B’nai Brith Canada on Tuesday urged the University of Toronto to prevent a convicted terrorist from appearing virtually at a student event scheduled for Thursday. B’nai Brith Canada’s call comes ahead of an event hosted by the University of Toronto’s Muslim Students’ Association (UTMSA), which is a recognized student group, the “Watermelon Coalition,” and a group called U of T Solidarity with Palestine. The event, scheduled for January 30, 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.” B’nai Brith noted that 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.” The University of Toronto has been in the headlines several times in recent years due to anti-Israel conduct. In February of 2022, the University of Toronto Students’ Union (UTSU) voted to endorse a BDS motion that called on the union to “wholly divest funds and further on forbid investment to firms complicit in the occupation of Palestinian Territory.” In 2020, B’nai Brith Canada condemned CUPE 3902, a labor union at the university, following a series of anti-Israel and anti-Semitic tweets issued by its official Twitter account. Related articles: University of Toronto cancels event featuring PFLP terrorist Pro-Palestinian protesters clear University of Toronto encampment Judge issues injunction against anti-Israel encampment B'nai Brith seeks to intervene in U of T injunction proceeding Last year, an anti-Israel encampment was set up at the University of Toronto, similar to the encampments set up on campuses in the US. U of T turned to the courts in late May in an effort to clear the encampment. An Ontario judge later ordered the encampment to vacate the area, which the activists did before the deadline set by the judge.