Barring of Israeli academics hypocrisy of the highest order

Allan Wolman, Johannesburg

For these so-called “academics” to make such calls must rate as hypocrisy of the highest order. Surely these scholars are more than aware of the dismal state of education in this country, where a mere trickle of learners ever finishes their basic primary education, thus condemning them to a life of mediocrity with no hope of a decent future.

But, they focus on the plight of the Palestinians, where almost every child receives an education, albeit nurtured on a diet of hatred for the Jewish people and that Jews are but a sub-species of the human race. Even more hypocritical is that they single Israel out for human-rights abuses, when more than 85 000 children in the Yemen have been mercilessly slaughtered in that troubled country. Nor have they mentioned the plight of the children of Syria and other Arab countries.

CNN is currently running an expose of anti-Semitism in Europe and other parts of the world, where the oldest of all hatreds is rearing its ugly head again also through this one-sided targeting of Israel, where every child, be they Jew or Arab, enjoys one of the highest standard of education in the world. That applies to boys and girls. In most Arab countries, the state of girls’ education must leave a gaping question for these “academics”.

It is blatantly clear that the likes of Roshan Dadoo, Zackie Achmat and company, all well known for their hatred of the Jewish state, which as CNN demonstrates amounts to hatred of Jews, will use any forum, even an academic conference, to manifest their anti-Semitic sentiments. Surely the same calls that they make for Israeli academics to be barred should be extended to other – real – human-rights abusers, of which there are many attending this farcical conference.