Edward Corrigan - Letter to Dr. Lorna Marsden, President, York University regarding Dr. Noble and the Palestinian issue at York University

President Lorna Marsden
President and Vice Chancellor
Ross Building, S949, 4700 Keele Street,
Toronto, Ontario M3J 1P3

Dear President Marsden,

I have been following the goings on at York University for some time with deep concern. There has been an attempt to suppress discussion of Palestinian human rights at your University. This is most disturbing and a violation of free speech, academic freedom and violation of Palestinian human rights who have every right to oppose the destruction of their society. The rampant violations of human rights that successive Israeli administrations have inflicted upon the native inhabitants of Palestine must be opposed by everyone interested in justice and morality. The false charge of anti-Semitism is used to violate democratic freedoms and negate the human rights of an entire society.

Dr. David Noble has filed a complaint against your administration for the attempt to suppress discussion of Palestinian human rights on the basis of a false charge of anti-Semitism. This serious allegation has been levelled at him and several other Jewish activists at York University. Dr. Noble is Jewish and a principled Jewish dissenter on the issue of Israel's treatment of the Palestinians and Israel's well documented human right violations. Dr. Noble joins a very respected and honoured Jewish tradition of opposition to injustice and human rights
violations.

I have included below a link for my article ""Jewish Criticism of Zionism" that I wrote when I was a graduate student which lists more than 160 other prominent Jewish critics of Zionism. This article lists many prominent Jewish intellectuals that largely share Dr. Noble's views on Zionism and his views on the ethnic cleansing of Palestine of Arabs by political Zionists. Many Jews were concerned about the impact of a political ideology based on an exclusionary nationalist movement which called for the creation of a “Jewish State” in Palestine and a political movement named Zionism. Zionism was opposed by many Jews in the past (in fact historically by the majority of Jews) and is opposed by many Jews today.

Professor Noble is just another Jewish critic in a long line of Jewish critics. This list includes Albert Einstein, I.F. Stone, Rabbi Elmer Berger, Rabbi Reuben Slonim, Isaac Asimov, Noam Chomsky, Hans Kohen, Eric Fromm, Bruno Kreisky, Israel Shahak, Hannah Arendt and many other leading Jewish intellectuals and religious figures. Tens of thousands of religious Jews today are opposed to Zionism including the orthodox Neturei Karta and the Satmar sects. Mordecai Richler, the esteemed Canadian author wrote an article entitled "Israel marks 50th anniversary out of favor with many Jews,” Toronto Star, 15/02/1998.

Adam Shatz, the Literary Editor of The Nation Magazine, has recently published a book titled Prophet's Outcast which contains essays written by 24 prominent Jewish scholars and intellectuals which are very critical of Zionism and Israel's treatment of the Palestinians. So Professor Noble joins a very distinguished group of Jews in his criticism of Zionism and its treatment of the Palestinians.

If you want to look for Israeli voices, who are speaking out against the policies of Sharon's government toward the Palestinians you should look at the book, The Other Israel: Voices of Refusal and Dissent, Forward by Tom Segev and Anthony Lewis (the former New York Times columnist) which was published in 2002. This book lists 28 current Israeli critics of Zionism. However for the mainstream Canadian media to bring this information and these critical views to the Canadian public would be telling the truth about Israel and the fact that many Jews are non-Zionist and anti-Zionist and do not support the brutal campaign to dispossess the Palestinians from their homeland.

But to do that would be telling the truth about Zionism and that is something that most North American newspapers are not prepared to do. It would destroy the argument that Israel's supporters shamelessly use namely that to criticize Israel is anti-Semitic no matter what Israel does. This argument used by supporters of Israel's hard line policies towards the Palestinians that criticism of Israel's treatment of the Palestinians is anti-Semitic is almost entirely false and politically motivated.

Not to tell the truth about what is going on in Palestine is racist and a crime against the Palestinian people and a crime not unlike the one committed against Jews in the Second World War. Please restore freedom of speech, academic freedom and critical inquiry at York and let members of York University decide for themselves based on facts and in formed opinion not on suppression of debate and censorship.

Edward C. Corrigan
Barrister & Solicitor
Certified as a Specialist by the Law Society of Upper Canada
Citizenship and Immigration Law and Immigration/Refugee Protection Law

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" Jewish Criticism of Zionism " By Edward C. Corrigan, Middle East Policy
(Formerly American-Arab Affairs) Winter 1990-91, pp. 94-116.

http://www.mepc.org/public_asp/journal/9012_corrigan.asp