In the September 12 episode of CBC’s The Current, guest Amira Elghawaby – Canada’s Special Representative on Combating Islamophobia – made a number of concerning comments which threaten to mislead listeners about the nature of what has been taking place on university campuses since Hamas’ massacres on October 7.

Her interview was about allegations of Islamophobia and discrimination against Muslim, Arab, and Palestinian students in Canada, and she suggested that Muslim students do not feel comfortable on Canadian campuses right now due to alleged consequences for their comments regarding the war.

Click below to listen to the full segment:

It must be made very clear that any and all forms of discrimination are reprehensible, and all Canadians of good conscience should join her in condemning any incidents in which people are mistreated because of their identity. The stories she shared about someone with a hijab being spat on and of offensive slurs being hurled at Muslim students are concerning, and should be taken seriously.

While there is no disagreement on that core issue, it is nevertheless important to still point out areas where Elghawaby said things that are alarming, unfair, and/or misleading regarding this sensitive situation.

Despite her role in an anti-hate position and her positive comments about her relationship with Deborah Lyons, Canada’s Special Envoy on Holocaust Remembrance and Combating Antisemitism, Elghawaby was shockingly dismissive of antisemitism at various points throughout the interview. Regarding the issue of the anti-Israel encampments which illegally occupied various campuses last spring – barring Jewish and pro-Israel students from accessing parts of their campuses, and openly spouting violent rhetoric such as support for “intifada” – Elghawaby stated that “the accusations that students or faculty staff are engaged in antisemitic narratives is being used to silence” and alleged that “there was no evidence of antisemitism within the [University of Toronto] encampment.”

She also stated that a student letter denying Israel’s very right to exist from a group of students at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) was merely “hurtful but not antisemitic,” and argued that the slogan ‘from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free’ – an open call for the elimination of the world’s only Jewish state – is “in and of itself not a hateful chant.” Though host Matt Galloway challenged her on these points, noting that many Jewish students feel unsafe and unfairly targeted, Elghawaby did not seem to recognize the hypocrisy displayed by these comments, nor the dangerous and one-sided environment for which she appears to be advocating. Downplaying how often these activists have engaged in extremist or antisemitic conduct might mislead listeners as they may not realize how widespread these scourges were throughout the encampment movement.

This is made worse when coupled with the approach she takes to describing the experience of anti-Israel students on campus. Rather than focusing her fight on cases of clear discrimination or bias against Muslim students, she made sweeping generalizations about reactions to political activities – without specifics or context, and supported only by anecdotal stories. She repeatedly conflated these two very different phenomena, despite her own admonitions about “freedom of expression [and] academic integrity … being threatened” when it comes to the concerns of Jewish students. Apparently, if a Jewish student complains about feeling unsafe due to chants encouraging the mass murder of their coreligionists in the Middle East, this is to be tolerated for the sake of free expression, but if a student who happens to be Muslim chooses to engage in this kind of aggressive and controversial political activity, voluntary efforts to push back against their actions is somehow illegitimate and their fellow students are somehow undeserving of their own rights to freedom of association and expression in how they choose to react.

Just because someone has a legal right to say something does not mean others are required to respect it. Freedom is a two-way street. If many students find the behaviour and statements of anti-Israel activists reprehensible – as a large portion of the general Canadian population does too – they have every right to say so and to take their own political action against it, so long as the law is being obeyed and no one’s rights are being denied. Social consequences for bad behavior are far from discriminatory. In fact, in this case, they are the exact opposite, as they are pushing back against the discrimination faced by another victimized minority group.

This raises another concerning question – why does Elghawaby seemingly conflate opposition to extremist anti-Israel activism with Islamophobia? Does she not realize that this could create the false impression that these fringe political fanatics are somehow representative of the Muslim community as a whole, and the damage that could do to efforts at building bridges between religious communities in Canada? Does she truly not see how she is minimizing the serious issue of actual religious discrimination against Muslims by making it seem like nothing more than some political dispute? How can she justify saying things like “almost any type of expression of support for Palestinians is leading to some kind of negativity and negative consequences,” knowing full well that there has been an outpouring of humanitarian concern for the well-being of uninvolved civilians in Gaza from all over the political spectrum, including within the Jewish and pro-Israel community? It is not expressing sympathy or concern for human suffering that is getting people into trouble, but rather the voluntary extremist political actions and comments being made by those seeking to inflame tensions to suit their own agendas.

When it comes to how Jewish students are feeling on campus, Elghawaby has said that there is a “difference between feeling safe and being uncomfortable.” Perhaps she should learn from her own statement, and look in the proverbial mirror.