York University has issued a warning: if the institution’s student unions do not recant or sufficiently defend their collective statement on the Israel-Hamas conflict, they will risk losing their relationship with the university.
The university’s statement, released to the public on Friday, addressed the “serious and ongoing harms caused by [the groups’] statement,” which declares “solidarity with the Palestinian people” against “the settler-colonial apartheid state of so-called Israel.”
“Since 1948, Palestinian people have been systemically displaced from their land and homes as a result of state-sanctioned violence, siege, and genocide,” reads the Oct. 12 statement in part. “Our Unions remain unwavering in our support of the Palestinian people’s fight for self-determination and liberation.”
Furthermore, the student-funded groups lashed out at Israel for its air strikes on Gaza, saying they came in response to “Palestinian resistance.”
In its statement, York University said the unions must retract the statement, issue an apology, acknowledge the impact of the statement on campus, and remove all union executives by 5 p.m. on Oct. 25.
Yeah maybe the unions should be reminded of their duties too instead of spending time on issuing one-sided statements that are borderline cringe.
Wtf? Do they think there’s some romantic revolutionary energy they need to be spreading on a topic that consists of nothing but useless violence and suffering for so many civilians in the middle east?
Also who in the world do they think cares about embarrassing statements and lip service about solidarity from some freshman students from York? This really has nothing to with critical thinking skills. In fact it’s rather proof of the opposite of that concept.
Critical thinking would be to not take a side in this mess. The conflict is complicated and making such a statement just when a lot of Israelis died is insensitive and feel like they agree with the killing of innocent people. That’s the problem. Why say these statements now ? Why not 1, 2, 3 years ago ?
Imagine saying you agree with alquaida because they suffered from American shit right after 9/11. What is wrong with you ?
Why would “something is complicated” mean you can’t have a stance on it? By all means, you should be extra careful with complicated issues, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have an opinion or that there aren’t parts that are more clear cut.
Eg, your comment reads to me like you’re conflating Palestine (the largely unrecognized country) and Hamas (the terrorist group). Your Al Qaeda comment certainly reads that way. These groups and the vast majority of people support Palestine, not Hamas. So it’s like sympathizing with Iraq because they got invaded after 9/11.
And the why now is pretty obvious. Because big things are happening now. Yeah, this isn’t the first time Israel and Palestine have faced conflict, but it’s a big time and people are afraid that Israel is going to put a complete end to Palestine this time around. If you don’t speak up now, when will you?
At first, I would take issue with what do they mean by “colonial”? The majority of Israel’s population is of Mizrahi descent, Jews from the Middle East. Jews didn’t leave Lebanon and Libya as part of some colonial project. Without further clarification about how they are using the term, my assumption is that they are attempting to imply that the Jews in Israel are somehow “white settlers” there at the behest of European and American powers, which seems to the a popular narrative, although not accurate.
There’s more, but I’ll start with that. A further point would be what do they consider the consequences of “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”? Hamas and Fatah have a pretty clear picture of how that would work, clearly presented in their Arabic media. With the availability of automated translation, are they endorsing that stance? What about the the non-Jewish citizens of Israel? From the SU’s statement, I would assume that they endorse the consequences of Hamas getting their wish.
But whatever, sure. “It’s not antisemetic, it’s antizionist” (while ignoring any obvious and inevitable consequences).
I also don’t understand how one can frame Israel as a colonial project. To add to your statement about the Mizrahi jews:
Yes, Israel doesn’t exist within the borders of 1967 that are often seen as a basis for a two state solution. There are definitely occupied areas. This does not however change the fact that the existence of Israel in the middle east is enshrined in international law and what exactly it’s future borders will be has been subject to debates for a long time. But what’s not debatable is the legality of Israel. Israel is not a foreign body in the region but it has an undeniable right to exist.
I feel like many statements about “colonialism” in this context do not consider international law at all. People not respecting the principles of the rule of law makes me very suspicious with regard to their intentions.
I think it’s kind of a Rorshach Colonialism or Schrödinger’s Colonialism. My impression is that people parroting the “Israel is a colonial country” statement aren’t specifically referring to settlements in the West Bank, but to Israel as a whole. The rationale being one of the following:
Rationale 1
Jews are white¹
Palestinians are dark²
Colonialism is something that whites do to darks
Rationale 2
Israel is more powerful, Palestine is the underdog
In colonial vs. indigenous conflicts, the indigenous people are the underdogs
Therefore the Israelis are the colonialist team and the Palestinians are the indigenous team
It should also be noted that Hamas (and Fatah as well IIRC) explicitly use the colonial framing with themselves as the oppressed indigenous group, so I’m fairly certain that those repeating it uncritically are somewhere along the Hamas propaganda pipeline.
<s> Perhaps in these troubling times, we should remember the words of Nobel Peace Prize winner Yassar Arafat:
We will not bend or fail until the blood of every last Jew from the youngest child to the oldest elder is spilt to redeem our land!
