Tweet promoting violence against Zionists by McGill Student Leader Provokes Outrage
A public tweet by a McGill student leader, Igor Sadikov, advocating violence against Zionists, caused shock and outrage among McGill students this week.
On February 6th, Mr. Sadikov tweeted, “punch a zionist today [sic].” Mr. Sadikov currently serves as an Arts Representative to SSMU. Although the tweet has since been deleted, it has not prevented a formal request from the Arts Undergraduate Society (AUS) to Mr. Sadikov asking for his resignation. Asked for a comment from The Bull & Bear on this request, Mr. Sadikov stated, “I have not yet reached a decision in this regard.”
This request was echoed by several student leaders who condemned Mr. Sadikov for his comments. Tofunmi Odugbemi commented on the role of elected student leaders, stating, “we are not elected for our personal ideologies, but to represent the interests of as many of our constituents as possible.” She further elaborated that “to begin to allow our own personal ideologies to play into the work you are doing as a student representative is misleading and disenfranchising.” Itai Gibli, the President of the Anthropology Students’ Association (ASA), addressed concerns about the safety of students on campus: “Igor is showing us that either he lives in such a small echo chamber that he would genuinely think it’s acceptable to call for violence against Zionists, or he simply doesn’t care about the safety of hundreds of people he is supposed to represent. Either way, it’s clear he is unfit to hold his position, and should resign.” Molly Harris, the President of the North American Studies Students’ Association (NASSA) expressed profound disappointment: “I’m extremely disappointed that any student, let alone a student representative, advocates violence and thinks that comparing Zionists to Nazis is acceptable in any way.”
In a public Facebook post, Mr. Sadikov expressed remorse about his tweet, stating, “I regret the way I phrased my opposition to Zionism, and the fact that some of my constituents and fellow students felt harmed by it.” He then clarified that his tweet was not meant to be aimed at Jewish students, but the Zionist political philosophy.
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