Following Arthur’s coverage of the May 15th student-organized sit-in in support of Palestine, multiple sources have indicated to Arthur that a man filming protesters on the morning of the 15th was, in fact, a high-ranking Trent University employee.

Arthur first reported on a “middle-aged Caucasian man…filming student demonstrators” on May 15th, and in the days after was tipped off by multiple sources that the man in question was Stewart Engelberg, Director of Trent’s Student Wellness Centre.

On the morning of the protest, Engelberg was seen in front of the “Trent” sign at the corner of Nassau Mills Rd. and Water St. filming students demonstrating in front of the sign with a smartphone.

Later that day, Engelberg began to comment under S4P Trent (@s4ptrent, the group who organized the sit-in) posts on Instagram decrying student protesters and expressing his support for the actions undertaken by the State of Israel since the events of October 7th, in which Hamas fighters killed an estimated 1,200 Israeli citizens and took approximately 200 hostages, some of whom have yet to be released.

Since October 7th, Israel’s military response has killed an estimated 40,000 Palestinian civilians—the majority of them women and children—summarily destroyed Gaza City, and leveled all universities and most major hospitals in the Gaza Strip.

In the series of now-deleted comments, Engelberg says it is “absolutely deplorable that academics do not call for the condemnation of sexual violence, physical violence, torture, and kidnapping of innocent Israeli civilians.”

Engelberg claims that academics did/do not speak up in the face of other worldwide unrest, citing the Syrian Civil War, claiming that they “choose to remain silent in these instances, yet speak out against Israels [sic] actions in the face of the Jihadist [sic] entity, who routinely sacrifice and glories the suicide of its own people (shahid) and use Human Shields by storing weapons under hospitals and schools.”

Shahid is an Arabic word sometimes translated as “martyr.” It is used throughout the Quran generally as analogous to the term “witness,” though is often misattributed—whether wilfully or not—to those who seek to fulfill a religious prescription through death. The latter is generally termed Istishhad.

Most Islamic martyrs are conferred the honorific shahid because they were killed as a consequence of religious persecution, or for women who die in childbirth.

Engelberg goes on to say that “Perhaps [academics’] next sabbatical should be in a war tour in [sic] country controlled by Jihadists. travel tip: Don’t wear your rainbow T-shirt.”

In another comment under the Faculty4Palestine Trent (@f4ptrent) account, Engelberg cites Israel as “an example of decolonization,” claiming that “The science of archeology has established beyond any doubt the Jewish existence in Judea, thousands of years before the Arab colonization of these lands.”

Another comment on the S4P Trent account reads: “When you say triggering a war, to clarify, you mean five Arab countries declared war on Israel and lost territory. The so-called Palestinians were actually Jordanians. Egypt has shut their borders to the so-called Palestinians for 75 years.”

Engelberg continues, “Israel has attempted on numerous occasions to broker a peace agreement. The PLO, Fatah, and now Ham-ass [sic] have all rejected any attempt at peace.”

On May 6th, Hamas accepted the terms of a tentative ceasefire proposal, which Israel would later reject.

Arthur reached out to Engelberg for comment but did not receive a reply in time for publication. Trent University did not reply to a inquiry from Arthur as to whether Engelberg’s comportment was appropriate for a Trent employee meant to provide care to all students on campus.

Sources told Arthur that Engelberg’s comments seemingly form part of a longstanding pattern of behaviour since October 7th. In a 28-week old comment, Engelberg claims to be a volunteer reservist for the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF), and claimed that “Referring to Israel as [‘]so-called[‘] let alone Canada [‘]so-called[‘] is in itself treason.”

The reserve service is mandatory to Israeli citizens, all of whom are subject to mandatory conscription for a period of two years and eight months. Arthur was unable to corroborate Engelberg’s claims of being a reservist. It is unclear whether he has ever been an Israeli citizen.

The State of Isreael is presently under investigation by the International Court of Justice for allegations of genocide, while the International Criminal Court has signalled its intentions to provide arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other high-ranking Israeli officials.

In a statement to Arthur, S4P Trent called Engelberg’s comments “inflammatory and rather derogatory,” and indicated that they had “collectively decided it to block him as many students feared Engelberg's intentions and having an open platform where he can identify students while having COMPLETE access through Trent to student's personal info, address and files.”

They concluded that “As of now, Engelberg continues working freely at Trent despite concerns raised by both students and faculty about his behaviour,” before printing a letter addressed to Trent Administration. 

S4P Trent added that “Trent's response to our letter simply was to file a human rights complaint against him.”

Since issuing the above statement, S4P have apparently reached a tentative agreement to meet with Trent Administration to discuss disclosure and divestment from Israel. S4P Trent stipulated that this meeting will only take place, however, if Trent confirms in writing that President Leo Groarke will attend, that two members of Faculty4Palestine Trent are permitted to attend, and that S4P members will have their identities protected and not face academic repercussions.

Arthur reached out to Faculty4Palestine Trent for comment, but did not receive a response in time for publication.

(Screenshots of Engelberg's statements follow):