The UVic chapter of the organization was ratified at the Sept. 8 meeting
Photo by Sage Blackwell.
During their Board of Directors meeting on Monday, Sept. 8, the UVSS ratified “SSI UVic,” a chapter of the broader “Students Supporting Israel” movement.
While the UVic SSI’s official description of their club in the UVSS clubs list does not mention Israel, an international organization sharing its name appears to take specific aim at growing support for Israel on Canadian, American, and European campuses. On its website, the international SSI movement says it is “a pro-Israel international campus movement that supports the State of Israel,” that aims to be a “clear and confident pro-Israel voice on college campuses and to support students in grassroots pro-Israel advocacy.”
The club’s description in the UVSS list of clubs and course unions states, “UVIC SSI is a club whose aim is to engage all stakeholders at every opportunity and level to advance democracy and student engagement globally.” It is listed as a “community service and volunteer” club.
According to their website, SSI is a “rapidly growing Zionist international campus movement that supports the State of Israel,” which was founded at the University of Minnesota in 2012 and has “multiple chapters across the United States, Canada, England, Scotland, Ireland, Poland, Australia, and New Zealand.”
SSI’s website features a “resources” page, which includes suggested responses to “what students feel are ‘the most common lies’ told on campuses about Israel.”
One such item advises students on how to respond to the allegation that Israel’s actions in Gaza constitute a genocide, a claim which SSI describes as “false and malicious.”
Israel’s ongoing military operations in Gaza have been recognized as a genocide by the the International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS), Amnesty International, B’Tselem — The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories — and, most recently, a United Nations (UN) commission.
The UN defines genocide as any of the following acts — killing, causing serious bodily or mental harm, deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about physical destruction, imposing measures intended to prevent births, and/or forcibly transferring children — committed against a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group with intent to destroy that group in whole or in part.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports that Israeli operations, as of Sept. 24, 2025, have killed at least 65 000 Palestinians in Gaza since October 2023, and wounded more than 167 000, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza. OCHA also reports that 1 665 Israelis — both civilian and military — have been killed since Oct. 7, and around 5 400 have been injured, according to Israeli sources.
The Martlet initially reached out to UVic SSI for an interview following their ratification, but was told that UVic SSI could not accommodate an interview by the Martlet’s deadline. UVic SSI later agreed to answer questions via an emailed statement in place of an interview.
The Martlet asked UVic SSI a number of questions, including what their goal on campus is, what form their advocacy will take, who is welcome in UVic SSI, and if UVic SSI’s stance on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza is the same as the broader SSI organization. UVic SSI did not provide a response to these questions.
Later, the Martlet obtained screenshots of internal communications between members of a group chat titled “SSI UVic,” provided by a source who asked to remain anonymous.
The images provided to the Martlet contained a screenshot of the Martlet’s initial interview request to UVic SSI, sent via email. After UVic SSI agreed to answer questions via emailed statement rather than an in-person interview, a second set of screenshots were obtained, featuring an image of the questions sent by the Martlet to UVic SSI, and several screenshots of group chat members planning how to respond.
In one screenshot, a group chat member suggests a response, stating “we reject rhetoric that fuels further division and misuses terms like genocide or ethnic cleansing.”
It is unclear this person’s role within UVic SSI. In the screenshot, the group chat member appears to ask other members of the group chat to choose between their proposed response and two others.
“The advice of my AVI advisor was to stall and postpone this as much as possible,” reads another message. The Martlet reached out to UVic SSI for comment on a number of sentiments shared in these messages, including what the group chat member meant by their “AVI advisor,” what organization they were referring to, and this organization’s relationship to UVic SSI. UVic SSI declined to answer these questions.
In the series of screenshots which appear to discuss UVic SSI’s potential response to the Martlet, one member of the group chat said, “Ideally we don’t want to use manipulation tactics,” to which another member of the group chat said “manipulating people is why propaganda exists? It’s why political campaigns exist.”
In another screenshot, the same group chat member said, “Pure authenticity would be ‘death to Hamas and Palestinians’” in response to another group chat member, who said,“I think authenticity is the most important thing we want to give off.”
“I don’t think that would leave the heartwarming ‘they need our love and support’ we want from students,” the group chat member continues.
In an emailed statement, a UVSS representative also told the Martlet that UVSS Clubs Policy, which prohibits “disparaging other clubs, people or communities,” as well as “discriminatory or harassing behavior” and “hate speech” on club accounts, does apply to internal club communications. However, the UVSS states they have no access to the internal communications of clubs.
In an emailed statement to the Martlet, UVic SSI said that “none of the comments in question within an unofficial private chat were made by board members. Some may have come from individuals who recently joined the group, and their views do not represent our organization.”
“We are committed to ensuring that all communication within our club reflects our values, and any inappropriate or misleading comments will be dealt with accordingly,” the statement continues.
At time of publication, the Martlet has been unable to verify who the board members of UVic SSI are. All communications from UVic SSI to the Martlet have been unsigned, and UVic SSI declined to state who holds leadership positions within the club, nor who is responsible for drafting official responses on behalf of the club.
An Instagram account, which appears to be the official account of UVic SSI, but is not the account linked in the UVSS Clubs list, features a Google form which allows users to “report anti-semitism.” One of the questions on the form asks respondents “what would you like our help with (aka. what would you like to see happen).”
The Martlet asked UVic SSI what the form, and this specific question, was intended to accomplish, as well as what UVic SSI does with the information recorded. UVic SSI declined to answer both questions.
The Martlet also reached out to the UVSS following the ratification of UVic SSI, and originally scheduled an interview with Katie King, UVSS Director of Student Affairs –– the director responsible for clubs and course unions. A UVSS representative later told the Martlet that King was no longer available to comment on this story.
Additionally, the representative stated that the club registration process is the same whether a club is part of a larger organization or not, and that the UVSS does not ask clubs to identify if they are a chapter of a larger organization.
