York President Mamdouh Shoukri unexpectedly walked into Hillel yesterday to talk to Jewish students about concerns raised regarding the mural “Palestinian Roots” in the Student Centre. The York Federation of Students have confirmed the mural will not be taken down.
“It is the view of the York University Student Centre and the York Federation of Students that this artwork is not hateful and is the artist’s depiction of the resistance to the occupation of Palestinian land,” says Gayle McFadden, VP operations of YFS.
Hillel at York president recently issued an open letter to executive director of the Student Centre, Scott Jarvis, citing a violation of student guidelines. The mural was only supposed to be up for two years, according to Hillel.
President Shoukri says he feels an obligation to all students who have concerns and has never refused to talk to anyone. He also says his advisor on the matter is Osgoode Hall Law School Dean Lorne Sossin, a member of the Jewish community who offered public comments on the matter last month, in response to Avi Benlolo’s article in the National Post, claiming York does “little to stop anti-Semitic hate speech.” More media attention came after media mogul Paul Bronfman pulled his support from the university. President Shoukri says in his tenure as president, Bronfman is the first to retract donations.
Moreover, a Never Again Canada GoFundMe campaign is aiming to raise $50,000, collecting almost $2,000 so far, for legal fees in their hopes to file a lawsuit. Joanne Rider, York media, says administration continues to explore all available options to address concerns. “York University thanks its generous donors who support students, research, and teaching,” says Rider.
“We deeply regret Mr. Bronfman’s decision and would like to thank him for his support. Our Arts, Media, Performance and Design students have benefitted from the experiential learning activities made possible by his generosity.”
Rider says the university remains firmly committed to its values of freedom of expression, open dialogue, and constructive discussion.
“This is, in essence, the very purpose of our institution.” Amnesty International at York President Jessa McLean thinks there are questions of censorship and oppression surrounding the calls to have the mural taken down.
“The few calls to remove a piece of artwork from our campus are not only an attempt at unwanted censorship but are part of the continued oppression of Palestinian people,” says McLean.
“Freedom of expression is a right Amnesty routinely fights for and this issue will be no different.” Hammam Farah, founder of Students Against Israeli Apartheid says this mural speaks to his personal experience as a Palestinian.
“My family had a beautiful orange grove in Gaza. We used to go there to see it and spend time with the family who tended it for us.” Israeli bulldozers plowed it up in the early 2000’s, says Farah, who references the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions website.
“Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention states that an occupying power shall not transfer or deport parts of its own citizens to the territory it occupies. Israel is a signatory to that Convention. Look it up.”
Farah says the mural is not anti-Semitic because targeting the military in a context of occupation is legal under international law.
“We Palestinians have the right, under international law, to target military installations, units, and vehicles that oversee the occupation of the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem. Let’s not forget that international law was derived partially from the legitimate resistance of occupied people in Europe during World War II. The painting does not depict an attack on civilians.”
Rawan Habib, a Refugee Aid executive, echoes these statements stating in Canada “we live in a society that looks to international law and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as important standards in determining what constitutes infringements and what constitutes legal and moral action in issues of global conflict.”
Under international law, in a context of military occupation, people have the legal and moral right to target military vehicles and installations, says Habib.
“Therefore, what the painting depicts is considered a legal and legitimate form of resistance by a Palestinian against an Israeli army bulldozer engaged in the plowing of land and uprooting of trees in territory it occupies.”
Land confiscations in the occupied West Bank occur on an almost daily basis for the use of illegal settlement construction, she adds.
“York has a commitment to freedom of expression and while the administration has a poor record of adhering to that commitment, we expect that it is learning from past mistakes and will join the student body in defending the cherished values of the York community.”
Ariella Daniels, Hasbara at York president, sees this mural as one small part of a wider problem of anti-Israel rhetoric on campus. “The mural is a misrepresentation of the realities on the ground in Israel. The scene depicted is based on false accusations against Israel, those same accusations used by anti-Israel movements.”
The mural is a direct attack on the Jewish state and is a form of anti-Semitic rhetoric, she adds. “It illustrates Israel as inhumane and demonizes Israelis and the Jewish people. The illustrator is giving the viewer a sum total solution by delegitimizing the Jewish state and presenting the map of Israel with the Palestinian flag. The goal of this image is to single out and isolate Israel.”
The most powerful part of the mural is the significance of the stone the character is holding, Daniels says. “A stone is used as a weapon by radical Palestinians against Israelis and Jews. It brings back visions of the first and second Intifada as well as the constant terrorism incited by the [Palestinian National Authority].”
“The mural spreads the message that the only way to peace is through violence and terror. It directly rejects all efforts for dialogue and coexistence.”
“This mural is a component of a greater issue on university campuses. It is evidence that anti-Israel and anti-Semitic sentiment has become normalized at York University. This issue is systemic and should be taken seriously.” The first year Daniels came to York, her student union endorsed the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, which targets Israel. She says the mural illustrates the famous 3Ds: demonization, delegitimization, and double-standard, which Israel supporters associate with BDS. Ariella Sibony, Hasbara at York VP, comments on the artist’s description of the painting. “If he has a rock in his hand already … he shouldn’t have it in the first place. There’s always a way to resist, a way to protest something without resorting to violence.” “It also portrays Israel as this machine, this bulldozer that just moves, moves, moves. There’s no people in this machine, there’s no life in this machine. By associating Israel with being a machine, it is dehumanizing and demonizing Israel.”
