(JTA) — A student group at McGill University admitted that it used anti-Semitic propaganda to prevent a Jewish candidate from being re-elected to the student government at the Montreal school.

At a meeting last month of the General Assembly of the McGill’s Student Society, or SSMU, seven students were voted onto the board. But three others – one of them Jewish and a previous board member, and all known for their pro-Israel stances – were denied seats.

“I was blocked from participating in student government because of my Jewish identity and my affiliation with Jewish organizations,” Noah Lew, a third-year arts student, posted on his Facebook page after the vote.

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Lew and Jewish groups in Canada alleged that campus groups supporting the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign against Israel were behind the bid to keep pro-Israel students off the undergraduate board. One group, called Democratize SSMU, includes Igor Sadikov, a student who earned notoriety last February for his “Punch a Zionist today” tweet.

Democratize SSMU, in a Facebook post in the days following the vote, admitted that its campaign to unseat pro-Israel students “was insensitive to anti-Semitic tropes of Jewish people as corrupt and politically powerful,” and apologized “ureservedly” for it.

The post also said: “We thoroughly apologize for any harm that the statement caused. We want to validate that anti-Semitism is not acceptable anywhere, and is a real and toxic force in our society and on campus.”

McGill’s principal, Suzanne Fortier, said in a statement that the university is addressing the “disturbing allegations of anti-Semitism,” and that a task force and support line will be created for the campus community.

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