Students horrified after seeing Netanyahu hanged in effigy on McGill's Roddick Gates (2024)

McGill University students say Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was hanged in effigy on the top of the school’s Roddick Gates on Sunday.

The students noticed the effigy Sunday evening and say it was taken down, but not before one took a photo of what they described as a disturbing and offensive image. They also said they believe it was placed there by people involved with the pro-Palestinian encampment that went up on a field next to the gates a month ago.

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Jamie Fabian, one of the McGill students, said he was at an event for a Jewish celebration Sunday evening when someone sent him a photo of the effigy. He said he headed over to the Roddick Gates with a few friends and saw it when they arrived.

“We were all horrified,” Fabian said, adding there were Montreal police officers near the gates, as there have been since the first tents in the encampment went up on April 27.

“We asked them why was nothing done about it and they said: ‘We’re not going into the encampment without a riot squad. We don’t have IDs on the people and even if we did, we’re not going to go get them.’ They said: ‘We’re just watching.'”

In an email sent to The Gazette, McGill said it “is aware of the incident. This violent imagery goes beyond peaceful protest and stands in sharp contrast to the university’s principles and its ongoing efforts to foster respectful dialogue and speech. McGill is investigating under its codes of conduct and has reported the event to the Montreal police.”

While Fabian and his friends were present, the effigy came down and someone he said he believes is involved with the encampment took it.

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“We just wanted it to be out of public sight. We were horrified by it. We also know that (people with the encampment) were celebrating and passing out cake,” Fabian said. “When we left, we were followed. We were yelled at by the campers.

“I think this is a shining example of what the encampment believes. This has never been about the conflict (between Israel and Hamas). This is about their hatred of Judaism, of Israel and of Jewish people and that they are willing to take violent measures, including using Holocaust imagery.”

Fabian said the effigy depicted Netanyahu in striped pyjamas.

“I’m the grandson of Holocaust survivors. It made me think of what they went through during the 1930s. Imagine me walking up and seeing that public display at the Roddick Gates, of them hanging a Jew in concentration camp attire. This has to do with their hatred and their belief in conspiracy theories,” Fabian said.

Several hours before Fabian saw the effigy, Israeli forces bombed a tent camp in Rafah in a neighbourhood that had been designated as a “safe zone” for displaced Palestinians to shelter. Forty-five people were reportedly killed. On Monday, Netanyahu called what happened a “tragic mistake.”

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Fabian said he has no idea if the effigy was put up as a reaction to the bombing.

Another McGill student who saw the effigy — after learning about it while celebrating the Jewish holiday Lag BaOmer at a synagogue on campus — said the atmosphere was “very hostile” at the Roddick Gates when it was taken down.

“The members of the encampment figured out that none of us spoke Arabic, so they were cussing at us in Arabic and making comments, or passersby made some comments in French also. It was fairly hostile and there was tension in the air,” said the student, who asked that his name not be published.

He concurred with Fabian’s description of how the Montreal police on the scene “did nothing.”

“They sat there in their car and observed. I don’t even know if they saw it, to be frank,” he said.

“There’s a difference between having a good-faith public discourse and demanding or promoting the death of a government official.”

The person who took the photo of the effigy was one of the two students who filed a request for an injunction to have a ban placed on protests near all of McGill’s 154 buildings. The request for the injunction was rejectedthis month by a Quebec Superior Court judge.

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The woman, who asked that her name not be published, said she first noticed Palestinian flags hanging off the Roddick Gates, at around 8:30 p.m. Sunday.

“Upon closer examination, I noticed that they had hung Netanyahu’s face (and were) calling him a criminal and a couple of other things,” she said. “I was shocked. I wasn’t expecting them to start hanging Jewish figures on campus.

“I would like to say that it’s a shame that such violence and hate is taking place on campus, because students can’t enjoy the campus and services that we are paying tens of thousands of dollars for. It’s really frustrating that hate has become acceptable at my school.”

The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs posted its reaction to the effigy on the X social media platform, saying: “After hatred, dehumanization. And we know very well what’s coming next. When are we going to stop burying our heads in the sand because we want ‘no waves,’ while the threat to Quebec Jews and our society is materializing even more?”

pcherry@postmedia.com

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