The Empire Strikes Back

Last week the Jewish/Israel lobby tried but were unsuccessful in preventing Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad from speaking at Columbia University. They were successful in getting Columbia President Bollinger to rudely attack President Ahmadinejad during his introduction. Since they were unsuccessful in New York, they decided to pick on someone smaller and less powerful than Columbia. This week, they succeeded in preventing Nobel Laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu from speaking at St. Thomas College in Minneapolis. (For this story, click here) The grounds for this boycott of Archbishop Tutu were his alleged anti-Semitic remarks at a conference in Boston. The right wing Zionist Organization of America has not only twisted the words of Bishop Tutu, but also those of Jimmy Carter and Professor Norman Finkelstein to achieve their goal of silencing Israel’s critics. (For the full transcript of the speech, click here) It is disappointing that this episode should take place at St. Thomas College, a Catholic school named for a saint who was honored for being willing to question conventional wisdom even religious dogma. During our recent trip to Israel/Palestine my wife and I commissioned an icon of St. Thomas for our church whose name also honors St. Thomas. Those who have gone with us to Israel and the West Bank usually return questioning the conventional wisdom that they have received from the US media and politicians. They tend agree with the words of Bishop Tutu and Jimmy Carter comparing what is happening in Israel/Palestine with what happened in apartheid South Africa. The nun in Jerusalem who painted the icon added the biblical quote “blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.” Perhaps this applies to those who have not seen Israel with their own eyes but still campaign for peace and justice in this region.