Michael McCauley
Overview
Michael McCauley helped launch a Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) campaign at McGill University (McGill) as an organizing member of the McGill BDS Action Network (McGill BDS) in 2016.McCauley was also an member of Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR) at McGill University (McGill) in 2016. He as also an SPHR member in 2015 and 2014.
SPHR is an alternative name for Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP).
In 2016, McCauley was reportedly a “U1 Arts” student at McGill.
Anti-Israel Activism (SPHR, BDS)
McCauley reportedly co-drafted a motion that called on the Student’s Society of McGill University (SSMU) to support “campaigns associated with the BDS movement… including the campaign to divest from corporations complicit in the occupation of the Palestinian territories” and called on the SSMU President to “lobby the McGill Board of Governors in support of BDS campaigns.”
The motion was endorsed by McGill SPHR and 19 other student groups at McGill as well as the anti-Israel Independent Jewish Voices (IJV) Canada.
On February 11, 2016, McCauley promoted the McGill BDS divestment campaign on Facebook, posting a graphic that said: “McGill University YES TO BDS Vote on February 22nd 2016.”
On February 22, 2016, McGill BDS Action Network proposed the motion at the SSMU General Assembly (GA). The vote, taken by secret ballot, passed 512 to 357, in support of BDS.
On February 23, 2016, McCauley appeared in a Facebook photo posted by fellow McGill BDS Action member Zahra Habib speaking at the SSMU GA. He also appeared in a Facebook photo celebrating the BDS vote with fellow activists.
The SSMU GA voted against the motion, reportedly by secret ballot, with 212 votes for, 276 against, and 9 abstaining.
McCauley retweeted a March 15, 2015 SPHR McGill tweet that said: “212 for, 276 against. Very close margin. This is an uphill battle, thank you to all who came out. Definitely more to come.”
McCauley retweeted a March 15, 2015 tweet from anti-Israel activist Rania Khalek, calling the Prime Minister “Canada's spineless Liberal savior” for having “publicly opposed @Sphr_McGill's divestment resolution, for Israel.”
On October 19, 2015, McCauley shared a post on Facebook from Ali Abunimah, founder of the anti-Israel publication Electronic Intifada, that said: “@JustinTrudeau We get it. You support Israeli apartheid…”
On December 3, 2014, McCauley featured in a SPHR Facebook photo campaign called “#breakthesilence.” McCauley posed for a photo holding a sign that read: “Students have a responsibility to defend the oppressed when our government consistently defends the oppressor.”
SPHR
SPHR was formed in 1999 via a merger between the Concordia Centre for Palestinian Human Rights (CCPHR) at Concordia and the Palestinian Solidarity Committee (PSC) at McGill University. The group gained notoriety after instigating a riot at Concordia University, that forced then former (and current) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to cancel a speech scheduled for September 9, 2002. Ticket holders later reported that the protesters subjected them to antisemitic slogans and physical attacks. A holocaust survivor was kicked in the groin and a local Rabbi with his wife were assaulted and spat on.
SJP
SJP is a student organization engaged in anti-Israel activity on North American college and university campuses.
The first chapter of SJP was founded in 2001 at the University of California at Berkeley by Professor Hatem Bazian. Bazian has spread classic anti-Semitism, reportedly promoted religious anti-Semitism and defended the Hamas terror group. In 2004, Bazian called for “intifada” in America.
SJP organizes anti-Israel campaigns, including running annual Israel Apartheid Weeks, often in collaboration with Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) and Muslim Students Association (MSA) campus chapters.
SJP has been a major force in pushing the anti-Semitic Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement on campuses. Chapters have initiated dozens of BDS resolutions in student governments, which have been proposed on or around Jewish holidays, a time when many Jewish students are off-campus.
SJP activists have reportedly physically assaulted, intimidated and harassed Jewish students, disrupted pro-Israel campus events and demonized pro-Israel campus organizations.
Chapters have often endorsed and campaigned for numerous terrorists and whitewashed terrorism.
McGill BDS
On March 15, 2015, the McGill chapter of Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR) presented the General Assembly of the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) with a motion calling on McGill to boycott five companies doing business in Israel. The motion failed by 64 votes after an “intense” 45-minute debate. SPHR is an alternative name for Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP).On February 22, 2016, the McGill BDS Action Network presented a “motion to support BDS” to the General Assembly of the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU).
The motion called for the SSMU to “support campaigns associated with the BDS movement.” It also called for the SSMU president to recommend to McGill’s board of governors “no less than the complete divestment of holdings” in companies doing business in Israel. According to one source, the motion reportedlypassed 512 to 357.
On February 25, 2016, BDS supporters reportedly targeted Jewish students on social media with anti-Semitic remarks such as: “Little Zionist jewboys not happy that McGill students don’t support their genocide.”
The Montreal Gazette reported that after the vote, one student was “followed home and verbally harassed,” while another “was going to the police” to report an attempt to hack his Facebook page. A campaigner against the initiative said he knew of at least 10 students who sought counseling due to “intolerable situations” caused by their opposition to the motion.
On February 27, 2016, the BDS initiative lost the subsequent online ratification vote when 57 percent of the voters voted against it. Following the announcement of that vote, then-McGill principal and vice-chancellor Suzanne Fortier issued a statement confirming that the university’s administration “continues to steadfastly oppose” and “will have no part of” the BDS movement.
In 2016, the Algemeiner ranked McGill fourth on a list of North America’s 40 “worst” campuses for Jewish students.
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.
Social Media and Weblinks
Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/michael.mccauley.313 [Deleted]Twitter: https://twitter.com/mtmccauley [Deleted]
- Status:
- Student
- University:
- McGill
- Organizations:
- BDS,
- SPHR (SJP)
- Related Profiles:
- Sana Saeed,
- Last Modified:
- 05/04/2026
Photos & Screenshots
