Dear Concordia Student Union (CSU),
We, the Jewish students of Concordia University, with support from our friends at Allied Voices for Israel (AVI), are writing to you from a place of great disappointment.
In April 2021, the CSU took a major step in issuing an apology for your indifference to the struggles of Jewish students on campus. In that post, a promise was made to “institutionalize a training against antisemitism for all incoming CSU representatives.”
Judging by your recent statement in response to the “humanitarian crisis in Gaza” and the lack of any statement condemning the Hamas massacre of 1,400 innocent Israeli civilians, Jewish and non-Jewish alike, it appears the promises the CSU made were all clearly in vain.
The claims made in your statement are not only completely biased but also perpetuate a false narrative. This feeds into the demonization of Israel – and consequently, the targeting and discrimination of Jewish students and their allies on campus.
In your statement, the CSU laments “Israel’s indiscriminate bombardment of civilian infrastructure.” This is another blatant lie. It is Hamas, a genocidal terrorist organization, that hides missiles in schools, homes, and hospitals. It is Hamas that uses members of the Gazan population – the people Hamas is supposed to represent – as human shields in order to maximize bloodshed, in an attempt to gain international sympathy and discredit Israel.
The CSU makes an egregious claim that there has been an “ethnic cleansing of Palestinians by the Israelis” when in reality there has been a massive population increase in Gaza, growing to over 2.1 million people in 2023 over 1.5 million in 2010. In Israel meanwhile, its Arab population continues to grow.
How a student union could issue a statement about the crisis in the Middle East without mentioning the sadistic atrocities committed by Hamas is highly concerning. These atrocities include the raping of women, the taking of hostages, the killing of babies and the cold-blooded genocide of over 1,400 unarmed civilians. This lack of condemnation is essentially sanitizing Hamas of its dehumanizing and despicable actions. It clearly shows a lack of any moral compass on your part.
What is going on in Gaza and Israel right now is heartbreaking. The loss of innocent lives on either side is horrific. We have suffered a great loss in our indigenous homeland, Israel, and so have the Palestinians. There is great pain on BOTH sides. The only words emanating from any student union right now should be words of empathy and support.
The one-sidedness of your statement is once again marginalizing Jewish students on campus and making them feel unsafe and unwelcomed – all of which you promised you would work on in your 2021 apology to Jewish Concordia students.
We ask that you issue an apology to Jewish students on campus and acknowledge the pain you have caused – immediately.
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