If silencing Canadian doctors who support Palestine doesn’t always work, the sting of punishment does– almost always
It is the elephant in the room.
Many Canadian Jews who exercise political, financial or other power (or are connected to the powerful) refuse to address the genocide that is going on in Gaza, the West Bank and now Lebanon. Israel’s murders of more than 43,000 Palestinian women, children, men, the elderly and the disabled appear to have little currency to members of the “official” Jewish organizations in our country. In the last year, all too often, whenever a Jewish person, identified with the “official” Jewish community, opened his or her mouth it was to attack fellow Canadians as antisemites, and to shut down any discussion about the genocide. I say "official" Jews because there are thousands of Jews in Canada (and the US) who are doing the opposite. People like me and many other Jews are trying to support Palestinians' human rights.
Dr Yoni Freedhoff tried to silence Dr Yipeng Ge
If silencing doesn’t always work, the sting of their punishment does– almost always.
Take for example Dr Yipeng Ge, a doctor who was a medical resident in Ottawa.
In Nov. 2023, Dr. Yoni Freedhoff, who is Jewish and an associate professor of family medicine at the University of Ottawa, called out Dr Ge for posting photos on social media.
At the time, on Freedhoff’s Substack page, according to a CBC journalist, Freedhoff drafted an article for that focused on Ge’s posts and called them examples of “antisemitism.” Freedhoff shared screenshots of what he said came from Ge’s social media accounts.
Below: (left) Dr Yipeng Ge, and Dr Freedhoff’s “kvetch-ometer” or complaint meter captured on his X (Twitter) page.
Freedhoff posted Ge’s photo of a poster he saw on a pole that read “Zionism = Genocide of Palestinians”. Freedoff also virulently opposed Ge’s other posts. One was the slogan “Ottawa standing with Gaza” and a photo of a sign stating “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” Freedhoff called it a “genocidal” chant that implies the elimination of the State of Israel (a less hysterical analysis of that chant is here). Ironic isn’t it that it is the Palestinians who are in fact being “eliminated” by the tens of thousands – not the Jews.
You need to understand that Freedhoff was indeed Ge’s superior—his boss if you like. Freedhoff is a tenured professor in a university medical school. Ge was completing his final year of the four-year public health and preventive medicine residency. Ge was working directly under the eyes of the family practice and other medical school professors.
Jesse Robichaud, University of Ottawa spokesman, said Ge had to be investigated because of “complaints” for an “alleged breach of professional standards by a medical resident”. It is not clear whether Freedhoff complaint alone had sparked the investigation. How often do you think a medical school in Canada pursues a breach of standards due to political – not medical practice – reasons? My guess is never.
More than 65,000 Canadians signed an online petition in “solidarity with Dr Ge for advocating for the human rights of Palestinians”. The petitioners called for Ge’s reinstatement. Finally, Ge was “cleared”, and the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health said they were “thrilled to welcome back our outstanding learner and colleague.”
Dr Ge refused to go back. He pointed out,
“With what I’ve experienced, I cannot continue within this institution. The subsequent conversations that I’ve had with faculty leadership and their lack of insight, remorse … even after my reinstatement and everything, they don’t feel like they’ve made a mistake.”
The Double Standard
It’s not just that Dr Ge was removed from his residency program. He felt forced to resign from his position as a student learner on the board of the Canadian Medical Association (CMA). The CMA represents all physicians across the country. After many arguments and discussions with the CMA, Dr Ge noted “the organization… remains silent around the unfolding genocide,” despite the fact that the CMA came out in support of Black Lives Matter campaign of 2020, and in 2022 sent $250,000 in humanitarian aid to support Ukraine.
“With what I’ve experienced, I cannot continue within this institution. The subsequent conversations that I’ve had with faculty leadership and their lack of insight, remorse … even after my reinstatement and everything, they don’t feel like they’ve made a mistake.”
“There’s this disproportionate discipline — and often heavy-handed discipline — for speech or commentary, often in the form of social media posts, with respect to calling for health and human rights for Palestine and Palestinians,” he said. “The attacks are meant to discredit, call into question someone’s character and integrity, and really take them down as a professional, to isolate them and to silence them and to make them feel incredibly afraid and to make the broader community feel incredibly afraid to speak about Palestine whatsoever.”
