The event, part of the “Triggered: The Ceaseless Tour,” came as SSI UVic alleges UVSS Clubs Council has “discriminated” against them with repeated denial of club ratification
Photo by Sage Blackwell.
On April 17, 2026, a group calling themselves “Students Supporting Israel at the University of Victoria” hosted an end-of-semester Shabbat dinner, featuring a veteran of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
According to internal messages from a WhatsApp group chat — provided to the Martlet by a source on condition of anonymity — the soldier invited to the event is a special forces veteran who took part in “hostage rescue operations.”
SSI UVic confirmed this information in an Instagram post published in response to a request for comment by the Martlet.
In the post, the group alleged the Martlet was “so eager to use the ‘leak’ that [we] failed to realize” SSI UVic advertised these details.
The promotional images for the event still available on the group’s Instagram mention the veteran’s role in Special Forces, but not the operations they took part in. The group did later clarify these details in their response.
The event was part of the “Triggered: The Ceaseless Tour” put on by the Students Supporting Israel (SSI) movement. The SSI Movement’s website lists other tour dates at universities primarily located in the United States, with the University of Manitoba, Toronto Metropolitan University, and UVic being the only Canadian institutions.
One promotional post for the tour shared by SSI UVic features an image of boot prints, stamping the phrase “Property of the IDF” in mud.
Despite including the university in their name, publishing promotional materials for the event indicating it is “coming to UVic,” and one image making use of the UVic logo with altered colours, the UVic SSI group is not affiliated with UVic, the university said.
A UVic spokesperson told the Martlet the university was “aware” of the event, but that it was not taking place on campus, nor was it sanctioned by the university.
The spokesperson also said UVic “does not allow unaffiliated groups or individuals to use UVic branding without permission.”
The group has also been repeatedly denied ratification by the UVSS Clubs Council.
A SSI chapter at UVic was initially ratified by the UVSS in October 2025, but according to a UVSS document obtained by the Martlet, the UVSS received 29 complaints about an online comment posted by the club’s official Instagram at the time, which led to disciplinary action.
The comment in question read: “I’ll have my buddy in the IDF write your name on the next mortar he drops on HMS.”
According to the document, the club executive told the UVSS the comment was made by a “community member,” without the approval of the executive, but did not provide the UVSS their name. The report does not state how the community member had access to the club’s Instagram.
The club was not ratified at the January 2026 Clubs Council meeting, nor any of the following meetings during the Winter 2026 semester. In the January Clubs Council meetings, the prospective club was voted on separately from the other clubs seeking ratification, while in February all clubs seeking ratification were voted on individually.
Club ratification is typically voted on omnibus-style, meaning the Council votes on one motion to approve all the clubs. However, former Director of Student Affairs Katie King told the Martlet in a statement, UVSS’ Clubs Policy does not provide specific instructions for how Clubs Council votes should be held.
Accordingly, she said, “voting may be done by omnibus, individually, or some combination thereof depending on the specific context of a meeting.”
At a board meeting following the January Clubs Council meeting, King and then-Director of Outreach and University Relations Griffin Foster said that SSI was voted on separately due to the complaints against the club.
During the question period of a UVSS meeting on April 13, all sitting Lead Directors told a student asking about SSI UVic that the club had not been ratified at Clubs Council the week prior due to errors with the submission of club paperwork.
The group has spoken out against the repeated denial of ratification, calling it “discrimination. Students inquiring about the denial at UVSS Board meetings have called it “very disappointing.”
King said in a statement that the UVSS “promotes and abides by the Safer Spaces Policy which is intended to prevent discrimination. UVSS seeks to create an inclusive and welcoming environment for all members and does not facilitate the segregation or disenfranchisement of any of its members.”
“People’s Park UVic,” the group of students, faculty, and community members behind the Palestine solidarity encampment erected on UVic’s quad during the summer of 2024, spoke out against the event in an Instagram post.
“For many campus members, the presence of personnel from a foreign military on or near campus that is actively engaged in war crimes against Muslim, Palestinian, Lebanese, and Iranian people creates an incredibly dangerous situation.”
The group at the time called on UVic and the UVSS to “publicly dissociate from and cancel this event.”
In their Instagram response to the Martlet, SSI UVic denied there were any safety concerns associated with the event. “Being offended by a perspective you can’t refute is not a safety concern,” the post reads.
SSI UVic did, however, express concerns about the safety of Jewish students at UVic. They stated in the posted response that Jewish students at UVic had been subjected to harassment, intimidation, and physical assault for “expressing their Jewish identity” at the school.
The group told the Martlet of one incident featured in a recording on their Instagram, which shows an individual heckling members of the Persian Students Association (PERSA) at their March 9 rally on the UVic quad. The video shows the individual knocking the phone out of the hand of the person recording.
SSI UVic told the Martlet the individual filming was a member of their group.
A UVic spokesperson said they couldn’t speak to specific incidents, but said “there has been an increase in antisemitism and discriminatory behaviour across the post-secondary sector in Canada” over the past few years, and encouraged anyone who witnesses or experiences discriminatory behaviour to report it to the university’s Equity and Human Rights (EQHR) office.
“The university takes reports of this nature very seriously and, upon investigation, a range of sanctions may apply depending on the severity of the case,” the statement reads.
SSI UVic has also made repeated calls to action over the denial of ratification, including calling on the university to intervene.
The minutes from the April 7 Clubs Council meeting state SSI UVic’s ratification was “postponed” to the next meeting.
SSI UVic said in their publicized response to request for comment that they are a “fully compliant club under a new and energized executive, with tens of active members and a mandate that meets the student society bylaws,” and that they intend to continue seeking ratification.
“Every time the student society invents a new, discriminatory hurdle specifically for us, they simply add to the mounting evidence of the institutional segregation we are documenting,” the post reads.
SSI UVic said they were maintaining a record of these incidents to “document the pattern of discrimination occurring.”
With the date of the next Clubs Council undetermined until the incoming UVSS Director of Student Affairs sets them, it remains to be seen if the new board’s approach to ratification votes will differ.
