Values shamefully trampled on by rabidly anti-Israel protesters on UCT campus
by Daniel Bloch
We are all familiar with the expression, “What’s good for the goose is good for the gander.”
The problem is that not everyone lives up to this doctrine, and we are witnessing first-hand that hypocrisy in relation to Israel. I don’t intend focusing in this article on the Israel-Palestine question and will therefore not be looking at the ins and outs of the current war.
My reference to Israel is aimed purely at those vehemently anti-Israel individuals and organisations that have been displaying clear double standards when it pertains to freedom of expression, protesting and the values of respectful, civil engagement with those who might not share your views.
When it comes to vitriolic attacks against anyone showing support for Israel, it is a case of anything goes. By contrast, it takes just one so-called “Zionist” to say a dirty word against a pro-Palestinian individual for all hell to break loose.
The radical anti-Israel lobby will use the opportunity to cry out and call for blood, with what in reality is little more than a dispute between individuals being rapidly elevated into an orchestrated hate campaign against the individual concerned in the media, online, in the workplace and all on other conceivable forums.
During the week of March 18, I witnessed these double standards first hand while attending the so-called “Israel Apartheid Week” events at the University of Cape Town.
While the UCT Palestinian Solidarity Forum and Palestinian Solidarity Campaign will claim there were 500 students protesting, I can confirm that many of those participants were in fact not students.
Senior representatives from the ANC, Al Jama-ah, the EFF, and Palestinian Solidarity Campaign were not just there but were front and centre, screaming their vitriol in the faces of young Jewish students.
Taunts and insults such as: “Child killers”; “We are Hamas”; “October 7 will happen again”; “You f**king b*tch”; and “I will place your photo all over this campus you P*es”… This will give you an idea of what the students were subjected to by these adults and so-called “leaders in their communities”.
Protesters also ripped posters out of the Jewish students’ hands and invaded their space. In one video, a demonstrator, smacked the kippah (a traditional Jewish head covering) off a student’s head, while he was praying, and when confronted refused to apologise.
So, what will happen when these thuggish individuals are reported to their respective employers for their intimidation and harassment of young students? Most likely their employers – on the assumption that they take any action at all – will be dragged through the mud and labelled “supporters of genocide”.
If the adult non-student contingent hadn’t arrived to swell the crowd, the UCT PSF would most likely have had a paltry turnout. While observing proceedings, I was interested to hear what the several hundred students who walked by had to say: “What a waste of time”; “Can’t believe I missed my lecture for this”; “I have more important things to do.” It suggests that most students on campus are unaware of or uninterested in the Middle East, and would rather focus on their studies.
The Jewish community and the many people outside the community who have been standing staunchly by Israel during these times will always strive to occupy the moral high-ground. We do not intend naming and shaming individuals in the mainstream or social media nor will we be stalking people online, maligning them, sharing their personal information and embarrassing them in front of their family and friends, simply because their belief differs from our own.
When people do cross the line or break the law, however, that is when we will look to involve the media. We will also expose these hoodlums by sharing some of their “proudest” moments as protesters directly with their employers. It is up to the latter to decide whether or not they want their organisation and clients represented by individuals who intimidate, threaten and bully young people whose merely exercised their fundamental democratic rights to freedom of expression and association.
The core purpose of any university is to provide a space where ideas can be presented, debated and challenged. Over the past week, we saw those values being shamefully trampled upon by the rabidly anti-Israel protesters and their parent organisations who invaded UCT campus, and violated the rights of the students concerned by threatening, inciting violence and verbally abusing them.
We can only hope that the UCT leadership will take the necessary action not only to safeguard our students but also call to book those who desecrated the principles and values that the university has always prided itself on embodying.
* Daniel Bloch is executive director, Cape South African Jewish Board of Deputies.
** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.
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