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Leeds University Jewish Society cancels 'controversial' lawyer's invite
An invitation to an American lawyer who specializes in fighting Western lawsuits by Islamic extremists has been withdrawn at 48 hours' notice by Leeds University Jewish Society over fears that she is "too controversial".Brooke Goldstein, director of the Lawfare Project, has been touring Britain this week with UK Lawyers for Israel, speaking about the ways Arab tyrannies and Islamist leaders use "lawfare" to sue those who publish articles exposing radical Islam. Students are said to be concerned about her association with Geert Wilders, to whom she gave legal advice after he was sued for anti-Muslim remarks. Ms Goldstein said the students are "trying to prevent me from speaking about how we defend their rights, as someone who advocates on their behalf. I think it's disgraceful, it's Orwellian." JSoc president Ilana Manuel said: "We researched some of Ms Goldstein's past projects, her associates and views that she has expressed in various media outlets and have decided that this is not appropriate for our campus. Our priority is the welfare of our students and we did not want to put anyone in a situation where this could be jeopardized." Ms Goldstein argued that her defense of Wilders was about protecting freedom of speech. "Whether you agree with him or not, and there are a lot of points we disagree on, surely he deserves to be allowed to express his opinions in the 21st century? "It's disappointing that they would shy away from debating the most pertinent issues of our time, for example what limits should be put on free speech and what is acceptable dialogue, critical of religion, in free societies." Posted by: ryuge 2012-03-16 |
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