Toronto (January 28, 2020) - Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center (FSWC) is outraged by another display of blatant antisemitism at York University yesterday, after the student union’s multicultural parade was officially opened by a student wearing a shirt that said “anti-Zionist vibes only.”

The parade’s rebuke of Jewish students and the Jewish movement for self-determination was particularly disturbing given that it fell on International Holocaust Remembrance Day. 

“It is almost beyond belief that York’s student union would think it is appropriate for its representative to wear clothing bearing an antisemitic slogan at an event to celebrate multiculturalism,” said Avi Benlolo, President and CEO of FSWC. “It is well past time that the York Administration steps up and takes a firm and determined stand against the antisemitism flourishing on its campus.”

York University’s ongoing antisemitism problem is the subject of an external investigation directed by former Supreme Court Judge Thomas A. Cromwell. FSWC has applied to present evidence and make submissions to the inquiry about antisemitism at the university and its effects on Jewish students.