Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR) is a non-profit, student-based organization that advocates on a strong social justice platform to uphold the rights of the Palestinian people. The group is based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada and gained a wide profile after instigating a protest in Concordia University, that forced the Israeli ex-Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to cancel a speech that was to take place on 9 September 2002.[1]

In 2009, the organization publicly threatened civil disobedience and unrest in response to the Canada Border Services agency barring then British MP George Galloway from entry into Canada.[2]

Brief history

SPHR was established in 1999 as a result of a merger between two student organizations based at Concordia University and McGill University in Montreal; the Concordia Centre for Palestinian Human Rights (CCPHR) and the McGill Palestinian Solidarity Committee (PSC).

The groups have sponsored controversial anti-Israel rallies on many campuses, especially since the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. For example, McGill University recently asked the McGill branch "to stop using the school's name over posts on social media that described Saturday's attack in Israel as 'the resistance in Gaza led a heroic attack [...]. Their march toward liberation is as monumental as their rockets' and, at a rally, asked Montrealers to 'celebrate the resistance’s success.'"[3] In response to this characterization of its posts, a statement from Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights McGill stated, "'We reject the claims by the McGill administration that SPHR McGill’s social media posts 'celebrate recent acts of terror and violence,' they wrote. 'We are not celebrating violence, we are looking at the prospect of liberation.'"[4]

References

  1. ↑ Canadian Press (January 15, 2003). "Concordia U. regrets anti-Netanyahu riot". CTV.ca. Archived from the original on June 1, 2008. Retrieved 2008-05-16.
  2. ↑ "Organizers seek to overturn ban against British anti-war MP". The Toronto Star. 2009-03-22. ISSN 0319-0781. Retrieved 2021-09-28.
  3. ↑ Morgan Lowrie (2023-10-13). "Canadian universities face challenges navigating Israel-Hamas war". The Hamilton Spectator. The Canadian Press. ISSN 1189-9417. Retrieved 2023-11-02.
  4. ↑ Morgan Lowrie (2023-10-13). "Canadian universities face challenges navigating Israel-Hamas war". The Hamilton Spectator. The Canadian Press. ISSN 1189-9417. Retrieved 2023-11-02.

See also

See also

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