Toronto students boycott vote on Holocaust Education Week

Students at Ryerson University in Toronto stage a walkout rather than vote on a resolution to commemorate Holocaust Education Week.

Local members of Students for Justice in Palestine and the Muslim Students Association reportedly stage the walkout during the semiannual general meeting of the Ryerson Student Union. B’nai Brith Canada says the meeting lost its quorum as a result.

Ryerson University in Toronto (screen capture: YouTube)

The resolution, which was submitted by a member of the Ryerson Hillel Jewish students’ group, called on the Student Union to offer annual Holocaust education programs to emphasize “the value of pluralism and the acceptance of diversity.” There was no mention of Israel.

The Ryerson Student Union voted to join the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel in April 2014. The resolution prohibits the student group from having ties with companies that do business in Israel, including Home Depot, Costco and Sears, and removed Sabra hummus from the campus cafeteria.

“What starts with BDS does not end with BDS,” says Amanda Hohmann, national director of B’nai Brith’s League for Human Rights. “More often than not, BDS is simply a gateway drug to more blatant forms of anti-Semitism.”

— JTA