Statements

We write as Jewish faculty and librarians at the University of Toronto, and members of the Jewish Faculty Network (JFN), to indicate our firm support for the demands of the People’s Circle for Palestine – the student encampment established since May 2, 2024 on the St. George campus of the University of Toronto – for disclosure, divestment, and ending partnerships complicit with Israel’s occupation and ongoing, brutal violations of human rights and humanitarian law in Gaza.

As the Steering Committee of the Jewish Faculty Network (JFN), a national network of Jewish scholars, we write to you at a time of both profound anguish and inspired hope. Scholars affiliated with the JFN share a strong commitment to social justice, anti-racism and the energetic defence of academic freedom. Our network emerged in 2021 to oppose the adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism in institutions of higher learning. The IHRA definition of antisemitism has been used to suppress legitimate free speech, criticism of actions of the State of Israel, and advocacy for Palestinian rights. By inaccurately and dangerously conflating criticism of Israel with antisemitism, the definition perpetuates Anti-Palestinian racism.

As of May 2, 2024 students established a People’s Circle for Palestine at the University of Toronto demanding that the University cease complicity with the Israeli genocide on Gaza. As University of Toronto faculty, we support the student protests and their demands that the university disclose its investments, divest from companies complicit in Israeli apartheid, occupation and genocide; and terminate partnerships with Israeli universities that operate in the illegal settlements in occupied Palestinian territories, or sustain or support the state of Israel’s apartheid policies and its ongoing genocide in Gaza.

We, the undersigned, express our outrage at the Toronto Police Services raid of homes and subsequent arrests of eleven people on charges of hate-motivated mischief and conspiracy and, most recently, criminal harassment. Allegedly, those charged were involved in splashing washable paint and postering windows of an outlet of the bookstore, Indigo. The arrestees are now subject to doxxing, harassment, and workplace reprisals. We echo the voice of others in the community who have called for these charges to be dropped immediately and call for the police to publicly apologize for these acts of intimidation and harassment.

We write as Jewish faculty from universities and colleges across Canada to extend our gratitude for, and solidarity with, your statements and actions against the escalating violence and suffering taking place in Palestine/Israel. In the midst of so much grief, the vilification, threats and dismissals you have endured demonstrate how this war plays out at home.