So at least one of the “official Jews”, Dr Freedhoff and possibly a few others, tried to end Dr Ge’s career. This speaks to the power of Dr Freedhoff and company. Yet, as far as we know, there has been no disciplinary action taken by the university against Freedhoff—for his vicious and unwarranted attack on Ge. Freedhoff’s job is safe, his career is safe – his income is safe. Clearly, he doesn’t like Ge, nor does he want a doctor under his tutelage to publicly support the Palestinians and expose Israel’s genocide. But that has nothing to do with the practice of medicine or with public health.
The case of Dr Ge is one of four cases of doctors who have been disciplined as a result of the official Jews’ complaints about them. As an aside, I see I’m now blocked from Dr Freedhoff’s Twitter.
For the last year, I’ve been keeping track of the silencing, and the punishment of Canadians who have dared to criticize Israel. I also note those who fight to expose Israel’s genocide — 43,000 dead Palestinians, 100,000 seriously injured, mass starvation and utter destruction of people’s homes, families and lives.
It is not a pretty picture. You can read my earlier articles here, here and here.
Four doctors under investigation for supporting Palestinians
A year ago, police charged Dr Tarek Loubani of London, Ont. with mischief after he squirted ketchup on the office door of London MP Peter Fragiskatos after a demonstration calling for a ceasefire outside his office in London, Last I looked, ketchup washes off. But Dr Loubani had to stay a night in jail, though he was released pending his trial. It’s doubtful that anyone else accused of mischief has had to spend a night in jail. His lawyers noted squirting ketchup was not a crime, as one stated, “Members of the public have the constitutional right to protest against their elected officials.”
Dr Loubani, a Canadian emergency room doctor, has tended patients in Gaza before: in 2018, Israeli snipers shot him in both legs as he assisted unarmed patients recovering from Israeli gunfire in the “Great March of Return” in Gaza. Though Prime Minister Trudeau stopped short of laying the blame for the attempted murder of Dr Loubani at the feet of the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) in Israel, Trudeau deplored the shooting of Loubani by an Israeli sniper on the Gaza border and called for an independent investigation into Israel’s snipers. Yet not a day after the shooting, B’nai Brith Canada was denouncing Trudeau for even this weak response.
Dr Loubani is one of four doctors in Ontario to face an investigation for “professional misconduct” after sharing their views on Israel and Palestine on their social media posts. Not one doctor had logged any complaints from patients about the doctor’s medical care. And there were no red flags or concerns about the doctors’ medical skills. The issue was that the doctors all expressed solidarity with the Palestinians, especially those living through the genocide in Gaza.
James Turk, director of the Centre for Free Expression at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) noted “As far as I know, none of [the doctors] engaged in illegal speech in Canada. It was simply that people who disagree with their views were able to put pressure on their employers to take actions against them…We can’t silence people because others may be troubled.”
But silencing pro-Palestinian voices is exactly what B’nai Brith Canada, a Jewish organisations that supports Israeli aggression and genocide, is calling for. Richard Robertson, B’nai Brith’s manager of research said, “Doctors have a responsibility to remain apolitical to ensure they can retain the confidence of all their patients.” He insists doctors should not publicly talk about their political concerns.
Dr Loubani’s response is that everyone has biases, but those biases “do not interfere with our ability to care for our patients. This is a simple oath I took. I did not go into medicine to discriminate against patients.”
Honest Reporting Canada, a rabidly pro-Israel right-wing Jewish advocacy group
The persecution of Dr Christian Zaarour, a professor at the Temerty Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto, and an anaesthesiologist at Toronto’s SickKids Hospital is yet another case of the pro-Israel lobby targetting a Canadian medical doctor. Dr Zaarour had shared a social media post that criticized Israel in the wake of 7 Oct. Honest Reporting Canada, a rabidly pro-Israel right-wing Jewish advocacy group, flagged the post on 17 November 2023. Two days after Honest Reporting’s tweet, SickKids released a statement saying it was investigating “complaints about a social media post involving one of our physicians,” and that the physician in question was taking “voluntary” paid administrative leave.
Another Ontario doctor disciplined by their employer was nephrologist Dr Ben Thomson. He was suspended for a month without pay from Mackenzie Richmond Hill Hospital after he responded to CIJA’s social media post on X (formerly Twitter) which said that on 7 Oct, Hamas beheaded 40 babies and raped young women in kibbutz Kfar Aza. On 10 Oct., Dr Thomson wrote on Twitter “No babies were beheaded, there have been no confirmed reports of rapes. You repeat this nonsense out of racism.” On social media, he was doxxed, threatened and accused of antisemitism on social media.
