Toronto (February 27, 2019) – Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center (FSWC) condemns yesterday’s University of Toronto Graduate Students’ Union vote in favour of the ratification of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Committee as a standing committee.
The work of the committee includes supporting and promoting the antisemitic BDS movement against Israel, including through Israeli Apartheid Week – which brings biased anti-Israel propaganda and stokes division among students on campus every year.
“I think it is well-established globally, including through the definition of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance and our own prime minister, that BDS is an antisemitic movement, which promotes racism, intolerance and hatred against the Jewish people,” said FSWC President and CEO Avi Benlolo. “The people who promote this hateful campaign bully the one and only Jewish nation on earth, while leaving out any criticism of the most oppressive nations on the planet – most of which are undemocratic and practice gender apartheid, restrict freedoms and commit heinous acts of violence – including Syria, Iran and Saudi Arabia. It’s shameful that Canadian university students are using western platforms to discriminate against the Jewish people and the only democratic state in the Middle East – Israel.”
FSWC has released a petition and is calling on the public to join in urging the University of Toronto to condemn the antisemitic BDS movement.