Anti-Zionist student politician escapes sanction
Survives second impeachment vote at McGill
• His call for Zionists to be punched angered national Jewish groups and prompted McGill University’s principal to push for his removal from office, but Igor Sadikov’s fellow student politicians are not prepared to show him the door.
Sadikov survived a second impeachment vote Wednesday night, leading some critics to conclude that he is unlikely to be sanctioned for the inflammatory “punch a Zionist” comment he published on Twitter on Feb 6.
The executive of McGill’s Arts Undergraduate Society ( AUS) retracted an earlier statement calling for Sadikov’s resignation just before Wednesday’s debate over whether he should be stripped of his AUS office. After heated debate, representatives voted to keep Sadikov on council.
Itai Gibli, who attended the meeting and whose Anthropology Students’ Association voted in favour of impeachment, called the executive’s retraction of its demand for Sadikov’s resignation cowardly.
“The AUS is supposed to stand up for certain principles of respect and inclusivity,” Gibli said.
“By failing to impeach Igor, t he AUS can only really send one message to their students and that’s: ‘ Of course we wouldn’t condone violence or threats or discrimination against any of our students, and we wouldn’t allow a councillor to engage in any of that sort of behaviour — except when it comes to the Jewish community and Zionists on campus.’ ”
Rebecca Goldberg, president of the AUS, said the executive retracted its demand for Sadikov’s resignation to avoid unduly influencing the debate Wednesday night. “We think it is incredibly important to centre decision- making power into the hands of the commun- ity,” she said.
Sadikov said by email t hat t he vote shows his fellow politicians accept that he is sorry.
“My sincere apology for the harm caused as a result the tweet, the steps I have taken to educate myself and repair my relationship with my constituents, the understanding that the tweet was not a genuine call to violence, and my strong prior record as a committed student representative convinced the Arts Undergraduate Society councillors that impeachment was not an appropriate recourse in this instance,” he wrote.
Simon Paransky, a l aw student who is president of McGill’s Israel on Campus club, said he does not think Sadikov’s apology is genuine. He said Sadikov represents a radicalization of campus politics in opposition to Israel.
Paransky wrote an article last year defending McGill as welcoming to Jewish students after an American magazine ranked the school fourth on a list of the worst universities for Jewish students.
“I’m not sure t hat I’d write t he s a me article again,” he said. “I can’t in good conscience say this place is welcoming for Jews if people who sit on student government harbour these kinds of opinions.”
Sadikov resigned Thursday from the board of directors of the Students’ Society of McGill University, another l evel of student government. The move, he said, was prompted by the “irresponsible interference” of the McGill administration, which last week urged the SSMU executive to seek Sadikov’s resignation.
“While McGill’s administration normally does not recommend a course of action to the SSMU leadership, this situation is exceptional,” the university said in a statement last Friday. “With any incitement to violence, it is the administration’s duty to intervene.”
Sadikov remains an elected representative of Arts students. A meeting Thursday night of the SSMU legislative council was expected to discuss his status again, but Paransky said he did not expect the council to sanction Sadikov.The administration has begun disciplinary proceedings for possible violations of its code of conduct, but the details are confidential. Reuben Poupko, Quebec co- chair of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, said he remains optimistic the administration will act where the student government has not.
“McGill has thousands of Jewish students. CIJA and McGill share the hope that it continues to be a very inviting place for Jewish students,” Poupko said. “Right now, unfortunately, there are Jewish students who are not feeling welcome.”