Law lecturer at the University of Alberta Zachary Al-Khatib told pro-Palestine protestors the former director of the school’s Sexual Assault Centre was “truthful” and “courageous.” Al-Khatib, a practicing defence lawyer, serves once a year as a sessional instructor of criminal procedure at the university. The director, fired on Saturday, signed the centre’s name on an open letter to Members of Parliament calling the Hamas rape of Israeli women on Oct. 7 “unverified allegations.” “It is tough to speak a word of truth in the face of people who don’t want to hear it,” Al-Khatib said at a demonstration Saturday. “It’s tough to speak up for what’s right when people don’t want to hear you.” “The head of the Sexual Assault Centre was fired by the University of Alberta because they said it was unclear, the narrative Israel is promoting, is not verified,” he continued. “For saying that, they were fired from their position.”“But they spoke a courageous word. And whenever you take a stand and say something courageous and truthful and against tyranny, you're going to make enemies. Some people are not going to like it.” “There are people who benefit from this status quo.” .The speech was captured on video and posted by Documenting Antisemitism on Twitter (“X”). “Faculty of Law (Zachary Al-Khatib) defends the fired head of the local sexual assault centre who signed the letter denying the rape of Israeli women by Hamas,” the post states. “He says that they spoke a ‘courageous word’ against ‘tyranny.’”“The letter specifically attacked Jagmeet Singh for ‘the unverified accusation that Palestinians were guilty of sexual violence’ and said that this was ‘obfuscating reality.’”“A sexual assault centre should support victims and advocate for them, not downplay and minimize cases of sexual assault. It is sickening to hear such comments loudly cheered and supported at the University of Alberta.”In response to the post, Al-Khatib retweeted it and wrote “allegations of crimes need to be proven.”“She signed a letter calling for a ceasefire,” he added. “The letter doesn’t ‘deny rape’ - it says politicians shouldn’t parrot the IDF (Israeli Defence Forces).”.Al-Khatib told the Western Standard he thinks “every rational person would agree that politicians should verify their public statements.”He said the speech was more about calling for a ceasefire than sexual violence, which he said is “terrible and unacceptable in any context, obviously.”“The message of my short speech was that citizens should continue to courageously call for a ceasefire, because killing innocents is wrong,” he said. “No one should want more innocents to be hurt and killed. Our representatives should be calling for a ceasefire and facilitating the return of hostages.”
Law lecturer at the University of Alberta Zachary Al-Khatib told pro-Palestine protestors the former director of the school’s Sexual Assault Centre was “truthful” and “courageous.” Al-Khatib, a practicing defence lawyer, serves once a year as a sessional instructor of criminal procedure at the university. The director, fired on Saturday, signed the centre’s name on an open letter to Members of Parliament calling the Hamas rape of Israeli women on Oct. 7 “unverified allegations.” “It is tough to speak a word of truth in the face of people who don’t want to hear it,” Al-Khatib said at a demonstration Saturday. “It’s tough to speak up for what’s right when people don’t want to hear you.” “The head of the Sexual Assault Centre was fired by the University of Alberta because they said it was unclear, the narrative Israel is promoting, is not verified,” he continued. “For saying that, they were fired from their position.”“But they spoke a courageous word. And whenever you take a stand and say something courageous and truthful and against tyranny, you're going to make enemies. Some people are not going to like it.” “There are people who benefit from this status quo.” .The speech was captured on video and posted by Documenting Antisemitism on Twitter (“X”). “Faculty of Law (Zachary Al-Khatib) defends the fired head of the local sexual assault centre who signed the letter denying the rape of Israeli women by Hamas,” the post states. “He says that they spoke a ‘courageous word’ against ‘tyranny.’”“The letter specifically attacked Jagmeet Singh for ‘the unverified accusation that Palestinians were guilty of sexual violence’ and said that this was ‘obfuscating reality.’”“A sexual assault centre should support victims and advocate for them, not downplay and minimize cases of sexual assault. It is sickening to hear such comments loudly cheered and supported at the University of Alberta.”In response to the post, Al-Khatib retweeted it and wrote “allegations of crimes need to be proven.”“She signed a letter calling for a ceasefire,” he added. “The letter doesn’t ‘deny rape’ - it says politicians shouldn’t parrot the IDF (Israeli Defence Forces).”.Al-Khatib told the Western Standard he thinks “every rational person would agree that politicians should verify their public statements.”He said the speech was more about calling for a ceasefire than sexual violence, which he said is “terrible and unacceptable in any context, obviously.”“The message of my short speech was that citizens should continue to courageously call for a ceasefire, because killing innocents is wrong,” he said. “No one should want more innocents to be hurt and killed. Our representatives should be calling for a ceasefire and facilitating the return of hostages.”
