Amjad Ramadan is a 52-year-old  married father of five children.  A Canadian citizen, Ramadan emigrated to Canada 20 years ago.  Born in Jordan, his parents were Palestinian refugees.  You must keep that last fact in mind while reading on. 

Until a year ago, Ramadan worked as an engineer at NTN Bearing Corporation of Canada, a large Japanese-owned ball bearing and automotive parts manufacturer in Mississauga, Ont.  He had a spotless record at NTN for the 15 years he worked there.  In 2016 he earned his professional engineer’s designation and received a promotion; in 2017 he was named “Employee of the Year”.  

After October 2023 his life changed dramatically.  Seven of his relatives died in Gaza early on in Israel’s war.  You can imagine that Ramadan was devastated with grief. He emailed the company’s  human resources manager to ask if he could share with coworkers two publicly available documentary films about Palestine.  He was told it was “not appropriate in the workplace”.  Ramadan dropped the idea.  A few months later, he asked if he could share a GoFundMe campaign to help raise money for Gazans.  The HR manager refused, but said Ramadan could “talk” about it at work.  

In the summer of 2024, Ramadan won a contest at work – the prize was two gift cards for Indigo Books.  The problem was that Indigo is owned by prominent pro-Israel Jews, Heather Reisman and Gerald Schwartz.  The couple are the main funders of HESEG Foundation that donates millions to foreign fighters who join Israel’s IDF.  For years, pro-Palestine supporters have led boycotts and demonstrations against Indigo.  As a matter of principle,  Ramadan asked if the gift cards could be replaced.  The HR manager refused, with no explanation. 

Later that summer, with Palestinian death toll in Gaza rising to more than 40,000, again Ramadan approached management with an idea to raise awareness about the crisis.  Ignored, he distributed a leaflet to some NTN colleagues with web links to articles about the situation. 

Saying that he had made certain staff members “uncomfortable”, NTN’s management suspended Ramadan for five days.

3 strikes and Ramadan was out

And then a pro-Israel group waded in. Some of these groups make a habit of targeting anyone who criticizes Israel and trying to get them fired.

In December 2024, the pro-Israel social media site Leviathan, which describes itself as “The unseen shadow fighting Jihadis, Antisemites, Anarchists & other threats [to Jews]” posted about Ramadan and his job at NTN as well as photos of Ramadan at a pro-Palestine demonstration.  Leviathan said his participation in anti-genocide protests “intimidates and harasses Jews and Israelis with Hamas terrorist glorification” – something Ramadan vehemently denies.  Leviathan accused Ramadan of wearing a company-branded jacket to protests – but no logos appeared on his jacket. 

After Ramadan was spotted at another protest, Leviathan posted, 

“Ramadan proudly harasses families shopping on Boxing Day and targets a Jewish neighbourhood.”    

Managers at NTN called Ramadan to the office for a meeting in January 2025. They had received two telephone complaints from customers about him.  Then management showed him video clips of him at protests wearing the unbranded jacket with no corporate decals.  NTN fired him after 15 years for “wilful misconduct” and for engaging in “political activity” while wearing  “identifiable NTN clothing.”  

When he objected to being fired, managers said the order “had come from upper management in the US, at a level above the President and CEO of NTN Canada.”

In an interview in The Grind, Ramadan said, 

“There is a campaign to silence us, or anybody who dares to speak up for the Palestinian human rights… you have the right and freedom to talk about everything except Palestine.” (CITE GRIND) 

Few of us have heard Ramadan’s story; yet many have heard about other targets like professors, doctors, health care workers, arts curators, and people in the media facing discipline or firing for their calling out Israel’s genocide, or at least sympathizing with Palestinians.  

Are Canada’s Jews really saying this?

How can it be that any time day or night we hear Jewish supporters of Israel and their friends wax on about being subject to terrible  antisemitism in Canada, (especially in wake of justified criticism of Israel) and yet they have the power to get employees fired, students suspended or expelled, encampments removed, rallies impeded or canceled?. 

What are Israel’s supporters afraid of?  They fear even having to hear condemnations or bad things about Israel and about the IDF –laughably known as “the most moral army in the world.”   But worse, they don’t want anyone else to hear these denunciations either. 

The pro-Israel lobby in Canada

• The pro-Israel lobby convinced (or threatened) our mainstream media to report little to nothing for the first months about the genocide in Gaza.  

• The lobby convinced the US’s “newspaper of record,” The New York Times, to publish false articles about the rapes of of Jewish women and beheadings of  babies, allegations the Times had to walk back.  

• The lobby sued four major Canadian universities for $15 million in a class action suit for fostering antisemitism on campus.  The four include York University, Queen’s University and the University of British Columbia.  TMU (Toronto Metropolitan University) has also been named in the suit for promoting a “toxic antisemitic learning and working environment.” 

• The lobby has  tried to destroy the careers of medical doctors and other hospital staff who dared to voice support or sign a letter to support Palestinians.

• The lobby has intimidated, refused to hire and often fired wait staff and restaurant servers, community activists, human rights defenders, university professors, grocery clerks, reporters, journalists, art gallery directors and staff.

• The lobby has organized to shut down conferences on Palestinians’ human rights and any conference or seminar that dared to feature criticism of Israel 

• The lobby has criminalized students, teachers, professors and anyone who was part of the pro-Palestinian peace encampments at a dozen universities across the country in spring and summer two years ago

• The lobby has shut down art exhibits, school and university projects, public assemblies, library meetings and public speakers.

• The lobby has promoted legislation for “Bubble Zones” around community centres, churches, synagogues and daycare centres in order to prevent especially pro-Palestinian protesters from gathering.  Toronto, Vaughan, and Ottawa have already passed Bubble Zone laws.   

“Don’t protest, don’t post online, don’t engage people, don’t mention the war”

This is what civil terror in Canada looks like.  Back down, don’t protest, don’t post online,  don’t engage people at work, don’t mention the war.  The war is Israel’s war against Palestinians. Israel has massacred 75,000 Palestinians – 60% women, children and the elderly.  Israel continues with its war on Palestinians –who have no airforce, no army, no drones, no tanks, no quadcopters, no F-35 fighter jets—all of which and more Israel has.   Canada manufactures armaments and weapons, and parts for them, that are shipped to the US bound for Israel.  This is despite our government telling us that is not true.  Canadian Prime Minister Carney’s latest announcement is the establishment of the Defence Investment Agency that incentivizes  businesses for the ballooning defence sector. 

Amjad Ramadan’s life has been destroyed.  In his 50s and with the publicity his case has generated,  his chance of landing a new engineering job lessens by the day.  His career of 15 plus years is gone.  He might win his lawsuit (for wrongful dismissal) which could mean a settlement to replace his salary for a year or possibly two.  He could also go to the Ontario Human Rights Commission – to launch a complaint. If he wins, he could ask for his job back – but his complaint will take years to be resolved. As he put it, 

“My kids used to go to protests with me, but they are scared.  They tell me ‘I don’t want something to happen to me at school’, or ‘what if I will not find employment in the future?’ This is affecting our community.  I want my children to be willing to fight for their people.”

Amjad Ramadan has been punished twice for the “crime” of being Palestinian – first he lost seven family members in Israel’s genocide in Gaza.  Now he’s lost his job, his career and his livelihood.  Not only that, but his kids have been punished too.

Thanks to Richie Assaly at The Grind for his research and excellent article. 

Image at the top: Cartoon by Patrick Chappatte in La Tribune Dimanche, France (25 Jan. 2026).