That’s right, I called them anti-Semites, and I couldn’t give a toss whether there are Jews among them.
Southampton University wants to debate Israel’s right to exist. But that right is sacred
It is one thing to disagree with the policies of a government but quite another to question the right of the nation it represents to exist at all. And yet this happens all the time to Israel
The University of Southampton is hosting a conference to discuss Israel’s legal right to exist. Quote:
The conference aims to explore the relatedness of the suffering and injustice in Palestine to the foundation and protection of a state of such nature and asks what role International Law should play in the situation.
A local MP has asked for the event to be dropped, as does a petition. The university insists that academic freedom should be respected and the conference organisers say they mean no mischief. One of the hosts, Professor Oren Ben-Dor, is Israeli-born. He has previously written that Israel is an apartheid state and has been since inception. He is living proof that you can be sceptical about Israel without necessarily being anti-Semitic. Some of its loudest critics are living contradictions.
JACK GUEZ/AFP/Getty Images
The conference should go ahead. Academics should be free to debate anything so long as they don’t incite violence. But I hope the following points are considered.
1. It is true that Israel was a state created where no such state had existed before. But so was Iraq, Syria, Uganda and Togo. They were all products of decolonisation, all lines drawn on a map by a bureaucrat with a pencil and ruler. Why, pray, does no one debate the legal foundations of the existence of Nigeria? It is controversial enough. It comprises various tribes and religions with terrible unease, so much so that a near genocidal war was conducted to subjugate its southeastern portion. Yet no one questions its legality.
2. It is true that Israel’s foundation involved the displacement of a settled people. This was in many cases tragic and led to injustices that cry out for resolution. But they are not unique. When the states of India and Pakistan were created, their subjects trekked across the subcontinent to resettle in one country or another – causing the deaths of thousands and wars for decades to come. Likewise, the Amerindians were displaced by European colonists. Where is the wailing and gnashing of teeth over them on Sunday morning talk shows or in student unions?
3. It is true that Israel’s contemporary borders were framed by conflict and remain controversial. Again, who wouldn’t want to see them settled in a manner that provides peace and security for all? But where is the conference questioning the legality of North Korea’s existence and condemning its terrorist attacks on the South? Or a conference challenging Rwanda over its policy towards Hutu migrants and its alleged support for rebel movements in eastern Congo?
