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Toronto (July 11, 2024) – Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center (FSWC) is appalled by the outrageous agreement reached between the University of Windsor and anti-Israel protesters and is calling on the university to immediately rescind it.

For weeks, an unauthorized anti-Israel encampment on the campus engaged in antisemitic rhetoric, glorified terrorist acts against Israel, and made Jewish students and faculty feel vulnerable and unsafe. The university has now rewarded these hostile activities by agreeing to a long list of demands made by the encampment organizers, the so-called Windsor Liberation Zone Team (WLZT), which will only entrench antisemitic narratives and further marginalize Jewish members of the university community. For their part, the protesters simply had to commit to taking down the encampment to see these demands met.

The 10-page agreement signed yesterday by the University of Windsor and the WLZT, which is full of tendentious anti-Israel language including the accusation that Israel is guilty of “scholasticide”, lists dozens of actions the university will take to appease the protesters. These include a commitment by the university to avoid “any institutional academic agreements with Israeli universities until the right of Palestinian self-determination has been realized,” to advocate politically for an “immediate and permanent ceasefire” in Gaza, and create new procedures to reevaluate the university’s investment portfolio in light of the agreement’s conclusion that Israel is “in serious violation of international law and human rights.”

“This agreement sets a dangerous precedent, sending a message that setting up unsanctioned encampments that create an unsafe, unwelcoming environment for students and staff are effective means to get universities to give in to extreme demands,” said FSWC President and CEO Michael Levitt. “The university has chosen to ignore the Jewish community’s concerns over the encampments set up at Canadian universities, where protesters have used intimidation tactics and espoused antisemitic sentiments, and instead taken a disturbing anti-Israel stance that will further cause harm to the university’s Jewish students and faculty and undermine its credibility as a respected institution of higher learning.”

FSWC is reaching out to the University of Windsor’s administration and Board of Governors urgently calling for a meeting to discuss the Jewish community’s concerns regarding the agreement and demanding that the university rescind the agreement immediately.

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