Israel-Hamas war causing students to fear for safety on campuses

War making some feel unsafe on campus The Israel-Hamas war has left many on Montreal campuses feeling unsafe to speak their minds.

As the war between Israel and Hamas continues, tensions in Montreal are rising and that includes on college and university campuses.

Many people feel unsafe at school and that freedom of speech is being threatened.

A video this week appeared to show a security guard tearing down a poster, and when the person asked why, an altercation occurred.

Michael Wesniak shot the video and said he started recording when he saw the security guard taking down pro-Israel posters around McGill University.

The posters draw attention to Israeli hostages taken by Hamas. Wesniak wants more people to know about that part of the war.

"For me, it's important for people to see both sides," he said.

McGill said posters put up on McGill campuses require authorization.

"When unauthorized posters are found, it is standard practice to remove them," said McGill spokesperson Michel Proulx. "With respect to the interaction between the person who filmed the video and the security personnel, the university is looking further into the matter."

The confrontation comes as students are reporting higher tensions at school.

"Palestinian, Muslim, and Jewish communities are being impacted by what's happening," said Aasiyah Khan of the National Council of Canadian Muslims. "There's a lot of hurt and harm moving through the communities right now."

Khan said her organization is getting a lot more calls from Muslim students who feel unsafe on campuses across Canada.

"Usually, we track our numbers by the day, [but] literally, it's happening by the hour," she said.

Some Jewish students say they aren't wearing religious clothing to school.

"There's nothing wrong with being pro-Palestinian, just like there's nothing wrong with supporting the Israelis," said B'nai Brith manager of research Richard Robertson.

Robertson said students should think about how their words affect others.

"These are groups that are passively condoning the actions of Hamas in Israel," he said.

The situation brings up the question of how universities should react. Political science professor Sarah Ghabrial said schools need to ensure students can talk about sensitive world issues so that frustration and anger aren't turned against each other.

"These are principles that have served us well, that recognize campuses as important, vital spaces in our society for dissent, for debate, for critique," said Ghabrial.