Thread by @CJPME

In late August, approximately two dozen Canadian university presidents and administrators participated in a lobby-organized trip to Israel, ignoring grave human rights concerns. CJPME joins civil society & faculty groups in calling this out: cjpme.org/pr_2022_09_20_… #cdnpse

The timing of this delegation raises serious human rights concerns. Within the past few years, major human rights organizations including Amnesty, HRW, Al-Haq, and B’Tselem, have concluded that Israel’s practices against Palestinians amount to the crime of apartheid.

The entire education system for Palestinians takes place under these conditions of apartheid. Israel recently imposed a strict quota on the ability of Palestinian universities to extend invitations to visiting faculty and researchers within territory it militarily occupies.

We are troubled that the Canadian delegation has visited Israeli universities to collaborate in research and development, flagrantly ignoring these grave findings, and giving tacit permission for Israel to continue its persecution of Palestinians.

It is also troubling that the trip was funded by the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA), an advocacy group that has acted to the detriment of academic freedom and respect for universal human rights.

Recently, CIJA facilitated blatant interference in a hiring process at the UofT Faculty of Law, which led to the university’s censure by the @CAUT_ACPPU. The purpose of CIJA’s intervention was to stop the hiring of an academic whose work was critical of Israel’s occupation.

@CAUT_ACPPU As public institutions, these Canadian universities are fully accountable to the academic community and the public for their scholarly activities and investments. Such accountability extends to students of Palestinian descent as well as their supporters.

@CAUT_ACPPU We have several questions and grave concerns that need to be answered and addressed: (1) Why was there no public announcement about the delegation before the trip, preventing the community from raising any concerns?

@CAUT_ACPPU (2) What could justify this delegation’s willingness to accept a trip funded and organized by CIJA, an organization with a demonstrated history of attacking academic freedom in Canada?

@CAUT_ACPPU (3) Why are the voices and concerns of Palestinian civil society and academic organizations, who have asked the international community to boycott Israeli academic institutions in order to protect human rights, not considered a matter of priority for these university presidents?

@CAUT_ACPPU Read our joint statement w/ the Palestinian Canadian Academics and Artists Network, Faculty for Palestine, and @IndJewishVoices: Faculty and civil society groups raise human rights concerns after Canadian university presidents tour Israel. #cdnpse cjpme.org/pr_2022_09_20_…