Israeli Apartheid Week
Encyclopedia
Israeli Apartheid Week is an annual series of university lectures and rallies held in February or March. According to the organisation "[t]he aim of IAW is to educate people about the nature of Israel as an apartheid system and to build Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions
(BDS) campaigns as part of a growing global BDS movement". It began in Toronto
in 2005 and, by 2010, spread to 55 cities around the world including locations in Canada
, the United Kingdom
, the United States
, South Africa
, the West Bank
, Mexico
, Norway
and Australia
.
, divestments
and sanctions
campaign in accordance with the demands outlined in the July 2005 Statement: full equality for Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel
, an end to the occupation and colonization of all Arab
lands – including the Golan Heights, the Occupied West Bank
with East Jerusalem
and the Gaza Strip
– and dismantling the Wall, and the protection of Palestinian refugees’ right to return
to their homes and properties as stipulated in U.N. resolution 194."
The term "apartheid", while historically associated with South Africa, is a legal term under international law as defined by the International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid. It is included in the list of crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court
.
, the Palestinian liberation struggle and its similarities with the indigenous
sovereignty struggle in North America
and the South African anti-Apartheid movement
." An international divestment
campaign was also said to have gained momentum in response to the 2005 statement by over 170 Palestinian civil society
organizations who called for boycotts, divestments and sanctions. They also claimed that important gains had been made in the campaign in countries like South Africa, the United Kingdom
, Canada and the United States.
The years preceding 2008, a significant year in that it marked the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the state of Israel, had seen a sharp increase of literature and analysis that was said to have sought to document and challenge alleged Israeli apartheid, including reports issued by major international bodies and human rights
organizations and findings published by political leaders, thinkers, academics, and activists
. The efforts were also said to have highlighted the role that people and governments across the world could play in providing "solidarity with the Palestinian struggle by exerting urgent pressure on Israel to alter its current structure and practices as an apartheid state."
Opponents of Israeli Apartheid Week argue that it has fomented an upsurge of anti-Zionism on Canadian and American campuses. Some have also labelled the event as anti-Semitic, although this charge is rejected by supporters.
; New York City
; University of Toronto
and University of Ottawa
, Canada
; Montreal
, Hamilton
, London
, Cambridge
, and Soweto
, South Africa
.
Speakers have included Balad MK Jamal Zahalka
in 2007 and former MK Azmi Bishara
, also of Balad, who began Israeli Apartheid Week 2008 with a live broadcast from Soweto.
In 2009, locations included Abu Dis
, Berkeley
, Boston College
, Emory University
, Bir Zeit
, Edinburgh
, Edmonton
, Johannesburg
, Oxford
, Kalkilya, San Francisco, Soweto
, Tulkarm
and Washington, DC.
In 2010, locations include
Jerusalem, Amsterdam, Bard (NY), Beirut, Berkeley, Bethlehem, Bil'in, Bogota, Bologna, Boston, Cape Town, Caracas,Chicago, Connecticut, Duluth, Dundee, Durban, Eastern Cape, Edinburgh, Edmonton, Gaza, Glasgow, Guelph, Hamilton, Houston, Ireland, Jenin, Johannesburg, Kingston, London (ON), London (UK), Madrid, Melbourne, Minneapolis/St.Paul, Montréal, Nablus, New York City, Nil'in,
Ottawa, Oxford, Peterborough, Pisa, Pretoria, Providence, Puebla, Roma, San Francisco, Seattle, Sudbury, Tilburg, Toronto, Truro (CA), Utrecht, Vancouver, Waterloo and Winnipeg.
The 2006 Israeli Apartheid week was held February 13 to 17, 2006.
The 2007 Israeli Apartheid week was held February 12 to 17, 2007.
The 4th Annual Israeli Apartheid Week 2008 was officially launched on February 3, 2008 in Soweto, South Africa as the "exiled Palestinian Israeli Knesset
" Azmi Bishara
, gave a lecture on the 60th anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba. The conference continued till the 19th of the same month. The week of the event was February 4 to February 9, 2008.
