US university bans Desmond Tutu for being 'Anti-Semitic'. Is this a joke? No it is not!
I wasn't going to post anything controversial for a while but really sometimes things need to be said.
Seriously people when a US University bans a Nobel Peace laureate due to an accusation of anti - Semitism shouldn't you really have a damn hard look at who is really pulling the strings in your country.
No, it seems not!
Remember never criticise Israel because you will be called anti-Semitic.
Well you can call me anti-Semitic all you want because I will criticise Israel. But don't think I will single out just Israel, I will criticise Australia (my country), America, Burma, China, France, UK, Palestine and any country I feel like if they need to be criticised and why will I do so, because I live in a democracy and I am entitled to speak out when things need to be said.
So you can call me anti-Semitic all you want because it will be just like water rolling off a duck's back. I will criticise Israel when it deserves to be criticised. What gives Israel special permission where it thinks it is above criticism? Nothing it is a nation and therefore it can be criticised without the allegations of Anti-Semitism being thrown at you or being called a 'self-hating Jew' if in fact you are Jewish. That's right, not even a Jew is allowed to criticise Israel without being insulted with a derogatory name.
So why has Desmond Tutu been banned?
Well apparently it is because he said the following:
Israel is like Hitler and apartheid.
Here is some background into the situation:
Members of the St Thomas Justice and Peace Studies program were thrilled when Bishop Tutu agreed to speak at the University" but administrators did a scientific survey of the Jews of Minneapolis, which included querying exactly one spokesperson for Minnesota's Jewish Community Relations Council and several rabbis who taught in a University program" and concluded that Tutu is bad for the Jews and should therefore be barred from campus.
In a move that still has faculty members shaking their heads in disbelief, St. Thomas administrators--concerned that Tutu's appearance might offend local Jews--told organizers that a visit from the archbishop was out of the question.
"We had heard some things he said that some people judged to be anti-Semitic and against Israeli policy," says Doug Hennes, St. Thomas's vice president for university and government relations. "We're not saying he's anti-Semitic. But he's compared the state of Israel to Hitler and our feeling was that making moral equivalencies like that are hurtful to some members of the Jewish community."
St. Thomas officials made this inference after Hennes talked to Julie Swiler, a spokeswoman for the Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota and the Dakotas. "I told him that I'd run across some statements that were of concern to me," says Swiler. "In a 2002 speech in Boston, he made some comments that were especially hurtful."
(Source)
Tutu has been quoted as saying, "Israel is like Hitler and apartheid." in quite a number of sources, here are some just to name a few.
The David Project - Center for Jewish Leadership
David Horowitz from Front Page Magazine
National Christian Leadership Conference for Israel
So I guess based on all of this evidence well really there is only one thing that could be done, Tutu had to be banned in the land of free speech, so that he didn't upset some US citizens and possibly corrupt some young minds with ideas of the right to freedom for all. Not very fair on the university students though when you think about it, I thought that one of the whole purposes of universities is to share and exchange information and be free to have open debate. But I shouldn't be surprised after all many will remember just last month what happened to Prof Norman Finkelstein who is a critic of Israel, DePaul University declined to renew his tenure to teach at the University. It seems even a son of two Holocaust survivors isn't allowed to speak out against Israel.
Anyway back to Desmond Tutu who has been banned from speaking at St Thomas University for saying, "Israel is like Hitler and apartheid." If I was Desmond Tutu I would feel just a little hard done by, because he never actually said those words. Now you would think that a university when conducting its scientific survey it just may have sourced exactly what Tutu said and not just rely on the hearsay of some Jewish groups who had a vested interest in not wanting him to speak.
So what did Desmond Tutu say that is so controversial, here is what he said and I have highlighted the part where he said "Israel is like
Hitler and apartheid."
Apartheid
in the Holy Land
Desmond Tutu
Monday April 29, 2002
The
Guardian
In our struggle against apartheid, the great supporters were Jewish people. They almost instinctively had to be on the side of the disenfranchised, of the voiceless ones, fighting injustice, oppression and evil. I have continued to feel strongly with the Jews. I am patron of a Holocaust centre in South Africa. I believe Israel has a right to secure borders.
What is not so understandable, not justified, is what it did to another people to guarantee its existence. I've been very deeply distressed in my visit to the Holy Land; it reminded me so much of what happened to us black people in South Africa. I have seen the humiliation of the Palestinians at checkpoints and roadblocks, suffering like us when young white police officers prevented us from moving about.
