Hold Professor Matthews Accountable for Antisemitic Remarks

Dear Dean Farrow,

We, the undersigned graduates of Osgoode Hall Law School, write this letter with the greatest concern for the institution that was so critical in molding both our intellectual development and our careers.

For months, we have been watching in dismay the conduct, the writings and the statements made by Assistant Professor Heidi Matthews and their impact both on the students of Osgoode Hall and its reputation globally. 

Since October 7, 2023, Professor Matthews has been a vocal apologist for Hamas and Hezbollah, both recognized by successive Canadian governments as terrorist organizations.

On October 8, 2023, following the brutal murder by Hamas of 1,200 Israelis within the recognized borders of the State of Israel, Professor Matthews posted on X/Twitter: “I will leave it to the Palestinians to let us know what resistance looks like for them.” And despite a report by the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, following a detailed investigation, Professor Matthews has repeatedly expressed “skepticism” about the rapes and criticized the “lack of evidence” of the rape of Israeli victims; she accused Israel of “weaponizing of evidence of sexual violence to generate public condemnation of Hamas and corroborate the necessity for Israel’s stated war aim of Hamas’ total destruction” (X/Twitter December 7, 2023). While she freely writes that Israel “lies” (her assessment of the Israel’s distribution of polio vaccines to Palestinians) and questions any statement made by Israel not to her liking (without evidence), she seems to have no qualms about accepting freely Hamas reports and claims against Israel and the IDF. It is therefore not surprising that she even recently called for an “independent investigation into the circumstances” of the death of Yahya Sinwar, the head of Hamas who planned the 2023 terrorist massacre. 

Since October 7, 2024, Hezbollah has fired over 13,000 rockets and missiles at Israel, displacing most of the residents of Northern Israel. However, Professor Matthews said that there is no such thing as a “Hezbollah combatant” (X/Twitter September 19, 2024). Israel’s targeted pager attack at Hezbollah operatives (only Hezbollah operatives can use a pager system used for Hezbollah command and control) was declared “a terror act” by Professor Matthews. As a Professor of International Criminal Law, one would have expected that Professor Matthews would have called for disarmament of Hezbollah as provided by UN resolution 1701, but, alas, she has been silent on this as well.

One would also expect any Professor of International Law to eschew all forms of violence. However, Professor Matthews has been clear that she has no qualms of the use of violence, of course as long as targeted at Israelis. In a tweet on October 18, 2024, she called “stone throwing” a “ubiquitous resistance tool”. (X/Twitter, October 18, 2024)

Every country should be subject to criticism for its conduct and Israel is of course no exception.

But, there is a very large gap between being critical of Israel and being a terrorist apologist and an “academic” causing secondary victimization of rape sufferers.

We all understand the value of academic freedom. That academic freedom was what made Osgoode Hall the great institution it became. But, as the Oxford dictionary notes, “academic” means “scholarship”. Inherent in scholarship is academic rigor and searching for truth.

In her posts, her interviews and in her conduct, Professor Matthews has shown anything but a search for truth or the scholarship one would expect at an institution such as Osgoode Hall.

It was therefore profoundly disturbing to find that instead of censuring Professor Matthews, Osgoode Hall rewarded her with a forum for spewing her hatred by creating a course for her to teach entitled “Law and Social Change: Israel/Palestine and International Law”. In light of the above, one can only imagine what a student with a different view than Professor Matthews will experience and whether students who disagree with her will find her course a safe space for true scholarship.

We, the undersigned, therefore, call on you to remove Professor Matthews from this course and have a professor of international law genuinely committed to scholarship lead this course. We further encourage you to reassess Professor Matthews remaining at faculty member.

Yours truly,

Alan Feld (’87)

Please add your name below to the growing list of concerned community members.