I’m looking for more information on this, but apparently a couple of Jewish students were attacked threatened and intimidated at a lecture at U of T. The reason? They asked the typical question that anyone listening to discussions about Israel and Palestine should ask regarding the anti-semetic, anti-israeli nature of the Hamas charter. In typical fashion, the Hamas apologist ducked the question, and when students demanded a straight answer they were bullied and kicked out.
This week is apparently Israeli Apartheid Week, which is becoming not only a vehicle for anti-semitism but also a catalyst for goon tactics similar to what Christopher Hitchens dealt with in Syria. I’m appalled that this could happen first in a city as multicultural as Toronto, and second in Canada. We cannot allow this sort of behaviour to go unacknowledged.
Here we go again. It always, always, shocks me that anyone, but anywone who is not an Israeli or Jewish,and not in Palestine or Palestinian, can take a side on this conflict. I have listened to the arguments of both sides, have actively sought out information on the conflict, history and ideology of both sides. I have come to this one simple conclusion. Neither side has the slightest shred of a claim to righteousness, morality, or justification except under some kind of Hobbesian war-of-all-to-the-death-logic. Men who convince children to blow themselves up in civilian areas have no claim to morality or ethics. Men who bomb hostpitals and farms and keep hundreds of thousands imprisoned have no claim to morality or ethics. One side is as bad as the other. The only reason I believe Israel gets a worse rap for it (besides the optics of bombing hospitals) is that they consider themselves a liberal democracy based on fundamental human rights, at least for their citizens. And since I this conflict has been going on for more than twice my lifetime, I have a suggestion. Give up. Move everyone off the land. Nuke it into an unrecognizable hellscape unfit for human habitation for the next five thousand years. Raze Jerusalem to the ground. And when everyone cries foul, simply point at the smoking irridated leftovers and say, “there, you can fight over that if you want. But just remember, you were headed in that direction anyways.” Extreme? Oh yes, but so is a senseless war that goes on for this long. Will it happen? Of course not. Will you or I live to see lasting, sincere peace in the Israel-Palestine? Of course not.
Would I oppose said nuking if it actually was going to happen? Oh yeah, it would be satisfying but in all likelihood would only disperse the combatants and create another two al-Quaeda type organizations, taking their conflict international.
I’m going to come right out and say I oppose nuking the Holy Land. In terms of what you are saying, the whole postcolonial, post-holocaust nature of Israel’s inception does lead to some issues, and I do think there needs to be an end to the blockade of Gaza. Apart from that, my main point here had little to do with the conflict itself, as much as it did with the issues relating to the discussion at the University of Toronto and the tactics used by the presenters of the lecture to silence dissent and discussion.
No worries man…I agree with most of what you said in the post. I was just ranting because I have to deal with some nationalist Israelis on a regular basis. But yeah, sack the prof.
Maybe this could become Liam and Matt’s ongoing conversations – or perhaps start a new blog to that effect. I’d be a reader. But. I’ve enjoyed both of you bantering since you were kids. Add Ry to the mix and it would be like old times – except with a higher level of thought. Except from the peanut gallery.