Palestinian Myths Abroad

Labelling Israel an Apartheid state, and by logical wider extension, Jews as racists, represents yet another riff on that old blood-sport of anti-Semitism, appearing under yet another guise.

How best to enlist the support of anti-Semites everywhere, than to stick the Jews with the very label that they have always fought strenuously against, when it applied themselves, or to other minorities. Adopt and adapt a loathsome term to describe your enemies and the liberal fascisti of the academic world clasp it to their bosom.

Jews have always been sensitive to any vestiges of racial discrimination, wherever it appears, whomever it targets, for they've long been accustomed to being the targets of that very same dreary pathology, passed along from one generation to another.

From the imposition of ghettos, to expulsions and denials of civil rights; from forced renunciations of faith and the life-saving embrace of others; from pogroms to the Final Solution, Jews are very familiar with the scourge of racial apartheid.

They do not, however, and never have practised it. Only suffered through the viral victimization of its practise wherever they have settled in the great millennias-long diaspora. Jews have always been in the forefront of activism in support of human rights.

The savage irony here is that the very disease they have so long fought, both on their own behalf and that of others, is now being skilfully used to slander them.

A public relations smear that first raised its ugly presence in Great Britain where academics eagerly took to the idea of isolating their Israeli peers for the perceived sins of their state has spread its noxious roots elsewhere. An academic boycott of Israeli academics and scientists has morphed an offshoot represented by Palestinian efforts to poison the minds of liberal-minded scholars as "Israeli Apartheid Week".

Now Canadian universities too can boast their compliance with Arab student activism in delighting to smear the reputation of a state and a people for whom the very notion of apartheid is anathema. Engaging the interests of left-leaning students and their supporters, along with a cadre of professors who find the very idea of blaming Israel for the ongoing, seemingly-insolvable problem of peace between Israel and the PA a fine way to while away the time.

The University of Toronto took out a full-page advertisement in one of Canada's national dailies to piously explain its position in permitting the presence of this sordid event at the university by declaring itself open, as an institute of higher learning, to all manner of questioning debates; better to keep it in the open, and air it, than spurn it as unworthy of debate.

This high-minded attitude is shared in Montreal, Ottawa and Hamilton with universities there happy to oblige the happy event.

A keynote speaker at the University of Toronto, Palestinian Member of the Israeli Knesset, Dr. Jamal Kahalka explained "Israel is implementing apartheid policies in Palestine by building the apartheid separation wall, bypass roads for Jews only in the West Bank, restrictions on movement of Palestinians, hundreds of check points, in addition to the siege and daily violations of basic human rights of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza."

His politically entitled position as a member of the Israeli Knesset, means that he will be listened to with respect. Yet as a politically empowered citizen of Israel he chooses not to mention the reason for the detested wall, the bypass roads, and checkpoints, for they happen to be dreadfully awkward inconveniences to counter his message.

The wall prevents further suicide incursions, as do the checkpoints; the bypass roads have become a way by which Israelis attempt to escape attacks on their vehicles and their persons by militant PA residents. All these attempts to isolate would-be suicide-bombers and murderers have been undertaken by necessity; how else to protect innocent civilians?

The simple fact remains that Israel does not and can not exist as other than a state under siege. That the country is constantly on the alert for suicidal incursions, terrorists planting explosives in people-sensitive areas such as crowded markets, popular restaurants and hotels where large numbers of Israelis are wont to gather, accounts for its need to exercise caution.

The fact that suicide bombers, before the wall, were able to gain access to vulnerable civic gathering points and murder dozens of innocent people, speaks to the need for walls and checkpoints. The too-common occurrence of innocent-appearing individuals boarding buses and blowing themselves up alongside others on the bus, no longer occurs.

The wall and the checkpoints have proven to be extremely effective in hugely lessening the deadly assaults. Assaults which continue in other areas, on Israel's border with Gaza, where Kassam rockets are daily launched into adjacent Israeli towns and villages.

The reality is, however, that Palestinians living in Israel are Israeli citizens, with all the rights and privileges of other Israelis. As the presence of Palestinian MKs attest, they have the right to elect representative Palestinians to the Israeli Knesset. One such Palestinian MK is, in fact, a member of the Israeli Cabinet.

The State of Israel stands proud in the geography of the Middle East as a liberal democracy.

Where all of its citizens: Jews, Christians, Muslims, Baha'is and Druze have equal rights under the law. Freedom of association and freedom of speech and freedom of the press is evident, with Palestinian MKs free to express views in the Knesset actually inimical to the future, safety and security of the state.

Publication of Arab-language and -concerns newspapers exists in stark contrast to what pertains in neighbouring states.

Freedom of religion is protected in the country. Any citizen is free to petition the Israeli Supreme Court on a presumed matter of basic rights violations by any government body. Aside from Hebrew, Arabic has official language status in the country. All official documents are published in Arabic as well as Hebrew; likewise for road signs and entertainment films through subtitling.

An Arab judge sits on the bench of the Supreme Court. Druze and Arabs are represented in the senior ranks of the Israeli army. Arab soccer players are important participants in Israeli soccer teams. The Hadassah Hospital boasts one-third of its staff as Arab. The Israeli Arab population has complete and equal accessibility to all Israeli universities.

The country's legal system recognizes Muslim shariah law, alongside Christian cannon law, Druze law and Jewish talmudic law.

Does this sound even remotely like a repressive, racist country with an agenda that favours only its Jewish citizens?

Although Israel is a country whose birth gave safe harbour to Jews, whose very purpose is that singular safeguard against other countries' laws and political and ideological purpose designating Jews as inferior, as has been done in countries throughout the Middle East, and most catastrophically in Nazi German, she also offers equality to others.

Myths often have some substance, dim though they are, in fact. In the instance of Israel being slammed by ignorant academics as racist, in keeping with their inner embrace of viral anti-Semitism, the substance has been turned inside out.

This attempt to name and shame, blame and boycott, is a game for ardent anti-Semites to enjoy themselves to the fullest in the safety and respect given them through the institutions they represent. As institutes of higher learning, of questing for truth and fact, this mission has been smudged by its own racist ideology.

And more's the pity.