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On October 6th, 2024, the Jewish Faculty Network held a Mourners' Kaddish service on the anniversary of October 7, 2023.

The national Steering Committee of the Jewish Faculty Network (JFN SC) commends both the University of Windsor and the student encampment participants for engaging in good-faith negotiations leading to a meaningful agreement. The agreement represents the highest ideals of the core mission of Universities and is emblematic of a commitment to democratic principles, human rights, international law, and rigorous academic exchange.

On May 17th, JFN (UBC) member, Naomi Klein, addressed the UofT ‘People’s Circle for Palestine’ Shabbat service.

We write as Jewish faculty and librarians at the University of Toronto, and members of the Jewish Faculty Network (JFN), to indicate our firm support for the demands of the People’s Circle for Palestine – the student encampment established since May 2, 2024 on the St. George campus of the University of Toronto – for disclosure, divestment, and ending partnerships complicit with Israel’s occupation and ongoing, brutal violations of human rights and humanitarian law in Gaza.

As the Steering Committee of the Jewish Faculty Network (JFN), a national network of Jewish scholars, we write to you at a time of both profound anguish and inspired hope. Scholars affiliated with the JFN share a strong commitment to social justice, anti-racism and the energetic defence of academic freedom. Our network emerged in 2021 to oppose the adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism in institutions of higher learning. The IHRA definition of antisemitism has been used to suppress legitimate free speech, criticism of actions of the State of Israel, and advocacy for Palestinian rights. By inaccurately and dangerously conflating criticism of Israel with antisemitism, the definition perpetuates Anti-Palestinian racism.