McGill University is under fire after political science professor William Clare Roberts used his social media account to demand “full economic and military support” for Hamas and Hezbollah. His posts, including the disturbing chant “Hamas is in me and I am one with Hamas,” have set off outrage across Montreal and beyond.
The fury is sharpened by the memory of last year’s pro Palestinian encampment, which stretched from April until July 2024. For more than two months Jewish students reported feeling unsafe on their own campus. They described being cursed at, harassed, and told to hide their Jewish identity. Protesters shouted “Zionists are racist” and “Long live the Intifada.” In some cases Jewish students were told to “go back to Europe.” McGill’s administration condemned the antisemitism but failed to dismantle the encampment until the middle of the summer.
“Walking through campus felt like stepping into enemy territory,” said one Jewish student. “There were places I just avoided because I knew I would be yelled at or threatened.”
That history casts Roberts’s posts in an even darker light. Parents and alumni say McGill has allowed an atmosphere of open hostility toward Jews to take root and that Roberts’s words are proof of just how far things have gone. “How can I send my son back to this campus when a professor is cheering for Hamas,” asked one parent. “We pay tuition for an education, not to be told that our children’s lives are expendable.”
Students are questioning how they can sit in a classroom led by a man who is openly calling for money and weapons to flow to Hamas. “It is terrifying,” another student said. “This is not just speech. This is a professor with influence telling the world he stands with people who want to kill us.”
Community leaders are demanding immediate action. They warn that silence from McGill is not neutrality but complicity. “If the administration does nothing, then McGill is saying Jewish students do not matter,” said one Montreal resident. “That message will not be forgotten.”
So far Roberts has not retracted his statements or offered an explanation. McGill has issued no statement. The outrage grows by the day and the calls for accountability are only getting louder. For many the line has already been crossed. McGill now stands accused not just of tolerating antisemitism but of harboring a professor who has taken the side of those who want to see Jews destroyed.
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