Fanatical Students Don't See Racism

Yesterday began in earnest that detestable, despicable annual campus hate-fest known as Israeli Apartheid Week.

It started in Toronto, five years ago, before metastasizing to nearly 40 universities around the globe: a pile-on of hyperbolic anti-Semitism that de facto equates Zionism with racism, not even pretending to draw distinctions any more.

At York University, officials had to intervene last week by demanding that venomous posters publicizing the event be modified.

IAW should receive the news coverage it deserves: zero. I apologize for even mentioning the shrill and intellectually distorted confab. But the malice afoot segues into a far more disturbing platform for Israel-bashing, which is often Jew-bashing cloaked in righteousness.

Zealous students might be forgiven for their naivete, the groves of academe traditionally venues for controversial ideas run ideologically amok. No such indulgence should be extended to a UN-sanctioned conclave, the second World Conference Against Racism, a.k.a. Durban II, in Geneva next month.

Canada is not going and Prime Minister Stephen Harper should be applauded for that ethical decision. Canadian NGOs are participating; more on that in a minute.

You might remember Durban I, circa 2001, known formally as the World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance. That chaotic and embarrassing anti-Israeli fiasco was hijacked by both Arab and African delegates – the former demanding that Zionism be linked to racism in the most hateful language imaginable; the latter demanding compensation for slavery in previous centuries.

Not a peep was heard about contemporary slavery in the Sudan or the thousand-year practice of flesh commerce in Islamic societies. Nor was there condemnation of Hutu-on-Tutsi atrocities in Rwanda in 1994. It was all about damning Western colonialism in the past and Israel in the present.

American delegates abandoned Durban in opposition to a draft resolution. Israel did the same. Canada stayed, purportedly to prevent the conference from going totally off the rails. In the end, the most objectionable bits were deleted. However, a simultaneous NGO congress stuck to its execrable agenda, handing in a declaration that called Israel a "racist, apartheid state,’’ guilty of "racist crimes including war crimes, acts of genocide and ethnic cleansing."

Only days afterwards, 9/11 happened and Durban lost its thunder.

A global conference on racism is hardly a bad idea. But it’s not the forum for addressing historical grievances, contemporary issues of Palestinian sovereignty and allegations of Israeli war crimes in Gaza.

President Barack Obama bided his time in considering U.S. participation at Durban II. The Bush administration had already given up, no longer sending observers to preparatory sessions where a draft resolution has been endlessly debated. But Obama directed his officials to start attending anew.

As it turns out, there was no wiggle room for negotiation. On Friday, Washington indicated it will follow Canada’s lead and boycott Durham II, barring some last-minute yield on the resolution. How disappointing this must be for the first black U.S. president – withholding America from an international conference ostensibly about racism.

Washington wanted no language unfairly singling out Israel for censure and no mention of a "requirement’’ for slavery reparations. It also objected to a recommendation for laws banning criticism of any religion in the media – an initiative promoted by Islamic states – fearing it would hurt free speech.

The pre-emptive palaver failed, with Syria and Iran the most intransigent.

Indeed, State Department spokesperson Robert Wood said the draft text had become worse. "The current text of the draft outcome document is not salvageable. As a result, the United States will not engage in further negotiations on this text, nor will we participate in a conference based on this text.’’

If only fanatical university students, who don’t recognize racism when they’re spewing it, had a shred of such integrity.

By: Rosie DiManno
Source: www.TheStar.com

Submitted by: josiah, March 3rd, 2009 Topic: Israel Forums
Tags: Durban 2, Israeli Apartheid Week, messianic judaism, Messianic Judaism, President Barack Obama, Racial Discrimination, racism, toronto, Toronto, World Conferece Against Racism

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1 Comment

Ahava commented on March 03, 2009:

The facts are that the non-Jewish Israelis (Muslims) have more rights and privileges living in Israel than the Muslims living in virtually any Islamic country. The non-Jewish citizens of Israel have the right to vote, the right to hold office in the Knesset (Israeli Parliament) or even to become Prime Minister or hold positions in the Israeli Prime Minister’s select Cabinet (there are Muslim members of both the present Knesset and in the one just elected and there are currently Muslims on Prime Minister Olmert’s Cabinet). All citizens of Israel have equal rights to own property, and the Muslims that did not flee Israel in 1948 at the behest of the Islamic nations who invaded Israel at her birth own the lands they held then to this day. No land was “stolen” by the Jews or the Israeli government in order to found the Jewish State. Non-Jewish citizens of Israel have the same educational opportunities, as do the Jewish citizens. Actually, the Muslims have a greater choice as they may attend the Public schools or their own run schools known as Madrassas. The Muslim citizens actually have the advantage over the Jewish citizens as their service in the IDF is totally voluntary while the Jewish citizens are required by law to serve a minimum stretch in the military.

Perhaps this is the difference in treatment that those claiming Israeli Apartheid are referring to when they claim that the Muslim minority is treated differently, though I bet it is not the reason they would claim. Non-Jewish members of Israeli society own businesses with the same rights and opportunities as the Jews in Israel.

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