Prof. Irwin Cotler, MP Law Professor, Constitutional and Comparative Law Scholar, International Human Rights Lawyer, Counsel to prisoners of conscience, NGO Head, Public Intellectual, Community Leader and Peace Activist, Member of Parliament, and Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada – Irwin Cotler has been variously described in these roles and responsibilities as being at the forefront of the struggle for justice, peace and human rights. Irwin Cotler has been a Member of Canadian Parliament since 1999, and served as Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada from December 2003 until January 2006. He is currently official Opposition Critic for Human Rights, a member of the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on International Human Rights, and a member of the House of Commons Committee on Public Safety and National Security. He has made a distinctive mark as Chair of the Parliamentarians for Global Action (Canada); founder of the all-party Save Darfur Parliamentary Coalition; Co-Chair of the Parliamentary Human Rights Group, the first ever all-party joint House-Senate human rights caucus; Executive Member of the Inter-Parliamentary Union; and Honourary Member of the Liberal Women's Caucus. A leading public advocate in and out of Parliament for the Human Rights Agenda, he headed the Canadian Delegation to the Stockholm International Forum on the Prevention of Genocide. Mr. Cotler is currently on leave as a Professor of Law at McGill University, where he is Director of its Human Rights Program, and Chair of InterAmicus, the McGill-based International Human Rights Advocacy Centre. He has been a Visiting Professor at Harvard Law School, a Woodrow Wilson Fellow at Yale Law School, and is the recipient of eight Honorary Doctorates, including one from York University, whose citation referred to him as "a scholar and advocate of international stature". A constitutional and comparative law scholar, he has testified as an expert witness on human rights before Parliamentary Committees in Canada, the United States, Russia, Sweden, Norway, and Israel, and has lectured at major international academic and professional gatherings in America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. An international human rights lawyer, Professor Cotler served as Counsel to former prisoners of conscience in the Soviet Union (Andrei Sakharov), South Africa (Nelson Mandela), Latin America (Jacobo Timmerman), and Asia (Muchtar Pakpahan). He later served as international legal counsel to imprisoned Russian environmentalist Aleksandr Nikitin; Nigerian playwright and Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka; the Chilean-Canadian group Vérité et justice in the Pinochet case; and Chinese-Canadian political prisoner, Professor KunLun Zhang. More recently, he served as Counsel to Professor Saad Edin Ibrahim, the leading democracy advocate in the Arab world. A feature article on him in Maclean's magazine referred to him as "Counsel for the Oppressed". Professor Cotler's efforts have resulted in his chairing, or being a member of, a number of governmental and citizens' Commissions of Inquiry –including being Chair of the International Commission of Inquiry into the Fate and Whereabouts of Raoul Wallenberg; Chair of the Commission on Economic Coercion and Discrimination; member of the Commission of Inquiry on the Crime of Apartheid. top of page

