I offered this affidavit to Chapters' Media Relations Director BEFORE she issued her press release, but she declined it and went ahead with the release anyway.

Why was she in such a rush to call me "racist" before she even completed her investigation.  The evidence shows that she did not bother to get written statements from the employees until well AFTER she issued her release.

Why was Canada's monopoly book retailer in such a rush to defer to some young Islamists?

I have removed the name of the professors until it becomes public knowledge at the trial.   This draft was used in the Court action to get an Order directing Rogers to disclose the customer name and address for the computer IP address for the terrible internet posting on Canadian Coalition for Democracies web site, alleging fraudulently in the name of a reputable Jewish family that what I said at the lecture was even worse than alleged by Ms. Al-Halimi - the maker of the post alleged that I said, "all arabs and Muslims deserve to die."

When we got the court order, Rogers disclosed that the computer belonged to the defendant Howaida Wahdan.   Her daughter Alia Khedr admitted on the telephone that she is friends with the book store employee, Raneem Al-Halimi.

Don't people who lie ever think that they might be found out?   Is it "racist" to speculate whether people from one specific culture lie more than others?   We had better come to terms with these questions......

Court File No.

ONTARIO
SUPERIOR COURT OF JUSTICE

B E T W E E N:

Howard rotberg

Applicant

- and -

Rogers CABLE communications inc.

Respondent

AFFIDAVIT OF xx and yy SWORN ON AUGUST      , 2004

WE, xx and yy, of the City of Kitchener in the Regional Municipality of Waterloo, in the Province of Ontario, MAKE OATH AND SAY:

On Sunday May 16, 2004, we attended a lecture at Chapters Bookstore in Waterloo by Howard Rotberg, author of the novel, The Second Catastrophe.

We sat in the second row and were present for the whole of the lecture, which was prematurely terminated as a result of two protestors taking over and not allowing Mr. Rotberg to continue speaking, and making abusive comments.

Mr. Rotberg was in the process of introducing his lecture and his book by discussing the reasons why he wrote the book. He talked generally about the political and diplomatic situation for the State of Israel in the Middle East and in the world community. He made mention of his background as a child of a survivor of the Holocaust.

Mr. Rotberg was critical of terrorists who attacked Israeli civilians, but he did not make any generalizations about Muslims, which would in our view justify any allegation of racism against him.

Two gentlemen, one identifying himself as a Palestinian and one as a Kurdish Iraqi, interrupted him. Both of them kept on talking and prevented Mr. Rotberg from speaking. Some audience members asked them to let the author continue his lecture. The first gentleman responded that the author had no right to speak because he was pro-Israel, and the second gentleman loudly referred to the author as a “fucking Jew” (heard by xx; heard repeated by the speaker by yy).

Previously, the Palestinian gentleman alleged that the author thought that all Muslims were terrorists. Mr. Rotberg denied that he held such an opinion. Then he alleged that such a viewpoint was contained in Mr. Rotberg’s book. Mr. Rotberg then asked the gentleman if he had read the book, and the man responded that he had read part of it. Mr. Rotberg denied that the book contained such a viewpoint.

We heard Mr. Rotberg’s entire lecture. At no time did we hear any racist comments from him. He made no racist statements about Muslims or Arabs. His criticisms were limited to those Arabs or Muslims who adhere to what the author and others identify as an “Islamist” philosophy; that is, a militant form of Islam that believes in terrorism and suicide bombing as a way to defeat liberal democracies such as the United States and Israel.

We are aware of the allegation of one “Sela Vomberg” made in an internet posting on the Canadian Coalition for Democracies public internet message forum that Mr. Rotberg said that all Arabs or Muslims should die.  This allegation is false. Mr. Rotberg said nothing of the kind.

We make this Affidavit in support of a court application requiring Rogers Cable Communications Inc. to disclose the source of the posting made under the name “Sela Vomberg” to the public message forum of the website for the Canadian Coalition for Democracies and for no other or improper purpose.

SWORN before me at the City of Kitchener )
of the Regional Municipality of Waterloo,               )
in the Province of Ontario, on August      , 2004 )
)
)
)           xx

Commissioner for Taking Affidavits

SWORN before me at the City of Kitchener )
of the Regional Municipality of Waterloo,               )
in the Province of Ontario, on August      , 2004 )
)
)
)          yy

Commissioner for Taking Affidavits

 

755446.1

 

HOWARD ROTBERG Applicant	and	ROGERS CABLE COMMUNICATIONS INC. Respondent Court File No.
		ONTARIO SUPERIOR COURT OF JUSTICE Proceeding commenced at Toronto
		AFFIDAVIT OF xx and yy
		WeirFoulds LLP Barristers & Solicitors The Exchange Tower, Suite 1600 P.O. Box 480 130 King Street West Toronto, Ontario  M5X 1J5   Megan E. Ferrier LSUC #: 48276H Tel: 416-365-1110 Fax:     416-365-1876   Solicitors for the Applicant