Immigration Department with supporting documentation on behalf of their family members in Gaza. Officials then review the forms and documents before providing each applicant in Gaza a unique reference code to begin the visa application process.

All of the litigants’ Canadian relatives say they submitted web forms with the proper documentation within a month of the program’s opening. To date, none have the codes, nor do they have a refusal for incompleteness, or any justification for the delay.

The program, which had been expanded from the initial intake of 1,000 applications to 5,000, ends April 22 or when all spots are filled. As of Jan. 4, immigration officials said 4,782 applications were accepted into processing.

“They were afraid that they would lose their opportunity,” said lawyer Damey Lee, who represents the group along with colleagues Hana Marku and Debbie Rachlis.

“They are just frustrated and wholly disappointed in the Canadian government for not even providing them an explanation as to where their family members are in the process and why it has taken a year to issue codes.”

According to affidavits submitted to the court, the applicants — all with identities withheld under a court order to protect their safety — have experienced attacks first hand, witnessing airstrikes and bombings, sometimes with “no warning.”…

Source: Gazan families sue Canada for visa application delays

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Ottawa accused of stalling on visa approvals for thousands of Gazans stranded at critical time

2025/02/08 1 Comment

Suspect the necessary security clearances are part of the reason for delays:

Almost 5,000 Palestinians who applied last year to take part in a special Ottawa program to help them flee war-torn Gaza and join relatives in Canada have been deemed eligible by the government, but so far only 620 – or fewer than 15 per cent – have arrived.

Immigration lawyers representing Palestinians and their Canadian relatives are accusing the government of deliberately stalling applications, and are urging officials to take advantage of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire and reopening of the Rafah crossing to press Israel to allow applicants still in Gaza to exit.

They say scores of Palestinians have paid thousands of dollars in bribes to cross into Egypt to complete biometric checks in Cairo required by the Canadian government and have been waiting for months there for final approval. Others are waiting in Gaza for confirmation that their visas have been approved.

Yameena Ansari, an immigration lawyer, said Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada “is fully capable of expediting processing of applications. They do it regularly for many lines of business. So, if the Gaza applications are not being expedited, that is not an accident.”

Immigration lawyer Warda Shazadi Meighen of Landings LLP in Toronto said Canada must act swiftly to uphold its commitments under the Gazan program. “For those still seeking relocation – particularly individuals with family in Canada – this moment presents a crucial opportunity to fulfill our humanitarian obligations,” she said.

Matthew Behrens, who co-ordinates the Rural Refugee Rights Network, said “it is inexcusable” for IRCC to sit on applications for over a year, warning that “the border could be closed again at a moment’s notice.”

Ottawa’s program faced criticism over security concerns when it was announced. Last year, Marco Rubio, then a senator and now secretary of state in President Donald Trump’s administration, wrote to the U.S. Homeland Security Secretary, warning that the program raised the risk of allowing people with ties to terror groups, such as Hamas, to get easier access to the United States….

Source: Ottawa accused of stalling on visa approvals for thousands of Gazans stranded at critical time

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