Alan Dershowitz Alan Dershowitz was born in Brooklyn, graduated from Yeshiva University High School and Brooklyn College. At Yale Law School, he graduated first in his class and served as editor-in-chief of the Yale Law Journal. After clerking for Chief Judge David Bazelon and Justice Arthur Goldberg, he was appointed to the Harvard Law School faculty at age 25 and became a full professor at age 28, the youngest in the school's history. Since that time, he has taught courses in criminal law, psychiatry and law, constitutional litigation, civil liberties and violence, comparative criminal law, legal ethics, human rights, the Bible and justice, great trials, neurobiology and the law, and a collaborative philosophy course called "Thinking About Thinking." Professor Alan M. Dershowitz has been called "the nation's most peripatetic civil liberties lawyer" and one of its "most distinguished defenders of individual rights," "the best-known criminal lawyer in the world," "the top lawyer of last resort," "America's most public Jewish defender" and "Israel's single most visible defender – the Jewish state's lead attorney in the court of public opinion." He is the Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. Dershowitz, a graduate of Brooklyn College and Yale Law School, joined the Harvard Law School faculty at age 25 after clerking for Judge David Bazelon and Justice Arthur Goldberg. He has also published more than 100 articles in magazines and journals such as The New York Times Magazine, The Washington Post. The Wall Street Journal, The New Republic, The Nation, Commentary, Saturday Review, The Harvard Law Review and the Yale Law Journal, and more than 300 of his articles have appeared in syndication in 50 national daily newspapers. Professor Dershowitz is the author of 27 fiction and non-fiction works with a worldwide audience. His most recent titles include Rights From Wrong, The Case For Israel, The Case For Peace, Blasphemy: How the Religious Right is Hijacking the Declaration of Independence and Preemption: A Knife that Cuts Both Ways, Finding Jefferson – A Lost Letter, A Remarkable Discovery, and The First Amendment In An Age of Terrorism. In addition to his numerous law review articles and books about criminal and constitutional law, he has written, taught and lectured about history, philosophy, psychology, literature, mathematics, theology, music, sports – and even delicatessens. He has advised presidents, United Nations officials, prime ministers, governors, senators, and members of Congress as well as business leaders about legal and political issues. He has also represented and consulted with major media companies on free-speech issues. In 1983, the Anti-Defamation League of the B'nai B'rith presented him with the William O. Douglas First Amendment Award for his "compassionate eloquent leadership and persistent advocacy in the struggle for civil and human rights." In presenting the award, Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel said: "If there had been a few people like Alan Dershowitz during the 1930s and 1940s, the history of European Jewry might have been different." Professor Dershowitz has been awarded the honorary doctor of laws degree by Yeshiva University, the Hebrew Union College, Brooklyn College, Syracuse University and Haifa University. The New York Criminal Bar Association honored him for his "outstanding contribution as a scholar and dedicated defender of human rights." Dershowitz has lectured throughout the country and around the world to more than a million people - from Carnegie Hall to the Kremlin. In 1979 he was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship for his work in human rights. In 1981 he was invited to China as a guest of the government to lecture and consult on their criminal code. He returned in 2001 to lecture to lawyers and law students. In 1987 he was named the John F. Kennedy-Fulbright Lecturer and toured New Zealand University lecturing about the Bill of Rights. In 1988 he served as Visiting Professor of Law at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and lectured in Israel on civil liberties during times of crisis. In 1990 he was invited to Moscow to lecture on human rights, and the following year was selected as a Father of the Year and a recipient of the Golden Plate Award. At Harvard, he is currently the Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law, a chair established in honor of the great justice's work in constitutional law. Dershowitz has been awarded honorary degrees and medals by Yeshiva University, Syracuse University, Hebrew Union College, the University of Haifa, Monmouth College, Fitchburg College and Brooklyn College. He has been active in the American Civil Liberties Union, and the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith. He is married to Carolyn Cohen, a Ph.D. in psychology. He has three children, one of whom is a film producer, another a lawyer with the National Basketball Association and the Women's National Basketball Association, and the third is a senior in high school. Dershowitz was a varsity basketball player in high school and continues to play, regularly attends Boston Celtics home games, and occasionally comments on the Boston sports scene. He has even been the subject of two New Yorker cartoons, a New York Times crossword puzzle and a Trivial Pursuit question. top of page

Rabbi Marvin Hier Rabbi Marvin Hier is the dean and founder of the Simon Wiesenthal Center and its acclaimed Museum of Tolerance. In 1977, following a visit to Holocaust sites in Europe, Rabbi Hier came to Los Angeles to create the Simon Wiesenthal Center. Under his leadership, the Center has become one of the foremost Jewish human rights agencies in the world, with a constituency of more than 400,000 families. The Center maintains offices throughout the United States, and in Canada, Europe, Israel and Argentina. Noted for his powerful oratory, his views on issues of the day are regularly sought by the international media and his editorials have appeared in newspapers across the United States. Rabbi Hier meets regularly with world leaders to discuss the Center's agenda -- a wide range of issues including worldwide anti-Semitism, the resurgence of neo-Nazism and international terrorism. Among those with whom he has dialogued are U.S. Presidents Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George Bush and Bill Clinton; His Royal Majesty, King Hussein I of Jordan; Israeli Prime Ministers Menachem Begin, Shimon Peres, Yitzhak Shamir, Yitzhak Rabin and Binyamin Netanyahu; Pope John Paul II; French Presidents Francois Mitterand and Jacques Chirac; Czech President Vaclav Havel; and United Nations Secretary Generals Javier Perez de Cuellar and Boutros Boutros Ghali. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, his dialogue with German Chancellor Helmut Kohl led to a critical debate on German reunification and the need for 'deutsche memory'. Rabbi Hier is the founder of Moriah, the Center's film division, and is the recipient of two Academy Awards - in 1997, as co-producer of THE LONG WAY HOME, which offers new insights into the critical post WWII period between 1945 and 1948 and the plight of the tens of thousands of refugees who survived the Holocaust, and in 1981 as co-producer and co-writer for GENOCIDE, a documentary on the Holocaust. In 1990, he wrote and co-produced the award-winning ECHOES THAT REMAIN, a documentary on pre-world War II European Jewish life, and in 1994, Hier produced and co-wrote, LIBERATION, the first production of Moriah Films. Under Rabbi Hier's direction, the Wiesenthal Center has served as consultant to Steven Spielberg's epic Schindler's List, and ABC Television's miniseries adaptation of Herman Wouk's novel, War and Remembrance. Several years ago Rabbi Hier keynoted an historic conference on anti-Semitism and the struggle for tolerance which was co-sponsored by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) and the Simon Wiesenthal Center, convened at UNESCO's international headquarters in Paris. He is the recipient of an honorary degree and many awards. In 1993 he was made a Chevalier in the Ordre National du Merite by French President Francois Mitterand. top of page

Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau Rabbi Israel Meir Lau was born in 1937 in Pyotrekov, Poland. A survivor of the Buchenwald concentration camp, he lost both of his parents in the Holocaust. In 1946 he immigrated to Israel, where he lived with his uncle and studied at a state religious school in Kiryat Shmuel. He then studied at three yeshivas: Kol Torah in Jerusalem, Knesset Hizkiya in Zichron Ya'akov and Ponevezh in Bnei Brak. In 1971, Rabbi Lau was ordained as a rabbi by the Ponevezh yeshiva. He became rabbi of North Tel Aviv until 1979, when he became Chief Rabbi of Netanya. In 1983, he was elected member of Chief Rabbinical Council, serving on committee for medical ethics. From 1988 – 1993, he served as Chief Rabbi and President of the Rabbinical Court of Tel Aviv – Yafo. From 1993 – 2003, he served as Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel. In 2005, he was reinstalled as Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv, a position he holds today. top of page

Matisyahu Since the release of his 2004 debut, Shake off the dust...ARISE and the phenomenal success of last year's Live At Stubb's, Matisyahu has continued to bring his uncanny, electrifying fusion of orthodox Judaism and classic reggae music to audiences with an incessant touring schedule and unbelievable energy. Born in West Chester, PA and raised in White Plains, NY, the young man formerly known as Matthew Miller would undertake a monumental odyssey before discovering his path - and voice - as Matisyahu (the Hebrew equivalent of "Matthew," and the name he became known by when he became observant). Via adventures in Colorado, Israel, Oregon, and New York City, he not only heard a profound spiritual calling, but also discerned a revolutionary way to share his discoveries and reflections, via the reggae and hip-hop sounds that had long been an integral part of his day-to-day soundtrack. Regardless of religious affiliation, most artists will tell you that the creative force is a special type of divinity that moves through them. Matisyahu simply seeks to serve as a conduit for the messages of peace and unity that flow through him, to improve the world by sharing his music, and without letting ego or worldly desires interfere in that communication. "That's what I'm aiming for," he admits. "I don't think I've fully gotten there, but that's the goal." top of page