On one of my visits to the Holy Land I drove to a church with the Anglican bishop in Jerusalem. I could hear tears in his voice as he pointed to Jewish settlements. I thought of the desire of Israelis for security. But what of the Palestinians who have lost their land and homes?
I have experienced Palestinians pointing to what were their homes, now occupied by Jewish Israelis. I was walking with Canon Naim Ateek (the head of the Sabeel Ecumenical Centre) in Jerusalem. He pointed and said: "Our home was over there. We were driven out of our home; it is now occupied by Israeli Jews."
My heart aches. I say why are our memories so short. Have our Jewish sisters and brothers forgotten their humiliation? Have they forgotten the collective punishment, the home demolitions, in their own history so soon? Have they turned their backs on their profound and noble religious traditions? Have they forgotten that God cares deeply about the downtrodden?
Israel will never get true security and safety through oppressing another people. A true peace can ultimately be built only on justice. We condemn the violence of suicide bombers, and we condemn the corruption of young minds taught hatred; but we also condemn the violence of military incursions in the occupied lands, and the inhumanity that won't let ambulances reach the injured.
The military action of recent days, I predict with certainty, will not provide the security and peace Israelis want; it will only intensify the hatred.
Israel has three options: revert to the previous stalemated situation; exterminate all Palestinians; or - I hope - to strive for peace based on justice, based on withdrawal from all the occupied territories, and the establishment of a viable Palestinian state on those territories side by side with Israel, both with secure borders.
We in South Africa had a relatively peaceful transition. If our madness could end as it did, it must be possible to do the same everywhere else in the world. If peace could come to South Africa, surely it can come to the Holy Land?
My brother Naim Ateek has said what we used to say: "I am not pro- this people or that. I am pro-justice, pro-freedom. I am anti- injustice, anti-oppression."
But you know as well as I do that, somehow, the Israeli government is placed on a pedestal [in the US], and to criticise it is to be immediately dubbed anti-semitic, as if the Palestinians were not semitic. I am not even anti-white, despite the madness of that group. And how did it come about that Israel was collaborating with the apartheid government on security measures?
People are scared in this country [the US], to say wrong is wrong because the Jewish lobby is powerful - very powerful. Well, so what? For goodness sake, this is God's world! We live in a moral universe. The apartheid government was very powerful, but today it no longer exists. Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Pinochet, Milosevic, and Idi Amin were all powerful, but in the end they bit the dust.
Injustice and oppression will never prevail. Those who are powerful have to remember the litmus test that God gives to the powerful: what is your treatment of the poor, the hungry, the voiceless? And on the basis of that, God passes judgement.
We should put out a clarion call to the government of the people of Israel, to the Palestinian people and say: peace is possible, peace based on justice is possible. We will do all we can to assist you to achieve this peace, because it is God's dream, and you will be able to live amicably together as sisters and brothers.
Desmond Tutu is the former Archbishop of Cape Town and chairman of South Africa's truth and reconciliation commission. This address was given at a conference on Ending the Occupation held in Boston, Massachusetts, earlier this month. The full speech can be seen here.
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There you have it, the offending quote!
What more can I say, not much as in my opinion it says it all.
Dawkins on the power of the Jews
Daniel Finkelstein
Times Online
October 05, 2007
I have just come across the most extraordinary statement by Richard Dawkins. It is right there on the Guardian website without a sentence even questioning it. Here it is:
When you think about how fantastically successful the Jewish lobby has been, though, in fact, they are less numerous I am told - religious Jews anyway - than atheists and [yet they] more or less monopolise American foreign policy as far as many people can see. So if atheists could achieve a small fraction of that influence, the world would be a better place.
So Dawkins, a liberal hero, believes, er, that Jews control world power. And, judging from the Guardian, it is now a part of mainstream debate to say so. Perhaps you think I am over-reacting, but I am a little bit frightened.
All I can manage is Oh My God.
----------------Well Daniel all I can manage is for a start Dawkins never said the Jews control world power and second, er, he may have a valid point and that is why some people haven't even raised an eyebrow at his remark. I am frightened too, but not for the same reasons you are Daniel - I am frightened for free speech.
If those people in the Jewish lobby wish to stop the rise of genuine anti-Semitism then they need to have a serious look at themselves, because I am afraid they are not coming across in a very favourable light.
