Credit: UBC Staff 4 Palestine

Keep the Israeli Occupation Forces Off UBC Campus!

As members of the UBC community, we strongly object the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) being welcomed onto campus at the UBC Vancouver Campus Aquatic Centre for the Invictus Games on February 14th, 2025. The decision to allow members of the IOF on campus and into our facilities is deeply troubling in light of Israel’s ongoing violations of international law. UBC prides itself on values of community safety and global citizenship, yet hosting members of a military force that is enacting genocide^[1] against Palestinians directly contradicts these commitments. The safety of UBC faculty, staff, students, and community members must be protected, and we demand that the IOF is kept off of our campus.

What are the Invictus Games?

The Invictus Games were founded to celebrate injured and disabled military members through international sports competition. Despite the personal success stories that some military members describe through their participation, the Invictus Games also serve as a public relations tool that normalizes and glorifies military institutions by glossing over the destructive realities of war, often including violations of international law and civilian harm. Boeing, a key sponsor of the Invictus Games, has supplied weapons implicated in war crimes.^[2]

How does this relate to Israel’s genocidal siege in Gaza?

Many human rights organizations, including Human Rights Watch^[3], Save the Children^[4], Doctors Without Borders^[5], and UNICEF^[6], have documented and warned of the disabling toll that repeated military assaults, bombings, and a humanitarian blockade perpetrated by the IOF are having on Palestinian civilians living in Gaza. Long-term injuries - both physical and mental - are overwhelmingly common due to the genocidal campaign of Israel. Save the Children recently found that explosive weapons alone are leaving an average of 15 children each day with potentially lifelong disabilities in Gaza; and Gaza is now home to the world’s largest cohort of child amputees. In addition to the decades-long violent occupation of Palestine, Israel’s prolonged blockade of medical aid and purposeful targeting of hospitals and medical infrastructure has severely limited access to even rudimentary medical care, rehabilitation services, and mobility aid. Children and adults alike experience chronic fear, anxiety, depression, and PTSD, as families grapple with multiple losses, displacement, and the witnessing of violence at such a close range.

Innocent people who are left with life changing physical and psychological disabilities due to military assault should have the opportunity to benefit from the healing power of sport. Few in Gaza have this opportunity. Groups such as the Gaza Sunbirds^[7] - a paracycling team who competes on the world stage as well as delivers aid throughout Gaza as paracyclists - give us hope some may.

How does this implicate UBC?

By hosting the IOF at UBC facilities, UBC provides a platform that normalizes and legitimizes the Human Rights abuses of Israel while absolving them of responsibility to people that are disabled and killed in Gaza. UBC’s decision to host the IOF, which is currently under investigation for war crimes and genocide in the international courts, is in direct opposition to its Statement on Respectful Environment for Students, Faculty and Staff^[8] which states we should be “provided with the best possible conditions for learning, researching and working.” By refusing to host or engage with entities perpetuating systematic human rights violations, UBC can send a clear and imperative message of solidarity with faculty, staff, and students who have asserted that UBC should not be complicit in war crimes.^[9][10] Most importantly, such refusal respects the safety of Palestinian and Arab members of the UBC community who have been most affected by the ongoing violence, and meets the demands of student groups who call for less police, military, and surveillance on campus.

Our Demands

1. We demand that the UBC administration immediately cancel their agreement to host the Invictus Games swimming events at the UBC Aquatic Centre.

2. We call for UBC leadership to follow the growing demands for the divestment of UBC funds, including the Endowment Fund and Staff Pension Plan, from companies that are involved in genocide and occupation, as per UBC Divest.

3. We call for UBC leadership to release a public statement acknowledging the severity of Israel’s ongoing genocide and reaffirming that the university will not host or condone any institution or government implicated in war crimes.

What you can do:

• Sign and share the petition

• Warn members of the UBC community who may be unsafe on campus on February 14th.

• Share this information widely across UBC and Vancouver - it has been intentionally kept quiet to avoid publicity and protest.

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1. International Court of Justice ↩︎

2. Revealed: Israel used US weapons in strike that killed journalists ↩︎

3. Extermination and Acts of Genocide Israel Deliberately Depriving Palestinians in Gaza of Water ↩︎

4. Gaza: Explosive Weapons Left 15 Children A Day With Potentially Lifelong Disabilities In 2024 ↩︎

5. Gaza: Life in a Death Trap ↩︎

6. Facing life in the Gaza Strip with a new disability ↩︎

7. Riding for Freedom ↩︎

8. UBC Statement on Respectful Environment for Students, Faculty and Staff ↩︎

9. UBC Faculty for Palestine ↩︎

10. Association of Administrative and Professional Staff at UBC (AAPS) ↩︎