Protesters demand UW divest from companies involved in Israel-Hamas war

A group of about 100 protesters gathered outside the University of Waterloo during a senate meeting Monday demanding the school boycott and divest from all institutions supporting Israel in the midst of the ongoing war.

Nick Joseph, the media liaison for the protesters, says the university has been ignoring and roadblocking students advocating for the motion for months.

"The students are getting increasingly frustrated," Joseph said. "This is not the first, not the second, but it's the third term that we've been trying to get through to the admin to stop investing so we're here to voice our concerns like a lot of other students across North America."

According to the University of Waterloo, its senate has the power "to create, modify or remove schools, institutes, departments or chairs". The senate makes decisions about the school's policies, programming and strategies. Members of the senate are representative of the university community and can be faculty, students, alumni, governors and administrative staff.

He says protesters want the university to:

• Divest from all weapons manufacturers and institutions that support the Israeli occupation of Palestine.
• Boycott and sever partnerships with all Israeli Universities that support the Israeli occupation of Palestine.
• Officially recognise anti-Palestinian racism.
• Honour former UW guest scholar Sufyan Tayeh, who was reportedly killed in an Israeli airstrike in December.
• Declare support for an immediate ceasefire.

The protest began Monday afternoon and included members of the student body, faculty and local community.

One of the protesters, Ahmad Nabil, an engineering student at UW, attended the senate meeting to tell its members what the protesters' demands are. Senators are the only people allowed to speak at the meeting, but Nabil requested to speak and was given permission.

In the end, a motion even just to hear Nabil's motion failed at senate.

A spokesperson from the University of Waterloo sent CBC a statement saying the school has had a responsible investment policy which encourages companies to act responsibly.

The university does invest in pooled funds but they said in the statement "neither the University nor our pension funds have any direct investments in organizations that supply military equipment to Israel".

Campus protests forming across Canada

Pro-Palestinian protests are forming at university campuses across the country, including at McGill University in Montreal, the University of Toronto and McMaster University in Hamilton. Some protestors are also setting up encampments.

The protests began at Columbia University in New York City on April 17. Protesters have been there for weeks now and had also established an encampment. Police forcefully cleared that encampment last week. Police have also began taking down makeshift barricades at other American campuses like the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) after violent clashes between protestors and counter-protestors.

Joseph says he can't speak on whether the protesters at the University of Waterloo will also form an encampment.

Protestors say they are trying to draw attention to the ongoing humanitarian situation Gaza, resulting from the Israeli military response to a deadly attack on Oct. 7 launched by Hamas and other militants. About 1,200 people were killed on Oct. 7, including several Canadians. Since then, more than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza Strip, according to the Health Ministry there.

The International Court of Justice is investigating whether Israel has committed acts of genocide in the ongoing war in Gaza, with any ruling expected to take years. Israel has rejected allegations of wrongdoing and accused the court of bias.