Silenced by university’s ‘Justice Fair’
Netanyahu must be shaking in his boots
To the proponents of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions ( BDS) movement against Israel, “success” looks like a government so starved by economic sanctions that it has no choice but to withdraw entirely from disputed territories.
This will only happen if and when Israel’s diplomatic allies, its investors, any companies that do business in Israel, those that buy products from Israel, those that sell products to Israel or any other parties engaged in nonadversarial relationships with Israel all simultaneously decide to cut ties, leaving the state of Israel no choice but to abandon its former position on a matter of profound historical, religious and existential importance.
It hasn’t happened yet, despite more than a decade of BDS campaigning, though many activists remain convinced that a crippled Israeli economy is just a couple of cancelled orders of hand cream away. Or, say, just waiting for a little university in Oshawa to quiet a pro-Israel group on campus.
The student association at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT) took on that burden recently in deciding to exclude a proIsrael group from its Social Justice Week programming.
The event, which is being held this week, included a Social Justice Fair on Monday where students could connect with local community groups and organizations.
Robert Walker, Canadian director of Hasbara Fellowships, an organization that promotes Israeli advocacy on campus, said he applied for his group to host a table at UOIT’s Social Justice Fair, but was rejected because of the student association’s endorsement of the BDS movement in January.
In an email sent to Walker on March 3, Denise Martins, executive assistant of UOIT’s Faculty Association, explained that since the student association passed a BDS motion at its last annual general meeting, and because Walker’s “organization seems closely tied to the state of Israel,” it would be “against the motion to provide any type of resources” to Hasbara Fellowships.
When contacted by the Post, Martins said she didn’t actually make the call to exclude the group, but rather was simply relaying a decision made by the student association’s vice- president of university affairs (and thenacting president), Siraj Syed.
Syed was contacted by phone and email, but did not respond to requests for comment.
The communications coordinator of the student association later followed up and said the group would not be speaking about the matter at this time.
Walker said he was shocked the explanation he was given for his group’s rejection was so explicit.
“I’ve never seen a university in Canada where proIsrael student leaders are denied a voice because of their affiliation,” he said.
He added the materials that would have been handed out from the Harbara Fellowships table were mostly about peace and coexistence — “not right-wing stuff,” he said. “It seemed like a perfect fit.”
Ironically, Social Justice Week at UOIT did include a five- hour Oshawa Against Israeli Apartheid event Wednesday, when the group Students for Justice in Palestine hosted an art show to illustrate “what is being done to combat the illegal occupation of Palestine.”
It might seems as though this is an obvious double standard, but then again, the student association hasn’t yet considered a motion to boy- cott anything containing the word “Palestinian” perhaps in reaction to the string of deadly stabbings in Israel. There’s always next year’s annual general meeting.
Walker said part of his frustration is the lack of action from UOIT’s administrators on what he called “obvious discrimination.”
Tim McTiernan, president and vice-chancellor of UOIT, said he was informed only on Wednesday about what had happened, and he was still trying to put together the pieces. “I got a cursory overview from a board member on email,” he said. “To be quite honest, I’m still trying to see what’s what.”
McTiernan acknowledged that the student association at UOIT operates as an independent organization, but added “values of freedom of expression and inclusiveness are core to our institution.”
Walker said his group wasn’t planning on just showing up to Social Justice Week, which ran until Friday, without the student association’s consent.
Rather, he just wants to make sure Ontario taxpayers know their money is funding this sort of censorship on university campuses.
BDS proponents, on the other hand, would likely quibble with the notion that this constitutes “censorship,” and contend instead it is a necessary step in the eventual de-legitimization of the state of Israel: first deny a table to a pro-Israel group on an Oshawa campus, then ban some hand cream, and eventually Israel is destitute, left begging for international resuscitation.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is surely shaking in his boots.