January 28, 2025
TORONTO – B’nai Brith Canada has urged the University of Toronto to prevent a convicted terrorist from appearing virtually at a student event Thursday.
The university’s Muslim Students’ Association (UTMSA), which is a recognized student group, the “Watermelon Coalition,” and a group called U of T Solidarity with Palestine are hosting the event, scheduled for Jan. 30. It is set to feature Shadi Shurafa, a convicted terrorist who was released from custody in 2022 after serving a decade-long sentence in Israel for participating in a foiled plot to bomb a Jerusalem bus during the Second Intifada.
“By platforming an unrepentant convicted terrorist and member of a listed terrorist organization, the UTMSA has violated [U of T policies], creating a hostile environment for Jewish and Israeli students and undermining the values of safety and inclusivity,” B’nai Brith wrote in a letter to U of T President Meric Gertler. “This event is a blatant attempt to sanitize and legitimize terrorism.”
Shurafa is a self-admitted member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), which Canada lists as a terrorist entity. The PFLP is also recognized as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union, and Japan.
“There is no academic value in holding an interview with an avowed terrorist in a non-clinical setting,” said Richard Robertson, B’nai Brith Canada’s Director of Research and Advocacy. “It would be reprehensible, and contrary to U of T’s own policies, for the administration to allow an accredited student organization to platform Shurafa’s shameless propaganda. Academic freedom and freedom of expression must not be used to justify indoctrinating students and compromising of the security and well-being of the campus community.”
