A controversial University of Ottawa professor is being accused of calling for the assassination of former U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Amir Attaran, a professor in the Ottawa university’s law and epidemiology faculties, posted on X that he’d “like to see the Secret Service fail again” in response to the two leaders meeting.
Attaran shared a New York Times article titled “Trump Announces He Will Meet with Netanyahu on Friday at Mar-a-Lago.”
“I’d like to see the Secret Service fail again,” he wrote on X.
The reference to the U.S. Secret Service comes as more is revealed about the agency’s failure to prevent the July 13 attempt on Trump’s life at a rally in Butler, Penn.
Attaran was immediately called out on social media, including by popular American X account Libs of TikTok.
“This professor at uOttawa appears to be hoping for another assassination attempt against Trump and Netanyahu,” posted Libs of TikTok. “Is this acceptable behaviour from one of your employees @uOttawa?”
The University of Ottawa did not return a request for comment.
Attaran also did not respond to a query about his post.
As previously reported by True North, Canadian university professors have faced criticism online for posts expressing disappointment over Trump’s survival of an attempt on his life.
“Damn, so close. Too bad,” posted University of British Columbia medicine professor Karen Pinder after the assassination attempt. “What a glorious day this could have been.”
UBC animal care researcher Ingrid Barta meanwhile had posted, “Damnit, so close! And now he’ll milk being a victim for more votes. I reeeeally wish the person had better aim.”
This is also not the first time that Attaran’s social media posts have caused controversy.
Back in 2022, Attaran faced international backlash for shaming a United Airlines flight attendant on social media for not wearing a mask.
His shaming came amidst an air-travel mask mandate having been lifted in the U.S., but not in Canada. The different policies had created confusion for non-Canadian airlines, many of whom chose to no longer enforce a mask mandate on their flights to and from Canada.
Attaran’s mask shaming had been criticized by Canadian and international figures from all sides of the political spectrum.
Attaran has also previously been criticized for social media posts about Quebec.
