A Jewish member on the Board of Directors of the Students” Society of McGill University (SSMU) in Montreal, Quebec was removed from his position this week due to his involvement with the Jewish community. The decision was made at Monday night”s Fall General Assembly. According to those who attended the meeting, students voted against having the…
StandWithUs strongly condemns the anti-Semitic vote which occurred at the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) General Assembly (GA) on October 23rd, 2017. A Jewish student leader who was nominated for a position in SSMU was subjected to a smear campaign, and then rejected in a vote at the GA. According to the SSMU President, “160 people voted no to a Director only because he was Jewish”. Two non-Jewish students who have opposed anti-Semitism on campus or been involved with pro-Israel student groups were similarly rejected.
Prior to the vote, a campaign called “Democratize SSMU” posted a hateful statement on social media accusing the Jewish student leader and others of having a “conflict of interest”. They were forced to edit their statement and apologize for being, “insensitive to anti-Semitic tropes of Jewish people as corrupt and politically powerful”. Unfortunately, instead of following words with actions they proceeded to trigger an anti-Semitic vote at the GA.
“Jewish and pro-Israel students are being subjected to a discriminatory double standard at McGill,” said Zina Rakhamilova, Canadian Campus Director for StandWithUs. “There have been many pro-BDS officials in SSMU over the years, and none have been asked to declare a ‘conflict of interest,’ let alone kicked out of their positions. This vote is the result of a campaign of hate which has no place at McGill or any other campus.”
Grace Miller Day, president of Israel on Campus at McGill, said, “we are appalled by what happened at last night’s General Assembly but we are proud to stand by a president who calls out blatant anti-Semitism.”
We urge the McGill administration to publicly condemn this bigotry, and call on SSMU to reverse their outrageous vote. We are proud of McGill students who are standing up to hate on their campus, and look forward to working with our partners at Hillel McGill and CIJA-Quebec to support their efforts going forward.