The Jewish organization B’nai Brith announced Wednesday the launch of a lawsuit against McGill University and student associations that have promoted a policy of solidarity with Palestine. This called for a boycott of “companies and institutions complicit in colonial apartheid against the Palestinians”.
Posted at 6:00 p.m.
“It is inexplicable that McGill allows one anti-Israel referendum after another and continues to fund activities that violate its own policies. By doing so, it participates in the creation of an anti-Semitic environment, ” castigated the director general of the Jewish organization, Michael Mostyn, in a press release.
It was a third-year college student who originally filed the lawsuit. The latter quickly obtained the support of B’nai Brith, which says it defends through it “all Jewish students on campus who do not feel safe and are not welcome because of the continuous anti-Israel referendums of their student society.
Last March, 71% of students voted for a Palestine solidarity policy that called on the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) to boycott “companies and institutions complicit in colonial apartheid against Palestinians.” “. The measure was part of the international Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) campaign.
The said policy, however, was dropped by the SSMU after the university administration threatened to cut funding for the undergraduate student union. The initiative encourages “a culture of ostracism and lack of respect due to the identity, religious or political convictions of students”, had indeed justified Fabrice Labeau, first deputy executive vice-principal for studies and life. McGill University student, in an email obtained by The Press.
Note that B’nai Brith’s lawsuit targets the management of McGill, but also the McGill student association and the collective Solidarity for Human Rights in Palestine (SPHR).
The latter, who is at the origin of the referendum, had strongly condemned the volte-face of the board of directors of the SSMU, renamed “council of dictators” in a parody declaration. In retaliation, the association had also decided to deprive the SPHR of its resources for 105 days.
Crossfire to Roger Waters
In mid-July, while he was at the Bell Centre, the popular British singer Roger Waters had added his two cents, by offering his support to students who campaign for Palestinian rights at McGill University, judging that the result of the referendum “is a crushing defeat for B’nai Brith and for the Zionist movement in general in the world”.
The former Pink Floyd singer has complained for several months that the administration of McGill University bowed to requests from organizations like B’nai Brith and the Advisory Center for Jewish and Israel Relations, which called the initiative pro-Palestinian. of “anti-Semitic, polarizing and anti-democratic”.
With 200 academics and artists, as well as forty organizations, Mr. Waters had signed a letter in May to denounce the “anti-democratic” threats of the administration of McGill University. “Your administration seeks to silence the debate on Palestinian dispossession and prevent McGill students from protesting Israel’s abuses,” the signatories wrote at the time.
In its press release, B’nai Brith denounces without restraint “the usual anti-Israeli venom” of the singer, known for his pro-Palestinian positions. “These types of referendums are not limited to McGill, it is a problem in universities across Canada, and we hope that other universities pay attention to it”, also castigated Sam Goldstein, director of legal affairs of the organization.
With Charles-Eric Blais-Poulin, The Press