Entitled: Pro-Hamas Campus Protesters -- Disentitled: Pro-Israel Protesters

"I was told that if I stayed on the campus, I'd be arrested, and I told them I'm not resisting arrest, but I should not have to move."

"They said, 'We're going to have to physically force and remove you'. And that's exactly what happened."

"They [anti-Israel, pro-Hamas protesters] have a right to be here. I should have a right to be here, as well."

Rudy Rochman, pro-Israel protester, Israeli activist, at McGill University, Montreal

"[Howidy] was not saying things against Palestine or the Palestinian movement, he was just condemning terrorism."

"His message was, 'I don't support Hamas, I don't support terrorism' -- that's all."

"Every day the encampment is trespassing upon campus grounds with no action of the U of T administration. We hope and expect to be admitted and allowed to amplify this strong message among the protesters, most of whom appear to not understand Hamas, its pervasive ideology, its weaponization of antisemitism, the atrocities it committed against Israeli civilians of all religions [including Muslims] on October 7, [and] its misappropriation of aid and subjugation of Gazans."

Mohammed Rizwan, director, Council of Muslims Against Antisemitism (CMAA), at University of Toronto

Mohammed Rizwan of the Council of Muslims Against Antisemitism, being denied entry by U of T security on May 14, 2024. Photo by Brian Lilley /Postmedia Network

The three-week-old pro-Hamas encampment at King's College Circle in the downtown campus of the University of Toronto continues to occupy a lawn, at a time when other schools requesting police to remove activists from school property have seen police clear encampment out of campuses in Calgary and Edmonton last week. At McGill university two efforts involving a court-ordered finish to encampments have not so far succeeded.

Montreal police ordered two pro-Israel demonstrators on Friday to leave the McGill encampment, raising accusations of the practise of double standards at universities in Canada. Rudy Rochman, known for his activism on behalf of Israel was escorted by two police officers off campus, each holding one of his arms. At the University of Toronto campus when the council of Muslims Against Antisemitism rented a video billboard truck intending to park it next to the encampment to play peace messages from Hamza Howidy, an activist for peace from Palestine, he and the truck were turned away by police.

Following which the group's director sent a letter to the university administration explaining their peaceful intentions, providing a dissenting Muslim perspective to the encampment. Despite the clear explanation, no authority at the university deigned to respond. The university repeatedly issues assurances that the encampments are organized by students. However, observers have reported that it is clear that many of those at the encampments are not students but protest organizers with no university links.

 

Mohammed Rizwan's opinion based on experience and observation concurred. Explaining that the set-ups are too well-equipped to be purely spontaneous. Typically guarded by activists who question anyone attempting to enter, they only permit entry to those able to prove their sentiments are in complete accord with those of the organizers and other protesters. There are instances when Jewish students and Jewish professors have been unable to reach their classes as a result of these 'inspections' at the encampments.

The two pro-Israel protesters carried with them signs reading "We witnessed October 7, ask us anything", and were accompanied by private security guards. Despite which they were ushered off school property by police, as reported by the Montreal Gazette. They positioned themselves outside McGill property, the gates shut behind them. A police spokesperson, responding to the query why the pro-Israel protesters were removed yet none of the pro-Palestinian protesters were asked to leave, said, "I don't have an answer. I know that there was tension between the two groups".

"With what I've witnessed, and from being a longtime journalist, this was not a spontaneous demonstration. These are well-planned and organized encampments; they are really well protected by a security cordon."

Mohammed Rizwan