Palestinians, anti-genocide activists and the McGill undergraduate population should be the one’s suing the administration. But a Zionist judge just okayed a further step in a suit claiming it’s racist to oppose genocidal Jewish supremacy. And the class action demanding “anti-Zionism be recognized as a manifestation of antisemitism” will be ‘countered’ by a university administration heavily influenced by donors promoting apartheid and genocide.
McGill students have twice voted overwhelmingly to oppose the institution’s support for the lawless supremacist state. With the biggest turnout in student union history, 78.7% of McGill undergraduates voted in November 2023 for their university to sever ties with “any corporations, institutions or individuals complicit in genocide, settler-colonialism, apartheid, or ethnic cleansing against Palestinians.”
Righteous students who’ve campaigned to press the administration to listen to the will of their student body have been harassed by university security that’s been greatly bolstered in a bid to repress opposition to genocide. The McGill administration responded to the Spring/Summer 2024 student encampment on an unused, if well placed, part of the campus by repeatedly asking the Montréal police to intervene and even sought a court ruling to force the police to do so.
Soon after the encampment was dismantled McGill President Deep Saini spoke at Zionist organized town hall where he threatened professors over any “abuse of podium.” “Nobody would be allowed to abuse their position to make a (political or hateful) statement”, Saini declared. He even asked Jewish Zionist students to spy on professors, reportedly “calling on Jewish students to be the ears on the ground and report any breaches of conduct.” Saini concluded, “Nobody is going to be now excluded from or made to feel uncomfortable in class because they are a Zionist and support Israel.”
Years of anti-Palestinian repression by the McGill administration is well documented. Still, Quebec Superior Court judge Dominique Poulin recently authorized a class-action lawsuit against McGill ostensibly on behalf of Jewish students who allege the administration failed to protect them from discrimination and intimidation by anti-genocide protesters. According to the law firm’s statement, “FFMP is representing a McGill student seeking authorization from the Quebec Superior Court to institute a class action against McGill University on behalf of all Jewish students registered at the University from October 8, 2023 onwards (including undergraduate, masters, continuing education, doctoral and post-doctoral students). The class action alleges that McGill failed to reasonably enforce its policies in the face of antisemitic and anti-Zionist conduct on its campus, and seeks compensation for Jewish students who were accordingly deprived of a safe, welcoming and respectful university environment since October 8, 2023. The action also seeks an order that McGill enforce its policies and that anti-Zionism be recognized as a manifestation of antisemitism.”
Despite endless violations of international law by the Zionist state, Poulin has allowed this nonsense to move forward. The judge has made other pro-genocidal rulings. In April 2024 she granted a six-month injunction to restrict anti-genocide protests within 50 metres of 27 Jewish institutions and Poulin previously denied Independent Jewish Voices’ request to intervene in the McGill class action suit.
Before her appointment to the Quebec Superior Court Poulin was at Zionist law firm Robinson Sheppard Shapiro LLP. In December 2023 Robinson Sheppard Shapiro signed a letter to law school deans that was a response to law students who objected to genocide. The firm has also sponsored numerous events put on by the Lord Reading Law Society, which describes itself as “the collective voice of Jewish jurists in Quebec.” That group regularly hosts pro-Israel speakers.
The Montreal firm has a partner in Israel, which notes on its site “We are proud of the fact that we regularly receive referrals from some of the largest and most prestigious law firms throughout the world, such as… Robinson Sheppard Shapiro.”
The ‘antizionism is antisemitism’ suit has a decent chance of succeeding because the McGill administration is unlikely to effectively counter it. Jewish pro-genocide donors have immense influence within the university’s power structure, as billionaire donor Sylvan Adams made clear in an October 2024 Canadian Jewish News interview. The billionaire said he and Saini “agree on everything” when it comes to the “problem” of antisemitism. In an interview in which he called on McGill to expel students opposing genocide, Adams detailed how Zionist donors coordinate to leverage their wealth to suppress students’ demands.
In 2022 Adams put up $29 million to establish the Sylvan Adams Sports Science Institute as part of a project that partners McGill with Tel Aviv University. Other Israel supporters such the Azrielis, Seymour Schulich, Aldo Bensadoun, Heather Reisman/Gerald Schwartz and Charles Bronfman have given tens of millions of dollars to the university. Also McGill’s chancellor, Pierre Boivin, is Vice-Chair of the Board of arch-Zionist Stephen Bronfman’s private investment firm Claridge Inc, which is heavily invested in Israel.
Assisted by B’nai Brith, a small group of genocidal Jewish supremacist students, who probably don’t even represent most McGill Jewish students, have benefited from a Zionist judge in their bid to sue a sympathetic university administration because their peers overwhelmingly oppose complicity in genocide.
It’s beyond ridiculous how the legal system is being abused by important, powerful people who would turn Quebec and Canada’s courts into an arm of the Israeli state.
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