Readers of the Winnipeg Jewish Review may be interested in reading what former Winnipegger Brent Sasley has written in the Jewish Daily Forward, which is headquartered in New York. Sasley writes that Shaarey Zedek synagogue's decision to disinvite Barnard was a mistake:
 
Sasley is no fan of Israel Apartheid Week, and writes:
 
"To be fair, IAW is a difficult period for many. Its purpose is to demonstrate that Israel practices apartheid against Palestinians under its control, and to promote the BDS movement as a way to end these policies. As I’ve argued before, inherent to the BDS movement is the goal of ending Israel as an independent, Jewish-majority state. IAW, on this account, contributes to the delegitimization of Israel — a fully accepted member of the international system — and promotes an uncomfortable atmosphere for Jewish and non-Jewish students on campus. This is especially so at a time when anti-Semitic attacks have risen in parts of the world.
 
But Sasley concludes:
 
"Still, the decision to un-invite the president of the University of Manitoba was a mistake. It hinders close ties with municipal and national organizations by predicating those ties on agreement of a single interpretation of events, treats synagogue congregants like children who need protecting from inappropriate words, and isolates community members from broader events in Israel, in the Middle East, and on campuses. All this while Barnard wasn’t even going to speak about any of these issues — he was to have read from a specially prepared document serving as the voice of a Holocaust survivor."

To read Sasley's complete article go to

http://blogs.forward.com/forward-thinking/197579/now-even-winnipeg-disinvites-speakers-over-israel/#ixzz31fd18SDy