(Observer-UK) David Aaronovitch - Supporters of the decision by the British Association of University Teachers to boycott two Israeli universities claim Israel has become an apartheid state, as South Africa was, and therefore it should be treated in the same way, with boycotts and disinvestments. This is a genuinely, grade-A stupid argument. Israel is not anything like South Africa, where a majority was denied all political and civic rights on the grounds of race. Sue Blackwell, the motion's prime mover, describes Israel as "an illegitimate state." She doesn't believe that Israel has the right to exist as a Jewish state at all within any borders. Unlike the United Nations, she does not believe it should have been set up and she would rather it disappeared.
2005-04-25 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive