Can anyone point the way to the Court of Star Chamber? Oh –are we 550 years too late—no way. Not here in Canada!
The Star Chamber was a brutal court in England where suspects were tried for acts of religious and political heresy, tortured, and condemned, without access to legal protections. It has become synonymous with bodies without accountability that are “judge, jury and executioner.”
As recently as February 2026, the Star Chamber still exists in Winnipeg where paramedic Saru Chahal was on “trial” before a disciplinary panel of the College of Paramedics of Manitoba, the occupation’s regulatory board.
Saru Chahal has been a paramedic in the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service for 13 years; until this case, they have never had a disciplinary record. In the aftermath of October 2023, they posted on their public and personal Instagram account references to Hamas as “resistance fighters” and a post with
“I will never condemn Hamas. They are fighting for the Palestinians whether you want to believe that or not.” Chahal also posted that Israelis have “hatred [for Palestinians] embedded in their DNA since birth.”
By way of explanation at the time, Chahal posted photos of Palestinian medics’ damaged vehicle and a caption saying they were having difficulty going to work.
“It’s been difficult enough to concentrate on the most mundane tasks right now as it is. While driving, I’ve missed streets or hospitals I should be turning into. My partners try to talk to me but my mind is somewhere else and I don’t hear them.”
After Chahal, obviously under some duress and fear for their job pleaded guilty to professional misconduct and conduct unbecoming a paramedic, a disciplinary panel issued Chahal with a reprimand and ordered them to pay $6,000 – to cover a fine plus costs.
Who complained about Chahal and why?
Will we ever find out who complained about the paramedic and why?
The hearing decision noted that Complainant #1 was not a patient, rather a member of the Jewish community. That limits the source of complainants to about 13,000.
Complainant #1 provided screenshots of posts and stories from Chahal’s Instagram account including a photo of a Palestinian ambulance half-destroyed by an Israeli missile on 11 Oct. 2023 and another photo of the paramedic “attending a rally outside the Manitoba legislature on Oct. 18, 2023.”
Complainant #1 from “their periodic monitoring of [Chahal’s] Instagram account … the social media posts connected [Chahal] to their professional designation as a paramedic.” https://collegeparamb.ca/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Inquiry-Panel-Decision-SC.pdf
Less than two weeks later on Nov. 16, Complainant #2 came forward with a more hard-core charge. Complainant #2 insisted Chahal had been
“posting antisemitic hate speech, misinformation, bias, anti-Israel propaganda and inciting hate against Jewish people and the Jewish community; … The content the Registrant [Chahal] was sharing is dangerous, divisive and false and the Registrant had been posting information that is dangerous to the Jewish community and is pure propaganda that incites hate against the Jewish people; and … Any member of the public and future patient who is a minority should be concerned for their safety to be in the care of the Registrant.”
The accused admitted that, from the complainants’ perspectives, the social media posts were
“insensitive, derogatory, and hostile to those members of the public who identify as Jewish, Israeli, or those who appear sympathetic to those who are Jewish or Israeli; that the posts had the potential to cause distress for such individuals; and that the posts could have been perceived in such a way by members of the public other than the Complainants who viewed the posts.”
Chahal’s posts were judged conduct unbecoming of a member of the College, and constituted professional misconduct.
I wonder where Chahal’s union the MGEU (Manitoba Government Employees Union) is in all this. Are they defending their member’sright to free speech? Have they grieved the discipline?
Chahal is not the first paramedic to fall afoul of the pro-Israel lobby.
I guess Chahal should be grateful he wasn’t fired outright like Amjad Ramadan was. He is a Toronto area engineer who lost his job after 13 years of stellar work after he began to talk about Gaza with his colleagues, and after he and his family attended rallies to support Gaza. In his case, Ramadan has no option but to sue the company NDN Bearings Corp. for wrongful dismissal, and try to get a settlement. Given he was fired, it will be tough for Ramadan to get another professional job.
Chahal is not the first paramedic to fall afoul of the pro-Israel lobby. In June 2025, Katherine Grzejszczak a 15-year veteran paramedic in the York Region and executive board member of her union, CUPE, was fired for her comments on Facebook. She blamed Israel for bombing Gaza, killing health care workers and the deliberate starvation of Palestinian children. She and her union are fighting to get her job back.
Court of the Star Chamber: keeping busy in Winnipeg
The Star Chamber has been busy in Winnipeg. Arij Al Khafagi was a 25-year-old student in her final year of nursing at the University of Manitoba. On 21 November 2023, she was suspended for the rest of the 2023-2024 school year because she had posted comments on her social media that condemned the Israeli government, and the killing of Gazan civilians. The university’s senior administrators said they had received complaints – some anonymously — that labelled her posts antisemitic, discriminatory and unprofessional conduct. The administrators warned her that she could be kicked out of the nursing school entirely.
Al Khafagi, then president of the U of M Nursing Students’ Association and vice-president of the Arab Students’ Association prided herself on being “an advocate by nature and humanitarian by heart.” There was an investigation, and hearings – ultimately with the support of several professors and many others, she won. She was reinstated—three months later.
Al Khafagi said, “I don’t have an agenda of hate or bias or anything. I share the perspective of unity and humanity.” She said she was pleased that her Jewish brothers and sisters also joined calls for a ceasefire.
Those trying to suspend or fire critics of Israel’s genocide remain anonymous
What does this tell us?
First and foremost, those who launched the complaints against Chahal, Grzejszczak, Ramadan and Al Khafagi are anonymous. And anonymous they remain.
Second, who was trawling social media to earmark sites that criticize Israel’s genocide and the massacre of Palestinians? It sounds like the work of the pro-Israel Lobby notably B’nai Brith, Honest Reporting and “burner organizations” dedicated to seeking out critics and smashing them. Or are they receiving information intelligence from Unit 8200, an Israeli Intelligence Corps section unit of the IDF responsible for clandestine operation, collecting signal intelligence and code decryption, counterintelligence, cyberwarfare, and surveillance?
Third– this is the way the pro-Israel lobby now works. Rather than the lobby convincing their allies to fire employees who speak out or who demonstrate for Palestine, lobbying organizations target the professional associations and unions of their critics. The pro-Israel lobby does not take the cases to a Human Rights Tribunal because those hearings are held in public and require complainants to publicly defend their actions. No, the lobby wants to go behind the scenes, avoid public scrutiny and get people suspended or fired.
How brave of them!
Thanks to Nora Loreto’s Daily News podcast for the tip about Chahal
Another ruined dinner party... 