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Speech by Irwin Cotler leads to angry response from 45 faculty members at University of Toronto… and counter response from another 316 faculty members
A speech by Irwin Cotler to the University of Toronto’s Temerty Faculty of Medicine on Holocaust Remembrance Day has spurred angry recriminations and two open letters to the acting dean of the medical school.
Cotler, Canada’s Special Envoy on Preserving Holocaust Remembrance and Combatting Antisemitism, was invited by the medical school’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion to discuss “Contemporary Anti-semitism” on Jan. 26.
A letter to Acting Dean Patricia Houston, signed by 45 faculty members, charged that the event “reinforced anti-Palestinian racism in a way that is consistent with a broader pattern of silencing and erasure of Palestinian voices.”
The event also undermined the university’s Anti-Semitism Working Group, which recently released a report recommending, among other things, that UofT not adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism, the letter stated. All of the report’s recommendations were accepted by the university.
Students and faculty who speak up in support of “Palestinian life and liberation” face harassment and “calls into the office” to discuss their personal social media presence, the letter writers state and they ask the medical school to confront the rise of anti-Palestinian racism on campus.
In response to that letter over 300 other U of T faculty members signed a letter condemning the criticism leveled at Cotler. Following is that letter:
Dear Acting Dean Houston,
We write to submit an open letter signed by over 300 Jewish University of Toronto faculty members. This is in response to a letter given to the Temerty Faculty of Medicine (TFOM) by 45 other faculty members who accuse Jewish community leader and internationally renowned human rights scholar Professor Irwin Cotler of contributing to anti-Palestinian racism.
On this past January 26th Mr. Cotler gave a talk sponsored by the TFOM as part of marking Holocaust Remembrance Day. The signatories of the other faculty members’ letter relied on antisemitic stereotypes and false statements to attack Professor Cotler and his presentation. Their attack was not only on Professor Cotler. It was an attack on Jewish faculty members and the Jewish community.
The open letter we submit has nothing to do with Middle East politics. Indeed, the signatories to the open letter have diverse views on the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. The signatories are united in their condemnation of the antisemitism which characterizes the letter sent to you from the 45 faculty members.
The preponderance of signatories in the open letter from Jewish faculty members is naturally from the TFOM because the TFOM sponsored the event. It reveals the apprehension TFOM Jewish faculty members hold due to the escalating antisemitism, now overtly expressed by TFOM members and experienced by Jewish students and faculty.
Thank you for receiving and considering our open letter.
OPEN LETTER ON ANTISEMITISM TO THE DEAN OF THE TEMERTY FACULTY OF MEDICINE
Each of us who has signed this document is a Jewish Faculty member at the University of Toronto. We wish to draw attention to the falsehoods, twisted logic and antisemitic rhetoric that are contained in the letter sent by other Faculty members to the Temerty Faculty of Medicine in which they condemn Irwin Cotler’s presentation on “Contemporary Antisemitism” that was held this past January 26.
Most prominent among the falsehoods are that the event “undermined the important work of the University’s own Anti-Semitism Working Group (ASWG),” whose recommendations prohibited the adoption of any definition of antisemitism. The other Faculty members are being untruthful. The University which accepted the ASWG report has not banned or prohibited the use, teaching, or discussion of the IHRA working definition.
The other Faculty members’ letter is also full of warped polemics. The most obvious are:
• They denounce Mr. Cotler for using in his analysis the IHRA working definition (which has been adopted by Canada and dozens of countries and which we support as individuals). Mr. Cotler’s talk fell exactly within university policy. Their denunciation is based on a fabrication.
• They portray Mr. Cotler’s defence of Jews as anti-Palestinian racism, thereby perpetuating an antisemitic tradition of accusing Jews who defend themselves as erasing the voices and suppressing the lives of others.
• They represent this Holocaust Remembrance event as “reinforc(ing) anti-Palestinian racism”, thereby trivializing and demeaning the torment and industrialized murder of Jews in the Holocaust.
These Faculty members do not end there. They rely on noteworthy antisemitic imagery and employ well-worn anti-Jewish contrivances. The most prominent are:
• Their reference to “special interest groups” perpetuates the classic depiction of Jews as dominating and controlling.
• The non-Jewish signatories to the letter utilize the moral cover of a number of Jewish signatories to tell Jews what is antisemitic and what is not, thereby stripping Jews of their last line of existential defence.
• They dismiss the grotesque antisemitism at a UN and NGO conference on racism where delegates witnessed the distribution of the “Protocols of the Elders of Zion” and placards proclaiming, “If only Hitler had won”.
Taken in its entirety, their letter is an example of the very antisemitism that Mr. Cotler dismantled in his presentation. Naturally the other Faculty members don’t like being exposed. That is why they have attacked Mr. Cotler. Sadly, Jews have had to live with this kind of hostility for centuries.
