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Lecture at CU: South African apartheid linked to Israel

Yona EshkenaziSlightly more than 100 people trod over chalked sidewalks proclaiming “Peace in Israel” as they gathered inside the Humanities Building on the CU-Boulder campus Monday night, Nov. 17, to hear apartheid connected to the “Israeli occupation of Palestinian land.”

The charged, divisive topic might have fired up the crowd, led to verbal assaults, or sparked protests outside the auditorium. It didn’t. That, in part, is due to Stand With Us, an international Israel education organization primed at fighting erroneous charges against Israel through education, conversation and substantiated information.

Yona Eshkenazi represents the Denver chapter of Stand With Us.

She facilitated a pre-lecture briefing to anyone who wanted to attend.

A decision had been made to not protest, but to attend the lecture armed with information.

“There were about 30 people — students and non-students there,” she said. “Because the lecture was on campus, it really needed to be student run and they led it really well. I just provided them with information about the speaking tour and gave them our materials.”

vAttendees were prepped on the message behind the “US Campaign to End the Occupation” (the organization sponsoring the lecture), and given a “heads up” about the message they were about to hear, and information to debunk it.

“We have a lot of information about anti-Israel groups,” says Eshkenazi.

“We also gave people suggested questions to ask the speakers that really focus the issue, and put the speakers on the spot. Because the topic of this lecture was, quote, apartheid, we have information that counters those types of accusations as well.”

The speaking tour was promoted by the Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Center based in Boulder. The organization brought in two heavy hitters to demonstrate its point: Diana Buttu, a Canadian born Palestinian attorney and former legal advisor to the PLO; and Eddie Makue, a South African reverend who lived through apartheid and was elevated to general secretary of the South African Council of Churches.

Rev. Makue spoke first, outlining life under apartheid and setting the tone for the lecture.

“Apartheid is a crime against humanity and a system that thrives on using legal forms of discrimination rooted in a system that people are unequal,” he told the crowd in his slow, even-toned voice.

He went onto say that South Africa’s apartheid is being recycled in Palestine, “but here you mix glass with paper,” implying it is much more severe than what occurred in his country.

“Let us remember,” said Makue, “the government of Israel and the apartheid government had a very cozy relationship.”

He then called on US citizens to take up the fight against Israeli occupation, but quietly added, “please, please never forget there are people in Israel. Don’t dehumanize them.”

Buttu picked up the thread, weaving it through her personal journey from a privileged family in Canada to the Palestinian struggle for freedom in Israel. “The system of apartheid in South Africa had theological, legal and ideological underpinnings. That same ideology exists in Israel: that one group is entitled to rights, while another group is not,” she said.

Eshkenazi counted 15 references that Buttu made to the Israeli ideology of superiority. “I found that scary,” said the Stand With Us coordinator, “because when you say [apartheid has legal and theological bases] it’s saying in a subtle way that the Jews believe they’re superior.

“They’re tying that into the apartheid concept and playing on some pretty dangerous subtle stereotypes, and I find that pretty frightening.”

In her talk, Buttu discussed the security wall, the roads in the West Bank that only Jews have access to, the documents Palestinians have to carry with them to prove they could access their land or enter Israel.

But at no time did she acknowledge the terrorist attacks and the increased fatalities in Israel when the border was open. Nor did she discuss the historical basis for the present situation and animosity among the Arab world toward Israel.

When asked by a member of the audience about Hamas’ charter, which calls for destruction of the Jewish State, Buttu craftily deflected the question saying that “the issue here is apartheid in the West Bank and Gaza.”

When asked whether she thought Israel had a right to protect itself against terror attacks originating from the West Bank and Gaza, she replied, “Be careful about throwing around words like terrorism. That leads to dehumanization, and let’s not forget the state-sponsored terrorism of Israel.”

“I’m not an alarmist,” reflected Eshkenazi, “but if you look at history and look at anti-Semitism historically, it often starts out subtle and builds to ridiculous heights that people accept because they accepted everything before then.”




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