"Anti-Zionism is a hate movement. This would be akin to having different white supremacists of various persuasions with university degrees coming together to say, ‘Hey, we need to get our ducks in a row."

"It felt to me like it is an effort to legitimize and really crystallize the idea of anti-Zionism to make it a little more consistent and, of course, palatable to the masses."

"[The university is giving a platform to antisemites by allowing the working group to exist. The word genocide in the description is] one of the most destructive and deadly anti-Jewish libels in history."

"What’s happened in Gaza has been extremely destructive and the suffering there has been unimaginable, but there is a difference between counterterrorism and war and genocide."

"The situation in Gaza was not a war that Israel asked for."

Casey Babb, director, Macdonald-Laurier Institute, Ottawa think tank

 

"It’s difficult to unpack exactly what he’s saying. I would have loved if the university had made a statement immediately. I would have loved even better if the university had never allowed [the working group page] to be put up."

"It’s important to know that people [Jewish students at the university] are not alone, and that this hasn’t gone without notice."

David Jacobs, member, University of Toronto’s governing council  

 

"We still haven’t seen the overall change that’s needed, and no single action is going to make that happen. Rather, we need to continue and develop our sustained holistic approach to the problem of antisemitism on campus."

"Actions directed at individual members of our community because they are Jewish or Israeli or identify as Zionist can be harassment, discrimination, and or violate law policy."

"Such actions directed at individuals do not cease to be problematic simply because the word Jewish or Israeli is replaced by the word Zionist."

University of Toronto president Melanie Woodin  

Webpage, The University of Toronto (UofT) Jackman Humanities Institute working group titled "Bridging Theories of Anti-Zionism.  (photo credit: screenshot)

 Leaders from within the Toronto Jewish community have called out the University of Toronto for its 'despicable' research group that has focused on theories surrounding anti-Zionism. The group, Bridging Theories of Anti-Zionism at U of T's Jackman Humanities Institute, is the work of grad students and university faculty having obviously much in common. The question, "What does it mean to critique Zionism as a political ideology, and how have the last three years of genocide in Palestine changed the scholarly engagement with this question?" 

 

That clearly antisemitic hate-charged question is answered with this explanation: "This working group seeks to map these varied streams of anti-Zionist thought and construct a critical genealogy that can inform contemporary scholarship across multiple fields". Scholarly language, in pretense of authenticity of scholarly research to resolve an issue entirely created to give a stamp of academic approval to the curse of antisemitism clothed in integuments of anti-Zionism. 

 

The Jackman Humanities Institute web page that caught the incredulous attention of Dr. David Jacobs, president of the Ontario Association of Radiologists, spurring him to post to social media that he felt dutybound not to overlook "...this latest working group", lest he be "remiss" in his duties, is no longer available; mysteriously removed from public view. Dr. Jacobs' position on the university's governing council makes it all the more imperative that he launch a demand for an enquiry.

 

Anti-Israel protesters outside a Winnipeg synagogue claimed guest speakers from the Israeli Defence Force are “war criminals”   photo credit: Supplied

As he put it, he had expectations that the university would not succumb to permitting any group within its hallowed confines to "indulge in this type of activity", in cognizance of the of the Canadian Heritage 2026 federal report's finding that 95.7 percent of Jewish post-secondary students in Canada revealed that they had experienced or witnessed rank antisemitism on campus throughout the year before. 

 

Director of the Jackman Institute, Professor Randy Boyagoda, issued a statement that it "affirms the academic freedom of the individual faculty members involved with all of its working groups and does not endorse particular perspectives associated with any of them". The Institute, in other words respects academic freedom of study, research and enquiry, leaving it to random faculty members to explore issues of importance to them, unshackled by any measure of moral consequences in reaching unproven rancid conclusions as verified facts. 

"The JHI receives proposals from faculty members seeking to convene working groups on various subjects. These proposals are assessed by fellow faculty members."

"As the new director, I have focused on the re-conceptualization and renewal of the JHI’s programming since taking up my appointment in July."

"This includes working groups, among other activities." 

Randy Boyagoda, director, Jackman Humanities Institute (JHI)  

A demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag inside an anti-Israel encampment at the University of Toronto campus on May 2, 2024. Photo by COLE BURSTON /AFP via Getty Images