Toronto rally for Palestinian terrorists imprisoned in Israel. Photo: Twitter.

The participation of student unions in a Toronto rally in support of imprisoned Palestinian terrorists “was in violation of university policies,” a pro-Israel activist told The Algemeiner on Tuesday.

The endorsement by the York Federation of Students (YFS) of a May 13 demonstration in front of the city’s Israeli Consulate has led the school’s Israeli Students Association (ISA) to “commence communication with the university administration…and we will be filing formal complaints [against the YFS] through the appropriate channels,” said Ben Shachar, the ISA’s vice president of external relations.

At the rally, which organizers said was held “in solidarity with Palestinian political prisoners” jailed in Israel,  protesters chanted “Viva Viva Intifada” and called for the elimination of the Jewish state, according to CIJ News.

Eli Razimor, the president of York’s ISA, said, “It is important to remember that many of the Palestinian prisoners that are currently on hunger strike are responsible for dozens to hundreds of deaths of Israeli civilians due to their terrorist activities on Israeli soil.”

“As always, for the Jewish students, the majority of whom support the State of Israel and some of which have families in Israel that were affected by terrorist attacks, this means that they are again being underrepresented and, in a way, insulted,” Razimor continued.

The University of Toronto Mississauga Students’ Union (UTMSU) was also involved in the rally, according to organizers, a development that Jewish UT student Sarah Wapner called “problematic,” but “essentially irrelevant.”

“Obviously the union is corrupted beyond repair (like most student unions at U of T) and I don’t rely on them for any aspect of my university experience,” she said.

According to the constitutions of both the YFS and the UTMSU, the bodies are meant advance students’ interests on a “democratic, cooperative basis.”

Neither group responded to The Algemeiner‘s requests for comment.

Earlier this month, York was charged with having a “systemic antisemitism” problem.

Watch footage, provided by B’nai Brith Canada, of the May 13 demonstration below: