ANT KATZ

SAJR Online will be running daily reports on the activities of Jewish students (SAUJS) backed up by organisational Jewry in their “Give Peace Wings” campaign aimed at telling the true story in the face of the Israel Apartheid Week (IAW) campaign of the US-based NGO Boycott, Divest and Sanction Israel (BDS).

And, by all accounts, the score after Day-one was Peace=1 and IAW=0 throughout the country. Read on for news from Wits, UJ, Stellenbosch, UCT and Rhodes.

PICTURED RIGHT:
A SAUJS member in the “Adam” tent

The SA Zionist Federation Cape Council chair Ben Levitas told SAJR Online today that “IAW put on a pathetically poor show at UCT on Monday.” Levitas says that all the IAW supporters could do was to “play the victims and shout that we rich Jews have a big fancy tent.”

While SAUJS’ effort at UCT was “quite amazing,” Levitas’ reading is that “IAW’s effort on campus was a complete flop!”

Take a bow SAUJS UCT

Carla Frumer is the National Zionist Officer for SAUJS and running anti-IAW activities on the UCT campus this week. Cape SAUJS chair Luigi Bonfig is running IAW at Rhodes until Wednesday (SEE BELOW).

LEFT: Two of the contingent of Israeli students, both of Ethiopian origin, in ‘Abraham’s tent’

Carla reports as follows from UCT: “Day One of IAW: in my opinion was a major success for us. We engaged with many students and had Israeli students from StandWithUs and some Israel-Ethiopian students help us out.

“We used last year’s idea of Abraham’s tent in order to create a comfortable, inviting and non-hostile environment on campus where students can discuss Israel in a constructive manner,” says Carla Frumer.

“The concept of Abraham’s tent comes from the bible: When Abraham lived in the desert he had a tent open on all sides and would invite weary travellers to rest in his tent.

“He would take care of them, make them feel welcome together with his wife Sarah, and would treat his guests with the utmost hospitality, humility and respect.

“This is the kind of atmosphere we hope to create during IAW,” she told SAJR on Monday evening, promising to keep SAJR updated. Carla also supplied the pictures.

Rhodes

After the fiasco over IAW which cost Rhodes dearly last year, SAUJS reformed a branch on the campus for the first time in many years.

But Rhodes looked like it was about to fall apart for SAUJS, said Levitas today, after the SAUJS organiser broke a leg. But that didn’t put the students off and SAUJS’ UCT chair, Luigi Bonfig – together with a member of the US group StandWithUs undertook what Ben Levitas described as “an epic journey” to Grahamstown.

Initially, says Levitas, Rhodes were not keen to allow the reinforcements on campus, nor were they prepared to let SAUJS put up posters.

That, too, didn’t daunt the students’ determination. They quickly established that BDS had put up posters without obtaining prior permission and, as they too were not sanctioned, Rhodes gave SAUJS permission to remove all of BDS’ posters.

SAUJS were eventually granted permission to erect a gazebo and distribute information on Israel.

Stellenbosch

Stellenbosch University decided to restrict IAW-related events on campus this year to just two events – IAW have an event this afternoon, which Levitas and some Israeli students are attending, and SAUJS get their chance to respond on Thursday afternoon. SAJR will report on both meetings.

Wits, too, was a damp squib

By all accounts the “Give Peace Wings” programme is far larger than that of IAW on SA’s most politicised campus. This is likely the result of the no-nonsense,

hard-hitting approach of Vice Chancellor professor Adam Habib who has launched a determined campaign to stamp out the hooliganism of the past.

SAJR photographer Ilan Ossendrywer said that the IAW representation on Monday was pitiful, while the SAUJS campaign was working wonders and attracting a lot of attention.

One of the coups for SA Jewry this year was bringing in ex-Ethiopian Israeli Jewish girls who are all officers in the IDF as well as students at an Israeli University. Ossendrywer said that he had seen a number of Muslim students engaging with the girls at Wits.

Launch of Israeli Apartheid Week in S.Africa with Simphiwe Dana, Mayor of Johannesburg Parks Tau, Former South African Ambassador to Israel, representatives of national organizations and others https://www.sajr.co.za/images/default-source/People/group/carno—arielahome.jpg” />By ARIELA CARNO,
National chair,
SAUJS

The language we use and the way in which we frame a situation defines our everyday reality. If we frame something in the positive as opposed to the negative it is very likely to change the outcome of the situation; and that in principle is one of the underlying issues that I have with the week known as “Israel Apartheid week.”

Putting aside the fact that the claim that Israel is analogous to Apartheid South Africa is an insult to the very real struggle that the South African people underwent during Apartheid (in addition to being utterly false),the very title “Israel Apartheid week” presents a foregone conclusion that completely excludes the dialogue it claims to support.

This week rather than promoting a constructive dialogue regarding how a constructive solution can be reached in the Middle East incites hatred, violence and anti-Semitism. Now don’t wilfully misunderstand me-I am not saying that there are no issues in the Middle East, or that differences of opinion are not desirable, however creating a week of hate doesn’t solve any problems. It merely incites more hatred and violence and the cycle continues.

Every year on campus many students dread this infamous week because during it they feel that it provides a platform where criticisms evolve into discrimination. Hence this year the South African Union of Jewish students are running a campaign called give peace wings in the spirit of constructive dialogue, and we implore all students not to fall prey to the myth that hating those with a different opinion to yours is the only way to solve a conflict.

In the words of Nelson Mandela-“If you want to make peace with your enemy you have to work with your enemy. Then He becomes your partner”. So don’t fall prey to the rhetoric, rather join SAUJS wits in giving peace wings.

Lukud sent the ‘zaidas’ to UJ

On Monday night Likud-SA chair, Leon Reich together with members Sergio Kowensky and Basil Platzky attended a BDS-hosted talk at UJ by Israeli author Miko Peled who, said one SAUJS member who asked not to be named, “appears to be on a book tour to sell his books.” Peled wrote “The General’s Son.”

“His talk dealt with the history from 1948 as seen by the PLO and was full of inaccuracies,” Reich told the SAJR Online today, “he didn’t deal with Apartheid in SA and what he called Apartheid in Israel – he just made sweeping general statements.”

PICTURED LEFT: Zaida and
Likud-SA chair Leon Reich

Reich says the turnout was poor and there were 170-odd chairs and only 120 attended.

When it came to question time, says Leon, Basil stood up and called Peled a liar “and he told him that the information he was giving was wrong,” says Reich. “Sergio and I asked him not to get involved, but Basil said that he had come to insult Peled and he intended to do so.”

We were in the fourth row – the crowd behind us were in uproar. The chair and two members of the committee got up and waved their hands up and down to quieten the audience. The chair asked them to speak and through the chair.

After the meeting, says Reich, he went to speak to the chair, bought a book and gave his e-mail address after the chair assured him she would get him to see the real truth.

Israeli and US students at UCT Monday to support SAUJS

• The hashtag «#IsraeliApartheidWeek» has been a trending topic on twitter in South Africa today.