In his speech “The Impending Total Collapse of Israel” at the Grand Hotel in Stockholm, Sweden, January 30, 1996
</s>
¹ Even though most Israelis are approximately as dark (q.v. Mizrahi Jews) or darker (Beta Israel).³
² Palestinians have a lot of Arabic heritage, whereas Mizrahi Jews are more Levantine (even if from Morocco or Iran orginally). This is probably due to historic isolation of minority communities within the Arabic world.³
³ This is all a stupid basis for determining the worth of someone. I’m pretty much a pure “mudblood”, my ancestors were very open minded apparently. Genetic descent studies are kind of interesting for mapping the migrations of people around the planet, but at the end of the day, we are all just people. Also, talk about perpetuating racism, and looking at it through a modern US lens. Way past my level of expertise. Just my impression.
I just read it. I’ll paste it below. There’s nothing in there I disagree with.
Statement of Solidarity with Palestine
Content warning: The following statement has content on genocide and ongoing violence in
Palestine.
We the undersigned Unions present at York University reaffirm our solidarity with the
Palestinian people, within Palestine and the global diaspora, and their ongoing fight against
settler-colonialism, apartheid, and genocide. We vehemently condemn all forms of colonial
violence and support Indigenous sovereignty.
Recently, in a strong act of resistance, the Palestinian people tore down and crossed the
illegitimate border fence erected by the settler-colonial apartheid state of so-called Israel.
These resistance efforts are a direct response to the ongoing and violent occupation of
Palestine. Since 1948, Palestinian people have been systemically displaced from their land and
homes as a result of state-sanctioned violence, siege, and genocide.
In response to Palestinian resistance, so-called Israel has continued to escalate attacks on
Gaza by bombing residential neighborhoods, deploying white phosphorus bombs and cutting
off access to food, water, power and medical supplies. These tactics are not new. So-called
Israel has continually restricted Palestinians movement to & from Gaza, creating an open-air
prison and obstructing access to essential resources within the apartheid fence for decades.
From Turtle Island to Palestine, and across all occupied lands, these events serve as a reminder
that resistance against colonial violence is justified and necessary. This is “decolonization” and
“land-back” actualized as we continue to see the Palestinian people stand firm in their
resistance against their oppressors.
We are witnessing clearly how the mainstream media utilizes strategic rhetoric which erases the
decades old violence Palestinians have faced and the intentional subversion of responsibility
for these atrocities from so-called Israel. Using language like “conflict” and “war in the Middle
East” further delegitimizes the Palestinian people’s struggle for self-determination against the
apartheid state of Israel by deliberately hindering the ability to acknowledge the ongoing
violence as a form of ethnic cleansing. Settler-colonial states like so-called Canada and their
institutions continue to legitimize their existence and those of other settler-colonial states
making them complicit in the ongoing genocide. York University is complicit as they continue to
invest students’ money into weapons and arms manufacturers. We denounce the statements
put forth and stances taken by the York University Administration as they use their platform to
obfuscate the ongoing occupation of Palestine and absolve themselves from their role in the
ongoing genocide.
Our Unions remain unwavering in our support of the Palestinian people’s fight for
self-determination and liberation. We actively affirm that Palestinians are inherently entitled to
the right to shape their political, economic, social, and cultural future. This struggle confronts
the persistent oppression, displacement, and human rights abuses inflicted upon the
Palestinian population. We stand firmly in solidarity with those resisting such oppression,
actively contributing to the legitimate fight for justice against settler-colonial nations. We as
students’ unions have a responsibility to spread awareness and support the liberation of
Palestine and all struggles for Indigenous sovereignty.
OFC I like colonialism because Mohammad was a colonizer and every Muslim should strive to emulate him
/s
The real problem is the hostage taking and attack on civilians
The problem with Israel is their attacks on civilians
And you would see Ukrainian support diminish if they started behaving the way the Russians are to them
The student corporation being a conservative bastion that wishes to mimic Hammurabi doesn’t make them correct just because they sit on your side of the overall issue
I don’t understand what you’re talking about. The article is about students sympathising with Palestinians and my comment in no way, shape or form denoted a sympathy for Zionism.
If any foreign power came in and tried to evict everyone in my neighbourhood so they could colonize it instead, I would fight back with whatever I had at my disposal. Are you saying you’d be okay with someone doing that to you?
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McGill had a similar thing happen last year.
This isn’t the first time York has had issues with these groups either.
“Remove all union executives”? Jesus, the ban hammer getting dropped hard.
York on the wrong side of history here
Agreed.
A main focus of education is to teach critical thinking skills, not to force students to follow what the institution decides is “right”.
Yeah maybe the unions should be reminded of their duties too instead of spending time on issuing one-sided statements that are borderline cringe.
Wtf? Do they think there’s some romantic revolutionary energy they need to be spreading on a topic that consists of nothing but useless violence and suffering for so many civilians in the middle east?
Also who in the world do they think cares about embarrassing statements and lip service about solidarity from some freshman students from York? This really has nothing to with critical thinking skills. In fact it’s rather proof of the opposite of that concept.
