The second-last event of Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) featured professor emeritus Michael Keefer at the University of Guelph speaking on March 6 about what he called the Harper government’s rhetoric of the “New Anti-Semitism.”
Keefer’s panel addressed how IAW has been controversial for the 10 years it has run.
It also examined why students continue to fight for IAW and how they face opposition in the form of what Keefer said is the “new anti-semitism.”
Keefer defined the “new anti-semitism” is the opinion that IAW and similar events draw disproportionate attention to alleged human rights abuses in Israel, relative to other countries facing similar allegations.
He pinned this viewpoint to Harper.
In his panel he opposed the viewpoint, drawing the audience’s attention to what he said was “evermore violent oppression” of Palestinian people and Israel’s “flagrant violation of international law.”
Keefer said Canada would be a friend to Israel by opposing its “apartheid” practices.
“When a person sets out in a state of febrile intoxication to drive his car over a cliff, what kind of friend is it who hands him the keys and says, ‘Go for it, buddy, I’ve got your back,’” he said.
The panel was hosted by Students Against Israeli Apartheid (SAIA) and Independent Jewish Voices.
Audience member and SAIA volunteer Caleb DeWitt said he would expect Carleton students to be curious about the perspectives presented in the panel.
“The mass media has a very one-sided portrayal of what happens in that area,” he said.
