Winnipeg paramedic disciplined for antisemitic posts

A Winnipeg paramedic has been disciplined after pleading guilty to professional misconduct in connection to a number of social media posts members of the public brought forward as antisemitic in 2023.

Saru Chahal, a paramedic since 2013, was working with the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service when two complaints about posts were filed with the College of Paramedics of Manitoba, says the colleges online decision a February disciplinary hearing.

The first complainant, submitted in November 2023, included screenshots of posts and stories from Chahal’s Instagram account following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks and bombing of Israel that killed 1,200 people and saw 251 others taken hostage, the decision explained.

Chahal will be formally reprimanded, have to pay a $1,000 fine, cover $5,000 in hearing costs and complete remedial education courses and a training module titled “pause before you post.”

The posts included text that references Hamas as “resistance fighters” alongside text where the paramedic posted: “I will never condemn Hamas. They are fighting for the Palestinians whether you want to believe that or not.”

The complaint also included a post in which Chahal detailed how they were having trouble at work in a caption of a photo depicting a damaged Palestinian medic vehicle.

One of the captions read: “Going to work these last 3 weeks has been really hard. It’s been difficult enough to concentrate on the most mundane tasks right now as it is.” It continued: “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.”

Chahal is also said to have shared an image “depicting military action where a Star of David is overlayed with a swastika.”

A second complaint filed later in November said Chahal “had been posting antisemitic hate speech, misinformation, bias, anti-Israel propaganda and inciting hate against Jewish people and the Jewish community.”

A college panel determined much of Chahal’s postings and repostings contained, “content that was 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.”

In a statement read out to the hearing in February, Chahal said they believe that health care is a “human right,” and is an advocate for Palestine, but admitted the posts went too far.

“At the same time, I recognize that as a paramedic regulated by this college, I have a responsibility to remain mindful of differing perspectives, including those that do not align with my own. I acknowledge that there were instances in which I did not meet that standard, and I take responsibility for those moments,” Chahal told the panel.

“I have learned from this experience. Emotions were very high at that time. I have and will continue to be more mindful of how and what I present to the world as I understand my responsibilities to my profession, to myself, and my standard of practice as a paramedic.”

Chahal had no prior formal disciplinary record.

morgan.modjeski@freepress.mb.ca