The 2009 Israeli Apartheid Week was held March 1 to 8, 2009.
The 2010 Israeli Apartheid Week was held March 1 to 6, 2010.
, Jamal Zahalka
, spoke in Montréal in 2007. He said: "Calling the occupation apartheid isn’t an overstatement, it’s an understatement. The Israeli occupation in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip are worse than apartheid.
In response to "rhetorical attacks" and "institutional measures" directed at Israeli Apartheid Week 2009 in Canada, Omar Barghouti, one of the founders of the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel and a prominent speaker at the events, stated that equating criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism would be analogous to equating criticism of Saudi Arabia with Islamophobia, and labelled such accusations as "hypocrisy". He noted the role of Canadian Jewish citizens amongst the organizers of the event, while remarking: "Who says Israel equals Jews? Making this equation is itself anti-Semitic [...], since saying that attacking Israel is the same as attacking Jews assumes that Jews all over the world assume full responsibility for every crime and violation of international law committed by Israel."
At Toronto’s 2011 Israel Apartheid Week event, Chadni Desai, speaking on behalf of the organizers, announced, “We as the organizers of Israeli Apartheid Week in Toronto believe that we cannot speak meaningfully about Israeli apartheid without speaking first about the realities of apartheid here in Canada. Canada’s reservation system and the treatment of indigenous peoples is (sic) closely studied by the planners of apartheid in South Africa, although this is a hidden chapter of our history. From its very foundations, Canada has been based on the theft of indigenous land and the genocide and displacement of indigenous peoples. If you are with us in opposition to Israeli Apartheid, we encourage your consistent opposition to apartheid right here in Canada."
, said of the week featuring the events "this isn’t [my] favourite time of year." However, Dr. Naylor responded to objections from the Friends of the Simon Wiesenthal Center
for Holocaust Studies, in signing a statement that declared, "We do, in fact, recognize that the term Israeli Apartheid is upsetting to many people, [but] we also recognize that, in every society, universities have a unique role to provide a safe venue for highly charged discourse."
University of Manitoba
President David Barnard, in a report to the Board of Governors regarding Israeli Apartheid Week in 2010, that "while he had not personally attended any of the events, the events proceeded as anticipated and were orderly. He added that he had received a lot of communication from the external community regarding this, and that while there were a number of people against the event, there was also support for the University's position in allowing the event to proceed." In 2011, Barnard responded publicly to complaints about IAW, saying "Ultimately, we have an obligation to uphold the right to freedom of expression, and will not censor an individual or group for what has not yet been expressed."
In March 2011, various Canadian government and other political figures, including Prime Minister Stephen Harper
, Immigration Minister Jason Kenney
and Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff
all criticized IAW. Kenney indicated that he was "deeply concerned about the events and activities" associated with IAW and said that the event was "all too often [...] accompanied by anti-Semitic harassment, intimidation and bullying." He further indicated that students participating IAW were "free [...] to speak their mind" but encouraged them to "reflect on whether these activities are beneficial." Ignatieff, in condemning the week, said it is a “dangerous cocktail of ignorance and intolerance” that threatens “the mutual respect” of Canadian society.
Stuart Appelbaum, gay president of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union
feels that those groups opposing the New York LGBT
Center’s decision to prohibit an Israel Apartheid Week March 2011 event were intellectually dishonest, saying "This was not a question of free speech. This was hate speech. The center should not be used as a venue for racism, Islamophobia or anti-Semitism. Nor did they even care about free speech. The same groups have consistently sought to ban and prevent supporters of Israel from expressing their views."
In advance of the 2011 IAW, the government of Israel
chose a group of Israelis, including Arabs, gays, Ethiopian Jews and an MTV
"VJ" (presenter) to oppose the apartheid analogy used by going on a speaking tour of the USA; an additional group went to Britain "to combat anti-Israel messages students there are receiving from Israel Apartheid Week activities."
