An article in the Toronto Star, published on November 25, 2023, written by Shrree Pardakar and titled “Health Workers Feel a ‘Culture of Silencing'” provides further evidence of the Canadian persecution of those who defend Palestinians, this time in the medical field. I will simply type the article over a series of days in parts.
Freedom and rights. Life and death. As Israel leaves Gaza in blood-soaked dust and imperils the right to life there, the freedom to denounce it is becoming increasingly repressed in Canada.
Under these circumstances, it’s not surprising that several Ontario doctors who are facing repercussions for supporting Palestinian rights were nervous speaking to me. Some said they feared reprisals, others said they did not want to exacerbate delicate work relationships.
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There’s also an abundance of over-scrutiny and low-level harassment behind the scenes.
Some came after a coalition named Health Workers Alliance for Palestine released an open letter this month calling on Israel to stop bombing hospitals in Gaza.
“There are no circumstances in which health facilities, patients and health care workers can be viewed as legitimate targets of military operations. Israel’s war crimes must stop immediately,” the Nov. 10 petition reads in part.
It was signed by more than 3,000 professionals from across the country. Since its release, many of the signatories have said they are facing professional repercussions. They’ve been hauled up by higher-ups, told there were complaints lodged against them and accused of making Jewish colleagues feel unsafe.
An Arab-Canadian physician in Quebec signed the letter on November 10. “Less than 48 hours later, the attacks on my email began,” he says. The attacks were from colleagues he thought he was close to, who accused him of antisemitism and “blood libel” and copied in [sic] senior management of the hospital. “I thought it was not only a case of intense silencing and harassment, but also, quite frankly, character assassination.”
The Abolitionary 