An antisemitic poster found at Stephen Lewis Secondary School in Mississauga. Photo: CIJA.

Administrators at a high school in Ontario, Canada have launched an inquiry and removed a poster suggesting that Israel conducts “human testing” on Palestinians, after concerns were raised over antisemitism.

The poster was hung in a hallway last week at Stephen Lewis Secondary School in Mississauga as part of a project for the grade 12 class, “Equity and Social Justice: From Theory to Practice.”

According to the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA), the project promoted “the antisemitic lie that Israelis harvest Palestinian organs and conduct ‘human testing’ of pharmaceuticals on Palestinians.”

“If true, this is one of the most serious and vicious examples of antisemitism in a Canadian public school CIJA has seen,” the group said on Friday.

Peter Joshua, director of education at the Peel District School Board, confirmed in a statement shared with The Algemeiner that concerns were raised last week that the poster and project “are anti-Semitic and that the campaign [the students] had chosen to raise awareness on is based on non-credible sources.”

School administrators contacted the Board and the school’s superintendent of education to determine next steps, and ultimately removed the poster on Friday pending an investigation by the superintendent, which “began immediately and is ongoing,” Joshua said.

“We recognize that the poster should have been taken down when concerns were first raised, while we looked into it,” he noted. “For this, we apologize.”

“We recognize the severity of the hurt and harm that the class project has caused for members of the Jewish community and others inside and outside of Peel Region,” Joshua added. “Your concerns of anti-Semitism are heard and we commit to a full review of the project, guided by the board’s Safe Schools and Equity and Inclusive Education policies.”

The results of the investigation will not be made public due to privacy laws.