The Canadian Federation of Students-Ontario released a statement Thursday in support of the anti-Israel university encampments across Canada and the U.S.
In the statement, the student union group that claims to represent over 350,000 full-time and part-time students in Ontario, called Israel a “settler-colonialist,” “apartheid,” and “Zionist occupation,” which unleashed a “brutal genocidal campaign” against the people of Palestine 200 days ago.
The release did not mention Hamas’ terrorist attack on Oct. 7, which killed over 1,200 people and kidnapped hundreds more, or how Hamas is still holding nearly 130 hostages.
As the group celebrates the encampments, they said the Canadian and US governments and universities are deploying “violent attacks on students.”
The statement declared that police and universities endanger students by identifying them and having a police presence on these campuses.
Days after the statement was released, there was an attack on a Jewish man for waving an Israeli flag at a pro-Palestine encampment at the University of Toronto. According to the man, arrests were not made due to a lack of police presence.
The CFS-O is demanding disclosure of any investments that are linked to Israel, increased transparency of institutional spending, for the campus to divest from any organizations tied with Israel and for the campuses they are occupying to defend their right to protest on their property, which often entails preventing those that the protesters disagree with from entering.
Their final demand is to denounce what they declare a “genocide and occupation” by Israel against the Palestinian people. And for the universities to condemn police action against their “frontiers of resistance” on student campuses.
Jewish groups were shocked by the student union’s statement and accused the CFS-O of being one-sided.
B’nai Brith told True North that anyone accusing Israel of genocide is “misinforming the public.”
“Accusations of genocide are inciting and have the propensity to misinform the public. there is international legislation in international law that clarifies the criteria for something to be considered a genocide that simply is not met in this situation,” Richard Robertson, a representative of B’nai Brith, told True North. “Israel is not an apartheid state. Gaza is self-governed by Hamas.”
Hillel Ontario, an organization for Jewish students focusing on campus life, said the CFS-O is “discriminating” Jewish students.
“Hillel Ontario is disturbed to see yet another discriminating and one-sided statement from the CFS-O, which claims to represent the many post-secondary students in our province,” Jacqueline Dressler, the Director of Advocacy for Hillel Ontario, told True North in an email.
The group has been scrutinized before for its partnership with Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid and Faculty For Palestine, a group who have openly called for “Intifada.”
In the context of the Israeli-Palestine conflict, calls for Intifada are recognized by Jewish rights organizations in Canada, such as B’nai Brith and the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, as calls to violence against Israelis and Jews.
“To see the CFS-O commend the protests as “critical frontiers of resistance” is a gross mischaracterization,” Dressler said.“These protests have devolved into disturbing antisemitic and hateful events, promoting the idea that Jews and Zionists are not welcome on campus.
True North requested comment from the CFS-O but did not receive a response before the deadline.
