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July 11, 2003
Victory for SFU faction
Students hail the repeal of an anti-Israel resolution.
PAT JOHNSON SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH BULLETIN
Simon Fraser University's student government has rescinded a virulent
anti-Israel resolution that it adopted earlier this year, in what
may be a harbinger of change on local campuses.
The Simon Fraser Student Society (SFSS) board repealed the resolution
in a seven-to-four vote July 2. Though a student committee had recommended
an alternative resolution intended to offer a more balanced approach
to the Israeli-Palestinian issue, the elected officials chose instead
to defeat the anti-Israel resolution and not adopt the new motion,
keeping the SFU Student Society officially silent on this issue
of international affairs. Pro-Israel students celebrated what they
termed total victory on the issue.
The win was particularly savored by Brent Zacks, a newly elected
member of the student society board and a founding member last year
of the university's Israel Advocacy Committee. Zacks was one of
the most active voices on campus in favor of doing away with the
anti-Israel resolution.
In an effervescent e-mail, Zacks thanked those who had supported
his work over the past six months.
"This is a clear victory for the students at SFU, not just
the Jewish ones," wrote Zacks, noting that the decision came
the same day as Vancouver was awarded the 2010 Winter Olympics.
"The bad judgment of the former board was overturned today,
on a day where just about everything went right for Vancouver."
Zacks told the Bulletin that the discussion within the board
was wide-ranging, but did not reflect the animosity that had existed
in the debate under the previous board.
"It wasn't heated," said Zacks. "It was more civil."
Zacks said it was his view that the SFSS shouldn't take a position
on the Middle East at all, but he participated in formulating a
new resolution that was more balanced. Despite his work on this,
Zacks said he was thrilled when the board chose not to replace the
overturned anti-Israel resolution with another, less biased, resolution.
"My position was, clearly, that we shouldn't have a resolution,"
he said.
Elliot Campbell, who recently graduated after four years at SFU,
and who begins next month a staff position as outreach co-ordinator
for Hillel Vancouver, said the change is a step in the right direction,
though he doesn't expect a sea-change on campus just because one
resolution was reversed.
"We're not expecting it to be a perfect setting just because
it's been rescinded," Campbell said. But he added that a process
now exists for Jewish students to express themselves and feel that
their concerns are recognized.
"There have been problems in the last year and we've set up
a system now ... so that we can keep moving forward," Campbell
said.
The rescinding of the motion has caught the attention of activists
worldwide, according to Alexis Pavlich, director of Israel affairs
for Hillel Vancouver, which helped Zacks and his allies fight the
battle. Phone calls and e-mails have been coming in from Jewish
and non-Jewish organizations across North America, offering congratulations
and seeking advice, she said. The noted Zionist leader Avraham Infeld
contacted Hillel Vancouver to urge members to carefully document
their struggle and its victory to provide mentoring for other campus
groups facing similar controversies. Infeld is an Israeli co-founder
of the Birthright Israel program and one of the most senior leaders
of Hillel internationally. He visited Vancouver from Israel in March
and offered an inspirational speech to Hillel members at the annual
general meeting of the local branch of the organization.
Pavlich said she hopes the recent turn of events signifies a change
away from the strident anti-Israel attitudes that have been prevalent
on Canadian campuses over the past couple of years.
"We hope this will indicate the way things are to be, but we
will see," she said. "Hopefully this is a sign of the
times."
While she credited the work of a small dedicated group of SFU students,
including Zacks, the overturning of the resolution also represents
a larger counteroffensive in an ongoing fight that has made headlines
across Canada as anti-Israel activists have vocalized their views.
The atmosphere on campuses over the past three years has made many
Jewish students feel uneasy, especially at places like Concordia
University in Montreal and at SFU. Grassroots organizers have set
up pro-Israel lobby organizations on campuses at SFU and the University
of British Columbia, separate from the existing Hillel Jewish student
organizations. The last academic year represented a turning point,
as these Israel advocacy groups helped organize actively against
the vocal opponents of Israel. The movement got a big shot in the
arm recently, when UIA-Federations Canada announced funding for
more on-campus organizers like Pavlich at universities across Canada.
Though the reversal of the SFU resolution is being viewed as a great
victory, it is not likely to be the end of the issue at SFU or elsewhere.
Part of the victory for Israel advocates at SFU came from the fact
that their mobilization was able to benefit from low voter turnout
during the annual elections, leading to the defeat of the incumbents.
It was the same sort of at-large apathy that elected the anti-Israel
board to begin with. However, the victory does seem to be symptomatic
of a growing sense on the part of Jewish students on Canadian campuses
that they will not remain inactive while anti-Israel – and
frequently anti-Semitic – opponents continue to mobilize.
The original SFU resolution stated that "the Palestinian people
have been dispossessed, occupied and oppressed for the last 50 years
at the hands of U.S. and Israeli imperialism." It called for
a total right of return for Palestinian refugees, a return to Israel's
pre-1967 borders and an end to what it called "Israeli apartheid."
The resolution made significant waves on and off campus when it
was adopted last term, before annual elections for SFSS executive
members. The April election overthrew the incumbent student government,
electing a majority who did not support the stridency with which
the outgoing executive had expressed Middle East political views.
Zacks was elected to one of the 13 positions on the SFSS board,
and subsequently participated in a process by the SFSS's constitution
and policy review committee, which proposed the alternative resolution.
Pat Johnson is a native Vancouverite, a journalist and
commentator.
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