July 31, 2008

Cdn University Presidents Visit Israeli Universties, West Bank falls off itinerary

Another one-sided propaganda trip for our public officials.

Sheldon Kirshner(Canadian Jewish News);


"TORONTO - The presidents of six Canadian universities visited Israel
recently. Their one-week tour took place last month and culminated in a Canada
Day reception at the Canadian ambassador’s residence in Herzliya, a Tel Aviv
suburb.

It was the fourth mission of its kind since 1993. The mission was co-hosted by
two Canadian academics, University of Toronto law professor Ed Morgan and York
University historian Irving Abella, both of whom have led previous missions.

Participating on the trip were David Johnston, Sheldon Levy, Luc Vinet, Peter
MacKinnon, Allan Rock and William Barker, the respective presidents of the
University of Waterloo, Ryerson University, Université de Montréal, the
University of Saskatchewan, the University of Ottawa and University of King’s
College in Halifax.

The president of McGill University, Heather Monroe-Blum, joined them for one
day.

“The purpose of the trip was to increase the familiarity of Canadian
academics with the breadth and depth of the Israeli university scene, with a
view to fostering faculty and student exchanges, graduate student fellowship
opportunities, joint research projects and collaborative teaching and
scholarships,” explained Morgan, a former national president of Canadian
Jewish Congress.

Abella, who is also a former CJC national president, said the objective was
three-fold: to introduce the Canadians to their Israeli counterparts, to allow
them to see first hand the quality of education and research at Israeli
universities, and to encourage the creation of joint research and exchange
programs.

The visitors met the presidents and senior administrators of Tel Aviv
University, Hebrew University, Bar-Ilan University, Haifa University, Ben
Gurion University of the Negev, the Weizmann Institute, the Technion and the
Herzliya Interdisciplinary Center.

In addition, they conferred with officials of Al-Quds, a Palestinian university
in eastern Jerusalem.

Abella hoped that the presidents would be able to visit Palestinian
universities in the West Bank, but the idea was scotched when the Canadian
Embassy expressed concerns about their safety."

full text;

http://www.cjnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=15083&Itemid=101

Note: Ex-President Carter, French President Sarkozy, British PM Brown and Barrack
Obama have all recently visited the West Bank..., but it it too dangerous for
our intrepid university presidents?

No comments:

ShareThis