Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR) is a non-profit, student-based organization based in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

, Canada. It is involved in organizing protests against the

Israeli occupation of Palestine The occupied Palestinian territories, also referred to as the Palestinian territories, consist of the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and the Gaza Strip—two regions of the former British Mandate for Palestine that have been occupie ...

History

SPHR was established in 1999 as a result of a merger between two student organizations based at

Concordia University Concordia University () is a Public university, public English-language research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1974 following the merger of Loyola College (Montreal), Loyola College and Sir George Williams Universit ...

and

McGill University McGill University (French: Université McGill) is an English-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill University, Vol. I. For the Advancement of Learning, ...

in Montreal; the Concordia Centre for Palestinian Human Rights (CCPHR) and the McGill Palestinian Solidarity Committee (PSC). The SPHR gained a wider profile after organizing a protest in

, that forced the Israeli ex-Prime Minister

Benjamin Netanyahu Benjamin Netanyahu (born 21 October 1949) is an Israeli politician who has served as the prime minister of Israel since 2022, having previously held the office from 1996 to 1999 and from 2009 to 2021. Netanyahu is the longest-serving prime min ...

to cancel a speech that was to take place on 9 September 2002. Rama Al-Malah serves as its spokesperson. In 2009, the organization publicly threatened

civil disobedience Civil disobedience is the active and professed refusal of a citizenship, citizen to obey certain laws, demands, orders, or commands of a government (or any other authority). By some definitions, civil disobedience has to be nonviolent to be cal ...

and unrest in response to the Canada Border Services agency barring then British MP

George Galloway George Galloway (born 16 August 1954) is a British politician, broadcaster, and writer. He has been leader of the Workers Party of Britain since he founded it in 2019, and is a former leader of the Respect Party. Until 2003, he was a member ...

from entry into Canada. The groups have sponsored anti-Israel rallies on many campuses, especially since the

Hamas attack on Israel On October 7, 2023, Hamas and several other Palestinian militant groups launched coordinated armed incursions from the Gaza Strip into the Gaza envelope of southern Israel, the first invasion of Israeli territory since the 1948 Arab–Israeli ...

on October 7, 2023. McGill University criticized its branch of the SPHR for encouraging celebration of the attack. It responded by saying that its social media posts were "looking at the prospect of liberation" rather than celebrating violence. In June 2024, the group announced on

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

that it will be hosting a "revolutionary youth summer program" at McGill University's lower field that includes "physical activity, Arabic language instruction, cultural crafts, political discussions, historical and revolutionary lessons". The post, featuring gunmen wearing keffiyeh, drew criticism from

Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA; ) is a Zionist and Jewish advocacy organization and an agency of the Jewish Federations of Canada. It was founded in 2004 as the Canadian Council for Israel and Jewish Advocacy (CCIJA) and headqu ...

and

B'nai Brith Canada B'nai Brith Canada ( ; BBC; from ) is a Canadian Jewish service organization and advocacy group. It is the Canadian chapter of B'nai B'rith International and has offices in Toronto, Winnipeg, Montreal, and Vancouver. Mission The organizatio ...

, and was called "extremely alarming" by the university president

Deep Saini Hargurdeep Saini ( Punjabi: ਹਰਗੁਰਦੀਪ ਸੈਣੀ) is an Indian-Canadian scientist and university administrator.Advances in Agronomy, pp ix, Volume 68 By Donald L. Sparks, San Diego tc.: Academic Press, cop. 2000. He is the pre ...

References

External links

SPHR

SPHR Concordia Chapter
{dead link, date=January 2018 , bot=InternetArchiveBot , fix-attempted=yes
SPHR Ryerson Chapter
Student organizations in Canada Organizations involved in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict Political youth organizations in Canada Palestinian solidarity movement in Canada

History

See also

References

External links