Engineering student says Canadian school rejected him for being Israeli
The engineering student was told that he was rejected "due to the conflict and illegal settlement activity in the region."
By MICHELLE MALKA GROSSMANUpdated: FEBRUARY 1, 2017 15:40The flags of Israel and Canada(photo credit: REUTERS)
A Canadian trade school reportedly turned down an Israeli student applicant simply for being Israeli.Israeli civil engineering student and amateur carpenter Stav Daron, who initially spoke with Mako News reporter Ido Daniel, said that he applied to study at the Island School of Building Arts, a Canadian trade school specializing in wood construction and design.The report cited Daron as saying he had wanted to study at the ISBA, located on Gabriola Island in the province of British Columbia, due to its expertise and prominence in the wood construction field.According to copies of emails received by The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday, Daron had been in correspondence with Patricia Rokosh, the ISBA's manager of the school and student services, since February. He mentioned that he is Israeli and wanted to sign up for a four-week course costing $2,500 CND. He had even purchased a book from the ISBA website by the school's founder in order to prepare him for the courseHowever, when the time came to sign up for the course, Rokosh wrote back to Daron on January 25 that the school is "not accepting applications from Israel." She said the reason was "due to the conflict and illegal settlement activity in the region."Screenshot of the email that Israeli student Stav Doron says he recieved from the Island School of Building Arts in Canada (photo credit: COURTESY STAV DORON)Daron responded to Rokosh that "It's really sad to hear that a place that takes pride in taking students from across the world would behave like this."Rokosh wrote back in response that "It is sad that decisions being made halfway around the world impact us here as we have had a number of students from Israel attend the school in the past." The email continued: "This is a question of staying in line with our moral compass, which will always be important to us. We are still inclusive and cannot support that which is not inclusive."In his final email to the school, Daron wrote that "not taking applications from Israeli students just because they are from Israel is racism, which is basically what you are protesting against."
