A Meeting with Hon. Irwin Cotler
Introducing Dr. Cochav Elkayam-Levy
Documenting Hamas Crimes Against Women
On November 26 I had the honour of sitting in on a briefing given by the Honorable Irwin Cotler, and meeting a remarkable Israeli human rights activist, Dr. Cochav Elkayam-Levy. The session was organized at Mr. Cotler’s request with members and friends of the MacDonald Laurier Institute (MLI).
Irwin Cotler is a former Justice Minister and Attorney-General of Canada, and is currently International Chair of the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights. Cochav Elkayam-Levy is an Israeli expert on international law, human rights, and feminist theories. She appeared at yesterday’s briefing to talk about the work she has been doing, documenting the atrocities committed by Hamas on October 7.
Honourable Irwin Cotler (ctr), Dr. Cochav Elkayam-Levy (l.), & MLI chief Brian Lee Crowley. ————Thanks to MLI for the Photo
An Upsurge of Antisemitism
Irwin Cotler began the session by discussing the upsurge of antisemitism which we have seen in Canada and around the world in the months since the start of the war. He reminded us how strange this reaction is. Israel was attacked by a recognized international terrorist organization, an organization which is known to be antisemitic, and dedicated to committing genocide against Israeli Jews. Mr. Cotler emphasized that we know this, not from Jewish sources, but from Hamas’ own words, describing their goals and methods, and from their actions on October 7.
One would have expected, he suggested, that there would be an outpouring of global sympathy toward Israel under such circumstances. But in fact the opposite has occurred. We have seen a global explosion of antisemitism. We’ve also seen attempts to deny the crimes even happened, in spite many of the atrocities being broadcasted in real time on social media.
Mr. Cotler emphasized that the demonstrations we have seen in our streets have not been pro-Palestine, or in support of Palestinian human rights. Rather they have been pro-Hamas rallies, celebrating Hamas’ goal of eradicating Israel and the crimes they have committed in pursuit of that goal.
Civil Commission on October 7 Crimes Against Women
Dr. Elkayam-Levy spoke to us about her activities in the aftermath of the October 7 attack. As a recognized advocate for women’s rights, she founded the Civil Commission on October 7 Crimes by Hamas against Women. The commission began documenting these crimes and sharing information with the international bodies charged with the protection of women and children. She was looking for help from these bodies, in responding to the grotesque atrocities committed by Hamas against Israeli women.
Dr. Elkayam-Levy expected the international human rights community would step forward to support the victims of these crimes. The initial ask was for a unified demand that Hamas immediately release the hostages that had been captured on October 7. To her dismay, she received no response at all.
At first, she thought that these groups outside of Israel were not yet aware of what had happened, and set out to further inform and educate them. But she soon realized that there was a lot of information circulating outside Israel that was not yet available inside the country, where such information was kept confidential pending the notification of victims’ families, or to protect Israeli soldiers in the field. She said that when she discovered this, she realized that “something was very wrong.”
The international human rights community did not step forward to help and support Israeli victims. Instead these organizations expressed a chorus of hostility toward Israel, accusing them of war crimes against Palestinians from the first day of the war. The UN published a report on the fighting in Gaza which did not even mention the hostages.
Realizing that no help would be coming from the responsible UN agencies and international human rights organizations, Dr. Elkayam-Levy moved ahead with the work that needed to be done. One goal was to provide Israel with information that would help in resisting the Hamas narrative that the war was one of Israeli atrocities against Palestinians.
She set out to document in detail each of the crimes that was committed on October 7, identifying the victims and exactly what was done to them. She enlisted the help of experts in the documentation of crimes against humanity at Yad Vashem. One of the experts who came forward to help was Irwin Cotler.
Discussion
The discussion among the participants following the prepared remarks by the speakers focused on the problems with international institutions. The failure of UN women to take up the cause of Israeli women and the lack of action by UN children’s groups to advocate for Israeli children taken hostage shows that pervasive anti-Israel animus in international bodies prevents them from performing their intended function.
There was discussion on what can be done to remedy this deficiency, whether by reforming them or by replacing them with something new.
Participants wanted to know how they could help with the work of the Civil Commission. There was discussion of the recent decision by the ICC to issue warrants for the arrest of Israeli leaders for “genocide”.
Participants agreed that the failure of the human rights community to protect the rights of Israel on the international scene, and of Jews in Canada after October 7, is a problem for western civilization in general, not just Israel, and a problem for all Canadians, not just Canadian Jews.
News Update
As we send this out, the truce in Lebanon has been in effect for about 40 hours. So far, Israel is doing what they said they would do and responding firmly to all violations of the ceasefire agreement. Comments from Hezbollah leadership indicate that they intend to resist being disarmed (not a surprise). The Speaker of the Lebanese Parliament, Nabih Berri, the figurehead of the Lebanese Shiia, who form the base for Hezbollah’s influence in Lebanon, and a veteran of earlier Lebanese conflicts, urged civilians to return to their homes in the south, which is contrary to what has been agreed. Israel is blocking roads to prevent people from returning to the villages under their control. Berri’s comments show bad faith, from within the Lebanese government, which augers poorly for their commitment to disarm Hezbollah.
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the Honourable Irwin Cotler is a remarkable person.
I did not realize, though, that Hezbollah is already acting in bad faith.