In one of the more ironic campus scenes in recent memory, Jewish students at the University of British Columbia built a sukkah on MacInnes Field to mark Sukkot and to protest for Palestine. Within an hour, police were called and the structure that symbolized the Jewish journey to the Land of Israel was dismantled in the name of solidarity against it.
The sukkah, a temporary hut built during Sukkot to commemorate the Israelites’ forty years wandering in the desert after the Exodus, became a protest tent against the very homeland that marks the end of that biblical journey.
According to The Ubyssey, the students involved were members of Independent Jewish Voices, a group that identifies as anti Zionist. They said the sukkah was meant for prayer, learning and solidarity with Palestinians. They did not obtain a permit from the university, a requirement for all temporary structures on campus.
UBC issued a short statement saying that erecting temporary structures without permits is not allowed for safety and security reasons. Campus security called the RCMP, who asked the students to step aside as building operations removed the sukkah.
One of the students told The Ubyssey they wanted to create an alternative space for Jews who are not for the Zionist message. Another said they avoided Hillel and Chabad because they are Zionist organizations and not open to Jews who oppose Israel.
That position revealed the deeper contradiction. The sukkah is meant to remind Jews of their ancestors’ vulnerability and faith during the desert journey from Egypt to the Land of Israel, a journey that culminated in the very state these students now reject. It is a ritual rooted in the belief that temporary wandering ends in permanent homecoming.
Turning that same structure into a protest against Jewish self determination is a paradox only modern academia could produce. The students built a hut celebrating the path to Israel in order to oppose Israel, then accused the university of oppression when it came down. If there is a better metaphor for the state of campus activism, it has not been invented yet.
The sukkah did not last long. Maybe that is fitting. After all, it was never built to stand forever, just long enough to make a point. And this time, the point was that you cannot escape irony, no matter how many walls you build to shelter it.
Picture: Saumya Kamra / The Ubyssey
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