Critical thinking involves seeing everything from multiple viewpoints, like viewing all the facets of a diamond.
How have you done that in your response?
Critical thinking would be to not take a side in this mess. The conflict is complicated and making such a statement just when a lot of Israelis died is insensitive and feel like they agree with the killing of innocent people. That’s the problem. Why say these statements now ? Why not 1, 2, 3 years ago ?
Imagine saying you agree with alquaida because they suffered from American shit right after 9/11. What is wrong with you ?
Why would “something is complicated” mean you can’t have a stance on it? By all means, you should be extra careful with complicated issues, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have an opinion or that there aren’t parts that are more clear cut.
Eg, your comment reads to me like you’re conflating Palestine (the largely unrecognized country) and Hamas (the terrorist group). Your Al Qaeda comment certainly reads that way. These groups and the vast majority of people support Palestine, not Hamas. So it’s like sympathizing with Iraq because they got invaded after 9/11.
And the why now is pretty obvious. Because big things are happening now. Yeah, this isn’t the first time Israel and Palestine have faced conflict, but it’s a big time and people are afraid that Israel is going to put a complete end to Palestine this time around. If you don’t speak up now, when will you?
At first, I would take issue with what do they mean by “colonial”? The majority of Israel’s population is of Mizrahi descent, Jews from the Middle East. Jews didn’t leave Lebanon and Libya as part of some colonial project. Without further clarification about how they are using the term, my assumption is that they are attempting to imply that the Jews in Israel are somehow “white settlers” there at the behest of European and American powers, which seems to the a popular narrative, although not accurate.
There’s more, but I’ll start with that. A further point would be what do they consider the consequences of “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”? Hamas and Fatah have a pretty clear picture of how that would work, clearly presented in their Arabic media. With the availability of automated translation, are they endorsing that stance? What about the the non-Jewish citizens of Israel? From the SU’s statement, I would assume that they endorse the consequences of Hamas getting their wish.
But whatever, sure. “It’s not antisemetic, it’s antizionist” (while ignoring any obvious and inevitable consequences).
I also don’t understand how one can frame Israel as a colonial project. To add to your statement about the Mizrahi jews:
Yes, Israel doesn’t exist within the borders of 1967 that are often seen as a basis for a two state solution. There are definitely occupied areas. This does not however change the fact that the existence of Israel in the middle east is enshrined in international law and what exactly it’s future borders will be has been subject to debates for a long time. But what’s not debatable is the legality of Israel. Israel is not a foreign body in the region but it has an undeniable right to exist.
I feel like many statements about “colonialism” in this context do not consider international law at all. People not respecting the principles of the rule of law makes me very suspicious with regard to their intentions.
I think it’s kind of a Rorshach Colonialism or Schrödinger’s Colonialism. My impression is that people parroting the “Israel is a colonial country” statement aren’t specifically referring to settlements in the West Bank, but to Israel as a whole. The rationale being one of the following:
Rationale 1
Rationale 2
It should also be noted that Hamas (and Fatah as well IIRC) explicitly use the colonial framing with themselves as the oppressed indigenous group, so I’m fairly certain that those repeating it uncritically are somewhere along the Hamas propaganda pipeline.
<s> Perhaps in these troubling times, we should remember the words of Nobel Peace Prize winner Yassar Arafat:
In his speech “The Impending Total Collapse of Israel” at the Grand Hotel in Stockholm, Sweden, January 30, 1996
</s>
¹ Even though most Israelis are approximately as dark (q.v. Mizrahi Jews) or darker (Beta Israel).³
² Palestinians have a lot of Arabic heritage, whereas Mizrahi Jews are more Levantine (even if from Morocco or Iran orginally). This is probably due to historic isolation of minority communities within the Arabic world.³
³ This is all a stupid basis for determining the worth of someone. I’m pretty much a pure “mudblood”, my ancestors were very open minded apparently. Genetic descent studies are kind of interesting for mapping the migrations of people around the planet, but at the end of the day, we are all just people. Also, talk about perpetuating racism, and looking at it through a modern US lens. Way past my level of expertise. Just my impression.
You must not have read the statement
I just read it. I’ll paste it below. There’s nothing in there I disagree with.
You should disagree with this part
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OFC I like colonialism because Mohammad was a colonizer and every Muslim should strive to emulate him
/s
The real problem is the hostage taking and attack on civilians
The problem with Israel is their attacks on civilians
And you would see Ukrainian support diminish if they started behaving the way the Russians are to them
The student corporation being a conservative bastion that wishes to mimic Hammurabi doesn’t make them correct just because they sit on your side of the overall issue
I don’t understand what you’re talking about. The article is about students sympathising with Palestinians and my comment in no way, shape or form denoted a sympathy for Zionism.
Are you unaware of the violence they are supporting?
You can scroll up to see my quoted part of their statement, it’s not about sympathy for Palestinians
That’s just basic self defense.
If any foreign power came in and tried to evict everyone in my neighbourhood so they could colonize it instead, I would fight back with whatever I had at my disposal. Are you saying you’d be okay with someone doing that to you?
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