Editors Note: please click on Editorial/Letters section to see all the mail we recently received] During the opening session of Israel Apartheid Week [IAW] on UMSU at University of Manitoba on Monday March 8th the organizers of IAW were showing a video of a lecture given by a Palestinian woman who said that there was no point dialoguing with Israelis about any of the issues vis a vis the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

According to the woman on the video, a Palestinian refugee who originates from Haifa , the only  dialogue that ought to take place is whether all the Palestinian refugees  such as herself  are going to come back to pre-67 Israel  by   bus or by plane.   Her vision of the future is clearly one where there is no place for a Jewish state in the Middle East, no matter how small.

As she said this I wondered if it dawned on any of the IAW organizers how hypocritical/problematic it was to hear a woman on a video exercising her  right to dialogue  with the audience (in a rather controlled way since she was not actually present for any of the audience members to be able to  question or challenge her), and have her say at the same time, there was nothing to dialogue about.

And while she was using her right to free speech to say there was nothing to talk about,   it is interesting that the  organizers of IAW also take the position that Israeli academics-along with all things Israeli-ought to be boycotted.
Funny how it doesn t strike the organizers of IAW as rather absurd that they ought to be able to use their freedom of expression on our universities to suggest that a Jewish state, no matter how small, cannot exist in the Middle East,   but that Israeli academics-be they Jewish, Arab or Christian not be allowed to present their point of view on those same campuses.

When Dr. Mohammed Wattad, an Israeli Arab  legal scholar who was brought here by JSA/Hillel and the Jewish Federation, spoke on campus just before the opening session of  IAW,  the organizers of  IAW weren t there.  Even though there is no  fence  dividing peoples on campus, the IAW organizers are practicing their own rules of  separation  don t go hear Israelis and enable them to  compete in  the marketplace of ideas, lest they  undermine your already formed ideas that Israel ought to disappear as a state in the Middle East.

It is not only an anti-intellectual  hypocritical stance but a very unfortunate one, since IAW organizers  certainly could have learned a  thing or two from Dr. Wattad. When Dr. Wattad questioned a female Palestinian panelist on the IAW opening program, it was very clear that he had a much stronger handle of the facts than she. When he spoke about  the expansive  freedom of  expression  that Israeli media have to  challenge and  criticize, and the strength of the Israeli system of judicial review , both hallmarks of a democracy,  the Palestinian woman was not able to counter his points.  She resorted to saying things like  well I still feel like its apartheid.

This intellectual hypocrisy of the advocates of  IAW was exhibited in its full splendor  by Mordechai Briemberg, a retired Jewish professor at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia.  Briemburg spent at least a half an hour during a press conference on Monday March 9,  talking about  how several  writers of children s books in Canada have had their books not marketed or censored by bookstores because the books were too sympathetic to the Palestinian  people. He noted that one Vancouver book store put a pro-Palestinian book in question back on the shelf after he and others led a valiant protest outside the book store. He spoke of  how there have been ongoing efforts to  silence critics of Israel.    

You'd think that after painting himself as the champion of free speech and non-censorship  he wouldn t dare  say  in answer to a  question I posed to him  that he favoured banning  Israeli academics  appearing on campuses.

When it comes to Israeli academics our champion fighter of free speech wants to make sure that the other side isn t heard at all on campuses.  

I repeat what I said to him after hearing his list of rather miserable excuses for his unacceptable position of muzzling Israeli academics.
Mr. Briemburg, you sir are a hypocrite.

At the bottom of this editorial, I am attaching an abridged version of the resume of Dr. Mohammed Wattad so that readers can judge for themselves whether it would have behooved some Palestinian and other  IAW supporters to have come out to hear him. 

WHAT IS THE REAL REASON WHY THE WORD APARTHIED IS USED BY IAW ORGANIZERS?

The reason IAW supporters use the word apartheid is because they want there to be no state of Israel. Instead, they favour tearing down the State of Israel and having one state in the land that is now, Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. In that one state Jews will be a minority,(especially after all the millions of Palestinian refugees and their descendents are all allowed to return).

