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Heidi Matthews
Overview
Heidi Matthews justified Hamas terrorism after the group committed war crimes against Israeli civilians, including mass murder, torture, rape, beheadings and kidnappings, on October 7, 2023.
Matthews has also whitewashed terrorists, minimized antisemitism, demonized Israel and showed support for the pro-Hamas student encampments. She is a supporter of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.
As of December 2023, Matthews was an assistant professor at York University’s (York) Osgoode Hall Law School. Her bio on “The Conversation” said she “researches and teaches in the areas of international criminal law, the law of war, international legal history, political theory and law and sexuality.”
Matthews LinkedIn profile said she graduated from Harvard University (Harvard) with a “Doctor of Juridical Science (S.J.D.), International Law (International Criminal Law; Law of War)” in 2014. She also graduated from McGill University (McGill) with a “Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.)- Bachelor of Civil Law (B.C.L), Law” in 2007.
On October 8, 2023, the day after Hamas massacred over 1,200 Israeli Jews, Matthews tweeted that there was “A lot of obfuscation going on about what the right of resistance looks like in brutally asymmetrical contexts.”
In response to a tweet that warned not to conflate Hamas with the general Palestinian population and that said “What Hamas is doing is not resistance,” Matthews wrote: “I think I’ll leave it to Palestinians to let us know what resistance looks like for them.”
Anti-Israel activists use the term “resistance” to refer to violence and terror perpetrated against Israeli civilians and their allies. It is used to glorify and encourage anti-Israel and anti-Semitic violence. Anti-Israel activists chant slogans such as: “Resistance by any means necessary!” and “Resistance is justified when people are occupied!” in response to terror attacks.
On October 7, 2023, Hamas murdered approximately 1,200 Israelis, kidnapped hundreds and wounded thousands. War crimes included mass rape and torture. Many Palestinian civilians participated in and supported the attacks, and Gazans working in the targeted Israeli communities gave intelligence to Hamas on where to strike.
For more information, see the Canary Mission page on Hamas.
In the week following Hamas’s attacks, Matthews signed [signatory 1532] an “Artists & Academics in Canada: Statement of Solidarity with Palestine.” The statement said: “We understand that the events of this week did not occur in a vacuum…The whole world understood in the case of Ukraine that resistance to military occupation is justified. It is in fact a right guaranteed by international law. The militant reaction from Palestinians in Gaza on October 7, 2023, is a result of decades of cruel and oppressive treatment.”
The statement accused Israel of “brutal massacres and weapons testing” and “war crimes” in Gaza and said: “As artists, cultural workers, and academics, we stand strong in support of the Palestinian struggle for freedom and against all forms of racism and settler-colonial violence.”
On November 24, 2023, Matthews tweeted: “Watching photos of the released hostages being projected on the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, my heart is overflowing for the families who are welcoming home their little children & other family members. The families of the prisoners should also be permitted to celebrate their return.”
In November 2023, Israel and Hamas agreed on a temporary truce during which Israel would release three Palestinian prisoners for every Israeli hostage returned.
The Palestinian prisoners released included Nafoz Hamad, a teenager who stabbed an Israeli mother in front of her children, Israa Jaabis who attempted to detonate a car bomb at a checkpoint and activist Ahed Tamimi, who was arrested for incitement after posting in October 2023: “We will slaughter you [settlers] and you will say that what Hitler did to you was a joke, we will drink your blood and eat your skulls.”
On November 21, 2023, amidst an “unprecedented rise” in antisemitism worldwide following the October 7 Hamas attacks, Matthews tweeted a quote from an article: “‘translating an embrace of Palestinian life and freedom into a call for Jewish death relies on pervasive racist and anti-Muslim stereotypes of Palestinians as endemically hateful, violent, deceptive, and hostile to Jews, Israel aside.’”
Matthews wrote in a second tweet: “Anti-Semitism must be rejected but cannot be rejected if we fear speaking out for Palestine because to do so is thought risky or unsafe.”
On November 23, 2023, Matthews tweeted that it was a mistake “to equate speech with danger/threat. When we do this, discomfort with unpopular, heterodox, or even radical positions slips easily into ‘unsafety’ (i.e. danger).”
Matthews continued in another tweet: “This is not only antithetical to robust academic and political debate, but may also trade on discriminatory biases, i.e. the idea that support for Palestinian life makes Jewish people (quite apart from Israelis) unsafe.”
On June 26, 2019, Matthews tweeted: “Intent to kill an individual even because you hate them because they are, eg, a Jew ≠ intent to destroy Jews *as a group* in part. It = intent to destroy one Jew.”