I will let Marv Davodov have his say:
The backlash has already begun. Marv Davidov, an adjunct professor within the Justice and Peace Studies program at St Thomas said:
"As a Jew who experienced real anti-Semitism as a child, I'm deeply disturbed that a man like Tutu could be labeled anti-Semitic and silenced like this," he says. "I deeply resent the Israeli lobby trying to silence any criticism of its policy. It does a great disservice to Israel and to all Jews."
To make matters worse, when Cris Toffolo, the chair of the Justice and Peace Studies program told Tutu what happened and warned him of a possible smear campaign, she was immediately demoted.
Davidov again:
"This is pure bullshit," says Davidov. "As far as fighting for civil rights, I consider Tutu to be my brother. And I consider Cris Toffolo to be my sister. They're messing with my family here. If Columbia permits a Holocaust denier [Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad] to speak at their university, why are St. Thomas officials refusing to let Tutu, an apostle of nonviolence, speak at ours?"
"What happened at the University of St. Thomas is not an isolated event," says Toffolo. "Until we have an honest debate about U.S. policy related to Israel, and about Israeli policy in the Occupied Territories, the spiral of violence will continue." (Source)
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Additions to this post 10/10/07 11.25am Australian EST
Petition
If anyone would like to sign a petition indicating that they believe Desmond Tutu should be allowed to speak at St Thomas and Prof. Totollo be reinstated as chair of Justice and Peace Studies program then please go to this link supported by Jewish Voice for Peace.
In Defense of Academic Freedom
A conference will take place at the University of Chicago on October 12th called In Defense of Academic Freedom. Several distinguished academics and public intellectuals will examine the threats to academic freedom posed by recent controversial tenure decisions and other campus developments which have stifled the free exchange of ideas. The conference will explore these issues in the context of the Israeli-Arab conflict since some of the most contentious issues revolve around it.
DePaul Academic Freedom Committee, Verso Books and Discord Journal invite you to this public symposium.
Recent tenure denials at DePaul University and evidence of outside interference with academic selection have prompted leading scholars across the nation to speak out in defense of academic freedom.
American Jewish Lobby Groups
Last night I was wondering how up to date some American Jewish lobby groups are when it comes to Israeli policy and are they doing Israel more harm than good. I was wondering could it possibly be a bit like say the situation in Australia where some migrants who have been here for say 50 years still hold on tightly to the same values and customs of their country of birth and actually become say for instance more Greek or Italian than those actually still residing in the original country of birth. As their birth country has grown or changed in the way things are done, they have remained immersed in the old ways of their original country, so in fact they are out of touch.
It seems that this may in fact be the case with some American Jewish lobby groups they are out of touch with the latest situation in Israel. This Democracy Now interview seems to indicate it is a possibility. This is an extract, the full interview can be obtained by clicking on the title, I have also included a YouTube video of the interview.
Monday, October 8th, 2007
Democracy Now
AMY GOODMAN: The University of St. Thomas in Minnesota has canceled Nobel Peace Prize-winning South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu's scheduled appearance next year. School officials say they’re barring Tutu because of previous statements he's made “against Israeli policy.” Tutu has compared Israel's treatment of Palestinians in the Occupied Territories to South Africa under Apartheid.
Being able to voice criticism of Israeli government policy is becoming a major issue on university campuses across the United States. It’s also an issue in Congress. We now turn to a well-known Israeli journalist for a sense of what this and other debates look like inside Israel.
Akiva Eldar is the chief political columnist and senior analyst for the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz, and he is co-author of a new book; it’s critical of Israeli settlement policy. It’s called Lords of the Land: The Settlers and the State of Israel. I interviewed Akiva Eldar last month and asked him how the so-called “Israel lobby" in the United States is perceived in Israel.
AKIVA ELDAR: They are a very important instrument in order to pursue Israel’s policy, but I’m afraid that they're a little bit behind the Israeli government and the Israeli people. We are in a different mode, which I think takes time for the American Jewish organizations to digest, the fact that we don't want to keep those territories. And probably the Israeli propaganda was so efficient that it's very hard now to change the mode and to convince them that it's a different era now. It's a different government. We have seventy out of 120 members of the Knesset who support a two-state solution based on the ’67 lines.
