IRVINE, CA–After a three-day detention, Canadian Customs released today a shipment of newsletters from the Ayn Rand Institute titled “In Moral Defense of Israel.” Dr. Yaron Brook, executive director of the Ayn Rand Institute, said “The detainment at the Canadian border of our brochures arguing for the support of Israel against the terrorists assailing it for decades is unacceptable.”
“The brochures were detained,” explained Dr. Brook, “for no legitimate reason. The label on the package stated that it contained 350 brochures titled ‘In Moral Defense of Israel.’ Either Canadian Customs chose to detain the brochures because they opened our package and didn’t like what they read, or worse, they detained the brochures simply because they disagree with any defense of Israel.”
“It is not a proper function of government, whether Canada’s or America’s,” said Dr. Brook, “to censor intellectual material–and this is especially true at a time when we are at war to preserve our freedoms, including our freedom of speech.”
“It is shameful that an attempt to defend Israel on moral grounds would be considered for censorship while anti-Israel literature can be found in any bookstore and anti-Israel rhetoric can be heard on any college campus.”
“Hopefully our brochures will get to the University of Toronto in time for the speech that I will deliver there this Sunday,” said Dr. Brook. “The essential point is that we are expressing an intellectual view–and we have an absolute right to advocate that view.”
