October 8: Letters

Goldstone report

In that the report on the hostilities in Gaza was commissioned by the United Nations Human Rights Council, it comes as no surprise of its inherent bias against Israel (“Goldstone denies bias in report critical of Israel,” Sept. 24). What is difficult to understand is that the report would be authored by South African Judge Richard Goldstone, who acknowledges himself to be a Zionist and has connections with Israel. As a judge, supposedly learned in the law and trained as a fact-finder, he seems to dismiss out of hand Israel’s right to defend itself from attack and to provide security for its citizens. He obviously ignored such internationally recognized facts that Hamas fired rockets into Israel from schools and mosques and during the Gaza incursion fired weapons from apartment buildings filled with civilians. Goldstone seemed to find a moral equivalence between the democratic State of Israel and the terrorist entity Hamas.
Bert Raphael
Thornhill, Ont.

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Cotler is an independent thinker

I take issue with Sam Goldstein’s letter, in which he states that Cotler “is nothing but a backbench MP” and then denounces the Liberal Party of Canada, as if to suggest that Cotler and the Liberal party espouse the same views on Israel (“Cotler vs. Kenney,” Sept. 24).
In fact, Cotler’s record on Israel and human rights in general is well-known to anyone who has read a newspaper in Canada in the past 40-plus years. In the early 1990s, when he was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada, Cotler was described as someone “who has greatly influenced international peace and human rights” and a “human rights advocate and a pioneer in the development of peace law… engaged in the search for justice and peace for all.” While it is true that Cotler is a backbench MP, he is also a distinguished legal scholar who, working with others such as Harvard law professor and author Alan Dershowitz; human rights activist Elie Wiesel; anti-apartheid activist and former president of South Africa, Nelson Mandela, and refusenik and former Israeli cabinet minister, Natan Sharansky, has done more to advance the causes of Israel and human rights the world over than most people alive today.
While it is true that the Conservative party’s recent record with respect to Israel is much better than that of the Liberal party’s, Cotler stands out as an independent thinker, and one who has done so much for Israel and for human rights, regardless of his political affiliations.
Leigh Lampert
Toronto

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Cotler article worthy of front page

Sam Goldstein’s letter (“Cotler vs. Kenney,” Sept. 24) questioned the prominence of The CJN’s report on former justice minister and current MP Irwin Cotler’s historic human rights visit to South Africa – a country he has a long and profound association with as counsel to Nelson Mandela and as a leader of the anti-apartheid movement (“Cotler briefs South African leaders on Iran,” Sept. 10.)
I was privileged to accompany Cotler on this visit and to participate in his multiple meetings in his short time in South Africa – with the South African president, Jacob Zuma; with six cabinet ministers, as well as parliamentarians and NGOs; with activist Winnie Mandela; with Zimbabwe human rights and democracy activists, and with leaders of the women’s movement. I also accompanied Cotler during his testimony on freedom of expression and hate speech before the South African Human Rights Commission, during his large public lecture at Wits University, and during his keynote address to more than 1,000 members of the South African Jewish community and South African civil society, as well as Zuma.
The CJN report of these meetings on issues of grave concern to the Jewish community and to international peace and security – notably on Iran – was worthy of The CJN’s front page.
Howard Liebman
Chief of staff and Executive Assistant to MP Irwin Cotler
Montreal

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UN boycott of Ahmadinejad

Dear Prime Minister Stephen Harper,
I salute you, for Canada doing the right thing, by boycotting Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s speech to the United Nations General Assembly. You are truly a light unto the nations (“Canada takes lead in UN boycott of Ahmadinejad,” Oct. 1.).
May other nations take your example and do the right thing!
Rabbi Yirmi Cohen
Thornhill, Ont.

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Y’s Shabbat opening

I would like to add my voice to those who oppose the decision of the Y to open on Shabbat (“Federation chides Y for lack of consultation on Shabbat opening,” Aug. 20). The Y claims that it has a mission to serve as many as possible in our community. But what about the “mission” of the Jewish people to preserve and transmit our heritage and traditions?
I was a member of the Y’s board of directors for many years and chairperson of one of its branches. Twice we fought down attempts to open on Shabbat. It is regrettable that the current executive director and the majority of the board do not seem to possess the sensitivity not to break with our age-old tradition. The decision to open on Shabbat was a well-planned furtive operation, launched in the middle of the summer when most people were away, with instructions to board members not to discuss the matter publicly and without extensive community consultation. The few rabbis who were consulted were surely not in favour, and Federation CJA merely stated the obvious that it was not its role to interfere in an autonomous agency’s decisions.
Sure, most people agree with the Y’s unfortunate decision. But that does not make it right. There are times in life when principle has to come before the majority view. This is one of those times. I feel as if I were a small voice crying in the wilderness, but I have written the Y that if the board’s decision is not reversed, I will resign as a governor. I sincerely hope this will not become necessary.
Arthur Roskies
Montreal