Toronto (February 19, 2020) – Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center (FSWC) has reached out to the president of McMaster University with demands for action after it was revealed today that notorious anti-Israel provocateur Norman Finkelstein has been scheduled to deliver a keynote lecture as part of the campus’s Israeli Apartheid Week events next month.

Last year at the University of Toronto, Finkelstein told his audience that Israel has no right to practice self-defence regardless of how extreme the terrorist threats at its border, even if the lives of Israeli civilians are in immediate jeopardy. 

In a letter to McMaster President David Farrar, FSWC wrote, “Anyone who denies Israel the basic legal and natural right to defend itself from murderous attacks against its civilians demonstrates a basic disdain for the value of Jewish life. Under no circumstances should Finkelstein enjoy the privilege and prestige associated with speaking at McMaster or any other Canadian university.”

Last week, FSWC contacted Farrar to demand the administration ban the McMaster student group Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights after the club used images of convicted terrorist Lela Khalid holding an AK47 to fundraise for and advertise Israeli Apartheid Week programming.

FSWC monitors university affairs and engages in ongoing advocacy efforts in the fight against antisemitism and misinformation about Israel at Canadian universities.