Canada: Full-blown Antisemitism

"As everybody was traumatized, we waited, in shock, for people to condemn. And I was waiting for the Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists [SOGC] as soon as the stories of rape and sexual violence came out. I was waiting for the women's organizations, and it became very clear the duplicity of women's organizations across the world."

"This silence has shaken me to the core because it reveals something much more sinister than just the age-old fear of a Jew experiencing antisemitism."

"Weeks after October 7 passed, I wrote to the leadership asking why they had been silent and was met with excuses. Eventually, in December, the SOGC released a statement, but this made no mention of Hamas or even the date of October 7. It simply stated, 'In the light of recent and ongoing global events' and mentioned the Red Line initiative. What recent events Committed by who against whom? I asked, but received no response."

Dr. Jon Barrett, obstetrics professor, McMaster University

 

"It was not surprising that he [Professor Barrett] reacted against the SOGC's double standard in its statement on the brutal attacks on women in Ukraine and Israel."

"When he failed to modify the Society's position, he resigned his membership -- an ethical response."

Dr. Arthur Leader, professor emeritus of obstetrics, University of Ottawa 

Demonstrators gather during a protest outside of United Nations headquarters in New York City on Dec. 4, 2023. Photo by CHARLY TRIBALLEAU /AFP via Getty Images

Dr. Barrett is an obstetrics professor at McMaster University, rebuked by having been removed from the editorial board of an academic journal in a reaction to his having publicly criticized his professional association for their failure to condemn the mass rapes perpetrated on Israeli girls and women on October 7 by Hamas terrorist operatives who had flooded across the border from Gaza through a separation fence they had destroyed to gain access by the thousands into Israel where as deadly marauders they slaughtered 1,200 Israelis on that fateful day.

Perplexed, alarmed and angry, Dr. Barrett wrote to the leadership of his professional group looking for answers as to why it was the association failed to make a public statement, to comment on the atrocities from their perspective as a special group for whom this should have been a matter of interest and abhorrence. Months transpired and there was no response as though the organization avoided a public statement in their name addressing the sexual violence. Which prompted Dr. Barrett to make a public critique in writing condemning the position his professional association had taken.

He felt personally affected that the leading body for Canadian OBGYNs with its four thousand-plus members to which he had devoted his professional trust sat silent in the face of this event that was well beyond repugnant in its lethal violence against women and girls, and the impact it should have had on a professional body for which such actions should have been horrifying had no obvious wish to condemn it. That his organization had no condemnatory comment in light of the violence Hamas perpetrated on women felt devastatingly both professionally and personally disappointing.

When the association's president Amanda Black applauded through a public letter the reporting of sexual violence that Russian soldiers perpetrated in Ukraine, highlighting the organization's advocating work for women, its silence in the face of the Hamas atrocities committed against women in Israel appalled Dr. Barrett. "The penny dropped, my denial evaporated and it all changed. It was then that I resigned. I fear that, once again, just like in my grandmother's generation, the Jew is being dehumanized to the point where the most heinous of acts are accepted by society. If you cannot name the perpetrators and victims, you are complicit", he wrote in a National Post op-ed.

When that piece saw publication a call came in from the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology Canada, the academic publication associated with SOGC. The editor, Togas Tulandi, informed Dr. Barrett that his op-ed resulted in the association leadership's anger who demanded his removal as an associate editor of the journal. Once Dr. Barrett challenged the editor over his potential removal's basis, he received an apology from the editor-in-chief who went on to send a message to the journal's editorial board to the effect that "I regret my error"; Dr. Barrett would not be dismissed.

That series of events led to the Journal board's confusion and  ultimate disagreements from within and eventually editor-in-chief Tulandi felt constrained to announce his resignation from the journal's leadership, with two other editorial members of the board joining him. Others expressed empathy, contemplating leaving themselves, but thought deeper of such a move that would impact on their ability to challenge the journal's direction. Dr. Barrett regretted himself resigning, in retrospect.

"I don't think it was the right thing to do, but it was that frustration that I didn't feel I had a voice anyway", he said ruefully. SOGC president Amanda Black followed  up with an elucidating statement of a December 2023 piece she had written: "Specifically condemning the use of women as weapons of war -- a tragic and enduring reality for women globally. This was a general statement applicable to all countries where such atrocities were, and continue, to be committed." Again, the specific identifiers of Hamas violations/Israeli women stepped around.

Dr. Barrett remains dissatisfied by the Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists' approach to the issue. He points out the differences in the SOGC public statement of condemnation and that of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists condemning violence against women in the Middle East: "It is horrifyingly clear that they are being specifically targeted for sexual violence, abuse, and kidnapping". A statement by the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine also committed to a more direct approach: "Our Israeli colleagues and your patients."