December 04, 2004

Guardian's Polly Curtis should read the JC

Apparently there's a conference tomorrow at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) titled "Resisting Israeli Apartheid: Strategies and Principles". According to Polly Curtis in The Guardian. , this has led to SOAS being "attacked" by Jewish groups". One such group is the Union of Jewish Students (UJS). Polly Curtis might not know that the UJS has two seats on the World Zionist Congress which makes policy for the World Zionist Organisation which participates in policy-making for Israel. If she does know, she isn't saying. She would prefer, it seems, to have people believe that all Jews want to silence opposition to Israel and its apartheid nature. Similarly, Professors Steven and Hilary Rose are mentioned as attending the conference. Again, maybe Polly Curtis doesn't know that they're Jewish. She certainly doesn't mention it.

Further into the article it is said that Danny Stone of the UJS has "attended a meeting with the university to ask for extra security to ensure the safety of Jewish students on campus".* No mention here of why Jewish. students need extra security just because a conference is taking place. There's a clear implication here, by the UJS and by Polly Curtis, that conferences criticising Israel's apartheid system are a threat to Jews. Now it is not being over-cynical to suggest that if people attending the conference are attacked by members or supporters of the UJS, the UJS will have got it's "concern" in first. Let's face it, Zionists are masters of the pre-emptive strike.

*In a report on the same event, even the Jewish Chronicle. doesn't suggest that it is Jewish students being threatened. On the contrary the JC. reports that it is the SOAS Principal - Professor Colin Bundy - who has been threatened for allowing the conference to go ahead. The JC. hit the streets yesterday. How did Polly Curtis miss this? Did she do it deliberately? Also the JC. refers to Tom Paulin (who should be addressing the conference) "advocating the killing of American settlers whereas Polly Curtis refers to him "saying that Jewish settlers "should be shot dead"". This could, of course, lead readers to the impression that Tom Paulin has a problem with the Jewishness of the settlers and not their priveleged colonial settler status. Of course it's possible that Polly Curtis is ignorant of her subject but it all looks deliberately misleading, particularly when compared to the Jewish Chronicle's. report on the same event.

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