Canadian organization. Asked ministers to refuse work permits to anti-Israeli professors.

Bnei Breth Canada met the Ministers of the Government of Canada with the German Prof. Valentina Azarova, if she is accepted to the position of Director of the International Human Rights Program (IHRP) at the University of Toronto.

The controversy surrounding him has been going on at the University of Toronto for more than a year.

Azarova had applied for the position during 2020 and was unanimously recommended by a recruitment committee. However, the offer was canceled on September 9, 2020.

The Canadian press got wind of a phone call on September 4 between University of Toronto alumnus and tax judge David Spiro and the university’s assistant vice president, where Spiro – who also sat on the board of Canada’s major pro-Israel lobby – said Expressed his concern over Azarova’s views on the Israel-Palestinian conflict.

Azarova was initially recommended for the position because of her expertise in immigration and supply chain accountability. She wrote about migrant issues and conflicts in the European Union as well as Libya and Nagorno-Karabakh, but wrote most extensively about the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.

He took a severely critical view of Israel’s actions with the Palestinians.

The closeness of Spiro’s phone conversation to the backlash of Azarov’s application for the position caused an uproar.

Several Canadian news outlets reported that he was turned down because of his views and the pressure exerted by Spiro. This was a serious attack on academic freedom in the eyes of many.

Anti-Semitic rhetoric entered public debate, as “Jewish money” was accused of acting behind the scenes to control the academic environment.

Sentiment against the university was so strong that the entire recruiting committee that recommended Azarová resigned, and the Canadian University Teachers Association (CAUT), which represents 72,000 academic professionals across Canada, opposed the university in favor of condemnation. Voted 79–0 in the U.S., many leading speakers and donors broke up.

University of Toronto (Credit: Wikimedia Commons)

In an effort to defend his actions, the university asked former Supreme Court Justice of Canada Thomas Cromwell to investigate the hiring process and the reasons why Azarov was not selected for the position.

Cromwell’s report, published on March 15, 2021, concluded that he “would not conclude that undue external influence played any role in the decision to terminate the candidature of the preferred candidate.”

According to Bunny Brith, Azarova’s candidacy was revoked simply because she did not have a license to practice law in the state of Ontario, which was required for the position.

However, the search for a new IHRP director began in June, and an offer was made to Azarova personally.

No one else received a personal offer, nor did any other applicant come in contact with the CAUT condemnation.

In addition, the clause that the position must be filled by a licensed practitioner disappeared from the new job requirements.

That is when Bunny Brith decided to leave the conflict in academia and turned to government ministers in the hope that if Azarová was officially offered the position, she would not be given a work permit and therefore They will not be able to accept.

“Ms Azarova had been recommended by a search committee for the position a year earlier, but was not hired, because there were eligible Canadians who had applied for the position, making her ineligible for a permit, and because She did not meet the advertised requirements,” the letter states. “An anti-Semitic fantasy developed around the denial of hire, which led to a detailed investigation rejecting the fantasy.”

“Valentina Azarova’s research has focused primarily on arguing that the State of Israel has systematically committed gross violations of international human rights,” Bani Brith wrote in her submission to the Cromwell investigation.

“Their ‘scholarly’ work has largely focused on demonization, illegalization and double standards when it comes to the state of Israel,” the organization wrote. “Her professional associations include highly anti-Israeli organizations [including] al haki [which] There is a direct link to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) – a listed terrorist unit in Canada – and is led by Shawn Jabreen, a former senior operative of the PFLP. Ms Azarova has consistently participated in some of the most staunch anti-Semitic forums and propaganda activities such as the Electronic Intifada, Al Majdal Quarterly (Badil) and the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign.

B’nai Brith concluded with a request to deny Azarova a work permit:

“In our view, the appointment of Ms. Azarova to the position of Director of the International Human Rights Program of the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Law would harm Canada by causing substantial harm to the University of Toronto for the prescribed reasons. The Cromwell Review was previously mentioned in our submission In any case, this time the search process is the same as before, albeit in a different way. If the current search process leads to a request for a work permit for Ms. Azarova, that request is denied must be given.”

It remains to be seen what the IHRP decides to do.