Here are two radical ways to address the ugliness of Israel Apartheid Week.
1) At the Toronto Sun, Lorrie Goldstein writes, tongue in cheek:
All we’d have to do is threaten to behead any university administrators who allowed such an insult to the Jewish state — and thus to Judaism and to our God — to take place on their campuses.
Our rabbis could issue a public death sentence against them, instructing Jews that killing these infidels would be a blessing, assuring them a place in heaven were they to die in the attempt.
2) Palestinian journalist Khaled Abu Toameh wrote:
It is hard to see how organizing events such as “Israel Apartheid Week” on a university campus could help the cause of the Palestinians. Isn’t there already enough anti-Israel incitement that is being spewed out of Arab and Islamic media outlets? . . .
Instead of investing money and efforts in organizing Israel Apartheid Week, for example, the self-described “pro-Palestinians” could dispatch a delegation of teachers to Palestinian villages and refugee camps to teach young Palestinians English. Or they could send another delegation to the Gaza Strip to monitor human rights violations by the Hamas authorities and help Palestinian women confront Muslim fundamentalists who are trying to limit their role to cooking, raising children and looking after the needs of their husbands.
Here is an idea: Let’s substitute Israel Apartheid Week with Palestine Democracy Week, where Palestinians would be urged and encouraged to demand an end to financial corruption and bad government.
How bad has IAW gotten? We're at the point where the U. of Manitoba's Jewish students were advised to avoid campus, meaning skip classes. And one Jewish U. of Toronto alumnus returned his academic degrees in protest. But those are short-term moves.
Does anyone have other "big picture" ideas?
UPDATE March 4: Credit where credit is due: Brown U. student Roberta Goldman is on Toameh's wavelength.
