Despite public claims by anti-Israel extremists that they seek only to pressure the Israeli government to change its policies, in reality their goals are far darker.
As exposed in a November 27 article in Newmarket Today, “Newmarket school under fire for plan to host Israeli youth leader program,” reporter Joseph Quigley shared that after a Newmarket elementary school had scheduled a presentation by a group of Israelis, local anti-Israel activists launched their crusade.
The offending event at Clearmeadow Public School was slated to explore “traditional dance, learning about celebrations of significance including Hanukkah and taking part in arts and crafts experiences.”
Despite Quigley stating that local anti-Israel activist Shameela Shakeel claimed she was “supportive of celebrating Jewish and other cultures in public schools,” by campaigning to effectively ban Israelis for their country of origin, she demonstrated the precise opposite.
Chillingly, when Shakeel is not busy seeking to ban Israelis from speaking to Canadian students, she works at New Horizons Child & Adolescent Psychology Services in Oakville, Ontario under the name of Shameela Hoosen-Shakeel. During the 2022 provincial election, the Ontario Liberal Party banned her from running under their banner because of her extreme anti-Israel activity on social media.
A number of local anti-Israel groups ganged up in order to pressure Clearmeadow Public School to cancel, including Independent Jewish Voices (IJV), which has been accused of Holocaust denial and justifying Palestinian terrorism, and the Palestinian Canadian Congress, which has spread the vile falsehood that Israel is forcibly starving Gazans.
The article quoted Palestinian Canadian Congress’ James Kafieh who claimed that the visiting Israelis “couldn’t be a more transparent or hypocritical example of introducing politics in the classroom.”
Given that their visit was completely apolitical and the only objection was that they were from Israel, the agenda by anti-Israel extremists is apparent: that ‘politics’ is a poor excuse when all evidence points to the fact that they want to effectively ban Israelis from Canada.
That agenda is becoming increasingly harder to deny. Recently, following an anti-Israel mob near Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU), local groups demanded that Canada ban all Israelis who have ever served in their country’s military, even though service is mandatory and widespread across Israeli society, a clear message that Israelis are simply unwelcome.
Discrimination based on national origin is illegal under Canadian law, but that has not stopped anti-Israel activists from seeking to do exactly that, all while seeking to convince Canadians that they are doing no such thing.
According to the article, while the school permitted the cultural event to take place, the public disinformation campaign by anti-Israel activists became a threat to public safety, and as a result, the program’s host, UJA Federation of Greater Toronto, cancelled the event, citing safety.
As noted by Sara Lefton of UJA in the article, the campaign by local anti-Israel extremists is just the latest front in trying to push Jews out of public space.
However, such radicals are only able to be successful when authorities, including schools, permit such hateful rhetoric to have a place in public discourse, rather than forcefully condemning it and taking all steps necessary to ensure the safety and dignity of all, including Jews.
