An X post about an antisemitic takeover of the Simon Fraser University library downtown, named after Jewish philanthropists Samuel and Frances Belzberg. Khalida Jarrar is a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which Canada listed as a terror entity in 2003. (screenshot)<\/i><\/p>\n
More than 250 members of the Jewish community gathered at Congregation Beth Israel last week to learn more about antisemitism occurring on BC campuses. The discussion was led by a panel of Jewish students representing the University of British\u00a0<\/span>Columbia, the University of Victoria and Simon Fraser University, as well as educators and a spokesperson from Hillel BC. Panelists spoke about how pro-Palestinian activists have created an environment that has made Jewish students and educators feel unsafe, and that their concerns are, by and large, not being taken seriously by university administrators.<\/p>\n \u201cHillel has shifted from being a place where students explore their identity to being an emergency room for antisemitic incidents,\u201d said Ohad Gavrieli, executive director of Hillel BC. \u201cWhat we\u2019re encountering is unprecedented, and our main role has been to protect and defend Jewish identity.\u201d<\/p>\n Hillel is focused on safety, education, programming and advocacy, said Gavrieli. It is assisting students as they try to file complaints about antisemitism, while continuing with events like Shabbat dinners and bagel lunches, critical components that allow for the continuity of Jewish life during this crisis.<\/p>\n Gavrieli said universities\u2019 approaches to antisemitism have been very ineffective.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile they understand we\u2019re hurting as a community, they\u2019re politicians and they care about their institutional reputation. They want to please both sides,\u201d he argued. \u201cSo, when we talk with them about the encampments, they tell us to be patient, that they\u2019re working on it and will come up with a solution.\u201d<\/p>\n Member of the Legislative Assembly Selina Robinson described a similar \u201cdeafness and silence\u201d when she spoke about antisemitism with her political colleagues.<\/p>\n \u201cI heard stories from Langara students who were afraid to leave the bathroom because there was marching in the hallways. I got calls from students whose instructors were telling them they needed to participate in a march, and from educators whose administrators were involved in BDS [boycott, sanction and divestment] activity,\u201d she recalled. \u201cI felt I needed to say something, so I said lots \u2013 to the attorney general, the solicitor general, the chief of staff. And I got silence, or responses like, \u2018we\u2019re looking into it\u2019 \u2013 but nothing happened.\u201d<\/p>\n For Aria Levitt, a Jewish student leader entering her second year at UVic, the campus environment is daunting.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen an encampment was established in the Quad at UVic, the university issued a statement that overnight camping there was not allowed. But the encampment is still there, and they\u2019re not doing anything about it, which is a statement in itself,\u201d said Levitt. \u201cI heard the marches, protests and chants and it was very scary. I don\u2019t feel proud to wear\u00a0<\/span>a UVic sweater,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n At Simon Fraser University, Rachel Altman, an associate professor, said the Faculty for Palestine group has been relentless about holding anti-Israel events, and that those events even count towards the educators\u2019 professional credit. \u201cI attended one of their events and I was shaking by the end of it, it was so deeply unsettling,\u201d she confessed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe hatred in the room was palpable,\u201d said Altman. \u201cThey were clearly talking about me and my colleagues, misrepresenting my responses and not giving me a chance to defend myself. I felt hated by colleagues who have never spoken to me face-to-face. One person made a claim that Israel is stealing organs. This group is large and it\u2019s having an impact on the general climate at SFU.\u201d<\/p>\n Altman is trying to get her faculty association to adopt a neutrality policy and to develop institutional neutrality. Dr. Estie Ford, a professor at the Peter A. Allard School of Law at UBC, is working with her colleagues to establish the Jewish Academic Alliance of BC, with the goal of being a face for Jewish faculty who are not anti-Zionist, across the province. \u201cThis is a new time when people are coming together and there\u2019s so much amazing work being done,\u201d Ford said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Gavrieli fields calls from Jewish parents wondering how safe BC campuses are for their children. He tells students to continue to hold their heads high, to not be afraid and to tackle the issues head-on.<\/p>\n \u201cAntisemitism right now is being driven from campus and it\u2019s rooted on campus,\u201d he said. \u201cAny parent with a child entering university should encourage them to engage in Jewish life on campus, to make it more vibrant and to deal with this issue fearlessly, because this is the time to fight.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Lauren Kramer<\/b>, an award-winning writer and editor, lives in Richmond.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" An X post about an antisemitic takeover of the Simon Fraser University library downtown, named after Jewish philanthropists Samuel and Frances Belzberg. Khalida Jarrar is a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which Canada listed as a terror entity in 2003. (screenshot) More than 250 members of the Jewish community gathered […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":44581,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[801,23322,6422,23321,8837,1347,23324,23323,7008],"class_list":["post-44579","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local","tag-antisemitism","tag-aria-levitt","tag-british-columbia","tag-campuses","tag-hate","tag-hillel-bc","tag-ohad-gavrieli","tag-rachel-altman","tag-selina-robinson"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44579","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44579"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44579\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44581"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}