Why the Gaza war matters to the legal profession and law schools

In mid-October, 74 students from the Lincoln Alexander School of Law (LASL) issued a statement offering “unequivocal support” for Palestinians and “all forms of Palestinian resistance.” 

The letter alleged that Israel is not a country but is instead “the brand of a settler colony” and accused the Jewish State of “ethnic cleansing,” “war crimes” and “apartheid.”

The letter also stated that the alleged Israeli oppression of Arabs in Gaza led to the Oct. 7 attack on Israel and that it should have been expected, adding that the school’s administration must alter its neutral position on the Israel/Hamas conflict.

When I read the statement, the signatories had been taken down (although I found the names a bit later). I have two of that law school’s students working for me. Thankfully, they immediately told me that they had no part in the declaration. 

Hamas’s goal is the liquidation of Jews

But I have another LASL student starting with me in January of 2024. If she had signed the statement, I would have been concerned for my personal safety. After all, Hamas’s goal is the liquidation of Jews worldwide. If you find a Jew, go and slaughter him or her, even if they are an infant or a senior. That’s the sentiment of the Hamas charter. If you are someone who supports “all forms of Palestinian resistance” then why not just kill a Jew should the opportunity present itself?

The LASL (part of Toronto Metropolitan University) in my view may be the best law school in Ontario, if not in Canada. So, who are these 74 aspiring lawyers who signed the statement? The student starting with me in January did not sign. Therefore, she is welcome with open arms at my firm. Had she signed the statement, I would have not taken her on for security reasons. And because of that letter, I will not step foot on the grounds of Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson) – again because of concerns for my personal security.

In response to the students’ letter, LASL issued a statement saying it “does not represent the views of our law school” and that the school supports Israeli and Palestinian “statehood and sustainability.” 

The significant flaw in the school’s response is that Hamas’ primary objective is not the establishment of a Palestinian state. The terror group simply wants to eliminate Jews. And while the letter did not state that the actions of Israel and Hamas were morally equivalent, that was implied.

I was disappointed with the administration’s response. As I expressed in a letter to the law school’s dean, Donna E. Young, it was too little, too late. She has not responded to me. However, a senior representative of the school’s student placement program did quite properly seek to engage with me. We had a healthy discussion. I will continue to mentor LASL students (provided they did not sign “that” letter).

I am also hesitant to step foot on the grounds of my alma mater, Osgoode Law School at York University. I have written to its dean about the failure to adequately respond to events in the Middle East and to protect Jews on campus. It was a polite letter, though strongly worded. So far, no response.

Deadly attack described as ‘exhilarating’

Hate for Israel is evident on Canada’s campuses but perhaps the most outrageous example was south of the border at Cornell University. When Hamas launched its murderous rampage in early October, killing 1,400 Israelis of all ages, a Cornell University professor described the deadly incursion as “exhilarating. It was energizing,” he said, according to a media report.

On the same day, a professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago wrote on Instagram that “Israelis are pigs. Savages. Very very bad people. Irredeemable excrement … may they all rot in hell.”

After donors put pressure on their respective universities, both professors apologized but neither has been fired for their vile statements. How can such hatred be expressed so openly by academics we assume are rational and thoughtful?

Freedom of speech is a value that we hold dear in Canada. We recognize that a person has a right to speak, even if we don’t like what they are saying. But there must be limits, No one has the right to incite violence against an identifiable group. No one has the right to call for murder against Jews or against anyone else. 

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Following the rules of international law, the government of Israel and the Israel Defense Forces do not target civilians. But in Gaza, Hamas has built an elaborate network of tunnels under schools, hospitals, mosques and homes where it stores missiles and other weapons and carries out its terror work. Israel has a right to destroy these subterranean facilities and I believe they are doing that in ways that minimize civilian casualties.

History offers many examples where large numbers of civilians have died in the course of a conflict. How many innocent people were killed in bombings in Afghanistan after 9/11, in Germany when the Allies reduced cities such as Dresden to rubble, or in Japan after the dropping of two atomic bombs? Arguments can be made that those military campaigns should not have happened. Others will say the necessary objectives were achieved and this reduced total loss of life.

There must not be a double standard for the Israeli military in 2023. It operates according to the highest standards of morality. Mistakes may be made but now is not the time to have those conversations. Right now, the Jewish people are in an existential struggle for their very survival. Israel must eliminate Hamas first and foremost.

Silence from the Law Society of Ontario

Professional organizations must step up and voice support for Israel’s right to defend itself. As a lawyer with more than four decades of experience, I am deeply troubled by the silence from my Law Society of Ontario (LSO). 

The only statement the LSO has made is that it was not going to make a statement. That position infuriates me and I will not quietly accept that. Not this time. In 1943, many of my cousins in Poland had no choice as the Nazis killed them. I and other Jewish lawyers have options and we are imploring the LSO to stand up for justice and morality.  The LSO quite correctly stands up strongly for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion. But apparently, the same standards of morality and ethics do not apply when it is Jews who are being murdered.

I am a Canadian but also a citizen of Israel since November 2018. I fashion myself as a moral and ethical human being and a lawyer with a reasonable foundation in international law, so I speak from those perspectives.

In the past, I have enjoyed many spirited discussions around our family’s Sabbath table where I argued the Holocaust could never happen in Canada. I was wrong. Many Canadians now demonize Israel or are not protesting such demonization when it occurs.

This is a brutal war for the very survival of the Jewish people. The stakes could not be higher. I had thought that the Western world had learned its lessons from the Second World War. Apparently not. LASL, Osgoode, LSO and others have brought that message home to me. Sad but true.

It is time to take a stand

I want to warmly and sincerely thank those of you (colleagues, friends, neighbours, clients, former clients, etc.) who have given words of condolence and support and encouragement to my family and myself. My wife and I thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

Let me post a word of caution here: Calling for Israel to stop going after Hamas is essentially saying it is acceptable for that group to murder Jews. Instead, everyone should be saying, “Israel, we’ve got your back. Go and finish off Hamas. After they are eliminated, then we can talk about Mideast solutions.”

Simply put – now is the time for people of good conscience and proper values to stand with Israel in its campaign to destroy Hamas. On which side of humanity and history will you be … this time?

This is the first of a two-part series. In part two, Gene C. Colman will discuss further the fallacy of striking a moral equivalency between Israel and Hamas.