Carleton University in Ottawa has hired Hassan Diab, a convicted terrorist, to teach a course in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology.

Diab, a 70-year-old Lebanese-Canadian academic, was convicted by a French court in 2023 for his role in the 1980 bombing of a Paris synagogue that killed four people and injured dozens. His course, ironically, will focus on “social justice in action” and examine the relationship between institutional power and miscarriages of justice.

The Jewish advocacy group B’nai Brith Canada has launched a petition calling for Diab’s immediate dismissal. “Hassan Diab, the PFLP terrorist convicted in France for his role in the 1980 bombing of a Paris synagogue that left four people dead and dozens wounded, is inexplicably currently employed as a lecturer @Carleton_U,” the organization posted on X.

B’nai Brith criticized Carleton for ignoring its formal request to terminate Diab’s employment, warning that his presence poses a danger to students and disrespects the memory of those killed in the attack.

The 1980 bombing of the Rue Copernic synagogue, which was described by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency as “the first fatal antisemitic attack in France since the Holocaust,” left four dead and 46 injured. The bomb, planted on a motorcycle near the synagogue, exploded just as Shabbos davening was beginning.

Those killed included a passerby, an Israeli TV presenter, a driver, and a Portuguese hotel housekeeper. The French investigation ultimately linked the attack to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

Diab has consistently denied involvement in the attack. Initially arrested in 2008, he was later extradited to France but returned to Canada in 2018 after charges were dropped. In 2021, French prosecutors reinstated charges, and Diab was convicted in absentia in April 2023, receiving a life sentence. A warrant for his arrest remains in effect.

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