And, you know, if for forty years, you tell the Jewish community that Israel cannot afford to give up the territories, they are important for Israel’s security, just overnight to tell, “Sorry, we were wrong. Now, we don't need those territories,” it's probably -- I remember, you know, those groups that were taken to the Golan Heights, for instance, we didn’t mention Syria, but the Golan Heights, we told them we can't live without it, because look at the geography or topography, with us sitting there, and they were shelling the Kibbutzim down there, and now, after all this time that they spend going to Capitol Hill and using their leverage to convince the American people not to put any pressure on Israel to give up the Golan Heights, now all of a sudden the Syrians are the good guys and we can get down to business with them? It's very difficult. I think that we are paying the price of having our PR doing a very good job for many years.
AMY GOODMAN: Would you say then the American Jewish organizations are presenting an obstacle to peace?
AKIVA ELDAR: They are, I think, behind the Israeli people, and I think that the bottom line, if you measure this by their results, I don't think that the mainstream Jewish organizations -- there are others like Americans for Peace Now, IPF in America, the Israel Policy Forum, Brit Tzedek v’Shalom and other organizations who are doing a good job, and I think that they are getting more and more listeners.
AMY GOODMAN: Why do you think the -- would you say that the Israel lobby is more powerful?
AKIVA ELDAR: Because they're more committed. I think that they are very committed to the -- Israel’s security and well-being of the Israelis, and they are motivated to work and to invest.
AMY GOODMAN: Do you think they're making Israel more secure?
AKIVA ELDAR: No. I think that they have good intentions, but you know sometimes where good intentions are taking people.
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"Tegenlicht - The Israel Lobby: (About AIPAC)" documentary.
This interesting documentary titled Tegenlicht -
The Israeli Lobby (about AIPAC) was released in April 2007 is about the Israeli
lobby and its impact on US foreign policy. The first minute and 20 seconds are
entirely in Dutch - but the rest of documentary is in English
(occasionally Dutch narrated but you won't miss a thing if you don't understand
it).was created as a result of the controversy created by Mearsheimer
and Walt's "The Israel Lobby" article. Featuring interviews with
Mearsheimer, geostrategist Lawrence Wikerson, Richard Perle, historian and
critic Tony Judt, John Hagee, former Congressman Earl Hilliard, Kenneth Roth of
Human Rights Watch, Michael Massing and Daniel Levy.
I think anyone interested in American Jewish lobby groups and even right winged Christian groups and how they influence American policy should watch this documentary.
The documentary is available at Google as a whole or at YouTube (5 sections), links are below.
Tegenlicht -
The Israeli Lobby (about AIPAC)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6SQ02gqqao
I would like to acknowledge that I first came across this story about Tutu from the Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) organisation.
This is part of their mission statement:
Jewish Voice for Peace is a diverse and democratic community of activists inspired by Jewish tradition to work together for peace, social justice, and human rights. We support the aspirations of Israelis and Palestinians for security and self-determination.
We seek:
- A U.S. foreign policy based on promoting peace,
democracy, human rights, and respect
for international law - An end to the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem
- A resolution of the Palestinian refugee problem consistent with international law and equity
- An end to all violence against civilians
- Peace among the peoples of the Middle East
We are among the many American Jews who say to the U.S. and Israeli governments: "Not in our names!"
JVP supports peace activists in Palestine and Israel, and works in broad coalition with other Jewish, Arab-American, faith-based, peace and social justice organizations.
Comments
It's amazing what can happen when someone is quoted completely out of context. It's like all the people who claim that Peter Singer is a eugenicist who wants all handicapped babies euthanised, or that he supports bestiality. None of his writings support any such thing. Unfortunately shit sticks and then the rumours start. I hope the university in question reverses its decision. From the sounds of things the local community deserves, and needs, to hear the truth about Desmond Tutu's opinions from Desmond Tutu himself.
Chezza, this reminds me of the old test we did in school. We'd line up 10-15 kids and the teacher would whisper a sentence in the kid's ear and they would pass it up the chain. Inevitable the end result bore little or no resemblence to the original sentence.
You'd think in a world where you can actually look up the original this wouldn't be the case, but it still is.
(begins slow clap, which soon becomes thunderous applause)
What are they really saying here...? You are free to say whatever you'd like as long as you say what we want to hear?
Truely, suppression in the works.
-Speaking of suppression... -Come to my page, and FREELY speak your mind (but try not to curse) of my posting about a James Cameron produced, FACT FILLED documentary that was deemed "blasphemos" by the Catholic Church, called "The Lost Tomb Of Jesus". -NO ONE said it's Jesus' family tomb, but the facts are compelling. -The post is the most recent "Movie Of The Day" on my page.
