University of Toronto: ‘Rights expert’ accused of ‘anti-Palestinian racism’ for discussion of today’s anti-Semitism

UPDATE, May 27, 2022: Ensaf Haidar has tweeted this:

1-2;Des excuses ne sont rien d'autre que du courage;
Il y a ceux qui disent de bonne foi que je ne connais pas M. Robert Spencer, et ce n'est pas vrai. Je le connais et j'apprécie même les grands efforts qu'il fait pour dénoncer les islamistes et l'islam politique

— Ensaf Haidar (@miss9afi) May 27, 2022

Irwin Cotler has just learned, or should have learned, that no matter how much you try to appease the Left, Leftists will still come after you if you deviate from their orthodoxy. I would expect, however, that this lesson still eludes him.

In February 2019, I met with Ensaf Haidar, the wife of Raif Badawi, and Irwin Cotler in Washington, at Haidar’s invitation. I sat next to Cotler at breakfast and took the photo of him below while he spoke briefly on the phone with someone. When Leftist “journalist” Marc Thibodeau tried to create a controversy over the meeting, Cotler claimed not to know me: “Irwin Cotler, who has represented the Saudi activist for four years, learned that Ms. Haidar had arranged a “personal” meeting with Mr. Spencer when he met the duo after their lunch. ‘She quickly introduced us to each other, but I didn’t know who he was and I left with Ensaf,’ notes the lawyer, who was unaware of the existence of this friendship.”

Cotler was lying. Incidentally, it was a breakfast, not a lunch, and in reality, he and I chatted briefly; he knew perfectly well who I was. Eventually he left, and my conversation continued with Ensaf Haidar. Later, when Haidar was running for office, she was confronted about this meeting again, and summarily threw me under the bus: “Haidar also, through DuBois, insisted that she no longer pals around with anti-Muslim activists and writers like Robert Spencer, with whom she shared a friendly meal with in 2019. On her Facebook page, Haidar proudly shows a photo with Spencer…Dubois [Haidar’s campaign manager] said that Haidar didn’t know much about Spencer at the time and simply went to a meal with him because he was ‘against Shariah law.'” Dubois also said that the caption was written by someone close to Haidar and that Haidar herself knows virtually zero English. He added that Haidar has taken lots of photos over the years, often with far-right figures who she knew little about.”

This morning I met again with my good friend @jihadwatchRS for breakfast, he and I can now confirm that Islamophobia is a big lie invented by Islamists in the west to intimidate and silence people who speak the truth about Sharia law! pic.twitter.com/YFpAeDGZX2

— Ensaf Haidar ⚜️ (@miss9afi) February 13, 2019

Haidar was also lying. In reality, it was Haidar who invited me to meet with her and her entourage when she was in Washington, and during the meeting, she demonstrated that both she and Raif Badawi were quite familiar with my work. Her disavowal was a capitulation to a Leftist media intimidation campaign, and it didn’t get her anywhere: she lost the election anyway.

And now Cotler is experiencing the same principle in action: appeasing Leftists never works, and only emboldens them further, rather than satisfying them. Cotler fastidiously kept his distance from me, no doubt thinking that his “human rights” work would be harmed if he were associated with someone accused of “Islamophobia.” He tried to present a front that would be acceptable to the Left. But this never works: if you ever say anything that diverges from the Leftist agenda, they will attack you anyway, no matter how much you have tried to win them over. That’s what’s happening to Cotler over his University of Toronto speech.

This is a personal account, but this principle holds far beyond me and Ensaf Haidar and Irwin Cotler. Cowardly capitulation to the Left never gets anyone anywhere. And as for me, there is nothing wrong with standing against jihad violence and Sharia oppression of women and others. I don’t advocate or approve of any violence or unlawful activity of any kind. Neither Haidar nor Cotler can point to anything in my work that they can say is false, or genuinely offensive, etc. They only disavowed me because I am hated by people they wanted to win over. It didn’t work.

“Irwin Cotler controversy renews anti-Semitism debate at University of Toronto,” by Jessica Mundie, The Province, March 11, 2022 (thanks to Henry):

One of Canada’s most-admired human rights experts has found himself at the centre of controversy at the University of Toronto, accused of “anti-Palestinian racism” by some faculty at a school often criticized as having an anti-Semitism problem.

Irwin Cotler gave a speech Jan. 26 that was meant to reflect on International Holocaust Remembrance Day. The event, organized by the university’s Temerty Faculty of Medicine, was meant to discuss contemporary anti-Semitism. Cotler’s speech discussed systemic racism from a human rights perspective with a focus on addressing anti-Semitism through equality.

But his speech prompted complaints from 45 University of Toronto faculty members who claim he “reinforced anti-Palestinian racism in a way that is consistent with a broader pattern of silencing and erasure of Palestinian voices.” These faculty members have accused Cotler of suggesting that criticism of Israel is anti-Semitic.

Cotler, who is Canada’s Special Envoy on Preserving Holocaust Remembrance and Combatting Antisemitism, said he specifically said all criticism of Israel is not anti-Semitic but rather singling out Israel as a sole target for claims about human rights violations is discriminatory.

“That is an absolute misrepresentation of what I have said over and over again,” said Cotler, who is renowned for his work as a human rights lawyer and Jewish community leader. He served as the minister of justice and attorney general of Canada under former Prime Minister Paul Martin. He currently serves as the international chair of the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights and is part of the Canadian delegation to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance.

In response to the complaints against Cotler, over 300 University of Toronto faculty members signed an open letter meant to “draw attention to the falsehoods, twisted logic and anti-Semitic rhetoric that are contained in the letter sent by other Faculty members.”…