protests

By Joel Goldenberg and Beryl Wajsman, Editor
The Suburban

Anti-Israel protests at Concordia University last Thursday in which there were words and actions reminiscent of the Nazis has sparked an outcry in Montreal, across Canada and around the world. The protests took place as part of a two-day strike by hundreds of students from Concordia and McGill Universities, and Dawson College. Dawson and Concordia’s Hall Building closed for the day citing safety concerns.

At one point, the entire Hall Building at Concordia had been broken into and occupied by a mob and video clips showed the protesters breaking down doors, breaking lights and glass and spraying graffiti on walls and lockers. Concordia security tried to stop the protesters, but they flooded the main floor of the Hall building, where they overturned garbage cans and flooded in. Police are looking into an alleged assault on a security guard and alleged acts of mischief.

One protester, Mai Abdulhadi, a franchisee owner/operator of the Second Cup location at the Jewish General Hospital, was videoed saying “the final solution is coming your way,” to pro-Israel counter protesters, and giving the Nazi salute with several others. After the evidence of her actions came to light, Second Cup terminated her franchisee agreement. Second Cup stated that it “has zero tolerance for hate speech. In coordination with the hospital, we shut down the franchisee’s café and are terminating their franchise agreement. This franchisee’s actions are not only a breach of our franchise agreement, they also violate the values of inclusion and community we stand for at Second Cup.”

Quebec Higher Education Minister Pascale Déry stated, “..it is unacceptable that institutions feel forced to close their doors. Students should be able to access their classes safely; it is their right. Now, what we are asking is for the demonstrations to take place calmly and without excesses. Quebecers do not want us to import the conflict here.”

Federation CJA and CIJA issued a joint statement saying they are “horrified by the violence that unfolded today across university campuses. To be clear, today was not a ‘strike’, but an aggressive and unacceptable campaign of intimidation. While we recognize university administrators sought to protect students today, more must be done to ensure the shameful episode never reoccurs.

“Hate, intimidation and harassment of a targeted student population gone unchecked for 14 months resulted in today’s unacceptable so-called ‘strike’. We also reiterate our disappointment that Dawson College chose to preemptively cave into the mob and close its doors. We are in contact with administrators, law enforcement, and other security personnel and will use every tool at our disposal to ensure student safety. Jewish students, like all others, have the right to learn in a safe and secure academic environment and today they were not able to do so.”

B’nai Brith Canada stated, “the growing trend of student strikes raise serious concerns not just about safety at our schools and campuses, but also the broader impact on students trying to focus on their studies. The rise of ideological conformity amongst students has weaponized principles like diversity and inclusion to foster a mob mentality and silence dissent. This trend jeopardizes both community safety and the integrity of educational institutions.”

Deborah Lyons, Canada’s Special Envoy on Preserving Holocaust Remembrance and Combatting Antisemitism, said, “…Nazi-style salutes. Shouts of ‘stupid Zionist btch’ and ‘the final solution is coming your way’, attempts to break down doors. This is not peaceful. This is not free expression. The tools to deal with incitement and harassment exist — we expect administrations and municipalities to use them.”

Michal Cotler-Wunsh, Israel’s Special Envoy for Combatting Antisemitism, posted, “THIS is the product of YEARS of silence, false moral equivalence, impunity…for systematic weaponization of human rights to intimidate, bully, harass ANY voices identified with Israel, mainstreaming a modern, lethal strain of antisemitism, which also enables the targeting of a former Minister of Justice and human rights warrior in Montreal (her father Irwin Cotler), even as the Canadian PM aligns with the Orwellian International Criminal Court citing ‘the Canadian way’.”

U.S. pro-Israel activist Eyal Yakoby, who has appeared on American cable networks, posted, “..these are domestic terrorists. There is no other way to describe them.” n