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Petition to Bar Faisal Bhabha from Teaching “Human Rights” at Osgoode Hall Law School

Rhonda Lenton

Office of the President

1050 Kaneff Tower

4700 Keele Street

Toronto, ON

M3J 1P3

 

Dear President and Vice-Chancellor Lenton,

We, the undersigned, demand that Associate Professor Faisal Bhabha no longer teach any “human rights” courses at York University’s Osgoode Hall Law School.

As you acknowledged in your letter of June 2, antisemitism remains a concern for many Jewish community members at York. Now is your chance to take action against antisemitism.

Mr. Bhabha twice asserted that “Zionism is about Jewish supremacy,” which he linked to white supremacy in the United States. The notion that Zionism, which merely calls for Jewish statehood in the Jewish homeland – no different than most other national movements – is a uniquely evil form of “supremacy,” is a false and dangerous allegation.

Mr. Bhabha’s twisting of Zionism rhetorically transforms hundreds of thousands of Canadian Jews into “Jewish supremacists.” 

Worse yet, Mr. Bhabha also stated that “Accusing Israel of exaggerating the Holocaust could be, for some, a plausible argument.” This is a preposterous canard with no supporting evidence.

The notion that the world’s only Jewish State may have “exaggerated” the murder of 6-million Jewish men, women and children is likely to sow hatred and division where no basis for it exists.

Any version of human rights that does not include a firm rejection of antisemitism is ethically and morally bankrupt. Students at York University and Osgoode Hall Law School deserve better.