OPSEU campaigner who tweeted praise for Hitler will keep her job
· Toronto Sun
OTTAWA — An OPSEU employee who came under scrutiny for social media posts praising Adolf Hitler will keep her job.
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In a statement issued Friday by Canada’s largest public sector union , recently-hired campaign officer Rawan Qaddoura will not be fired over the historic posts on Twitter — now called X — that praised the Third Reich leader and repeated racist tropes that the world is controlled by Jews.
“The staff member has taken full and public responsibility for this conduct,” read the statement from the Ontario Public Service Employees Union.
In a statement issued alongside, Qaddoura called the posts “completely inexcusable” and she understands the harm they caused.
“These posts do not reflect my beliefs today, nor did they meaningfully reflect any beliefs that I sincerely held at the time,” the statement read.
Qaddoura claims she didn’t have the “same level of judgement political understanding, and emotional maturity” at the time the posts were made in 2012 and 2013.
“I regret the harm and distress this has created for staff, members, and the broader labour movement,” she said.
Posts praised Hitler as a ‘genius,’ world controlled by ‘Zionist Jews’
The posts were made when Qaddoura was allegedly 14 years old.
“I honestly wish I was born at the time of the second world war just to see the genius, Hitler, at work,” Qaddoura wrote in a January 2012 post on X, formerly Twitter.
In a second post six months later, Qaddoura wrote, “Everytime I read about Hitler, I fall in love all over again.”
That was followed by a third post from August 2013, where she quoted a now-deleted X account saying, “The whole world is controlled by Zionist Jews and until you understand that, life will never make sense.”
All three tweets were cataloged and archived by online antisemitism watchdog Canary Mission, which has documented Qaddoura’s history of anti-Israel activism .
Qaddoura will remain an OPSEU employee
In their statement, the union said they conducted a throughout review of the matter, including her job performance and Qaddoura’s mea culpa.
“Having concluded that process — and recognizing both the authentic accountability she has demonstrated for comments made as a child and her exemplary record of respectful conduct in the workplace — OPSEU/SEFPO has determined that the staff member will remain on staff,” the statement read.
“We will not be commenting publicly any further on internal staffing matters or next steps.”
The statement also acknowledged concerns raised by Jewish OPSEU members.
“We have heard your concerns and understand this situation does not exist in isolation, and we are committed to doing more — not just responding to incidents as they arise, but building a union where every member, including Jewish members, feels genuinely respected and included,” the statement read.
Two years ago, Jewish OPSEU members sent a letter to OPSEU President JP Hornick concerned over OPSEU flags flown at a Toronto anti-Israel rally where participants chanted support for the Iranian-backed Houthis — a terrorist group whose slogan is “God is great, Death to America, Death to Israel, Curse on the Jews, Victory to Islam.”
As well, Jewish union members were upset that OPSEU — in response to concerns by Jewish members — ignored recommendations from the union’s Jewish caucus and hired Independent Jewish Voices, a fringe anti-Zionist organization, to facilitate mandatory antisemitism training.