Rabbi Dr. Sir Jonathan Sacks Rabbi Dr. Sir Jonathan Sacks has been Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth since September 1, 1991, the sixth incumbent since 1845. Widely recognised as one of the world's leading contemporary exponents of Judaism, Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair said of him (March 2004): "Jonathan Sacks is truly a towering figure in the intellectual life of Britain today. He ranges with extraordinary ease across different fields, making a contribution that is uniquely and distinctively his own. In particular, as few other people can, he relates the insights of religion to the modern world and retells the story of faith in a compelling way, and that is a rare and remarkable achievement." Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown, said of him (May 2003): "The Chief Rabbi is not just a distinguished scholar but a distinguished spiritual leader and a globally respected ambassador for the Jewish community here in Britain. He is respected in every continent because he has done more than anyone in Britain today to focus our attention on the needs and challenges of community in the global world." Historian Michael Burleigh recently described him as "the most impressive religious leader in the Kingdom" (2006). Prior to becoming Chief Rabbi, Rabbi Sacks had been Principal of Jews' College, London, the world's oldest rabbinical seminary, as well as rabbi of the Golders Green and Marble Arch synagogues in London. He gained rabbinic ordination from Jews' College as well as from London's Yeshiva Etz Chaim. His secular academic career has also been a distinguished one. Educated at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, where he obtained first class honours in Philosophy, he pursued postgraduate studies at New College, Oxford, and King's College, London. Professor Sacks has been Visiting Professor of Philosophy at the University of Essex, Sherman Lecturer at Manchester University, Riddell Lecturer at Newcastle University, Cook Lecturer at the Universities of Oxford, Edinburgh and St. Andrews and Visiting Professor at the Hebrew University, Jerusalem. He is currently Visiting Professor of Theology at Kings' College London. He holds honorary doctorates from the universities of Bar Ilan, Cambridge, Glasgow, Haifa, Middlesex, Yeshiva University New York, University of Liverpool, St. Andrews University and Leeds Metropolitan University, and is an honorary fellow of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, and King's College London. In September 2001, the Archbishop of Canterbury conferred on him a doctorate of Divinity in recognition of his first ten years in the Chief Rabbinate. At his installation as Chief Rabbi in 1991, Dr Sacks set out his vision of a reinvigorated Anglo-Jewry and launched it with a Decade of Jewish Renewal, followed by a series of innovative communal projects. These included Jewish Continuity (a national foundation funding programmes in Jewish education and outreach), the Association of Jewish Business Ethics, the Chief Rabbinate Awards for Excellence, the Chief Rabbinate Bursaries, and Community Development, a national programme to enhance Jewish community life. In 1995, he received the Jerusalem Prize for his contribution to diaspora Jewish life. In September 2001 the Chief Rabbi began his second decade of office with a call to Jewish Responsibility and a renewed commitment to the ethical dimension of Judaism. He was awarded a Knighthood in the Queen's Birthday Honours list in June 2005. A notably gifted communicator, the Chief Rabbi is a frequent contributor to radio, television and the national press. Each year before Rosh Hashanah he delivers a message to the nation on BBC Television. In 1990 he delivered the BBC Reith Lectures on The Persistence of Faith. He is the author of a number of books, including: Tradition in an Untraditional Age (1990); Persistence of Faith (1991); Arguments for the Sake of Heaven (1991); Crisis and Covenant (1992); One People? (1993); Will We Have Jewish Grandchildren? (1994); Community of Faith (1995); Faith in the Future; The Politics of Hope (1997); Morals and Markets (1999); Celebrating Life (2000); Radical Then, Radical Now (2001); Dignity of Difference (2002); The Chief Rabbi's Haggadah (2003); From Optimism to Hope (2004); To Heal a Fractured World (2005); The Authorised Daily Prayer Book: new translation and commentary (2006); and The Home We Build Together (2007) Six of his books have been serialised in the national British press. The [London] Times described his Faith in the Future as "one of the most significant declarations made by a religious leader in this country for many years," and called his The Politics of Hope "a remarkable book—rich and eloquent—which deserves to become a key text." The Daily Telegraph wrote of The Dignity of Difference that it "stands far above other books about globalization and the so-called clash of civilizations, both for what it has to say and for the grace with which it says it." Rabbi Sacks is a regular contributor to The Times, in which he writes a monthly Credo column. He is a frequent contributor to Thought for the Day on BBC Radio 4. A Letter in the Scroll and The Dignity of Difference both won national American book awards. Born in 1948 in London, he has been married to Elaine since 1970. They have three children, Joshua, Dina and Gila and three grandchildren. top of page