In fact over the next weeks, the babies’ beheadings were shown to be false by a few reliable news outlets here in Canada, led in Europe by Le Monde in France and The Guardian in the UK. There is also some doubt about the rapes– however the jury is still out about them. On 12 Oct., Thomson learned that the hospital had received numerous complaints about his recent social media posts. “Jewish community members have expressed concern that they would not receive safe care, as well as concerns for their safety in general if they attend Mackenzie Health,” a manager wrote to Thomson in an email.
The hospital warned Thomson saying “it is expected that you conduct yourself in a professional manner.” Meaning no more comments in support of Palestinians. doxed, threatened and accused of antisemitism on social media.
At that time the hospital was threatened, as was Thomson on a personal level. CTV News heard a recording of a voicemail left on a hospital phone that referred to Thomson as a “disgusting human being, you do not know what you’re saying, and if you do not remove it, I advise you and the rest of your staff to stay out of your office.” The threats of violence were aimed at him and hospital staff unless his social media posts were removed.
Another health care employee, Amy Blanding, EDI (Equity, Diversity and Inclusion) director at the BC’s Northern Health District, was fired at the instigation of several Jewish residents of Prince George. Blanding, also a singer/songwriter, had performed some works critical of Israel. She is currently suing her employer and the instigators.
From medicine to culture
Anishinaabe artist and writer Wanda Nanibush, was the Art Gallery of Ontario’s (AGO) first Indigenous and Canadian curator. Hired in 2016, she no longer had her job as of mid-October 2023. The Israel Museum of Arts Canada (IMAAC) – formerly known as the Canadian Friends of the Israel Museum– sent an email of “concern” to the AGO that Nanibush’s public “hateful opinions” and “vitriol” about Israel’s bombing of Gaza. The email mentioned Nanibush “posting inflammatory, inaccurate rants against Israel.” The fallout from the email doubtless led to her puzzling exit. Her detractors noted Nanibush’s social media posts which referred to Israel’s role in genocide and colonialism, actions also denounced by multiple international human rights leaders and organizations. The AGO refused to comment on Nanibush’s departure, but her presence on the gallery’s site had been “silently scrubbed.” To add insult to injury, the same IMAAC email also demanded the AGO make “personal commitments to the Jewish community” by implementing mandatory sensitivity training for its curatorial staff based on the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism.
The scuttlebutt is that Nanibush received a settlement in lieu of dismissal and signed a non-disclosure agreement.
You will find out that a disproportionate number of the people fired for criticism of Israel, disciplined or forced out of work or school are people of colour. Does that tell us that the critics of Israel are all brown? Not at all. It tells us that the Troika, which includes Jewish pro-Israel organizations B’nai Brith, CIJA (Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs), and the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Centre plus sites such as “Honest Reporting Canada” have put their minds, their money and their efforts to stop free speech, and silence public discussion on Gaza and Israel’s genocide. It is easier to pick on people of colour who sometimes do not have powerful jobs, who are students, who do not have connections to lawyers or financial support from their community.
What the official Jews are doing in Canada is unconscionable. In a way, they are gaslighting us all. As long as the overwhelming majority of the Canadian media, including of course the “legacy media”, keep a lid on the genocide by arguing Israel’s “right” to self-defence, complain about antisemitism in Canada, and repeat Israel’s military briefing notes for the media – the pro-Israel lobby likely hopes that no one will remember the massacre of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians dead and injured. Or the three thousand Gazan children with one or both legs torn off by bombs or missile attacks. Or the 90% of Palestinians whose homes were destroyed and who now sleep on the ground, with little food, no clean water, no toilets, no medicines and no hope.
Cartoon at the top: Emad Hajjaj “Child Victims of Wars” (24 Oct. 2024). Hajjaj is from Jordan and publishes cartoons in Alaraby Al Jadeed newspaper in London UK.
Share this:
Related
Letter to Anthony Housefather, MPApril 30, 2024In "Anthony Housefather MP"
Pro-Israel supporters deny there is a Genocide in GazaSeptember 17, 2024In "Arabs"
Censorship and Civil Terror in Canada: The Silencing of Palestinian Voices and Palestinian SupportersDecember 9, 2023In "anti-semitism"
Post navigation
PreviousWhat to Watch, What to Read and What to Listen to…
Leave a comment
Write a comment...
Close
Comment
Judy Haiven is a writer and activist living in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Formerly, she was a professor in the Management Department of the Sobey School of Business at Saint Mary’s University and is a specialist in Industrial Relations. Judy Haiven is a founder of Equity Watch, a human rights organization dedicated to fighting bullying and discrimination in the workplace.
Contact: jhaiven [at] gmail.com
Sign up for my free newsletter:
