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Canada’s Largest Union Asks Vice President to Resign Following Antisemitic Facebook Post
A Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer stands guard outside the Senate of Canada prior to the Speech from the Throne in Ottawa, Canada on September 23, 2020. Photo: AFP photo/DAVE CHAN
The national executive board of Canada’s largest union has asked one of its senior officials to resign this week after he shared an antisemitic video on social media earlier this month.
The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), which has 750,000 members across the country, said in a statement on Thursday that its national board made “the difficult decision” to ask Fred Hahn to step down from his position as general vice president “because he reposted a deeply problematic video that was a clear violation of our union’s equality statement.”
CUPE’s national executive board passed a motion on Tuesday that said it “lost confidence” in Hahn’s ability to represent the union as general vice president, according to a letter CUPE send to related organizations. The board cited a video Hahn posted on Facebook on Aug. 11 and “the impact it has had on CUPE members and the national union.”
The controversial video reportedly showed a diver at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris with a Star of David on their arm, jumping off a diving board before turning into a bomb that fell on civilians. The video’s narrator called the diver an “Olympic champion.”
Hahn, who is also the president of CUPE’s branch in Ontario, deleted the video and in an Aug. 18 Facebook post apologized for sharing a clip that “caused pain for some who viewed it.” He said he wanted to draw attention to what he described as “clearly a double standard” at the 2024 Olympics since Russian athletes were banned from competing in the Summer Games under their own flag, because of the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, while athletes from Israel were able to represent their country amid the Israel-Hamas war raging in the Gaza Strip.
“My intent was never to associate Jewish people with the violence enacted by the state of Israel,” Hahn wrote in the Facebook post. “It remains my strongly held view that it is a terrible mistake, and antisemitic, to conflate abhorrent actions by the state of Israel with Jewish humanity or identity … Our collective focus should be on the unfolding genocide, on the continued contravention of international law by the state of Israel — not on me or my social media posts.”
He added, “There is so much pain and suffering in our world and the last thing anyone with a conscience, me included, would want to do is cause more of it. I believe other people of conscience would agree that any public discussion now should not take away from organizing for a ceasefire, for justice and peace for all.”
Hahn was elected president of CUPE Ontario in May. He also faced calls to resign last year after he praised the “power of resistance” following the Oct. 7 deadly Hamas terrorist attacks in southern Israel.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford said Wednesday in a post on X/Twitter that he supports CUPE’s decision to have Hahn resign. “I applaud CUPE National for asking Fred Hahn to step down,” he wrote. “Now it’s time for Fred to put his members first and do the right thing by resigning from all his positions of leadership.”
During an unrelated news conference that same day, Ford called Hahn “a bully for 20 years.” The president said he was getting messages on his phone from CUPE members who called Hahn’s comments disgusting. “In my opinion, he’s a disgusting human being anyways, but that’s here nor there,” he added. “His bigoted comments — it’s unacceptable here in Ontario … someone has to discipline this guy and I encourage the [CUPE] workers next time, next time a vote comes, vote this character out, because, in my opinion, he’s just a terrible, terrible human being.”
Ford also applauded Ontario’s Labor Minister David Piccini for confronting Hahn in-person about his actions. During their exchange, which Piccini shared in a video on Tuesday, the minister called Hahn an “antisemite” and told him “you have to stop hating Jews … you’re a labor leader and your members deserve better than you.”
The Canadian branch of the human rights and social advocacy organization Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center voiced support for CUPE’s request that Hahn resign, and called on him to also step down as president of the union’s branch in Ontario. Earlier this week, the Jewish group called Hahn’s apology for his antisemitic Facebook video “insincere and insufficient.”
“Given the repeated harm his words and actions have caused to the Jewish community, Hahn must be replaced by someone who can represent all CUPE member,” the organization added.
In its statement on Thursday, CUPE criticized Piccini and Ford for their decision “to attack Fred Hahn, in a way that is completely revolting and unacceptable.” The union also explained that while it does not support Hahn’s antisemitic social media post, CUPE does condemn Israel for its actions during the ongoing war targeting Hamas terrorists in Gaza.
“Nothing about this decision changes CUPE’s clear, consistent position on the bombardment of Gaza by Israel,” the union noted. “CUPE continues to call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire; a release of all hostages from Gaza; and an end to the blockade of Gaza and the restoration of humanitarian aid. CUPE also calls on the Government of Canada to suspend the sale of arms and military equipment to Israel as it committed to doing in March 2024.”
“To suggest that asking for Fred’s resignation as a GVP is to throw in with those who support the genocide in Gaza, or is in response to a conservative premier’s bullying, is frankly ludicrous,” the union said.
The post Canada’s Largest Union Asks Vice President to Resign Following Antisemitic Facebook Post first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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‘Totally Obliterated’: US Bombs Iran’s Nuclear Sites, Trump Declares Operation a Success
US President Donald Trump delivers an address to the nation alongside US Vice President JD Vance, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth at the White House in Washington, DC, US, June 21, 2025, following US strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities. Photo: REUTERS/Carlos Barria/Pool
The United States launched a large-scale military strike against Iran early Saturday, destroying key nuclear enrichment facilities, including the heavily fortified Fordow site.
US President Donald Trump said in a public address that the operation had “completely and totally obliterated” Iran’s nuclear capabilities and urged Tehran to “make peace,” warning that any future aggression would be met with even greater force.
The multi-pronged strike combined stealth B‑2 Spirit bombers deploying bunker-buster bombs with Tomahawk cruise missiles launched from submarines. Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan — all central to the Iranian nuclear program — were targeted in a coordinated assault. US military officials said the campaign neutralized Iran’s main enrichment operations.
Trump praised Israel’s role in coordinating the response and hailed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a key partner, saying the two leaders worked “as a team like perhaps no team has ever worked before.” Netanyahu, for his part, called the American action “unmatched” and said it signaled a shift toward restoring regional stability.
Iran’s foreign ministry condemned the operation as a breach of sovereignty and international law, vowing to respond with force. Hours after the strike, Iran retaliated by unleashing a salvo of roughly 30 ballistic and hypersonic missiles toward central Israel. Several missiles hit urban centers including Tel Aviv, Ramat Gan, Haifa, and surrounding areas, causing injuries to at least 25 civilians and extensive property damage. Israel closed its airspace and instructed residents in key regions to only venture out for essential activities. In response, Israeli jets struck military targets in Iran, including missile launch sites and rocket depots.
Domestically, Trump’s decision exposed sharp political divisions in Washington. Republican hawks applauded the move as decisive, while isolationists and some constitutional conservatives questioned the legality of bypassing Congress, demanding oversight before further military escalation. Meanwhile, the United Nations and key US allies, including Britain and France, urged caution and a swift return to diplomatic solutions.
Iranian state media reported that most nuclear material was evacuated from Fordow ahead of the strike, the Reuters news agency reported. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN’s nuclear watchdog, said it detected no spike in off-site radiation.
According to Arab sources cited in The Wall Street Journal, the United States sent messages via regional intermediaries to reassure Tehran that the strike was a one-off and not part of a campaign to topple the regime. A senior US official confirmed that the administration clarified it had no intention of pursuing regime change and that the door remained open to renewed negotiations.
US Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Ro Khanna (D-CA), co-sponsors of a bipartisan resolution to block unauthorized military action in Iran, criticized Trump’s strike as unconstitutional. Massie called the move illegal, while Khanna urged Congress to immediately vote on their Iran War Powers Resolution “to prevent America from being dragged into another endless Middle East war.”
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), meanwhile, called for Trump’s ouster, claiming it violated the US Constitution and as such was an impeachable offense.
