|
December 17, 2010
Students fight flotilla aid
Israel club asks group to stop the transfer of funds.
MICHELLE DODEK
University of British Columbia’s Israel Awareness Club (IAC) is fighting a move by the school’s Social Justice Centre (SJC) to send $700 to help fund a Canadian boat in a planned flotilla setting sail to challenge the blockade of the Gaza Strip.
Similar to the attempts made by the Turkish flotilla sent last spring that resulted in a deadly raid by the Israel Defence Forces, this effort is seen by mainstream Jewish groups as a publicity stunt, not an effort to deliver aid to the people of Gaza, as is claimed by its organizers.
President of IAC Rael Katz is at the forefront of the efforts to freeze SJC’s bank account to keep the money from reaching flotilla organizers. In asking UBC’s governing student body, the Alma Mater Society (AMS), to freeze the account, Katz indicated that there was concern that the funds were going to be spent in a way that would not be in keeping with the mandate of the AMS.
“The Canadian boat to Gaza refuses to work with legitimate aid groups in Gaza ... increasing the likelihood that their aid will end up in the hands of Hamas,” Katz warned in a letter to the AMS council. He encouraged the council to look into any legal implications for the university if the money falls into the hands of an organization listed by the Canadian government as a terrorist group.
When this initial complaint was made, the AMS launched an investigation and then froze the account of the SJC.
“We are following due process,” said AMS president Bijan Ahmadian in an interview with the Independent. “Whenever a compliant around a funding transfer is made, we need to follow up and do our due diligence. We are seeking legal advice.”
Ahmadian explained that the council conditionally approved the transfer at a Dec. 2 meeting, however, the AMS must be confident that the transfer does not constitute funding an organization linked to terrorism and the SJC must authorize the transfer at a board meeting following their constitutional regulations. The second condition is in response to another concern raised by Katz, who attended the Nov. 15 SJC meeting with 15 members of the IAC. There, Katz and the club’s members questioned the transfer of student funds to a Canadian flotilla boat, as well as the support SJC was putting behind former British MP George Galloway’s recent visit to Vancouver.
According to Katz, when he tried to make a motion to cancel the transfer of funds, he was told he was too late, and that the funds had already been transferred. Knowing this to be incorrect, he told the Independent he tried to make another motion later in the meeting.
“They told me that the SJC does things more by consensus and not by Robert’s Rules [of Order], so a motion was not called for and they [ostensibly] ignored me,” he said.
The SJC is one of six resource groups at UBC, each of which receives a $10,000 budget from the AMS each year. The other groups include such organizations as PRIDE UBC, the Student Environment Centre and the Womyn’s Centre. All of the resource groups have specific niches, however, it’s been pointed out that the SJC has the vague mandate to “encourage activism on campus and provid[e] support to students.” According to Katz, this ambiguity has led to what he calls “radical” groups taking over SJC business. For example, he said, currently, the Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights Club (SPHR) at UBC seems to be the group that is in control of SJC. Katz said not only are antisemitic and anti-Israel posters on the walls of the SJC offices, but the representatives sent by SJC to meet with Jewish student leaders have also been executive members of SPHR. This alliance is what prompted the IAC to look into the activities of the SJC at the start of this academic year.
According to Katz, there are many layers to this latest issue and, as more details emerge, the picture of SJC business becomes more disquieting to him. For the most part, however, Jewish students feel comfortable on the UBC campus, he said.
However, according to Eyal Lichtmann, executive director of Vancouver Hillel, there seems to be an underlying sense that much of the anti-Israel rhetoric on campus is, in fact, very thinly veiled antisemitism. This has Lichtmann concerned.
“Jewish students need to feel safe on campus. Letting the SCJ send money to a flotilla boat is setting a dangerous precedent. Our students are fighting it tooth and nail.”
The issue will come to a head sometime in the new year. According to Ahmadian, the AMS’s Student Administration Commission will visit this issue at their Jan. 4 meeting and make its recommendation on Jan. 12.
Michelle Dodek is a Vancouver freelance writer.
^TOP
|
