SAN DIEGO (SDJW)– Philanthropist Ernest Rady, who donated $30 million to the medical school and faculty of health sciences at the University of Manitoba, has protested a commencement address there by valedictorian Dr. Gem Newman in which Newman excoriated Israel for waging “a genocidal war” on the “people of Palestine”
Rady is a San Diego resident and namesake benefactor of the Rady Children’s Hospital, the Rady Shell on the Embarcadero, and numerous Jewish organizations including Jewish Family Service.
According to The Free Press of Winnipeg, Manitoba, in a letter to Vice Chancellor Michael Benarroch and the Health Sciences Dean Dr. Peter Nickerson, Rady said of Newman’s words: “They are hate speech and they are lies.”
“Newman’s speech not only dishonored the memory of my father, but also disrespected and disparaged Jewish people as a whole, including the Jewish students who were in attendance at that convocation — some of whom I’ve heard from.”
Rady’s father. Max, graduated from UM’s medical school in 1921 and had been one of the first Jewish students to be accepted there.
To read the full The Free Press’ full story, click here.
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SDJW staff report