The use of the term  apartheid  is a smoke screen for denying the right of the Jewish people to self-determination in any state, no matter how small.

In a Jerusalem Post article ( March 10) entitled Is it apartheid week  or  weakness? by Ray Hanania (a Palestinian  who  is part of the Israeli-Palestinian Comedy Tour that was in Winnipeg recently), Hanania exposes the agenda of the IAW organizers. As Hanania wrote:

THE WORD apartheid does not really apply accurately to the Palestinian-Israel conflict. The word occupation does. But the rejectionists no longer like the word occupation. Apartheid symbolizes the creation of one state, while occupation fuels the movement to create two.

Hanania concludes:
Is it  apartheid week?  Or is it really apartheid weak ? Rather than hold celebrations that fuel a hatred of Israel around an exaggerated word like apartheid, Palestinians should instead organize rallies and conferences that call for compromise based on peace and the creation of two states.

Hanania's analysis is correct  unfortunately, the two state compromise is completely absent from the lexicon of IAW organizers, which was evident at the sessions I attended.

HATE CRIMES

During a press conference held by IAW organizers at U of M on March 9 all three panelists, Mordechai Briemburg, Palestinian Bassam Hoseimi and Omar Zolfi were asked  by  Alan Yusim, Director of  Mid- East Region of B nai Brith Canada  the following question:

Question: Earlier today there was breaking news that Salman Hossain, a York University student, has purportedly called for a  genocide [to] be perpetrated against the Jewish populations of North America and Europe  on a website apparently owned by him.  Yesterday, York University suspended Hossain pending his appearance at a disciplinary panel. Three years ago, Hossain made news for posting messages supporting terrorist attacks in Canada.  At that time, Ontario Public prosecutions investigated the matter but the Attorney-General decided against pressing charges.
B nai Brith Canada is now calling on Ontario Attorney-General Chris Bentley to move without delay to lay hate crime charges against Salman Hossain.

Do you agree or disagree that Hossain s call to genocide against Jews in North America is anti-Semitic and should be prosecuted as a hate crime?

What followed afterward was rather interesting.

Briemberg answered that this call to genocide was anti-Semitic, although he did not specifically answer  whether it should be prosecuted as a hate crime.  Could answering this part of the question have slipped his mind?  

Omar Zolfi didn't say one word at all.

Bassam Hosseimi, who earlier had identified himself as one of 10 million Palestinian refugees, seemed to have a rather difficult time answering the question.

Two other IAW supporters sitting near the window of the room  to my left said he had answered the question, when he had not done so.

After I asked him again to answer the question, he did concede that that Hossein s statement on his website was anti-Semitic.


Omar Zolfi didn t say one word at all.

Bassam Hosseimi, who earlier had identified himself as one of 10 million Palestinian refugees, seemed to have a rather difficult time answering the question.

Two other IAW supporters sitting near the window of the room  to my left said he had answered the question, when he had not done so.

After I asked him again to answer the question, he did concede that that Hossein s statement on his website was anti-Semitic.

I then pressed him to answer the next part of the question.  Should the statement be prosecuted as a hate crime?

He then answered,  Yes, just like when someone calls me an anti-Semite it should be prosecuted as a hate crime. 

RESUME  OF DR.WATTAD (abridged)

Rotarian Dr. (Post-Doctor) Mohammed Saif-Alden Wattad, Adv.
LL.B; LL.M; JSD
(Restrained Authorization- Defense Attorney at Courts Martial) Senior Lecturer in Law, Intellectual & Int?l & Comparative Criminal & Constitutional Law Expert Editor, the International Journal on  Medicine and Law? http://mswattad.blogspot.com/ Education

The International Institute of Higher Studies in Criminal Science, Siracusa, Italy Participant (May 25PthP- June 4PthP 2008): The 2007 Specialization Course for Young Penalists, The Sharia and International Criminal Law, taught by Prof. M. Cherif Bassiouni.
Honors: Winner of the Second  Best Oralist  Award at the Annual Moot Court Competition on International Criminal Law.
Activities: Young Penalist, Member of the International Association of Penal Law (AIDP); Participant, The Annual Moot Court Competition on International Criminal Law.

The Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Criminal Law, Freiburg, Germany Visiting Scholar, Post-Doctoral Fellow (September 2007-July 2008): Constitutionalizing Substantive Criminal Law in the German Jurisprudence; International Environmental Criminal Law; Torture, Terrorism and Criminal Law Theory; and The Meaning of Citizenship. Collaborating with Prof. Ulrich Sieber, Prof. Walter Perron, and Prof. Albin Eser.
Honors: Winner of the Minerva Research Fellowship , and of the Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellowship .
Activities: Post-Doctoral and Minerva Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Criminal Law.
The International Institute of Higher Studies in Criminal Science, Siracusa, Italy

Participant (May 20PthP-30PthP 2007): The 2007 Specialization Course for Young Penalists, Post-Conflict Justice: Policy Options and Modalities, taught by Prof. M. Cherif Bassiouni.
Honors: Winner of an acknowledgement medal for rhetorical talents and skills at the Annual Moot Court Competition on International Criminal Law:  The Best Oralist for Legal Arguments.
Activities: Young Penalist, Member of the International Association of Penal Law (AIDP); Participant, The Annual Moot Court Competition on International Criminal Law.

University of Toronto Faculty of Law, Toronto, Canada Visiting Scholar, Post-Doctoral Fellow (July 2006-May 2007): Constitutional Influence on Substantive Criminal Law from Canadian Perspective; Collaborating with Prof. Lorraine Weinrib and Prof. Alan Brudner.
Honors: Halbert Exchange Research Fellowship of the Munk Centre for International Studies for Post-Doctoral Fellows.

Activities: Post-Doctoral Fellow of the Munk Centre and Junior Fellow of Massy College at the University of Toronto; Member of the Law & Philosophy Group on Kant's Readings, directed by Prof. Arthur Ripstein; Research Assistant- Prof. Alan Brudner, Criminal Law Theory; Member, Editorial Board,  Special Reader -  The Indigenous Law Journal;  Adjunct Senior Editor-  The Journal of International Law & International Relations;  Senior Editor-  Journal of Law & Equality.  Columbia University School of Law, New York, New York JSD, May 2007:  The Meaning of Criminal Law: Three Tenets on American & Comparative Constitutional Aspects of Substantive Criminal Law,  supervised by Prof. George P. Fletcher; Committee members: Prof. Michael Dorf, Prof. Mordechai Kremnitzer, and Prof. Gillian Metzger.

Honors: Full Scholarship from Columbia University; Full Fulbright Scholarship; Bretzfelder Constitutional Law Fellowship; Special Fellowship by the Institute for Israel and Jewish Studies at Columbia University (for Teaching Assistant position at the Columbia University Department of History, on the  History of the State of Israel, )($6,000). Activities: Research Assistant- Prof. George P. Fletcher, International and Comparative Criminal Law, the Law of War, Legal Philosophy, the Alien Tort Statute, and Biblical Jurisprudence; Teaching Assistant- Prof. Michael Stanislawski, History of the State of Israel.

LL.M. (with honors), May 2005
Concentration: Legal Philosophy, and Comparative & International aspects of Criminal Law and Constitutional Law.
Honors: Scholarship from Columbia University; Full Fulbright Scholarship; Parker School of International and Comparative Law Award Certificate; Harlan Fiske Stone Scholars Award for Honors Degree.
Activities: Collaborating as Research Assistant- Prof. George P. Fletcher, Criminal Law and Legal Philosophy; Member, Staff Board-  Columbia Journal of European Law. 

