Following the unprecedented proliferation of student-led protests against Israel’s war on Gaza across U.S. and international college campuses, educational institutions have found themselves under immense pressure to crush the movement from private Israeli security firms.
Following a surge of demonstrations and acts of civil disobedience in protests of Israel’s genocide in Gaza by students across U.S. college campuses, university administrations faced immense pressure to strengthen security measures and suppress the movement.
In response to escalating demonstrations against Israel’s onslaught in Gaza, the City University of New York’s (CUNY) Board of Trustees authorized a $4 million contract with Strategic Security Corp. (SSC), a private security firm with connections to Israel. SSC highlights on its website that its “counter-surveillance experts have received formal training in Israel,” and its CEO, Joseph Sordi, has also undergone training there.
A more troubling development has surfaced at Concordia University in Montreal, where the administration has reportedly enlisted the services of not one but two Israeli private security firms. The first, Perceptage International, is led by Adam Cohen, a former Israeli soldier whose military pedigree appears to underpin the company’s operations. The second, Moshav Security Consultants, is managed by Eyal Feldman, a reserve major in the Israeli army and a former special advisor to Israel’s Ministry of Defense.
At Concordia University, students have taken to the streets in protest against the college’s decision to employ private security firms with contentious backgrounds. Social media posts from the demonstrators have unveiled allegations that these companies employ former IDF soldiers, mercenaries with battlefield experience in Ukraine, and individuals who once served in the Canadian Armed Forces.
As protests rage across Canada, the backlash against these student movements has taken on a sharper edge. Right-wing outlets like the National Post have stoked tensions, branding academic institutions as “Hamas HQs” in incendiary headlines. Simultaneously, allegations of anti-Semitism and accusations of terrorist sympathies have fueled a toxic atmosphere, with reports of racial abuse directed at anti-war student protesters intensifying the divisions. (more...)
How Private Israeli Security Firms Are Killing Free Speech on College Campuses
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