The Vice President of University and Local Partner Services at the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA), Judy Zelikovitz, stated:
This represents a crucial defeat for boycott-divestment-sanctions (BDS) activists, who openly call for discrimination against Israelis based on their country of origin.
CIJA has “worked directly with the leadership of Universities Canada to ensure passage of the new membership criteria banning discrimination on the basis of national origin.”
Muslim Solidarity Networks, Palestinian Solidarity Networks and the like will no doubt view the “non-discrimination criterion” as discriminatory and “Islamophobic.” Groups linked to the Muslim Brotherhood conveniently twist all anti-discrimination discourse to fit their “Islamophobia” agenda.
The real agenda of the Muslim Students Association is reflected in its Pledge of Allegiance:
Allah is my Lord. Islam is my life. The Koran is my guide. The Sunna is my practice. Jihad is my Spirit. Righteousness is my character and paradise is my goal. I enjoin what is right. I forbid what is wrong. I will fight against oppression and I will die to establish Islam.
Meanwhile, the Muslim Brotherhood’s motto is:
Allah is our objective. The prophet is our leader. Qur’an is our law. Jihad is our way. Dying in the way of Allah is our highest hope.
A former Muslim Students Association (MSA) Board member, Atif Choudhury, made an open confession about the MSA’s jihadist ties, which were exposed by the NYPD, when he finally declared in 2014:
It is with much regret and sorrow to my fellow brothers and sisters serving in Muslim Students Associations (MSAs) around the nation that I must declare: The gig is up. We must come clean. Therefore on behalf of myself and my fellow accomplices and co-conspirators, the following heartfelt apology extends to the noble members of the FBI, NSA, Nashville Police Department and any other law enforcement body I may be missing.
Last year in Canada, a damning revelation also broke: 11 of Canada’s highest-profile jihad terrorists were tied to Muslim Students Association.
The adoption of the “non-discrimination criterion” is a major blow to the jihadist-driven anti-Israel BDS movements that have spread on campuses across the country. However, be forewarned that the jihadist battle is likely not to be over on those campuses, even though they are members of Universities Canada (see list here). A Jerusalem Post report by Dr. Mitchell Bard, who has written about “Radical Islam’s War Against the Jews,” indicates that “even when BDS is defeated….a hostile atmosphere that makes Jewish students feel unsafe” has been reported.
“CIJA commends Universities Canada for adopting “anti BDS” criterion”, CiJNews, October 27, 2016:
Universities Canada’s members voted in favour of a new non-discrimination criterion at the association’s fall membership meeting on October 26, 2016.
The adopted criterion states:
“With respect to all institutional policies and practices, the institution affirms its commitment to equal treatment of all persons without discrimination, on the basis of race, religious beliefs, colour, gender, physical or mental disability, age, ancestry, place of origin, marital status, family status, sex, and sexual orientation, or other grounds identified in applicable human rights law.”
Portraying the decision as evidence of a consensus around the concept of equality in higher education, Paul Davidson, president of Universities Canada, said: “Our diverse membership has come together around a shared commitment to non-discrimination, which sends a signal to Canadians that higher education in this country will treat all students, faculty and staff fairly.”
Universities Canada is the voice of Canada’s universities at home and abroad, representing the interests of 97 Canadian public and private not-for-profit universities. According to the official announcement, Current members of Universities Canada have until 2020 to make any required changes to meet the criterion. All prospective members will need to meet this new criterion – along with other criteria for membership – immediately.
The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA), the advocacy agent of the Jewish Federations of Canada-UIA, welcomed the decision.
“We wholeheartedly commend Universities Canada and its membership for this ground-breaking decision,” said Judy Zelikovitz, Vice President of University and Local Partner Services at CIJA. “The new criteria ensure that, by the end of the decade, all of Canada’s major universities will have codes of conduct banning discrimination based on national origin.”
“This represents a crucial defeat for boycott-divestment-sanctions (BDS) activists, who openly call for discrimination against Israelis based on their country of origin,” Zelikovitz added. “Canada’s top academics are committed to building global partnerships, including with Israel’s world-class universities and scholars. This vote by Canada’s universities entrenches a zero-tolerance approach to bigotry based on nationality, and CIJA will be working hard to ensure that this policy is used to block BDS efforts.”
CIJA noted that it has had a long-standing, constructive relationship with Universities Canada. During a 2013 mission to Israel co-hosted by CIJA, Universities Canada signed a bilateral agreement with its Israeli counterpart to strengthen partnerships between universities in the two countries….