Natan Sharansky Natan (Anatoly) Sharansky was born in 1948 in Ukraine. He graduated in Computer Sciences from the Physical Technical Institute in Moscow. Sharansky was one of the founding members of the Jewish movement in the unofficial Helsinki Monitoring Group, for which he acted as the spokesperson. In 1973, he applied for an exit visa to Israel but was denied for "security" reasons. He continued to engage in underground Zionist activities until his arrest by the Soviet authorities in 1977 on trumped-up charges of treason and espionage. Although the U.S. government categorically denied any connection between Sharansky and the C.I.A., Sharansky was found guilty in 1978 and sentenced to 13 years imprisonment. An international campaign calling for Sharansky's release was waged by his wife Avital in conjunction with organizations around the world, culminating in his release on February 11, 1986. He arrived in Israel that same night. In 1988, he was elected President of the newly created Zionist Forum, the umbrella organization of former Soviet activists, and was an associate editor of the Jerusalem Report. Natan Sharansky has been a tireless promoter of the cause of Soviet Jewry. Since the beginning of mass immigration from the former Soviet (1989) he has urged that immigration and absorption be accorded top national priority. To this end, he established the political party, Yisrael B'Aliya, which he represented in the Knesset from 1996 until January 2003. Sharansky served as Minister of Industry and Trade from June 1996-1999. He served as Minister of the Interior from July 1999 until his resignation in July 2000. He served as Minister of Housing and Construction and Deputy Prime Minister from March 2001 until February 2003. Sharansky served as Minister without Portfolio, responsible for Jerusalem, Social and Diaspora Affairs from February 2003 until his resignation in May 2005. Following the 2006 elections, Sharansky resigned from the Knesset, and became Chairman of the new Institute for Strategic Studies at the Shalem Center in Jerusalem. Natan Sharansky has published two books: Fear No Evil, which is his memoirs of his time in Russia, and The Case For Democracy. He is married, and the father of two daughters. top of page

Kobi Vaknin Kobi Vaknin was critically wounded in a Kassam attack on Kibbutz Nahal Oz on January 5, 2005. Kobi worked with the Amnir company collecting paper for recycling. On January 5, 2005, during his work, he arrived at Kibbutz Nahal Oz, and while he was there, a Kassam landed a few feet from where he was standing. Kobi was critically injured. He felt a wound in his legs, was wounded in the major vein leading to the heart, and lost a lot of blood. He also sustained shrapnel wounds all over his back and side, and lost the feeling in his left fingers. He was airlfted to Soroka where he was hospitalized in Intensive Care, having lost consciousness. He underwent a series of operations all over his body, and was then transferred to Tel Hashomer for treatment on his legs, and then to rehab. He was released from hospital with a paralyzed right leg, and partial paralysis in his left leg. He requires crutches to walk. top of page

Micky Rosenfeld Chief Inspector Micky Rosenfeld is the Police National Spokesman to the Foreign Press. He is currently responsible for coverage of all major events and terrorist attacks and corresponds with over 1,000 media agencies worldwide. Micky represents the Police to foreign delegations and VIPs. He has extensive experience in the field of counter-terrorism for over a decade. Chief Inspector Micky Rosenfeld graduated from Ben Gurion University with a BA in Middle Eastern studies, and from Polytechnic University with a MA in Business Administration. Born and raised in London’s Jewish and Zionistic community, Micky was active in Bnei Akiva. At the age of 15 Micky and his family made Aliya, and he later served in the IDF's Givati Brigade. top of page

Thursday, March 20, 2008
11:00 pm Israel Time

9 p.m. GMT / 5 p.m. EDT / 4 p.m. CDT / 3 p.m. MDT / 2 p.m. PDT