Vannina Maestracci

By Joel Goldenberg
The Suburban

Hillel Concordia was targeted by a pro-Hamas mob that trapped members in its club office, in relation to a speech at the university that had no connection with Hillel.

“Masked cowards banged on the walls, trying to intimidate them through the window by using the fire escape stairs, and chanted ‘all Zionists are racists, all Zionists are terrorists’ outside,” the club’s statement explained. “This came shortly after protesters blocked access to a talk at Concordia by a Tel Aviv University professor, something to which the students had no connection.”

Hillel Concordia added that “these acts of cowardly intimidation are only the latest examples of what Jewish students on campus have to face regularly.

“While Jewish students are resilient and strong, it is incumbent on the Concordia administration to hold those responsible to account and ensure that these acts of bullying and harassment are not tolerated on campus. If Concordia truly values the Jewish students at the university, then the administration must act swiftly and unequivocally to ensure these bullies have consequences. The Concordia student code of conduct demands the administration do so, and the Jewish students expect as much.”

Vannina Maestracci of the university’s media office told The Suburban that “we are alarmed about what took place yesterday and do not tolerate intimidation on our campus. Campus Safety and Prevention Services responded to this incident and is following up, according to our procedures and complaint mechanisms.” n