McGill board rejects motion for Jewish student to cancel Israel trip or resign

MONTREAL, Canada (JTA) — The student union of Canada’s McGill University has not ratified a call for a Jewish student to resign for accepting a free trip to Israel and the West Bank.

The Students’ Society McGill University’s (SSMU) board of directors – the union’s chief governing body – on Monday rejected a motion passed days earlier by its legislative council that said fellow councilor Jordyn Wright must resign from the SSMU or face impeachment.

The motion was condemned as discriminatory and anti-Semitic by Wright and an array of others.

They included McGill’s own administration, the Anti-Defamation League, the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs and hundreds of McGill students.

Wright was the only McGill student, and the sole Jewish participant, singled out to resign. At least one other, non-Jewish student from McGill and its student union is attending the trip.

B'nai Brith Canada stands in solidarity with McGill University student, Jordyn Wright. No Jewish student should be told that visiting Israel, their indigenous homeland, constitutes a "conflict of interest." /1https://t.co/c9zrEyS1cx pic.twitter.com/8j54OiWEoQ

— B'nai Brith Canada (@bnaibrithcanada) December 1, 2019

“CIJA (The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs) applauds the SSMU’s board of directors for unequivocally rejecting the legislative council’s discriminatory motion targeting a Jewish student leader,” the Centre’s Quebec co-chair Rabbi Reuben Poupko said in a statement.

Wright was invited on the trip, called Face to Face, by Hillel Montreal.

She was identified by Hillel as “an invaluable student to have on this trip due to your student leadership experience and connections on campus.”

The trip is scheduled to leave at the end of the month and visit Israel and the West Bank.