University of Toronto uses anti-Israel terrorist’s image to advertise event

The Institute of Islamic Studies, the Department of History, and the Centre for the Study of the United States at U of T held an event called "Liberated Students in a Colonized Campus: Reflections on the Palestinian Experience at the University of Toronto" on Thursday. This event has been advertised as the first in a series of similar events co-hosted by these departments.

U of T used a custom image to advertise the event, showing a person holding a sign that reads "Hearing Palestine" surrounded by multiple figures. One of these figures is Ghassan Kanafani, a leading member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP.)

The PFLP is recognized as a designated terrorist entity in Canada. The PFLP was formed in 1967, and its goals are to destroy Israel and establish a communist government in Palestine.

Kanafani forged connections between the PFLP and other far-left terrorist organizations, including the Japanese Red Army. He facilitated the 1972 Lod Airport Massacre, which saw two groups murder 26 people, including a Jewish-Canadian women.

Michael Mostyn, the chief executive officer at B’nai Brith Canada, said in the press release that U of T holding this event is disgusting.

"The University of Toronto has an anti-Semitism problem," said Mostyn. "It is morally grotesque that the university is advertising an event using the sympathetic portrayal of a terrorist whose group has been responsible for so many murders, airplane hijackings and suicide bombings targeting innocent civilians."

Mostyn called on the university to cancel the event, issue a public apology, and launch an investigation into how it was allowed to happen in the first place.

U of T announced in December that a working group had been formed to combat anti-Semitism on campus.

B’nai Brith Canada further called on U of T to implement the ruling of its Complaint and Resolution Council for Student Societies (CRCSS). The ruling found the University of Toronto Graduate Students’ Union had engaged in discrimination against Israelis based on nationality, violating its own Anti-Discrimination Policy.