Tutu’s appearance—slated for the spring of ’08—was made possible by the university’s partnership with PeaceJam International, a youth-centered project that taps Nobel Laureates to teach young adults about peace and justice. For four straight years, the Catholic university’s St. Paul campus had played host to PeaceJam festivities featuring Nobel Peace Prize winners such as Rigoberta Menchú Tum and Shirin Ebadi.
But in a move that still has faculty members shaking their heads in disbelief, St. Thomas administrators—concerned that Tutu’s appearance might offend local Jews—told organizers that a visit from the archbishop was out of the question.
“We had heard some things he said that some people judged to be anti-Semitic and against Israeli policy,” says Doug Hennes, St. Thomas’s vice president for university and government relations. “We’re not saying he’s anti-Semitic. But he’s compared the state of Israel to Hitler and our feeling was that making moral equivalencies like that are hurtful to some members of the Jewish community.”
St. Thomas officials made this inference after Hennes talked to Julie Swiler, a spokeswoman for the Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota and the Dakotas.
“I told him that I’d run across some statements that were of concern to me,” says Swiler. “In a 2002 speech in Boston, he made some comments that were especially hurtful.”
During that speech, titled “Occupation Is Oppression,” Tutu lambasted the Israeli government for its treatment of Palestinians in occupied territories. While a transcription clearly suggests his criticism was aimed at the Israeli government (“We don’t criticize the Jewish people,” he said during the speech. “We criticize, we will criticize when they need to be criticized, the government of Israel”), pro-Israeli organizations such as the Zionist Organization of America went on the offensive and protested campus appearances by Tutu, accusing him of anti-Semitism.
Yes, that Desmond Tutu.
Update: See the “offensive” Tutu quote in the comments (thanks, Jose), and Juan Cole reminds us that:
Ann Coulter once said of Muslims, “We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity.”
Coulter can speak at UST. But not Desmond Tutu.
Ahh, the ZOA. Yglesias once described them tongue-in-cheek as “the right-wing alternative to AIPAC American so badly needs.” They attacked Barack Obama for saying he hoped for peace in the Middle East on the grounds such sentiments were clearly out of touch with the reality of Palestinian treachery.
“My heart aches. I say why are our memories so short. Have our Jewish sisters and brothers forgotten their humiliation? Have they forgotten the collective punishment, the home demolitions, in their own history so soon? Have they turned their backs on their profound and noble religious traditions? Have they forgotten that God cares deeply about the downtrodden?”[8] He argued that Israel could never live in security by oppressing another people, and continued, “People are scared in this country [the US], to say wrong is wrong because the Jewish lobby is powerful – very powerful. Well, so what? For goodness sake, this is God’s world! We live in a moral universe. The apartheid government was very powerful, but today it no longer exists. Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Pinochet, Milosevic, and Idi Amin were all powerful, but in the end they bit the dust.”
-Desmond Tutu
Ann Coulter is an idiot for sure… but noone in their real mind believes that she said that and meant that in any serious way… it was tongue and cheek.
Desmond Tutu actuallly believes the hurtful garbage he is saying… not that I’m against him speaking… but if you want to complain about speakers…. perhaps you can explain why Muslim speakers regularly speak at Universities about the “Apartheid State” etc…. while ex Muslims like Shoebat, Brigitte Gabriel and others a lot more moderate than them get the runaround and are often flat out rejected by schools? Yet fringe elements in Isral like Pappe and the like will be invited whole heartedly by leftist dominated Universities where someone like Coulter is treated groughly but Ahmedinejad actually gets applause and is greeted warmly by a Dean after his speech.
Walking down the who doesn’t get to speak at Universities path is a sure loser for you… you have 1 example here, but the overwhelming majority of cases goes against your supposition.
Mike
Jose,
Afraid to criticize Israel? keep sucking down your Kool Aid..
Yeah, those all powerful Joooooooooooooos are lurking behind every corner… Keep brushing up on your Protocols of Zion rapped in laid out thick “concern” and “caring”……….
Jose, maybe we should ban Jooooooooooooos from DC or at least limit their #’s? Wouldya say…. yeah those all powerful Jooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooos….
LOL….
Right after Arabist posted about “prejudice” you get a perfect example of the result of the racist over the top bullshit from people like Tutu, Joseph Massad, etc… and talk about racists? that guy is a tenured teacher at Columbia… GEE? how did he slip in from the grasp of the all powerful Joooooooooooooooooooooooos Jose?
You’d laugh if it wasn’t so sad…
MIke
Mike,
Do get your facts straight before opening your mouth.
1. Brigitte Gabriel was, is and will probably remain a Christian.
2. Pres. Ahmadinejad was greeted with applause at Columbia because he was a guest although Columbia president Bollinger has proven himself, to the eyes of many, a disgrace. Obviously, his actions continues to be debated.
3. The issue remains that any criticism of Israel and the policies of its government towards Palestinians and its neighbors are immediately shut down through accusatory and often misplaced conclusions of anti-Semitism. This is a card that has been abused to stifle debate and dialogue.
4. Joseph Massad is a respected professor at an Ivy League university. If you actually have any concrete knowledge of what occurs behind the scenes, you would know that an accusation hurled at Prof. Massad was rebutted by his students who were present when the contentious incident took place.
5. The insipid comments you made based on rumor and relying on insult to excuse your inchoate quasi-arguments, are juvenile. Someone once wrote that insults are the ammunition of the ignorant. You just proved him right.
One more thing.
I tried to read your comments again and it makes no sense. i would like to think you were drunk at the time because otherwise you don’t really have an excuse.
Actually, I’m not sure Brigitte Gabriel qualifies as a moderate ex-Muslim.
darn, you beat me to it 🙂
“Coulter can speak at UST.”
I highly doubt that. Coulter has thrown her fair share of barbs at the Catholics.
I have a question that seems to be loaded, as if I want to lead you into a trap, but really I am just curious and I’d like an honest answer (or as honest one can be on blog):
What goes through your mind when you hear/read an activist use the word “Jewish” when he meant (or should have meant) to say “Israeli” or “Zionist”?
“Ahmedinejad … is greeted warmly by a Dean after his speech.”
It takes a special kind of ignorance of the event to make such a statement. other problems with your response already covered.
He is speaking now…
Speaking of Ann Coulter, please comment. She is an equal opportunity offender.