HonestReporting Canada is raising the alarm following its discovery that an Ottawa educator has posted what we contend is extensive anti-Israel propaganda on her Facebook and Twitter accounts.

Abeer Mousa, who is listed as an Educational Assistant at General Vanier Public School in Ottawa on the institution’s website, has published scores of anti-Israel posts on her Facebook and Twitter account over the last five years, ranging from content that we feel demonizes Israel and which appears to extol the virtues of Palestinian terrorist murderers.

Please note: At the time of publication, Ms. Abeer Mousa has deactivated her Twitter account and removed all posts from her Facebook account.

In a post on May 15, 2023, Ms. Mousa wrote that “75 years ago, the #Nakba took place in Palestine in which 750,000 Palestinians were forcibly expelled from their homes.” The ‘nakba,’ is an Arabic word for catastrophe, which refers to Israel’s independence in 1948 and is a term used to delegitimize the country’s right to exist.

As pointed out previously by HonestReporting Canada, the oft-cited claim that 750,000 Palestinians were forcibly expelled from their homes (by Israel) is false; while that is a rough approximation of the number of Arabs who were displaced at the time, many did so as a result of strong coercion from Arab leaders, not Israel.

Writing in Arabic in the same post, Ms. Mousa commented that “(Palestinian) women cultivate within their children that the usurped right cannot be returned except through resistance (struggle/ fight), as it is the only way to liberate the land and get rid of the enemies.”

HonestReporting Canada has independently verified the translation of Mousa’’s words from the original Arabic.

In some posts, Ms. Mousa appears to praise Palestinian terrorism and her Twitter page, in our view, is a veritable treasure trove of posts that laud Palestinians who have murdered innocent Israelis.

On January 27, 2023, only hours after a Palestinian terrorist shot and murdered seven Israelis outside a Jerusalem synagogue, Ms. Mousa posted what we regard as a cryptic update to her Facebook page, writing in Arabic a quote from the Quran: “and satisfy the breasts (i.e. desires) of a believing people.” The full Quranic passage reads “Fight them; Allāh will punish them by your hands and will disgrace them and give you victory over them and satisfy the breasts (i.e., desires) of a believing people.” (Chapter 9, Verse 14).

This passage is frequently cited by Muslim faithful to express satisfaction in the victory of Islam over non-believers.

Earlier in January, Ms. Mousa posted a photo of a Palestinian man hugging his mother’s grave along with a caption in Arabic which appears to praise his “patience/endurance/perseverance.” The man, Karim Younis is a Palestinian who had recently completed a 40-year sentence in an Israeli jail for the 1983 kidnapping and murder of Israeli soldier Avraham Bromberg.

Ms. Mousa’s posts, which in our view, praise Palestinian terrorists, are not a new phenomenon; they stretch back more than five years.

In one Arabic language post from March 10, 2018, Ms. Mousa penned a tribute to a female Palestinian terrorist named Dalal Mughrabi.

Ms. Mousa’s lengthy post read, in part: “She walked steadily towards the land that she dreamed of walking in her paths one day, and infiltrated with no fear to achieve her dream… and inscribe her name on the pages of history in the name of that (female) lover (of Palestine) who fought for her love (of Palestine) until the end, to establish a new kind of fighting (resistance/ struggle), and to prove to the whole world that women are equal to men in sacrifice and self-sacrificing. They (Palestinian women) may even excel sometimes with that vigour that they possess… That (woman) is (Dalal) [Mughrabi].”

Ms. Mousa’s post concluded by writing in Arabic: “#The anniversary of Dalal Mughrabi’s martyrdom.”

Mughrabi, who died on March 11, 1978, about 50 years prior to Ms. Mousa’s post, was part of a group of 11 Palestinian and Lebanese terrorists who, armed with rifles, grenades and other explosives, arrived in Israel on a boat from Lebanon and carried out one of the bloodiest terrorist attacks in Israeli history.

Shortly after landing in Israel, Mughrabi shot and killed a young photographer before firing indiscriminately at passing cars. They soon hijacked a bus, and continued their campaign of murder. When hostages on the bus attempted to escape, they were shot by the terrorists.

In the end, 38 innocent civilians were massacred by the group, including 13 children.

