(JTA) – Igor Sadikov, the student politician who called on his Twitter followers to “punch a Zionist today,” stepped down as a director of McGill University’s student government one day after the university’s Arts Undergraduate Society voted against impeaching him. The 22-year-old political science student blamed “interference” by the McGill administration, he said in a statement Feb. 23. Sadikov’s decision buoyed the spirits of pro-Israel students and Jewish organizations. The Twitter controversy continued to roil the campus for nearly three weeks. Sadikov, who also is active in the BDS movement against Israel, has denied he is antisemitic, noting that his father is Jewish and his mother is half-Jewish. “This is an important victory for Jewish and pro-Israel students and for tolerance in general at McGill,” said B’nai Brith Canada CEO Michael Mostyn.

Sadikov remains a member of the Student Society legislative council, but faces a March 9 council motion to remove him for “impropriety and for violation of the Constitution.” His four-word tweet was posted on Feb. 6 and taken down three days later. Sadikov later posted on Facebook: “I regret the way that I phrased my opposition to Zionism and the fact that some of my constituents and fellow students felt harmed by it.”

CAP: Igor Sadikov