Die-in protests controversial presence

On March 13, a demonstration was staged in the MUSC atrium condemning the presence of ex-Israeli Defence Force soldiers on campus as part of “Let’s Talk Israel” club table in the student centre the previous day.

Israel on Campus hosted a delegation of Israeli students who were travelling for two weeks with the Connecting Leaders in Communities organization. The four visiting Israeli students were made openly available for discussions at the MUSC club tables, in order to “foster dialogue and positive conversation” about Israeli and Canadian culture and experiences, according to IOC’s Facebook page.

Palestinian students took issue with a photo depicting one of the students, ex-IDF soldier Sam Sank, holding two grenade launchers. Another ex-soldier, Jonas Melchers, was also revealed to be currently working for the organization “Hesig Zioni” which seeks to build community settlements and increase immigration to Israel. The organization is associated with the “Hesig” Foundation, which provides scholarships for IDF veterans.

During the afternoon, Palestinian students and supporters gathered in the student centre atrium and staged a “die-in.” After a segment from the hit M.I.A. single “Paper Planes,” paper planes were tossed from the second floor balcony down to the atrium floor while demonstrators fell to the ground. Students delivered speeches during the event denouncing the presence of the ex-IDF students, along with advocating the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign.

The BDS initiative at McMaster is part of a greater global campaign that calls for the boycott and divestment from corporations that are directly supporting Israel.

“We as McMaster students do not welcome those who advocate for violence. We welcome those that advocate for peace,” said Salah Khalaf, one of the key speakers at the event.

Yara Shoufani, a speaker and organizer at the event, described some of the steps she and other Palestinian students took with administration to address the presence of the ex-IDF soldiers.

“We found out about it ahead of time, and we actually appealed to administration to do something about it so that Palestinian students aren’t triggered or traumatized, especially since a [good proportion] of the Palestinian population at Mac has relatives or knows somebody whose been directly impacted or killed by the Israeli occupation,” she explained.

Efforts to first remove the delegation of Israeli students, and then to move their location to a more private location were both denied by university administration. Administration was already alerted and cleared the presence of the students by Israel on Campus through Human Rights and Equity Services, who also dealt with the later complaints. MUSC’s administrative office and club table policies do not actively monitor or control what guests clubs can host at their tables, nor any demonstrations or protests provided they remain peaceful.

Following the protest, Israel on Campus responded via Facebook: “Like many other liberal democracies, Israel has mandatory conscription. Therefore, three of the individuals from the Israeli delegation were formerly soldiers, as are nearly all Israelis. Nonetheless, these students came to campus as students who wanted to start a conversation about peace and diversity rather than as former soldiers.”

IOC’s coordinator, Sean Haber, described some of the discriminatory attitudes and prejudice that the Israeli students faced. In particular, he described the case of an Israeli-Palestinian student who was part of the delegation and was due to be featured at a Thursday evening presentation alongside Mac prof Beson Honig, titled “Business Partners in Peace.”  The speech was cancelled that evening, which Haber explained was a result of the visiting student being mocked and intimidated for not being a “real Palestinian” both at the group’s table and over Facebook.

Haber also noted that Israel on Campus was not aware of the controversial photographs of Sank, but argued that it is invalid to create a campaign based on one photograph taken during a student’s mandatory military service. Palestinian students nonetheless felt that Sank’s advocacy and pride for enrolling into the IDF as a British immigrant did not excuse him from criticism. Despite the backlash, Haber believes that the positive dialogue that was able to was still personally encouraging, but believes more needs to be done by both sides in order to strengthen a positive conversation.

On Monday, March 23, the BDS campaign will present a motion to the MSU General Assembly and plans to host a number of informational sessions. The campaign has so far received support from nine graduate and undergraduate students associations across Canada.