Advertisement 1

Jewish groups slam York University's council on inclusion

Article content

It’s akin to pouring gasoline on a raging fire.

In the wake of pressure to deal with the rise in anti-Israel activism and anti-Semitic sentiment at York University, president Mamdouh Shoukri has named a 15-member advisory council on inclusion.

There’s just one glaring problem: The council contains at least five academics who have very publicly and virulently opposed the Jewish state.

Topping that list is gay filmmaker and anti-Israel activist John Greyson, notorious for helping to found Queers Against Israeli Apartheid, for withdrawing his film from TIFF in 2009 because Israeli films were being featured that year, for joining the second anti-Israel flotilla in 2011 and who was imprisoned in Cairo for seven weeks in 2013 while enroute to Gaza.

Gay activist and lawyer Martin Gladstone, who fought to get QuAIA out of the Pride parade, likened Greyson’s and the involvement of other anti-Israel fanatics to having “Colonel Sanders on a panel about being vegetarian.

“The entire affair is essentially a joke,” he said.

Marc Newburgh, CEO of Hillel Ontario, says he’s “outraged” with the selection.

He adds that if Shoukri truly wanted to address “inclusion” and the rise in anti-Semitism at York, surely to goodness he could have found academics amongst the 1,300 faculty members who have no strong position about the Jewish state, pro or con — instead of academics who have taken positions that are at the root of the anti-semitism one now sees on campus.

“(Jewish) students have been marginalized,” he said. “This is simply a slap in the face to them.”

Sara Lefton, v-p of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) says while Shoukri’s intention to enhance inclusivity on campus may be considered “laudable,” without significant changes to the council’s composition, his plan will “only serve to further alienate the Jewish community” in the GTA.

Avi Benlolo, president and CEO of the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center, says it’s clear this new committee will do little to reassure York’s Jewish students that the university administration is “acting in good faith and in their interests” and will produce a positive outcome.

A month ago the Sun reported York’s Stand with Us (in support of Israel) organization believes the school is one of the “most hostile campuses” in North America for Jewish students and that the head of the Israeli Students Union at York feels “every little part” of the university has been infiltrated with anti-Semitism. Benlolo said in the past year alone the environment has gotten worse for Jewish students and faculty. He accused Shoukri of letting it happen.

In a statement issued at the time, Shoukri dismissed the allegations as “totally false and unfounded.”

York spokeswoman Janice Walls told the Sun Thursday that the president’s Advisory Committee on Inclusion was established to lead the university in examining ways for strengthening York’s commitment to building an inclusive and diverse campus that “nurtures the respectful exchange” of ideas. It was not formed “in response to any specific incident,” she added.

Since inclusion is a “broad campus issue,” she said, the committee is made up of York scholars “with wide-ranging expertise.”

SLevy@postmedia.com

 

THE YORK UNIVERSITY COMMITTEE ON INCLUSION

Five of 15 members nominated this week have publicly expressed these sentiments about Israel:

1. JOHN GREYSON, Graduate program director, Dept. of Cinema and Media Arts

- A founding member of Queers Against Israeli Apartheid and supporter of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement

- Withdrew his film from TIFF in 2009 in protest of festival’s spotlight on Tel Aviv

- Was enroute to Gaza in summer of 2013 when imprisoned in Egypt

2. FAISAL BHABHA, Associate prof, Osgoode Hall Law school

- Spoke at Israel Apartheid Week event at Ryerson in 2012 and wrote article in Star entitled “Boycott of Israeli settlement products is both legally and morally just.”

3. SAEED RAHNEMA, (retired), public policy and administration and equity studies

- Supports BDS

- Told CTV News in 2010 that Israel showed excessive force when it raided a flotilla and that the country should negotiate with Hamas

4. NARDA RAZACK, Associate Dean, Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies

- First joined anti-Israel boycott campaign in 2002

- Visited Al-Quds university in 2012

5. ROXANNE MYKITIUK, Associate Prof, Osgoode Hall Law School

- Signed an open letter to the three federal leaders in 2014 accusing Israel of “potential grave violations of international law” in a manner that "could amount to war crimes."

Article content
Advertisement 2
Advertisement
Article content
Article content
Latest National Stories
    This Week in Flyers