In October 2015, a Palestinian terrorist shot and killed a 19-year-old Israeli-Jewish soldier, Omri Levy at a bus stop in the city of Beersheva. He subsequently stole his rifle and began firing indiscriminately at Israeli civilians. He fled the scene, but was later killed by security forces.

Responding to a post shortly after the attack on Twitter announcing the death of the Israeli-Jewish soldier, where the author claimed he was the son of a “senior commander in the Zionist occupation police,” Ms. Mousa wrote in Arabic “And hopefully (also) his father, his family and his entire people. May Allah burn them.”

On October 14, 2015, a pro-Palestinian account shared on Twitter four posters extolling the so-called virtues of Palestinian terrorists, along with the caption in Arabic “Hey, jabhawi (an operative of the Palestinian Front for the Liberation of Palestine – PFLP), don’t stop shooting. We came to you, Oh sons of Zion, with a machete, pistols, knife and car-ramming (attack) to kill your chief rabbis. PFLP operative. Palestine.”

One of the photos was of Baha Aliyan, who murdered three Israelis aboard a municipal bus, where he and an accomplice began shooting and stabbing passengers, killing three. He was later killed in an exchange of fire with Israeli security services.

In response to the post, Ms. Mousa wrote words that appear to offer encouragement to potential murderers, writing in Arabic “Don’t die except in a hail of bullets…”

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In 2014, Ms. Mousa posted an update to Twitter that appears to be an explicit endorsement of terrorism, writing on December 30 of that year in Arabic: “(We don’t need) their (UN’s Security) Council, nor their crappy (International Criminal) Court. This enemy (Israel) doesn’t understand but the fight (struggle/ resistance), the rifle, the stone, the car-ramming (attacks), the stabbing and the homeland (Palestine) will not be liberated without that. The rest is absolutely empty talk.”

These Facebook and Twitter posts are only a partial sample of what we regard as Ms. Mousa’s incendiary comments on social media in recent years, and her work in a public school board, working with impressionable and vulnerable children, is extremely concerning.

Ms. Mousa’s social media posts are not an isolated problem; they are part of a larger issue of deeply concerning content in Ottawa public schools.

Recently, two students at Sir Robert Borden High School in Ottawa were charged with hate crimes in January, 2023 for sharing antisemitic symbols and gestures. Shortly afterwards, the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board (OCDSB) unanimously voted to create a Jewish equity coach to assist in the combatting of antisemitism in area schools, which received notable media attention in Ottawa.

While the OCDSB has commendably made it clear that antisemitism is an issue which merits serious attention, Ms. Mousa’s social media posts similarly demand prompt action by the OCDSB.

On June 27, HonestReporting Canada filed a complaint with the OCDSB relaying our concerns with Ms. Abeer Mousa’s social media posts and in response to our concerns, the OCDSB wrote the following on June 30:

Thank you for sharing the concerns and the inquiry you posed with respect to the social media posts you have identified. As you indicated, we are committed to our learning and actions to prevent and address antisemitism and affirm Jewish identities. We have been direct in communicating our commitments, responsibilities and obligations to promote and protect human rights and dignity for all OCDSB community members. This work is urgent, complex and directed and supported by our policies and procedures. We will do a review of your concerns and follow up in alignment with our processes as appropriate. As we are at the close of our school year and our staff are on holiday this will be reviewed when we return in September.

Thanks, Diane

Diane Pernari
General Manager, Communications 
Ottawa-Carleton District School Board

While we appreciate that the OCDSB has agreed to conduct a review, nevertheless, we think it’s unreasonable that such a review will have to wait two full months till September.

Given the serious nature of this matter and the considerable resources at the OCDSB’s disposal, we expect (and Canada’s Jewish community deserves) a prompt and formal investigation that is conducted with alacrity and transparency. Failing which, it’s not unreasonable for Canada’s Jewish community to draw the conclusion that our concerns are being ignored, met with unnecessary delay, and that the OCDSB is kicking the can down the road as it relates to addressing this issue.

HonestReporting Canada has reiterated our request to the OCDSB for an immediate investigation to be conducted.

Help us take action and stay tuned to this page for future updates.