In an effort to combat IAW, the Jerusalem Post wrote in March 2011 that NGO Monitor
has produced "the “BDS Sewer System” which provides detailed information, in graphic form, on the sources of delegitimization campaigns against Israel."
Popular gay columnist and film producer Michael Lucas
has called Israel Apartheid Week "a hate group" and "a group of antisemites." In February 2011 he brought about the cancellation of a planned event involving New York's LGBT
Center and Israel Apartheid Week after threatening to organize a boycott of large donors to the center. He said of his achievement that it was a landmark moment in his life, of which he was enormously proud.
In 2009, Canadian MP Michael Ignatieff
condemned IAW as a form of "demonization" of Israeli and Jewish students, causing them to "fear for their safety" on campus. He went on to say that IAW "should be condemned by all who value civil and respectful debate about the tragic conflict in the Middle East."
A representative of the Simon Wiesenthal Center
described it, in 2009, as an event that "promotes anti-Semitism on Canadian university campuses."
In 2008, Orna Hollander of Betar Canada called for supporters of Israel to stand up to the event telling the Canadian Jewish News
that, "The strategy has been … from an organized community end, to not lend credibility, to be quiet about it, not bring press around it … Four years later, I think we definitely learned that we can keep our heads in the sand, but it’s going to go on with or without us. [IAW organizers] very much control the PR
and rhetoric on campus, and its time to stand up and take responsibility.”
Also in 2008, pro-Israel activists countered the event with "Islamic State Apartheid Week" organized by the Hasbara Fellowships
and endorsed by Betar
.
The Institute for Global Jewish Affairs describes Israel Apartheid week as example of anti-Israelism and anti-Semitism
.
Organizers of the counterprotest stated that they "want to remove the connection that modern-day students have to the word apartheid and Israel and refocus it to the countries that we think really exemplify the definition of apartheid, being a policy of separation and segregation. Through a week which encompasses the themes of gender, sexual and political apartheid, we hope to get out a new message."
Some commentators have called for an "Arab Apartheid Week" to counter Israeli Apartheid Week.In one of his series of articles accusing the government of Lebanon of practicing "apartheid" against the resident Palestinian community, journalist Khaled Abu Toameh
describes the "special legal status" as "foreigners" assigned uniquely to Palestinians, "a fact which has deprived them of health care, social services, property ownership and education. Even worse, Lebanese law bans Palestinians from working in many jobs. This means that Palestinians cannot work in the public services and institutions run by the government such as schools and hospitals. Unlike Israel, Lebanese public hospitals do not admit Palestinians for medical treatment or surgery.
"
In 2008, Israel's ambassador to Canada, Alan Baker, denounced Israeli Apartheid Week as "crude propagandism, pure hypocrisy and cynical manipulation of the student body."
In 2007, the event spread to New York University
, Columbia University
and Hunter College
in New York City. The David Project, organized meetings the same week in opposition to the characterization of Israel as an apartheid state, and the American Jewish Committee
Koppelman Institute on American Jewish-Israeli Relations denounced the apartheid week saying "the specter of apartheid should not be raised in any form."
Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions
Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions refers to a campaign first initiated on 9 July 2005 by 171 Palestinian non-governmental organizations in support of the Palestinian cause ".....
(BDS) campaigns as part of a growing global BDS movement". It began in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
in 2005 and, by 2010, spread to 55 cities around the world including locations in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
, the West Bank
West Bank
The West Bank ) of the Jordan River is the landlocked geographical eastern part of the Palestinian territories located in Western Asia. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel. To the east, across the Jordan River, lies the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan...
, Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
and Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
.
Goals
The aim of the week was officially said to be a contribution "to this chorus of international opposition to Israeli apartheid and to bolster support for the boycottsEconomic and political boycotts of Israel
Boycotts of Israel are economic and political cultural campaigns or actions that seek a selective or total cutting of ties with the State of Israel...
