Reader Commentary

Knesset protest was ineffectual

In response to your article, “Student arrested at SJP protests of Israeli Knesset,” (April 3):

I moderated the event so I was up on the stage making my introduction when it took place.

It was a silly protest, actually infantile. The protesters did not respond to any person or any statement.

They protested for the sake of proclaiming Israel as an apartheid state.

The lack of seriousness was apparent to anyone who looked at that stage on which sat not only an Arab Member of Knesset but an Arab who is the Deputy Speaker of the Knesset and had recently been a Minister in the Israeli cabinet in a previous government.

In reality, the protest was a non-event for the nearly 800 people who stayed the nearly two hours of fascinating discussion about many contentious issues concerning Israel.

According to the Youtube video they posted immediately after leaving the hall, the protest lasted 1:11 minutes. That is, 1 minute and 11 seconds out of an event that lasted nearly two hours.

The protest was clearly irrelevant, not even a minor annoyance to those who attended.

One last word, as moderator I commented that the protesters clearly do not understand what apartheid is about.

I shared that I had the high honor of awarding Nelson Mandela an honorary doctorate at Capetown University on behalf of an Israeli university before a packed hall that included representatives from 35 South African institutions of higher education.

Mandela, who knows what apartheid was about, gave a glowing and warm speech that demonstrated a deep appreciation for the Jewish state.

The protesters could learn much from Mandela’s example rather than follow the shallow and distorted path of mouthing slogans they poorly understand.

—Ilan Troen’63

The writer is a professor in the Department of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies and the Director of the Schusterman Center for Israel Studies.

University’s actions are contradictory

In response to your article, “Student arrested at SJP protests of Israeli Knesset,” (April 3):

Our group’s action sent a message that resonated and brought international attention to the University administration’s very problematic complacency with Israel’s Apartheid policies.

I find it disgraceful as a Brandeis student to know that the administration welcomes with great ceremony war criminals such as Avi Dichter and proto-fascists such as Ofir Akunis, Fania Kirshenbaum, and Lia Shemtov—who proposed legislation to make all government employees sign oaths of their loyalty to the Jewish nature of the state of Israel.

Just because there are Arab members of the Knesset does not mean that Israel is not an Apartheid state.

The crime of Apartheid is a legal definition, referring to policies and practices of racial segregation and discrimination for the purpose of establishing and maintaining domination by one racial group of persons over any other racial group of persons.

Although some have expressed indignation at the use of the word “Apartheid,” myself and other individuals involved in the walkout have in the past experienced beatings, intimidation, and the use of chemical and other weapons at the hands of Israeli occupation forces simply for demonstrating against the military occupation enforced on Palestinians for generations.

That is Apartheid.

That is fascism.

Those involved in sponsoring events such as the Knesset panel last week, as well as those attempting to marginalize our voice and trivialize these legitimate concerns share culpability for the continuation of the Israeli government’s Apartheid policies.

—Seth Grande ’12

The writer is a member of Brandeis Students for Justice in Palestine.