By Brighton Bell
Last month saw what is known as ‘Israeli Apartheid Week’ (otherwise known as ‘Israel Apartheid Week’). This annual event was originally launched in Toronto in 2004.
It has since spread to a number of different countries around the world. Primarily ‘celebrated’ at universities, the week is marked by lectures and events. And by an aversion to the state of Israel.
Naturally, all events are designed to talk up supposed Israeli oppression of Palestinians. And of course these must invoke the apparition of South African apartheid.
My University of Sussex, based in Brighton, is one of the most radically left-wing universities in Britain. It follows it was only too glad to host Israeli Apartheid Week 2017.
Non-’progressives’ are ‘problems’
Interestingly, the week took place just after an article written in the Daily Telegraph the previous week. In the article, one of my contemporaries declared that if you are conservative or right-wing at Sussex, you are ‘a problem which needs dealing with’.
The article made a number of valid points which tally very much with my own experience as a Sussex student. There are certain ‘progressive’ views on subjects such as abortion, feminism, and transsexual rights. (Forget ‘gay rights’. That horse bolted years ago.) Anyone who does not subscribe to these views is a public enemy, let alone ‘a problem’.
In response to the Telegraph article, Adam Tickell, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Sussex wrote an email to all students. He called for tolerance for different voices and points of view.
In the email, Professor Tickell said, ‘Universities are places that are defined by a spirit of critical enquiry, the capacity to challenge, and a celebration of different views and opinions’. He continued, ‘we must never forget that we must value and embrace difference rather than try to shut it down’.
Israeli Apartheid Week ‘deeply upsetting’
If only the Student Union would see things in a similar light. Instead, it treats those with more conservative views with contempt. Professor Tickell then wrote specifically of ‘Israeli Apartheid Week’. He acknowledged ‘even the language is deeply upsetting to many members of our Jewish and non-Jewish community’. Upsetting it certainly was, with members of the Jewish society describing the week as anti-Semitic.
So what actually happened on the Sussex campus during Israeli Apartheid Week? Firstly, we saw an art display with very little art. Secondly, we had a protest which did not go ahead. Thirdly, we put up with events which were something of a shambles. My favourite, so to speak, was a rally on the Thursday. Naturally, only pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel activists were allowed to speak. They included speakers from Palestine, South Africa, and the Movement for Black Lives. The latter has been given hundreds of thousands of dollars by ‘Funders for Justice’. And that includes The Ford Foundation and the Open Society Foundations of George Soros. Surprised, anyone?
Israel not ‘apartheid’ at all
All the events were organised by the ‘Sussex Friends of Palestine Society’. Naturally, they want only one particular, biased narrative to be heard. Not one Israeli or Jewish person was invited to participate. The organisers did their best to compare the apartheid of South Africa with current events in Israel.
Never mind the Student Union’s own beloved Guardian newspaper has said the word apartheid is not accurately applied when used to describe Israeli society. Sussex is in the vanguard of the post-truth world. The comparison is specifically designed to lead students to conclude Israel is a racist country which practises segregation. What a convenient comparison for those trying to push an anti-Israel narrative.
Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS)
Israeli Apartheid Week is inflammatory in nature to Jewish and Israeli people. Moreover, it is an indicator of wider anti-Israel sentiment. This does not just happen at the University of Sussex. Campuses not just across the country but around the world take part. In 2015, students at Sussex voted by 68% to 32% to join the BDS (Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions) movement. This exists to boycot Israeli goods and artistic and academic contacts. The vote was on a total turnout of less than 10% of all students. Around 7% of students voted for a boycott on Israel for the other 93% of students.
The BDS movement itself is closely linked with an extreme rejectionist form of Palestinian nationalism. This seeks to destroy the state of Israel, establishing in its place a state of ‘Palestine’. Indeed, key leaders in the BDS movement have stated: ‘the real aim of BDS is to bring down the state of Israel’.
That was As’ad AbuKhalil. He also said: ‘Justice and freedom for the Palestinians are incompatible with the existence of the state of Israel’. One John Spritzler wrote: ‘I think the BDS movement will gain strength from forthrightly explaining why Israel has no right to exist’. Charming.
Academic Boycott proposed
Firstly, BDS started by boycotting Israeli goods. Secondly, it swiftly spread to include an academic boycott of Israel. In 2014 there was a referendum at Sussex where students were asked if they wished to support just that. Anyone from Israel or holding an Israeli passport would have been barred from speaking at or being employed by the university. Students ultimately voted against the academic boycott by 904 to 649 votes.
Nevertheless, the proposal demonstrates some of the more extreme aims of the BDS movement. Are you surprised to learn these are supported by a number of universities across Britain? Back in December 2016, the University of Manchester’s student union voted to join the growing BDS movement. And that is the largest in the country.
Much as on subjects such as abortion, sexuality, gender and feminism, students are presented with a one-sided view. They are told Israel is an apartheid state. Meanwhile, student unions are supporting a movement which wants to see Israel wiped off the map. There is such a clear bias here. It always seeks to sideline those with more traditional or conservative views while elevating those deemed to be ‘progressive’. And of course the ‘progressivism’ is anti-Christian, anti-family, anti-life, anti-Jewish, and pro-Muslim.
Islamic Awareness Week
During Israeli Apartheid week, I asked someone from the student union why we were not holding an ‘oppression in Islamic countries week’. We could expose the discrimination faced by women and Christians in Islamic countries. I thought that was a really good idea. But I was promptly told my question was entirely misplaced and I had better shut my mouth.
A couple of days later I saw a poster. You are way ahead of me.
Next week on campus would be ‘Islamic Awareness Week’. In one week the student union went from attacking Israel and Jewish people, to promoting the ‘peace’ and ‘tolerance’ of Islam. Heaven help us. And Israel.
PRAY: For the State of Israel and for Jewish students facing this rise of anti-Semitism. Pray for your children and grandchildren at universities in the United Kingdom, that they may discern the truth and stand against all forms of evil.
Genesis 12:3, ‘And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.’
Ezekiel 37:21, ‘And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land.’
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