Student groups call for boycott of Concordia Azrieli Institute
Proponents say the boycott would serve as an extension of the CSU’s BDS motions
Concordia University’s Azrieli Institute of Israel Studies is being criticized by groups such as the Concordia Student Union (CSU) and Students for Palestine’s Honour and Resistance (SPHR) Concordia, who are pushing an academic boycott against the institute.
“The institute uses this facade of academic syncretism, and it uses it as a spearhead for the Israeli-Canadian normalization of the profiting of genocide through the education sphere and academia in general,” said an SPHR Concordia spokesperson who was granted anonymity for safety reasons.
Since its establishment in 2011, the Azrieli Institute has remained a large part of Concordia’s relationship with Israel. It offers an Israel studies minor, a summer trip to Israel and maintains relationships with Israeli universities.
CSU external affairs and mobilization coordinator Danna Ballantyne said the boycott of the institute would function as an extension of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) motions the CSU adopted in 2025.
The institute is at odds with these motions, she argues, as well as section 16.1.6 of the CSU positions book, which asks for the university’s suspension of “programs and partnerships that facilitate and encourage the exchange with and normalization of Israeli academic institutions.”
As a part of the CSU campaigns department’s efforts, the union partnered with SPHR Concordia to organize a teach-in on the institute on March 27. The session was an opportunity for students to learn about why the CSU are calling for an academic boycott, according to Ballantyne.
“These campaigns don't come from the top down,” Ballantyne said. “[With] much of the Palestinian solidarity organizing over the past few years, we're really looking to make sure that student involvement is front and centre of any decisions and publications that the CSU makes.”
Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) said in a statement to The Link that they also support the call for an academic boycott of the Azrieli Institute. According to the non-profit, the institute “whitewashes Israel’s crimes against the Palestinian people through the lens of academia.”
“The boycott is a necessary tool to challenge the normalization of Israel’s system of colonialism, occupation, and apartheid on Canadian campuses,” said CJPME VP Michael Bueckert.
Concordia deputy spokesperson Julie Fortier said in a statement to The Link that the university remains constant in its position against BDS and “campaigns of such a nature.” Fortier added that these campaigns are “contrary to the value of academic freedom upon which all universities are founded.”
“Singling out one of the university’s units for closure and its Director personally is unacceptable and creates a climate of intimidation and harassment, especially in light of the 10 April, 2025 attack against the Azrieli Institute,” Fortier said.
She added that the university is committed to ensuring all its members can study and work in a safe and civil environment.
On the night of April 10, 2025, autonomous students vandalized the entrance to the institute, spray-painting the message “genocide institute” on its doors and breaking a window.
Azrieli Institute director Csaba Nikolenyi has also criticized the boycott, saying in a statement on Instagram that “academic boycotts are by definition intolerant, illiberal and seek to silence freedom of thought and scholarly activity.”
Organizers of the teach-in say the March 27 event served as a way to raise more awareness about the Azrieli Institute, namely its minor in Israel studies. The SPHR spokesperson expressed their opposition to the university’s support of a program centred on studying Israel, a country currently committing genocide against the Palestinian people.
“This issue matters because as a Palestinian, I can't stand by and watch as the university that I have to go to—because there are so few options for English speakers in Montreal to go to—directly profit from the industry of genocide,” the SPHR spokesperson said.
According to Ballantyne and SPHR Concordia, another teach-in is planned for the beginning of the fall 2026 semester.
With files from Geneviève Sylvestre.
