CIJR | Canadian Institute for Jewish Research
L'institut Canadien de Recherches sur le Judaisme

Analysis

Opinion: Canadian Universities Have an Islamist Problem

Fence around the McGill pro-Palestinian encampment, 7 June 2024.jpg - Wikimedia Commons
Fence around the McGill pro-Palestinian encampment, 7 June 2024.jpg - Wikimedia Commons

 

Casey Babb and Joe Adam George

National Post, May 6, 2025

“… when universities allow extremist ideologies to take root, they risk shaping a generation of graduates who no longer see terrorism as a crime, but as a justifiable form of resistance.” 

In what was once considered an inconceivable scenario, a London-based law firm acting on behalf of Hamas submitted a legal challenge to the U.K. Home Office demanding its removal from the British government’s list of proscribed terrorist groups.

The case has a Canadian connection, too: Charlotte Kates, co-founder of the Vancouver-based terror group Samidoun, contributed an “expert report” as part of the legal challenge “against the criminalization of Palestinian resistance in Britain.”

Many in Canada’s top universities share a similarly worrying, warped school of thought: organizations like Hamas, Hezbollah and the Taliban have been unfairly classified as terrorist entities by western colonial systems and laws that are riddled with racism and “Islamophobia” (a popular grift of Islamist groups in the West to silence and punish critics and to evade legitimate scrutiny).

Influential figures within faculty departments, student unions and diversity, equity and inclusion offices are not just excusing but actively promoting extremist ideologies, including radical Islam and support for terrorism.

Cloaked in the language of academic freedom, social justice and human rights, they are jointly funding studies and platforming individuals who condone terrorism as a legitimate act of resistance and undermining the critical work performed by Canada’s national security agencies with accusations of bigotry. …SOURCE

Subscribe to the Isranet Daily Briefing

* indicates required

Please select all the ways you would like to hear from the Canadian Institute for Jewish Research:

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. For information about our privacy practices, please visit our website.

We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By clicking below to subscribe, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing. Learn more about Mailchimp's privacy practices.

To top