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Law Faculty, Jerusalem, Israel First year LL.D. (the direct program for doctoral studies for excellent students) (with honors), July 2004
Concentration: Criminal Law, Constitutional Law, and Legal Philosophy.
Activities: Member, Editorial Board-  Israel Law Review,  an English-language legal quarterly in Israel.
Haifa University School of Law, Haifa, Israel

LL.B. (with honors), February 2003; G.P.A. 90/100 (Ranked 8/164)
Honors: Dean?s List Scholarship and Dean of Students List Scholarship; Scholarship from Chief Justice of the Religious Islamic Supreme Court of Appeal of Israel and Adalah-The Legal Centre for Arab Minority Rights in Israel; Honor degree from the Weizmann Institution for Sciences (Guide Project- Adults Teaching Youth).
Activities: Research and Teaching Assistant-  Interpretation and Judicial Discretion,  LL.M. program; Research and Teaching Assistant- articles published in Fordham International Law Journal,  Public International Law,   Islamic Law;   Member, Editorial Board-  Mishpat Ummimshal  Law Review (Law and Government); Clinic for Public Legal Representation in Criminal Procedures- Dr. David Veiner (Vice Attorney of the National Public Representation Board); Annual Moot Court Program- argued in front of former three of the Israeli Supreme Court Justices; Supervisor in the University Disciplinary Committee; Member of the Student-Faculty Committee; Head and Member of the  Big Brother/Sister Program;  Invited by the Dean of Students Office to teach private academic lessons to law students, in criminal law and constitutional law.
Oxford University-Magdalen College, Oxford, England Summer courses, Comparative Criminal Law and Public International Law, LL.B., January 2003

Work Experience
Dialogos, Israel January 2010-Current
Non-Profit Association for Interdisciplinary and Interracial Dialog in Memory of Martin Buber Legal Advisor- providing legal advice concerning free speech, ethics and theories of dialog and discussion.
Qul Ha-Ir  (Sound of the City) Newspaper, Zefat, Israel December 2009-Current Legal Advisor- providing legal advice concerning free speech and media ethics.
Maariv Newspaper, Tel-Aviv, Israel November 2009-Current Visiting Writer- writing weekly newspaper articles on legal, political and social contemporary international and national topics.
Dr. Mohammed S. Wattad   Law Firm, Rosh-Pina, Israel November 2009-Current
Owner- Litigation and corporate departments; specialized in constitutional law, administrative law, criminal law, advocacy at courts martial, and litigation in cases before the Supreme Court of Israel.
Lawyers- Dr. (Ph.D.) Samuel Wolfman, Adv., specialized in tort law, medical law, law and psychiatry and labor law. Yael Efron (LL.M), Adv. & Mediator, specialized in contract law, mediation and civil law.
The Israel Press Council, Tel-Aviv, Israel R JNovember 2009-November 2012
Position: Public Representative at the Council?s Assembly; Public Representative at the Council?s Presidential Assembly.
Activity: Media Ethics; Free Speech & the Media.
The Israeli Democracy Institute, Jerusalem, Israel R R JJuly 2009-Current Collaborating with the Institute on matters of Municipal Equality (Mainstreaming Equality) in the city of Haifa) (With Prof. Mordechai Kremnitzer).