Signed by 316 faculty members of the University of Toronto
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Musings from Dizengoff Street – by Bruce Brown
(August 8, 2026)
Outside Basimta Café in Central Jerusalem. Love the red shirt against a tiny sea of black. Not sure I am shrugging because of the ultra-orthodox uproar over a Jerusalem café operating on Shabbat or the lack of an ultra-orthodox uproar over a Jerusalem café operating on Shabbat. For the last six weeks Israeli headlines shouted about the cafe chaos. With the ultra-religious blocking entrances and storming the café. While shouting ‘Shabbos! Shabbos!’ Upsetting the secular amongst us just wanting to enjoy our Saturday iced matchas. So the wife and I thought we would check it out. And. Yes. Buy something to support the business. Uproar. Not. Blocked entrances. Not. Storming the café. Not. Albeit there were police barriers separating the devout protesters from the coffee drinkers. The protesters being just a few dozen black clad, pious Jews. Mostly teenagers. And yes. Shouting ‘Shabbos! Shabbos!’ Certainly underwhelming in its reported mayhem. Reminds me of the famous saying misattributed to Mark Twain – “If you don’t read the newspaper, you’re uninformed. If you do, you’re misinformed.” But I did enjoy my iced matcha.
(August 6, 2026)
Here we go again. Another round of forever negotiations. As someone who negotiates for a living. The way things are going in the straits. If I had to recommend a book on the subject to a new hire. Between The Art of the Deal, A Presidential Edition by Donald J. Trump or The Real Art of the Deal by the Mullahs of Iran with a special forward by the IRGC. Well. I would choose the latter.
(August 3)
Bravo Yoav Segalovitz, Liberal Yesh Atid MK and Monsour Abbas, United Arab Ra’am MK and party head. For breaking a glass ceiling where a Jewish lawmaker joins an Arab political party. No less a political earthquake in my little shtetl. Which can significantly impact coalition block arithmetic and posturing and strategy in the upcoming elections. Now Ra’am can be considered a legitimate ‘Zionist’ partner when forming coalition blocks and potentially pushing the ‘center left/right’ party over the 60 seat majority threshold. In our crazy parliamentary democracy defined by a multi-party (about fourteen!!), proportional representation system. To paraphrase Winston Churchill, Israel’s proportional representation model of governance is the best parliamentary democracy system except for all other forms of working democracies. Stay tuned for more amateurish political musings as we move towards Israel’s 26th national election – five of them held since 2019.
(August 1)
Although both sides say they are open to diplomacy. Neither really trusts the other. And American military action, or its threat, continues. I read headlines in the middle of the night -it’s a nervous habit lately– that the Dynamic Duo of Trump and Netanyahu may again strike in unison. Possibly this weekend. Yikes! Prompting me, at 2:30 AM, to dash around the house stocking my safe room. Bottled water. Canned food. Medicines. Documents. The beat goes on….
If it’s crazy here. It’s insane in Italy. With a recent online ‘Jew Hunt’ in the Milan area. Before being removed, the digital forms urged reportings of Israelis and Italian Jews staying in local hotels. The infamous Global Sumud Movement -yes, the one coordinating ‘peace and humanitarian’ flotillas to Gaza- was somehow connected. Although they deny involvement?! This deranged decree was looking to identify Zionist tourism and Zionist neo-colonization in Italy. I’ll stick with stocking the saferoom.
Then there’s New York Mayor Mamdani, a Global Sumud Movement supporter, threatening to arrest Prime Minister Netanyahu if he comes to New York. But since discovered he has no legal right for such a grandstanding, antisemitic, anti-Israel, anti-Western, anti-democratic antic. Maybe Mandami should be arrested! Or at least impeached. For being a grandstanding, antisemitic, anti-Israel, anti-Western, anti-democratic mayor.
Here’s a post Bruce sent us Friday, July 31:
WARTIME MUSINGS
Should credible threats against FLOTUS and ‘FSOTUS’ (first son..) not be justification to attack first.
As for yesterday’s summit. Netanyahu really can’t win. Explainer. If Trump now attacks without victory its ’cause of Netanyahu. If Trump now attacks with victory its ’cause of Trump. And, in Israel, if Trump doesn’t attack -victory or not- Netanyahu failed in his eighth meeting with Trump. And if Trump does attack -victory or not- half the country will vilify Bibi anyway. Missing a permutation?
Ya. I know. Kinda’ need a definition of victory for that musing to work.
And here in my little shtetle. We go to sleep unsure if there will be a code red in the middle of the night. And if not. We wake up thinking it will be tonight. How do you define stress?
Seemed like an appropriate way to end this musing.
Bruce Brown is a former Winnipegger who made aliyah to Israel over 35 years ago. Bruce first began writing for us – in his own inimitable style, in 2012, during what was known as “Operation Pillar of Defense.” His occasional musings on aspects of life in Israel that were far from what you’d typically read in other reports from Israel were hugely popular – both in the print Jewish Post & News and on this website.
We’re now glad to report that Bruce is back writing for us – this time on a regular basis. We will post Bruce’s reports as they arrive – with the date of each post at the beginning of that post.
Here’s some information about Bruce – and awards he’s received for his writing:
Bruce Brown. Canadian born. Now living in Israel (for a long time). Bruce works in Israel’s hi-tech sector by day and, in spurts, is a somewhat inspired writer by night. He received the American Jewish Press Association’s award for writing excellence in 2019 and 2025. And wrote the 1998 satire, “An Israeli is….” Bruce’s musings are political, social, economic and personal. With lots of biting, contrarian, sardonic and irreverent insight.
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