, divestments
Disinvestment from Israel
Disinvestment from Israel is a campaign conducted by religious and political entities which aims to use disinvestment to pressure the government of Israel to put "an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories captured during the 1967 military campaign." The disinvestment campaign is...
and sanctions
Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions
Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions refers to a campaign first initiated on 9 July 2005 by 171 Palestinian non-governmental organizations in support of the Palestinian cause ".....
campaign in accordance with the demands outlined in the July 2005 Statement: full equality for Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel
Arab citizens of Israel
Arab citizens of Israel refers to citizens of Israel who are not Jewish, and whose cultural and linguistic heritage or ethnic identity is Arab....
, an end to the occupation and colonization of all Arab
Arab
Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...
lands – including the Golan Heights, the Occupied West Bank
West Bank
The West Bank ) of the Jordan River is the landlocked geographical eastern part of the Palestinian territories located in Western Asia. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel. To the east, across the Jordan River, lies the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan...
with East Jerusalem
East Jerusalem
East Jerusalem or Eastern Jerusalem refer to the parts of Jerusalem captured and annexed by Jordan in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and then captured and annexed by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War...
and the Gaza Strip
Gaza Strip
thumb|Gaza city skylineThe Gaza Strip lies on the Eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The Strip borders Egypt on the southwest and Israel on the south, east and north. It is about long, and between 6 and 12 kilometres wide, with a total area of...
– and dismantling the Wall, and the protection of Palestinian refugees’ right to return
Palestinian right of return
The Palestinian right of return is a political position or principle asserting that Palestinian refugees, both first-generation refugees and their descendants, have a right to return, and a right to the property they or their forebears left or which they were forced to leave in what is now Israel...
to their homes and properties as stipulated in U.N. resolution 194."
The term "apartheid", while historically associated with South Africa, is a legal term under international law as defined by the International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid. It is included in the list of crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court
International Criminal Court
The International Criminal Court is a permanent tribunal to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression .It came into being on 1 July 2002—the date its founding treaty, the Rome Statute of the...
.
Efficacy
The organizers said the week has "played an important role in raising awareness and disseminating information about ZionismZionism
Zionism is a Jewish political movement that, in its broadest sense, has supported the self-determination of the Jewish people in a sovereign Jewish national homeland. Since the establishment of the State of Israel, the Zionist movement continues primarily to advocate on behalf of the Jewish state...
, the Palestinian liberation struggle and its similarities with the indigenous
Indigenous peoples
Indigenous peoples are ethnic groups that are defined as indigenous according to one of the various definitions of the term, there is no universally accepted definition but most of which carry connotations of being the "original inhabitants" of a territory....
sovereignty struggle in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
and the South African anti-Apartheid movement
Anti-Apartheid Movement
Anti-Apartheid Movement , originally known as the Boycott Movement, was a British organization that was at the center of the international movement opposing South Africa's system of apartheid and supporting South Africa's Blacks....
." An international divestment
Divestment
In finance and economics, divestment or divestiture is the reduction of some kind of asset for either financial or ethical objectives or sale of an existing business by a firm...
campaign was also said to have gained momentum in response to the 2005 statement by over 170 Palestinian civil society
Civil society
Civil society is composed of the totality of many voluntary social relationships, civic and social organizations, and institutions that form the basis of a functioning society, as distinct from the force-backed structures of a state , the commercial institutions of the market, and private criminal...
organizations who called for boycotts, divestments and sanctions. They also claimed that important gains had been made in the campaign in countries like South Africa, the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, Canada and the United States.
The years preceding 2008, a significant year in that it marked the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the state of Israel, had seen a sharp increase of literature and analysis that was said to have sought to document and challenge alleged Israeli apartheid, including reports issued by major international bodies and human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
organizations and findings published by political leaders, thinkers, academics, and activists
Activism
Activism consists of intentional efforts to bring about social, political, economic, or environmental change. Activism can take a wide range of forms from writing letters to newspapers or politicians, political campaigning, economic activism such as boycotts or preferentially patronizing...
