Concerns over Tutu speech
A US University has sparked a free speech row after revoking an invite to Nobel Laureate Desmond Tutu after a Jewish group expressed concern over his views on Israel.
South African Archbishop Tutu was due to speak at St Thomas University for social change group PeaceJam next year, but the event was cancelled by the school’s President Dennis Dease after consultation with the Community Relations Council of Minnesota.
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“We looked at speeches he had made. There was one in 2002 in Boston where he made statements we found extreme.”
Tutu is quoted as saying, “Israel is like Hitler and apartheid… I’ve been deeply distressed in my visit to the Holy Land; it reminded me so much of what happened to us black people in South Africa…People are scared in this country , to say wrong is wrong because the Jewish lobby is powerful—very powerful.”
Dease wrote to St Thomas students and staff on Friday, “I spoke with Jews for whom I have great respect. What stung these individuals was not that Archbishop Tutu criticised Israel but how he did so, and the moral equivalencies that they felt he drew between Israel's policies and those of Nazi Germany, and between Zionism and racism.
“I am not in a position to evaluate what to a Jew feels anti-Semitic and what does not. I can, however, take seriously the judgments of those whom I trust by not putting St. Thomas in a position that would add to that hurt.”
But other Jewish groups in the area have opposed the decision, Jewish Voice for Peace and Mordechai Specktor, publisher of Minnesota weekly American Jewish World said Tutu was not a threat to Jews.
British Jewish groups said there would not be a problem with Tutu appearing at a UK event as long as his speech was balanced.
Union of Jewish Students Campaigns Co-ordinator Yair Zavin told the Jewish News: “Whether or not we agree with his views, we would probably not stop him speaking. He is unlikely to incite hatred.”
Board of Deputies Chief Executive Jon Benjamin said: “Comparisons between Israel and apartheid era South Africa or Nazi Germany are so misconceived that they only serve to underline how ignorant he is of the true situation. Being woefully out of touch is not a reason to deny someone a platform, but every opportunity should be taken to counter the dangerously misinformed rhetoric that is being accepted at face value.”
President of the Zionist Federation Eric Moonman added, “There are many more worrying people on the circuit than Desmond Tutu. I would want to feel that any presentation he gave would be balanced by someone who can give an understanding of the Israeli situation.”
The PeaceJam talk has been moved to Metropolitan State University.
Read the latest copy of The Jewish News Online by clicking here.
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