An academic convicted by France of committing an antisemitic terrorist attack is currently teaching a social justice course at Carleton University.
In 2023, Hassan Diab was convicted by a French court on terrorism charges for his involvement in the 1980 Rue Copernic synagogue bombing that killed 4 people and injured more than 40. French authorities say that the bombing specifically targeted the synagogue’s attendees and that the attack was committed on behalf of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – a designated terrorist group in Canada.
Diab was handed down a life sentence in absentia after more than a decade and a half of legal proceedings where Diab was subject to a lengthy extradition trial from 2008-2014, had his charges dismissed in 2018, was re-charged in 2021, and convicted in 2023. Diab has not been charged or convicted in Canada.
Despite Diab’s conviction on international terrorism charges, Carleton University has begun employing Diab as a contract professor, teaching a third-year undergraduate course titled “social justice in action.”
In 2023, Carleton University’s department of sociology and anthropology issued an open call to prevent the extradition of Diab back to France.
The department argues that the circumstantial evidence used to convict Diab, mainly a handwritten note that authorities argue belongs to Diab, was not sufficient to convict him. They also argue that there is evidence that Diab was in Lebanon writing a university exam at the time of the bombing, and thus could not have placed the bomb.
The Jewish advocacy organization B’nai Brith issued a condemnation of Carleton University’s decision to employ a professor who was convicted in an antisemitic terrorist attack.
“Despite being handed a life sentence by a French court, Hassan Diab continues to live freely in Canada, while Carleton University, unconscionably, continues to allow him the privilege of teaching at a Canadian Institution.” reads B’nai Brith’s statement.
“As Canadians, we cannot stand by while a convicted terrorist, affiliated with a listed terrorist group, teaches on our campuses!”
B’nai Brith says that the university has ignored their calls to have Diab fired and expressed concern that Diab remains in a position of authority over the students that he teaches.
“Carleton’s silence is deeply disturbing. Its decision to continue to employ Diab not only presents a danger to the well-being of its students, but it is an insult to the memory of the innocent victims of his heinous crime and an affront to all Canadians who value law and order.”
Israel’s consul general to Canada Idit Shamir says that Carleton’s decision to employ Diab is “unconscionable,” claiming that the bombing took the life of her friend’s mother.
“Hassan Diab, the terrorist who murdered my friend’s mother, Aliza Shagrir, before his eyes in the 1980 Paris synagogue bombing still lectures at Canada’s (Carleton Univesity)” said Shamir in a social media post on X.
True North reached out to Carleton University and Diab for comment, though neither gave a response.