SPME-Scholars for Peace in the Middle East, Pennsylvania, USA April 2009-Current Zefat College, School of Law, Zefat, Israel August 2008-Current Academic Rank:
Senior Lecturer (July 13th, 2009-Current).
Lecturer (August 11th, 2008   July 12th, 2009).
Academic Positions: Deputy Judge at the Disciplinary Committee; and provides special collaboration and assistance to the Dean?s Chambers.
Courses: Constitutional Law (1PstP L); Substantive Criminal Law (1PstP L); Advanced Substantive Criminal Law (2nd L); Criminal Law of Procedure (2PndP L); and International Criminal Law (2PndP L).
Committees Membership: Admission Committee; Teaching Committee; Students Committee; Library Committee; Ethics Committee; and the Law School?s Council.
Academic Activity: Tutoring; Responsible for the establishment of a legal journal for the School; Member of the Shatil Project on Multiculturalism.
Research Area: International & Comparative Criminal Law; Comparative Constitutional Law; the Laws of War; Terrorism; Torture; and Medical Law.
The International Center for Health, Law and Ethics, Haifa, Israel November 2008-Current
Position: Member of the Management Board, and Editor of the international journal on  Medicine and Law? [English; World Association for Medical Law; International Center for Health, Law and Ethics; University of Haifa, Law Faculty].
Wattad Law Office, Baqa-El-Garbeya, Israel August 2008-Current Senior Partner- Litigation and corporate departments; specialized in constitutional law, administrative law and criminal law cases. Arguing in cases before the Supreme Court of Israel.
Chapters in Books:
A Vision of Citizenship: Arabs in a Jewish & Democratic State,  in Manoj Kumar Sinha (ed.) Globalisation, Human Rights and Development 185-207 (System Law International, New Delhi, 2009) (presented at Freiburg University, Germany) (English).
Fighting Terrorism with Restrained Hands,  in Manoj Kumar Sinha (ed.) Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law 221(Manak Publications, 2010) (English).

Articles:
Book Review: EU Human Rights Policies: A Study in Irony. By Andrew Williams (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2004) Pp. 250,  11(2) Columbia Journal of European Law 461 (2005) (English).
Did God say,  You shall not eat of any tree of the garden??: Rethinking the  Fruits of the Poisonous Tree  in Israeli Constitutional Law,  T(2005) Oxford U Comparative L Forum 4 at http://ouclf.iuscomp.org/articles/wattad.shtml. (English).
Is Terrorism a Crime or an Aggravating Factor in Sentencing?  4(5) Journal of International Criminal Justice 1017 (2006) (English) [Presented in the 2PndP Jewish Studies Symposium of the University of Toronto (Canada)].
Resurrecting  Romantics at War : International Self-Defense in the Shadow of the Law of War   Where are the Borders?  13(1) ILSA Journal of International & Comparative Law 205 (2006) (English) [Presented in the 2PndP Annual Symposium of the Center for Global Trade and Development at Chapman University School of Law (California), 9/11-Are We at war? Conference (April, 2006), (received a prize of honor)].
Revisiting Plessy & Brown    Dignity? A Recipe For Humiliation: Why  Separate But Equal? Cannot Be Equal? A Theory of Legal Thinking,  47(2) The Indian Journal of International Law 177 (2007) [was published as the leading article] (English).
The Meaning of Guilt: Rethinking Apprendi,  33(2) New England Journal on Criminal & Civil Confinement 501 (2007) (English).
Israeli Arabs: Between the Nation and the State  6(2) Indigenous Law Journal 179 (2007).
The Torturing Debate on Torture,  29 Northern Illinois University Law Review 1 (2008) [was published as the leading article] (English).
The Meaning of Wrongdoing   A Crime of Disrespecting the Flag: Grounds for Preserving  National Unity??  10 San Diego International Law Journal 5 (2008) [was published as the leading article] (English).
The Rome Statute & Captain Planet: What Lies Between  Crimes Against Humanity? And the  Natural Environment??  XIX Fordham Environmental Law Review 875 (2008) (presented at the 5PthP International Conference on International Environmental Law, New Delhi, India; as well as at the Max-Planck Institute for Foreign and International Criminal Law, Freiburg, Germany) (English).
Report from the International Quarterly Journal on Medicine and Law,  1(2) World Association for Medical Law 4 (2009).

Forthcoming Articles:
Islam, Terrorism, and Modern Liberal Societies  (Forthcoming, 2 NUJS Law Review, 2009) (English).
The Constitutionalist Funeral of the American Death Penalty,  (Forthcoming, Indian Yearbook of International Law and Policy, 2010) (English).
Comparative Studies on the Indian Death Penalty,  (Forthcoming, Journal of Indian Law and Society, 2010) (English).