Canadian university condemns ‘alarming’ image of armed fighters shared by pro-Palestinian student protesters

A pro-Palestinian student group at Canada’s McGill University has sparked outrage after sharing an image of armed individuals and called for participation in a “revolutionary youth summer program”.

About the post

A student group at McGill called Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR) and took to social media asking students to sign up for the “revolutionary” program to be held on the university campus in the Canadian city of Montreal this month.

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“We pledge to educate the youth of Montreal and redefine McGill’s ‘elite’ institutional legacy by transforming its space into one of revolutionary education,” the group said in a post on Instagram.

It added, “The daily schedule will include physical activity, Arabic language instruction, cultural crafts, political discussions, historical and revolutionary lessons.”

However, the image shared along with the post which featured masked, armed individuals reading communist literature drew criticism from the university, a Canadian Zionist organisation, and several social media users.

According to the Guardian, the photo of gunmen wearing keffiyeh scarves and reading Mao Zedong’s Little Red Book is an image of the Fatah faction of the Palestine Liberation Organisation taken in 1970. At the time, the Chinese Communist Party supported the Palestinian movement.

Amid the ongoing war between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza, hundreds of universities across the world, including many in the United States and Canada, are witnessing months-long protests.

Pro-Palestinian student protesters have even set up encampments on campuses and called on university officials to divest from Israel over its ongoing military operation in Gaza.

‘Extremely alarming’

In a statement, on Friday (Jun 14) McGill president and vice-chancellor, Deep Saini called the use of the image “extremely alarming”.

“It should go without saying that imagery evoking violence is not a tool of peaceful expression or assembly,” he added.

Saini also called the image a “worrying escalation” which goes well beyond what universities are equipped to manage and said that they have contacted Canadian authorities over the social media post and “other recent activities as matters of national security”.

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However, the police in Montreal said that they have no plans to take action against the encampment at McGill.

Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) released a statement calling on McGill to “dismantle the toxic encampment immediately, or the antisemitism, hate, intimidation & harassment will continue to metastasize.”

Zeyad Abisaab, a student at Concordia University who volunteers at the McGill encampment said that the post is about the ongoing activities at the encampment including workshops and discussions.

“It’s a space for people to learn,” said Abisaab, as quoted by Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). He also said that the image has been circulating in online pro-Palestinian spaces for years.

The post was also criticised by many on social media with several people calling it an “indoctrination” and “terrorist training” camp. On the other hand, some expressed support for the message and the program buy said that it was not the right image to use.

(With inputs from agencies)