This is just as disturbing as Yoko Ono's blocking of a John Lennon film, done by her Ex-husband, merely because she wanted more money from it's showing.
Everyone is supposed to be allowed their opinions. -It used to be one thing that made this country of ours GREAT.
Yes it doesn't take too much to discredit someone when it comes to the internet. I know I have found it difficult sometimes when trying to source reliable original sources, and sometimes I end up finding a quote but no actually evidence to back up that it was ever said.
Yes I hope the university changes its mind. I have added some extra information to the post and also a link to a petition requesting that the university changes its mind.
I have added a link (plus a bit more info) to sign a petition against their decision if you are interested, they accepted my name even though I used an Australian address, I just said my state was 'other'.
I can't really comment on whether it is a Catholic issue or not and the university does appear to be quoting Jewish lobby groups as the reason.
This quote was taken from the original article that was quoted:
I didn't even realise that Australia had Catholic universities until I just did a Google search. I think in universities there has to be a reasonable level of free speech and it is a worry when outside influences are stifling any type of education.
A similar thought had crossed my mind where the original story is nothing like the end story.
In this case given that we are talking about a university who should pride itself on proper critique of information and reliable sources, there is simply no excuse. If a uni student wrote a paper and quoted sources the way St Thomas' administrators have, you would expect the student would be told, "You need to obtain better sources to base your opinions on."
So maybe there will be a few more excommunications if Catholics say that climate change and global warming are real issues.
And the Jesuits are a powerful enough group in the church that they can get away with it.
Freedom of speech must not be taken away from us. There is nothing wrong with free speech as long as we are respectful when we do so. I think if certain groups continue to stifle free speech there will be a huge backlash and I think it is already occurring.
Until today I didn't even know that catholic universities existed. It is good to see that some groups such as the Jesuits are able to stand up to Vatican pressure when required. I was brought up a protestant so I am not familiar with how certain groups function under the banner of Catholicism. I have read the article SpiritSeeker referred to and yes I see that the Jesuits do express a need for open debate, which is great to see.
I absolutely agree with you and as I indicated to Dark Knightingdale: "There is nothing wrong with free speech as long as we are respectful when we do so."
We need to have speakers with something beneficial to offer. I think though a university shouldn't just allow or disallow speakers just based on the surrounding community's standards or views. As we both know there can be some very bigoted and racist communities in many parts of any country and it may do some people good to have their horizons expanded by listening to speakers with a different viewpoint or culture than their own.
I think in this case for a university to even consider banning, let alone banning a man such as Desmond Tutu just seems totally bizarre given who he is and I cannot believe that they didn't question their position more thoroughly.
In terms of a violation of free speech, I see it as a violation of free speech because a university without adequate evidence bowed to the pressure of a lobby group and in my opinion both parties are at fault; the university administration for caving and not investigating claims made by the lobby group and the lobby group for in my opinion falsely claiming statements made by Tutu as being anti-Semitic.
The problem is that too many people are being labelled as being anti-Semitic when all they are doing is criticising a sovereign country's policies, so it is getting to the point where being labelled as anti-Semitic is meaningless. The lobby groups know what they are doing, they know that in the past labelling someone as anti-Semitic either shut the opposition up or discredited the voice of dissent and therefore effectively stifled free speech.
Those in the Jewish community who are labelling every critic of Israel as being anti-Semitic are not doing their cause any good for a number of reasons; the strength of the word anti-Semitic is being made less powerful and it has less real meaning, genuine people who are not anti-Semitic but are being labelled as anti-Semitic are becoming resentful and may actually become genuinely anti-Semitic because of the resentment.
So if a well known peace activist such as Desmond Tutu is labelled anti-Semitic and many people would know that he isn't and then a person such as David Irving is labelled anti-Semitic and many people don't know who he is, there is the real possibility that many people will just think, "Oh there goes the Jewish lobby group once again labelling an innocent man as being anti-Semitic."
It's a very interesting documentary, whether thy are truely christs bones or not. Fantastic coincidence, that's all I can say! Feel free to come talk about it after you've seen it!
I don't understand the university's position on this. Allowing him to speak does nothing to their image, except that their image would NOW show that they would allow one's freedom of speech. Seeing as they obviously don't support freedom of speech, they will receive NO recommendations from me.
Quite honestly, if people didn't speak out against wrong government policies, we would ALL be slaves, would we not?