Canadian Medical Leader Resigns from University Posting, Citing Campus Antisemitism By Ari Blaff
A veteran medical professor at the University of British Columbia (UBC) resigned his academic post citing the school administration’s indifference to campus antisemitism.
Over 200 medical students signed a petition following the 10/7 atrocities denouncing Israel as a “settler colonial state,” guilty of “collective punishment.” The public letter made no reference to Hamas nor the hundreds of Israeli civilians taken hostage by the Palestinian terror group. “UBC’s declared support for decolonization and practices of equity, diversity and inclusion ring hollow in light of this partisan approach,” the document, which was also signed by over 100 faculty members across the university, argued in late October.
The petition was a response to an official communication from UBC on October 11 which expressed “heartfelt condolences to those in our community who are grieving incomprehensible loss and hoping for the safe return of their loved ones.” “As this conflict deepens and innocent civilians are caught in the tragic repercussions in Israel, Gaza and elsewhere, the implications are distressing for those with families and friends affected,” the letter, authored by the school’s interim president, wrote.
The professor cited the petition and the administration’s failure to address campus antisemitism as the driving force behind his departure. “One third of the medical students and some faculty, have publicly expressed their contempt towards me, as a Jew. I cannot take the risk of being accused of implicit harassment or racism, which is indefensible, by a ‘triggered’ student,” Ted Rosenberg, a family medicine academic at UBC for three decades wrote to the medical school dean.
“Unfortunately, I have no faith in due process in a faculty that does not even acknowledge the existence or presence of antisemitism/Jew-hatred, or my right to work in a depoliticized environment.”
Among the examples Rosenberg cited in his resignation letter include a social-media post shared by a fellow UBC academic which included imagery of “Christ in the Rubble” that “depicts Israel bombing the Holy Family in Gaza.” Rosenberg argued such graphics amounted to “historical revisionism.” “I cannot think of a clearer example of classical Jew-hating antisemitism, than this modern-day resurrection of the charge of Deicide. The accusation of being ‘Christ Killers,’ was responsible for the worst violence and oppression against Jews for millennia.”
Rosenberg added that the academic, whom he did not name, shared a petition on X “advocating investigation and exclusion of Jewish adjucators from CaRMS because of their racism.”
The school responded to a comment from the Vancouver Sun reaffirming its commitment to combatting Jew-hatred. “We are committed to creating a safe and respectful environment for all of our community members and will continue to take steps to do so,” UBC spokesman Kurt Heinrich told the outlet in a statement.
“In response to concerns raised by faculty and learners, the faculty of medicine is also working expediently to develop educational opportunities for inclusive learning and respectful dialogue within the faculty in areas that directly reflect our stated values, including how we address issues such as discrimination, harassment and hate speech,” the spokesman continued.
Before closing his letter, Rosenberg bemoaned the carnage wrought by the war on both sides. “I lament the carnage and deaths of both Israeli and Palestinian civilians during this horrific war and this seemingly insoluble and interminable complex tragedy.”
“However, oversimplistic [sic] ahistorical demonizing narratives and rhetoric, by either side, will do nothing to deepen our understanding, empathy, respect, or trust of one another, nor hasten a resolution of this crisis.”
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