Quebec Superior Court Halts Ratification of McGill Policy Against Genocide in Palestine
On November 23, just three days after McGill undergraduate students had overwhelmingly voted in favour of the Policy Against Genocide in Palestine, their union, the Students' Society of McGill University (SSMU) issued a statement explaining that two days prior, it had "received a demand for a provisional and interlocutory injunction" that "seeks to prevent the SSMU from voting on the ratification of the Policy" at its "Board of Directors."[1] "Ratification by the Board of Directors," the Executive Committee informs, "is necessary for any policy or decision voted by Referendum to be actionable by the SSMU. In court, a decision was reached to postpone the potential ratification of the policy until a verdict is rendered in a new court hearing.... scheduled for the last week of March 2024." The Executive Committee then adds: "During the hearing, our lawyers will vigorously contest the injunction."
The following day, Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR) McGill -- responded, "The lawsuit, filed by a student leading the "Vote NO" Campaign against the Policy, is also led by B'nai Brith Canada. Confronted by the rising tide of Palestine solidarity throughout North America, Zionist lobby organizations, like B'nai Brith Canada, are increasingly resorting to tactics of legal oppression and weaponizing lawsuits to silence Palestinian and anti-Zionist Jewish activism.
"The desperate immediacy of this retaliation is the latest attempt to suppress a clear and democratic mandate at McGill, but also to distract from the atrocities being committed against the Palestinian people at the hands of the Zionist regime. In the face of heightening contradictions, Zionism can only legitimize itself within the authority of the colonial court system, an establishment that repeatedly institutionalizes and upholds anti-Palestinian racism."[2]
B'nai Brith Canada "obtained the temporary order stopping ratification and implementation of the resolution until the hearing on full injunctive relief," reads an article in The Suburban.[3]
B'nai Brith Canada had tried to stop the vote from taking place at McGill. In a statement dated November 17, the organization's Chief Executive Officer, Michael Mostyn, said: "This misinformation-ridden, discriminatory policy should never have appeared on the ballot. We are taking the extraordinary step of helping a student obtain an injunction to suspend this Referendum because we believe it represents a serious threat to the rights of Jews at McGill University."[4]
In court documents, apparently, the unnamed student challenging the Policy Against Genocide in Palestine describes it as "'hate literature' that violates the student society's constitution and its antisemitism and equity policies."[5]
"Year after year, there is some form of referendum or question that they [SSMU] have people vote on to basically condemn Israel where they would not condemn other countries," Henry Topas, Quebec regional director of B'nai Brith Canada, told CBC News.[6] "Topas added that while B'nai Brith acknowledges 'collateral civilian suffering' in Gaza, Israel must defend itself. ...To turn it around and say there is genocide being committed in Gaza is nonsense," he said.
Another publication cites Topas as saying: "The notion of voting that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza is offensive and has no business in student politics," and that "Based on there being such a referendum question we are asking the courts to stop the referendum."[7] The same article goes on to say that "B'nai Brith had notified the university and the student union about the injunction and told them to wait to implement, announce or count votes pending the official hearing of the injunctive motion" but that "[n]either the university nor the student union responded."
In 2022, a similar referendum condemning Israel was held and a pro-Palestinian policy was approved by 71 per cent of undergraduate students who voted at McGill. However, the SSMU finally did not ratify it. The university administration had threatened at the time to terminate its Memorandum of Agreement with the student union if the policy was not withdrawn. At the time, McGill student Jonah Fried sued the student union, the university and SPHR McGill, alleging that the policy was "designed to create a climate of fear and intimidation against Jewish students."[8]
Fried was also backed by B'nai Brith Canada in court in his lawsuit, which named McGill University, the SSMU and SPHR McGill, which promoted the referendum.[9]
Notes
1. SSMU, Statement from the Executive Committee on the Injunction Concerning the Policy against Genocide in Palestine.
2. Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights McGill .
3. Court blocks implementation of McGill student resolution, The Suburban, November 22, 2023
4. "B'nai Brith Canada Backing Legal Injunction to Stop Anti-Israel Referendum at McGill," B'nai Brith Canada, November 17, 2023.
5. "Quebec court orders pause to ratification of McGill student union pro-Palestine vote," CTV News, November 22, 2023.
6. "Quebec Superior Court halts adoption of pro-Palestinian McGill student union policy," CBC News, November 23, 2023 .
7. B'nai Brith Canada Backing Legal Injunction to Stop Anti-Israel Referendum at McGill, B'nai Brith Canada, November 17, 2023.
8. "McGill students vote to approve a policy against 'genocide in Palestine' over the objections of Jewish students," The Canadian Jewish News, November 21, 2023.
9. "Lawsuit Against McGill University Student Activists Supporting Palestine," TML Monthly, August 17, 2022 .
This article was published in
Volume 53 Number 33 - December 2023
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/Tmlm2023/Articles/MS53336.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca