Isaiah Murray

Overview

Isaiah Murray has engaged [p. 25] in anti-Israel activism and is has promoted of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.

As of August 2023, Murray’s LinkedIn profile said Murray was vice-president equity of the University of Toronto Scarborough Campus (UTSC) Students' Union (SCSU) from May 2021 to January 2023.

Also as of August 2023, Murray’s LinkedIn said he had been a program lead at CEE Centre for Young Black Professionals in Toronto, Ontario, since May 2023.

As of the same date, Murray’s LinkedIn said he was national black caucus chairperson at the Canadian Federation of Students from May 2022 to July 2023.

As of August 2023, Murray’s LinkedIn said he graduated from UTSC with a bachelor's degree in statistics and psychology in 2021.

As of the same date, he went by the username “Isaiah M.” on LinkedIn.

Anti-Israel Activism (BDS)

On November 3, 2021 [p. 111], while serving [p. 112] as vice-president equity at an SCSU special board meeting, Murray spoke [00:32:36] in support of a motion for a BDS policy [p.120] to be adopted by the SCSU. The SCSU’s Policy & By-Law Committee, which had met [p. 127] the day before, proposed that this policy be added to the 2021 Annual General Meeting (AGM) agenda. Murray introduced the policy at the November 24, 2021 AGM.

On May 26, 2021 [p. 19], at an SCSU board of directors meeting, Murray seconded [00:46:34] a motion calling [p. 25] for SCSU to organize “Palestinian Justice Week.” The motion claimed that “the treatment of the Palestinian people by the state [sic] of Israel is tantamount to apartheid,” and that “the Palestinian residents of Sheikh Jarrah are currently fighting their own ethnic cleansing.”

In May 2021, Palestinian violence erupted in anticipation of an Israel High Court ruling on eviction proceedings concerning over 70 Palestinian tenants illegally residing in Jewish-owned properties in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah.

In November 2019, the leader of the SJP chapter at UTSC (TSJP), Ghaith Hanbali, proposed a motion calling on [p. 10] the Scarborough Campus Student Union (SCSU) to “reaffirm its commitment” to the BDS movement at the SCSU Annual General Meeting (AGM).

The motion called on SCSU to “actively support initiatives that raise awareness about the state of Israel’s ongoing occupation of Palestine and war crimes against Palestinian peoples,” and to “refrain from engaging with organizations or participating in events that further normalizes Israeli apartheid.”

Proponents of the “anti-normalization” policy seek to police all interactions between Israelis and Palestinians and shut down all conversations and interactions perceived as being ideologically unaligned with their own agenda.

The motion also called on SCSU’s board of directors to “draft a policy resolution to endorse the BDS movement to ensure that future elected representatives and staff of the Students’ Union uphold our collective commitment to justice in Palestine.”

Hanbali’s motion was not addressed at the AGM due to time constraints.

In a January 2020 meeting of the SCSU board of directors, SCSU voted in favor [p. 14] of a similar motion [p. 11] in support of BDS.

In November 2020, SCSU voted in favor [p. 21] of the original BDS motion proposed [p. 15] by Hanbali in November 2019.

In March 2021, SCSU voted [p. 29] against a motion [p. 11] submitted by Jewish students calling on [p. 26] SCSU to not endorse BDS.

On November 3, 2021, SCSU president Sarah Abdillahi proposed adopting [p. 123] a version of the motion titled: “Re-Affirmation of The Rights Of Jewish Students AT UTSC” that had been amended by SCSU’s Policy and By-Law Committee.

One ofthe clauses [p.124] the Policy and By-Law Committee sought to delete recognized “the right of Jewish students…to organize & advertise events to express their political, cultural and/or religious views.”

The committee also proposed to exclude [p.125] a clause that would allow SCSU to “support campus events…that are organized or sponsored… by campus and community groups that support Israel or Zionism” and“participate in joint research with Israelis or Israeli institutions… enroll in classes offered in conjunction with Israeli universities… [and] travel or study abroad in Israel, or with organizations that support Israel or Zionism.”

On the same date, SCSU voted [p. 126] to adopt the motion.

On November 24, 2021, at its AGM, SCSU voted in favor of adopting a BDS policy [p. 12] proposed by SCSU’s Policy & By-law Committee. The policy included [p. 13] clauses calling to “source kosher food from organizations that do not normalize Israeli apartheid,” and to “Boycott Israeli and settlement goods from being sold by Student Union entities.”

After condemnations by Jewish students and organizations, SCSU passed [p. 20] an amended motion that removed specific reference to kosher food providers, although it still called for SCSU to “refrain from engaging with organizations, services, or participating in events that further normalize Israeli apartheid.”

In November 2019, U of T had previously been embroiled in a controversy regarding kosher food when its Graduate Students’ Union (UTGSU) External Commissioner expressed reluctance to support a campaign by Jewish campus group Hillel to introduce kosher food on campus, due to Hillel’s “pro-Israel” stance.

In November 2022, another Jewish student-led anti-BDS resolution [p. 21] was proposed and ultimately voted [p. 23] down. The motion noted [p. 21] that BDS leads to anti-Semitic hate crimes and discrimination against Jews on campuses where resolutions are adopted. It also called on [p. 22] SCSU to not boycott the Jewish student organizations Hillel and Jewish Student Life (JSL) targeted by the BDS movement.

BDS

The Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement was founded by Omar Barghouti in 2005 to challenge “international support for Israeli apartheid and settler-colonialism.” BDS is an allegedly “Palestinian-led movement,” although leading BDS activists have admitted [00:01:01] this is not true.

One of the demands of BDS includes [point 3] what is generally known as the “right of return,” a demand discredited as a way to eliminate Israel. Barghouti said the “right of return” is a means to “end Israel’s existence as a Jewish state.”

Barghouti has said that BDS “aims to turn Israel into a pariah state, as South Africa once was.”

In his activism, Barghouti has also said [00:05:55] regarding Israel: “Definitely, most definitely, we oppose a Jewish state in any part of Palestine. No…rational Palestinian, not a sellout Palestinian, will ever accept a Jewish state in Palestine.”

The movement has been linked to numerous terrorist organizations and received a public endorsement from Hamas in 2017.

BDS initiatives include calling on institutions and individuals to divest from Israeli-affiliated companies, promoting academic and cultural boycotts of Israel, and organizing anti-Israel rallies, protests and campaigns.

The movement’s most notable achievement has been the infiltration of university campuses through lobbying for “BDS resolutions.” In these cases, student governments and student groups, backed by their own anti-Israel members and affiliates, have proposed resolutions on some form of boycott of, or divestment from, Israel and Israeli-affiliated entities.

Boycott resolutions, although non-binding, have been passed by student governments on numerous North American campuses.

BDS activity is often aggressive and disruptive. It has been noted that universities that pass BDS resolutions see a marked increase in anti-Semitic incidents on campus. On one campus, when the student government debated a BDS resolution, reports emerged of violent threats against those opposing it.