No One is Beyond the Zionut Wrath

Apparently no one is too high for the Israeli lobby and its foot soldiers to target. Nobel Peace Prize winner and anti-Apartheid hero Desmond Tutu was recently invited, and then dis-invited, to speak at a small Minnesota university.

Last April, the Justice and Peace Studies program at St. Thomas University, lined up the former Archbishop Desmond Tutu for a campus appearance. A speaker of this importance does not appear at St. Thomas too often. Tutu was the chairman of South Africa's truth and reconciliation commission -- one of the most significant bodies of its kind.

Well before the program could roll out the red carpet for its esteemed guest, St. Thomas administrators moved to cancel the talk, which was slated for next Spring. The campus officials were "concerned that Tutu's appearance might offend local Jews."

What you are about to read is NOT made up.

"We had heard some things he said that some people judged to be anti-Semitic and against Israeli policy," says Doug Hennes, St. Thomas's vice president for university and government relations. "We're not saying he's anti-Semitic. But he's compared the state of Israel to Hitler and our feeling was that making moral equivalencies (sic) like that are hurtful to some members of the Jewish community."

Tutu said that Israel was like Hitler?!?!? That is the funniest thing I've read in some time.

The chair of the Justice and Peace program was demoted for telling Tutu why his event was canceled.

The local alternative paper, the City Pages, looked at the transcript of his most critical speech, and found nothing to substantiate the allegations against him.

During that speech, titled "Occupation Is Oppression," Tutu lambasted the Israeli government for its treatment of Palestinians in occupied territories. While a transcription clearly suggests his criticism was aimed at the Israeli government ("We don't criticize the Jewish people," he said during the speech. "We criticize, we will criticize when they need to be criticized, the government of Israel"), pro-Israeli organizations such as the Zionist Organization of America went on the offensive and protested campus appearances by Tutu, accusing him of anti-Semitism.

Look, St. Thomas might just be caught between some bad blood from the old days. Tutu is a long-standing critic of Israel's treatment of the Palestinians, which he famously said reminded him of his treatment (and here) in apartheid South Africa. And Israel, which is so dear to the "local Jews" who the administration listened to, was a big ally of apartheid South Africa.

St. Thomas' administration is almost laughable for this decision. That they would bend over backwards to please a few vocal members of a diverse community and dis-invite such a historical figure is so incredibly petty and small-minded. It is hard not to feel bad for them. As Tutu is probably telling himself, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."

Jewish Voice for Peace is calling for reasonable people to let St. Thomas know the error of its ways

Click here to write to Father Dease and urge that he reverse this tragic course. Tell him you want to see Prof. Toffolo reinstated as chair of the Justice and Peace Studies program and that the words and views of Bishop Tutu are important ones for the students at St. Thomas University to hear.

[tarboush tip: muzzlewatch]