“The president’s disastrous decision to bomb Iran without authorization is a grave violation of the Constitution and Congressional War Powers. He has impulsively risked launching a war that may ensnare us for generations. It is absolutely and clearly grounds for impeachment,” she said.
Arsen Ostrovsky, a leading human rights lawyer and CEO of the International Legal Forum, rejected the criticism. He said Trump was acting well within his powers under Article II of the Constitution, which grants the president authority as commander-in-chief to protect national security.
“This is not without precedent,” Ostrovsky told The Algemeiner, pointing to former President Barack Obama’s operation to kill Osama bin Laden and former President Joe Biden’s airstrikes on Iranian proxies in Syria.
“Trump did not need the authorization of Congress in order to initiate a military strike,” he said, adding that the action was also supported by the War Powers Resolution of 1973 and Article 51 of the UN Charter, which affirms a nation’s right to self-defense.
Ostrovsky also defended the legality of Israel’s involvement, saying its campaign was not a sudden act of aggression but a response to a protracted armed conflict initiated by Iran.
“Faced with an existential and imminent threat from a nuclear Iran, the Jewish state had no choice but to act before it was too late,” he said. He described the strikes as “lawful, necessary, and proportionate under the Laws of Armed Conflict against a genocidal regime that had vowed to destroy the world’s only Jewish state and stood on the cusp of acquiring the means to do so, had Israel not acted.”
“In striking Iran’s nuclear weapons program, Israel and the United States made the world a safer place. They did it not only in their own defense, but in defense of the free world,” he concluded.
The post ‘Totally Obliterated’: US Bombs Iran’s Nuclear Sites, Trump Declares Operation a Success first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Israeli Strike on Tehran Kills Bodyguard of Slain Hezbollah Chief
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi lays a wreath as he visits the burial site of former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, on the outskirts of Beirut, Lebanon, June 3, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
A member of Lebanese armed group Hezbollah was killed in an Israeli air strike on Tehran alongside a member of an Iran-aligned Iraqi armed group, a senior Lebanese security source told Reuters and the Iraqi group said on Saturday.
The source identified the Hezbollah member as Abu Ali Khalil, who had served as a bodyguard for Hezbollah’s slain chief Hassan Nasrallah. The source said Khalil had been on a religious pilgrimage to Iraq when he met up with a member of the Kataeb Sayyed Al-Shuhada group.
They traveled together to Tehran and were both killed in an Israeli strike there, along with Khalil’s son, the senior security source said. Hezbollah has not joined in Iran’s air strikes against Israel from Lebanon.
Kataeb Sayyed Al-Shuhada published a statement confirming that both the head of its security unit and Khalil had been killed in an Israeli strike.
Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli aerial attack on Beirut’s southern suburbs in September.
Israel and Iran have been trading strikes for nine consecutive days since Israel launched attacks on Iran, saying Tehran was on the verge of developing nuclear weapons. Iran has said it does not seek nuclear weapons.
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Hamas Financial Officer and Commander Eliminated by IDF in the Gaza Strip
Israeli soldiers operate during a ground operation in the southern Gaza Strip, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, July 3, 2024. Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg/Pool via REUTERS
i24 News – The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), in cooperation with the General Security Service (Shin Bet), announced on Friday the killing of Ibrahim Abu Shamala, a senior financial official in Hamas’ military wing.
The operation took place on June 17th in the central Gaza Strip.
Abu Shamala held several key positions, including financial officer for Hamas’ military wing and assistant to Marwan Issa, the deputy commander of Hamas’ military wing until his elimination in March 2024.
He was responsible for managing all the financial resources of Hamas’ military wing in Gaza, overseeing the planning and execution of the group’s war budget. This involved handling and smuggling millions of dollars into the Gaza Strip to fund Hamas’ military operations.
The post Hamas Financial Officer and Commander Eliminated by IDF in the Gaza Strip first appeared on Algemeiner.com.