October 18, 2023
To: President Vivek Goel, Vice-President Communications
As members of the University of Waterloo community, we are writing to express our shock and disappointment at the statements released by the University of Waterloo on October 12 and 17, 2023. Despite our university’s strong advocacy for inclusion, compassion, safety and care for all equity-deserving groups, the statement did not condemn the Israeli attacks on innocent Palestinian civilians, and failed to acknowledge the context and impact of the ongoing occupation of Palestine. The latest attack being on the day the second statement was released. Bombarding a hospital, killing more than 500 innocent civilians, doctors and paramedics, is a war crime and a blatant violation of international law.
We, as University of Waterloo community members of all backgrounds, have the following concerns about the statements:
- The statements mentioned only the attacks on Israeli civilians. It did not acknowledge the latest militarized violence enacted upon Palestinian civilians, which at the time of the statement had already seen renewed bombarding of Gaza neighbourhoods, hospitals, and university, as well as the Israeli decision on October 8th to disconnect Gaza's access to water, electricity, fuel, food and humanitarian aid. As of the writing of this letter, this assault has killed more than 3000 Palestinians since October 7th, 2023 – at least 1000 of whom are children. Many University of Waterloo community members are from Palestine or have loved ones in Palestine. Some of these loved ones are now missing, injured, or dead. These members of our community need and deserve acknowledgment, concern, support, and care.
- The statements failed to acknowledge the brutal, untenable conditions that Israel has long imposed on Palestinians, which have been decried specifically as crimes of apartheid and oppression by major human rights authorities including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and the United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner. The events of the past week are a direct result of these ongoing conditions. The University statement not only fails to provide this context but also blames the Palestinians for “the outbreak of war” as if the war only started last week. With such statement the University has contributed to the villainization of Palestinians – the impact of which is already being felt by our students, staff, faculty, and alumni.
- The statements on events in Israel-Palestine was only made when there was a mass attack on Israelis. However, Gaza has been subjected to a 17-year blockade, as well as multiple Israeli bombardments resulting in large numbers of civilian deaths:
- 2008 - 1,385 Palestinians killed, including 318 children
- 2012 - 168 Palestinians killed, including 33 children
- 2014 - 2,251 Palestinians killed, including over 1,500 children
- 2018 - 214 Palestinians killed, including 46 children
- 2021 - 230 Palestinians killed, including 67 children
Source: Visualizing Palestine
Furthermore, the ongoing Israeli occupation commits daily acts of violence against Palestinians, including the killing of civilians, infliction of life-altering injuries, sexual violence, house demolition, and arbitrary detention.
These atrocities received no comparable statement of support from the President’s Office or Communication Office.
We, the undersigned, decry and mourn the loss of civilian lives, Palestinian and Israeli. We ask that Palestinians’ lives, traumas, and families be valued by the University of Waterloo equally with Jewish people and other equity-deserving groups.
The University of Waterloo has stated a commitment to the equity, diversity, and inclusion needs of all students, faculty, and staff. However, the exclusion of Palestinian community members from your statement has already resulted in:
- Palestinian students, staff, and faculty at University of Waterloo facing heightened anti-Palestinian racism in the form of threats, hostility from classmates, silencing, and suppression;
- Arab and Muslim University of Waterloo community members who are not Palestinian also becoming targets of anti-Palestinian racism, as anti-Palestinian racism and Islamophobia operate in tandem;
- Other University of Waterloo community members who support Palestinian human and civil rights feel scared, silenced, and alienated.
It is extremely disheartening that our university is acting as a political entity issuing divisive one-sided condemnations that polarize our community. Instead, the university should encourage civil debate to enrich its community with the truths about conflicts.
To address these serious issues, we, the undersigned members of your community, request that the University of Waterloo:
- Release a statement explicitly acknowledging both recent and long-standing violence against Palestinians, and affirming their right to safety, dignity, and freedom.
- Publicly support and reaffirm the academic freedom of faculty who are vilified for speaking about Palestine.
- Support Palestinian community members as an equity-deserving group, including outreach to Palestinian community members, inviting all community members to report incidents of islamophobia and anti-Palestinian racism, and offering expanded mental and emotional health support to impacted Palestinian students.
- Commission a Working Group to make recommendations to support the University’s response to anti-Palestinian racism and expand the mandate of the President’s Anti-racism Taskforce (PART) to include anti-Palestinian racism.
We ask that the university provides a public response to this letter by Friday, October 27, 2023.
Regards,
