‘Go back to Poland, sharmuta,’ Montreal professor tells Jewish students

Footage of University of Montreal Professor Yanise Arab telling Jewish Concordia students to “go back to Poland, sharmuta" (wh*re in Arabic) has circulated online after the November 8 incident drew wide outrage. 

Montreal - November 8 - University of Montreal (UdeM) Professor Yanise Arab yells at a Jewish student in Concordia to “go back to Poland, sharmouta (wh*re)”. 1/2 pic.twitter.com/zYys9AtESf

— Documenting Antisemitism (@AntisemitismCA) November 9, 2023

The identity of Arab was confirmed by X users and later reconfirmed by multiple media sources.  

Arab, a humanities professor, specialized in “dominance and resistance in the Arab world.” However, Arab’s staff page at the university has been removed and it is unclear if he is still employed.

Jewish students at Concordia University facing increasing hostilities

Yesterday, Jewish students were holding posters of the Israeli hostages held by Hamas when they were attacked by other students.

The situation began when a student called the Jewish students a “k*ke” (an offensive term for Jews) and attempted to snatch the posters of hostages. Soon, students began to wrestle for the stolen hostage photos.

Anti-Israel students physically attack Jewish students at the @Concordia University in Montreal Canada for daring to put up a table with posters of Israeli kids kidnapped by Hamas.What’s going on at universities across the West? pic.twitter.com/iWKVgXXTt2

— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) November 8, 2023

A 22-year-old student was arrested for assaulting a security guard during the attack, CBC News reported. Other security guards also suffered injuries during the attack.

Sarah Wolman, a Jewish student at Concordia, told CBC that Jewish students had organized a peaceful demonstration in support of the hostages kidnapped by Hamas. However, pro-Palestinian students had set up a table only meters from the demonstration and they began loudly chanting.

"People were calling us all murderers," she said. "Some of us noticed our classmates there." 

Wolman described the situation as "very scary, very scary as a Jewish person on campus."

A pro-Palestinian student claimed, to CBC, that Wolman’s account of events was not factual. She accused the Jewish students of shouting anti-Palestinian slurs adding "I think it just goes to show how Palestinian and pro-Palestine students have been faced with an onslaught of harassment and discrimination and doxing, which we can see is happening as we speak in this incident." However, there is no evidence of this account.

‘We terrified them!’ 

A day after the violent interaction, pro-Palestinian students were filmed celebrating on university grounds.

“I was at Concordia University,” said the student speaker, “I was at the University. I was at the Hull building that yesterday witnessed a very intense altercation, and I would like to thank every one of you who came out yesterday to show your support. Whether you were there to purchase keffiyehs for charity or whether you were simply there to show our numbers, to show you are standing in solidarity with us. We terrified them!”

A student talks about the targeting of Jewish students at @Concordia university yesterday, bragging that "We terrified them!"Let us be clear - we will not be paralyzed by fear. We will continue to advocate & work with law enforcement to ensure the safety & security of the… pic.twitter.com/dLtHcKvj7R

— CIJA (@CIJAinfo) November 9, 2023