On October 12, 2023, Matthews tweeted: “Just so everyone is crystal clear: I’m a professor of international criminal law. Do I think Hamas has committed international crimes? YES. Do I think Israel has committed international crimes. YES. Do I think international crimes are a good thing? NO.”
On October 13, 2023, Matthews tweeted in the same thread: “I'm not equivocating. I'm saying both sides have committed international crimes. But if you're asking, I think Israel's response is wildly disproportionate…”
On the same date, Matthews tweeted, accusing Israel of committing “international crimes…in the name of self-defense.”
On October 15, 2023, in response to Canada affirming its support for Israel’s right to self-defense in the aftermath of Hamas’s attacks, Matthews tweeted: “Disgraceful. Canada has a moral & legal obligation to take measures to prevent genocide where there is a serious risk that genocide will be committed. At a minimum, this would include condemning Israel’s disproportionate response, calling for a ceasefire & ending arms transfers.”
On November 21, 2023, Matthews tweeted: “The world is on notice that there is a serious risk that Israeli is committing or will commit acts of genocide in Gaza. Now is the time to act, to voice opposition, and to pressure our governments to fulfill their responsibilities under international law.”
On December 5, 2023, after Israel held a UN session on Hamas’s mass rape and sexual violence during their October 7th massacre of Israelis, Matthews tweeted: “Is wartime sexual violence a horrific crime? YES, with no mistake. But sex exceptionalism is also traditionally used to whip up support for entire military campaigns — we see Israel and the U.S. doing this now to justify a prolonged disproportionate air and ground war.”
In the same thread, Matthews tweeted, accusing Israel of exploiting its female victims of Hamas’s sexual violence to justify the war against Hamas. She wrote: “...I can think of little more disrespectful of the women victims and survivors of sexual violence than the hawkish manipulation of their victimization for the purposes of supporting this horrific war.”
On December 5, 2023, referring to a video of former U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton condemning Hamas’s sexual violence against Israeli women as a crime against humanity. Matthews tweeted that the statement was made in order “to manufacture consent for [Israel’s] atrocity crimes.”
On December 7, 2023, following backlash for the tweets, Matthews tweeted “a letter I wrote to my colleagues.” The letter accused Israel of “the weaponization of evidence of sexual violence to generate public condemnation for Hamas and corroborate the necessity for Israel’s stated war aim of Hamas’ total destruction.”
On December 8, 2023, Matthews tweeted that “new justifications are now needed to keep the war/genocide machine going and -- as has occurred in many other conflicts -- women's victimization is now being mobilized for that purpose…”
On November 22, 2024, Matthews posted on X: “...Power to the brave students who continue to protest, to take direct action, to hold their teachers, institutions and the state to account, and to fight attempts to silence and smear them.”
The encampment was one of over 140 pro-Hamas and anti-Israel college encampments set up in North America, and over 20 more globally, in the spring of 2024. The first began on April 17, 2024, at Columbia University. The encampments were unofficially known as the “student intifada,” borrowing a term associated with terrorist violence.
Protesters harassed Jewish students, blocked Jews from campus facilities and shouted anti-Semitic slogans. They occupied campus grounds, in many cases illegally, caused property damage, violently took over buildings, celebrated terrorism and promoted the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.
Activists set up encampments to oppose Israel’s right to wage war against the Hamas terror group following October 7, 2023, when Hamas murdered approximately 1,200 people, including 32 American and 8 Canadian citizens. Hamas also kidnapped 252 people, including 11 Americans and the bodies of 2 murdered Canadians. As of May 26, 2024, 125 hostages remained in Hamas captivity.
For more information on the October 7, 2023 terror attacks, see the Canary Mission page on Hamas.
The Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement was founded by pro-terror activist Omar Barghouti in 2005 to turn “Israel into a pariah state, as South Africa once was.” Barghouti has also called for Israel's destruction and the BDS movement demands would result in that same goal.
BDS initiatives include calling on institutions and individuals to divest from Israeli-affiliated companies, promoting academic and cultural boycotts of Israel, and organizing anti-Israel rallies, protests and campaigns.
The movement’s most notable achievement has been infiltrating university campuses through lobbying for “BDS resolutions.” In these cases, student governments propose resolutions to boycott or divestment from Israel or Israeli-affiliated entities. BDS activity is often aggressive and disruptive. It has been noted that universities that pass BDS resolutions see a marked increase in anti-Semitic incidents and pro-terror activism on campus.
