It’s “remarkably” contradictory to challenge Israel’s treatment of Palestinians while celebrating its leading advocate’s “defence of human rights”.
In the House of Commons Monday MPs unanimously praised Irwin Cotler’s “contribution to the defence of human rights”. For his part, ‘pro-Palestinian’ NDP MP Alexandre Boulerice told CBC Cotler was a “remarkable” individual.
But over the past half century Cotler has probably been Canada’s most important promoter of an apartheid state terrorizing the Middle East. In September 2023 Israeli President Isaac Herzog gave him the Presidential Medal of Honor for making “an extraordinary contribution to the State of Israel, the Jewish people, and all humanity.”
Since then, Cotler has attended multiple rallies supporting Israel’s holocaust in Gaza and written in defence of its policies. Previously Cotler pressured the International Criminal Court to ignore Israeli war crimes and opposed the International Court of Justice advising member states on their responsibility vis a vis Israel’s illegal occupation. He’s also pushed Ottawa to relocate its embassy to Jerusalem while attending events put on by the racist Jewish National Fund and meeting with far-right colonists seeking to cleanse occupied East Jerusalem of Palestinians.
In 2021 Cotler rallied behind Israel’s violence and earlier defended its shooting of ‘march of return’ protesters in Gaza as well as the 2014 and 2009 attacks on Gaza that left nearly 4,000 dead. Just after Israel killed 1,200 Lebanese in the summer of 2006 Cotler spoke to a conference of top Israeli military officials on the importance of managing the message in modern war.
Beyond Israel, Cotler has also supported NATO’s destruction of Libya, Paul Kagame’s violent regime and the ouster of Venezuela’s government. Cotler’s human rights activism is almost solely focused on regimes targeted by the US empire.
The House of Commons resolution praising Cotler was a response to a Globe and Mail report that Iran was seeking to assassinate the former Liberal justice minister. The claim that Iran sought to assassinate Cotler has been reported around the world, but the head of the Iranian foreign ministry’s Americas section, Issa Kameli, called the allegation a “ridiculous propaganda stunt”.
Lawyer Dmitri Lascaris explained why this is more plausible than the widely reported allegations leveled against Iran. Lascaris notes:
“First of all, the story is written by Robert Fife of the Globe and Mail, who is basically a mouthpiece for the military industrial complex. Second, Fife’s story is based on ‘a source’ whom Fife does not identify. Third, the source claims that Canadian legal authorities had knowledge of two suspects in the alleged plot, but ‘it is not known whether they have been arrested or fled the country.’ How convenient! Fourth, the RCMP has not confirmed the story, and even if it did, the RCMP’s ‘confirmation’ is not proof that the story is true. Fifth, the article characterizes Cotler — an apologist for Israel’s genocidal regime — as a ‘human rights crusader’. That tells you all you need to know about Fife’s ideological orientation and his total lack of objectivity. Finally, the story is based on the false premise that Cotler is some kind of international superstar in the West’s efforts to destabilize Iran’s government. Although Cotler has a gigantic ego and the Canadian establishment loves to stroke that ego, Cotler is a geopolitical pipsqueak. The Iranian government has a lot more to be concerned with than this Canadian pipsqueak. What is likely going on here, folks, is that the corporate media and Canadian ‘intelligence’ agencies are trying to build public support for a full-blown war against Iran. Don’t allow yourself to fall for this scam.”
In multiple interviews over the past 48 hours Cotler has made it clear he’s using the Iranian assassination claims to push Ottawa to ramp up its hostility towards Iran. Highly suspect claims that Iran sought to assassinate Donald Trump have been cited to justify the US attacking Iran. John Ratcliffe, who Trump has picked to lead the CIA, recently said the US should attack Iran in response to Tehran’s “acts of war” against the US by allegedly plotting to assassinate Trump and hack his campaign emails.
Cotler is a human rights charlatan who falsely claimed to have been Nelson Mandela’s lawyer. He pushes the Israel-can-do-no-wrong notion of a “new antisemitism”. He has become a saintly figure by expressing moral outrage at official enemies while endorsing or ignoring Canada’s international abuses.
The House of Commons unanimously praising Cotler’s “contribution to the defence of human rights” during Israel’s holocaust in Gaza is remarkable. But that same parliament also gave a standing ovation to a former Nazi SS soldier.
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