Rena Silver, political liaison of Hasbara at York, offered the following: “As a Jewish student, that mural was one of the first things I noticed at York and it caught me off guard. It is nothing short of anti-Semitic. Obviously things are complicated in Israel and the situation is very nuanced, but under no circumstances is there a reason to incite violence and terror. When a piece of art is calling not only for Israel to be removed from existence, as understood by the entire map of Palestine on the subject’s scarf, but is calling for this to come into fruition through terror. That is anti-Semitic rhetoric. Today in Israel, innocent men, women, and children fear for their lives as they watch people just like them die from stabbings on the daily. The terrorists that are wielding those knives are being incited by a lot of propaganda that looks a lot like that mural.” Hasbara at York is hosting Painting4Peace on Monday, open to all community members.
Ryan Moore, News Editor Featured image courtesy of Michael Zusev, Photo Editor
The original contest rules stated that the murals will hang in the student centre for two years. Two years have passed. Time for them to come down. Simple as that.
Yes, but as always, the pro-Palestinians (some of whom are Jewish) ignore the rules. They think they’re “special” and are entitled to ignore the rules that everybody else must follow. There should be no discussion: two years have passed, there is no excuse to keep it up there. That’s reverse discrimination. If it stays, it means that someone else is prevented from putting up their own painting. Stop coddling the Palestinians.
it appears the news editor, ryan moore, doesn’t care to verify cited sources and dismisses them as “according to hillel”, instead of “according to york university student center art contest guidelines” – the beginnings of a hack news reporter. here it is in black and white – http://yusc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/MuralGuidelinesv2.pdf
Aside from the content of the mural, the quality is WEAK. Like, 9th grade level at best.
PROBLEM: BABY WANTS HIS BOTTLE? This has nothing to do with Isreal or Palestine.
SOLUTIONS: Start a crowdfunding campaign to raise money for the FILM departments shortfall and make Bronfman’s money insignicant.. Crowdfund it on Raisehope.org and help the true victims here, the students.
This story infuriates me because it really has nothing to do not about the Isreal / Palestine conflict, it has more to do with a rich bully who is throwing a temper tantrum and trying to push his own political agenda on the most prized and valued institutions in the western world–our universities. Where study, free thought, art and debate should never be censored. I find It comically ironic the someone who is a Board member of respected academies of the Film industry would want to censor amateur hanging art at a university.
Nazi propaganda can be called art as well. This art depicts the resistance to the “occupation of German land” by the jewish people.
because of nazi art, millions of people where killed in cold blood.
Anti-semitic?
What are you people smoking?
Stop equating criticism of Israel to criticism of jews and the jewish faith.
Its the most uncritical, idiotic argument I’ve ever heard. You go to university, you should be able to think more critically than that.
Why does this picture not hang on the walls of harvard, stanford and yale? O right…because Jewish people make up most of its student population.
Keep your money bro; it doesn’t buy you the right to spread propaganda and suppress the rights of Palestinians. Nothing anti semitic in the painting or hateful, only true account of what happens daily. Olive trees for some are the only means of providing for their families, illegally razing the lands for illegal settlements is just that; ILLEGAL. Criticism of Israel is NOT criticism of Jewish people. Jewish students want peace in the middle east just as anyone else does, they should feel uncomfortable about this painting, but not because it’s anti semitic but because of what is being done in THEIR name. Great job by York to stand up to this man.
Why does this picture not hang on the walls of harvard, stanford and yale? O right…because Jewish people make up most of its student population.
Ok then how about you also post some pictures of Palestinians stabbing Israeli women as has happened several times (almost daily) over the last few months. That would depict the “REALITY” far better than that mural would. How about add some pictures of Palestinian suicide bombers blowing up the Dolphinarium Dance club or any of the other hundred+ suicide bombings. . . .again that would paint a far more accurate picture than this mural would. I could go on and on, but it seems historical accuracy is lost on these fools.
Do you ask these kinds of questions of all artists? It’s embarrassing to say this because you have a PhD after your name, but have you ever considered why Palestinians resorted to suicide bombing? Criticism of Israel is amply justified and this mural is simply a depiction of a particular experience – not all experiences – and the one the artist chose to share.
This shows the folly, even perversity, of letting rich people set priorities by controlling terms of donations.
Universities such as York should be publicly funded, using public criteria. Where to get the funds? Tax the rich: as Mr. Bronfman has pointedly shown us, they have money to spare.
In canadian university,issues involving canadian politics, not middle east, should be hanging on the walls. And there is plenty of Canadian issues, such as native people’s horrid living conditions. The palestinians in Israel and the Israeli Arabs live in much better conditions than many natives living here in Canada. On land reserves, there is toxic drinking water, little access to healthcare, little access to housing, little access to education, drug problems, violence against women, ect… but york university cares very little about these issues. Is there a mural at the student centre showing a native american throwing a rock at a canadian? Don’t forget that we canadians are occupying native American land. Why don’t native americans throw rocks at canadians? Natives have much more reason to hate canadians then Palestinians have to hate Israel. Not only did Canada take away their land, but they raped them and forced them to convert, took their culture away from them, destroyed their rich languages, shoved them into abusive english schools, killed them enslaved them ect…. how come natives don’t go around throwing rocks at canadians, even though “its human nature to react to occupation”? Because Ban Ki Moon does not justify violence towards Canadians, but violence towards jews is accepted and tolerated, as it has been from the dawn of time.