My Campus Newspaper Rejected My Column On Antisemitism Because I’m A Zionist: A Fireside Chat With Claire Frankel, HRC Campus Media Fellow At McGill University

Throughout North America, and indeed much of the Western world, college and university campuses are a fulcrum of anti-Israel activism and campaigning. These efforts can manifest through BDS (Boycott Divestment Sanctions) referendums, anti-Israel disinformation being spread in the classroom or by the student government, and also through campus media outlets. Claire Frankel knows this all too well. Claire is a Jewish student at McGill University in Montreal, and a Campus Media Fellow with HonestReporting Canada, and in March, she attempted to submit an opinion column, which discussed her views on a student club's attitudes towards Jews. But when she tried to submit the column to The McGill Tribune, it was rejected by the newspapers editors, who cited their opposition to Zionism, characterizing it as “a settler-colonial ideology that has perpetuated the ethnic cleansing of Palestine.” The Tribune further claimed that “Your article doesn’t align with our values as a paper. We’re not going to be able to publish it.” In this week's podcast, we sit down with Claire to discuss her experience and the lessons it teaches Jewish students about how to advocate for themselves on campus. Welcome to The Honest Report podcast.