. The efforts were also said to have highlighted the role that people and governments across the world could play in providing "solidarity with the Palestinian struggle by exerting urgent pressure on Israel to alter its current structure and practices as an apartheid state."
Opponents of Israeli Apartheid Week argue that it has fomented an upsurge of anti-Zionism on Canadian and American campuses. Some have also labelled the event as anti-Semitic, although this charge is rejected by supporters.
Previous locations
Cities to have hosted a previous event of the Week are, amongst others: Oxford University, OxfordOxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
; New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
; University of Toronto
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...
and University of Ottawa
University of Ottawa
The University of Ottawa is a bilingual, research-intensive, non-denominational, international university in Ottawa, Ontario. It is one of the oldest universities in Canada. It was originally established as the College of Bytown in 1848 by the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
; Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, Hamilton
Hamilton, Ontario
Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Conceived by George Hamilton when he purchased the Durand farm shortly after the War of 1812, Hamilton has become the centre of a densely populated and industrialized region at the west end of Lake Ontario known as the Golden Horseshoe...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
, and Soweto
Soweto
Soweto is a lower-class-populated urban area of the city of Johannesburg in Gauteng, South Africa, bordering the city's mining belt in the south. Its name is an English syllabic abbreviation for South Western Townships...
, South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
.
Speakers have included Balad MK Jamal Zahalka
Jamal Zahalka
Dr Jamal Zahalka is an Israeli Arab who serves as a member of the Knesset representing the democratic Balad party. He is a Balad party leader.-Background:...
in 2007 and former MK Azmi Bishara
Azmi Bishara
Azmi Bishara , a former member of the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, is a Palestinian intellectual, academic, politician, and writer.In 2007, Bishara fled Israel and resigned from the Knesset after being questioned by police on suspicion of aiding and passing information to the enemy during...
, also of Balad, who began Israeli Apartheid Week 2008 with a live broadcast from Soweto.
In 2009, locations included Abu Dis
Abu Dis
Abu Dis is a Palestinian town in the Jerusalem Governorate, bordering Jerusalem. Abu Dis is due east of the Jerusalem municipal border. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics , the town had a population of approximately 12,100 in mid-year 2006.-Ottoman era:Abu Dis was one of the...
, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
, Boston College
Boston College
Boston College is a private Jesuit research university located in the village of Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, USA. The main campus is bisected by the border between the cities of Boston and Newton. It has 9,200 full-time undergraduates and 4,000 graduate students. Its name reflects its early...
, Emory University
Emory University
Emory University is a private research university in metropolitan Atlanta, located in the Druid Hills section of unincorporated DeKalb County, Georgia, United States. The university was founded as Emory College in 1836 in Oxford, Georgia by a small group of Methodists and was named in honor of...
, Bir Zeit
Bir Zeit
Birzeit is a Palestinian town near Ramallah in the central West Bank. Its population in the 2007 census was 4529...
, Edinburgh
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1583, is a public research university located in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The university is deeply embedded in the fabric of the city, with many of the buildings in the historic Old Town belonging to the university...
, Edmonton
University of Alberta
The University of Alberta is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford, the first premier of Alberta and Henry Marshall Tory, its first president, it is widely recognized as one of the best universities in Canada...
, Johannesburg
Johannesburg
Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...
, Oxford
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
, Kalkilya, San Francisco, Soweto
Soweto
Soweto is a lower-class-populated urban area of the city of Johannesburg in Gauteng, South Africa, bordering the city's mining belt in the south. Its name is an English syllabic abbreviation for South Western Townships...
, Tulkarm
Tulkarm
Tulkarem or Tulkarm is a Palestinian city in the northern Samarian mountain range in the Tulkarm Governorate in the extreme northwestern West Bank adjacent to the Netanya and Haifa districts to the west, the Nablus and Jenin Districts to the east...
and Washington, DC.
In 2010, locations include
Jerusalem, Amsterdam, Bard (NY), Beirut, Berkeley, Bethlehem, Bil'in, Bogota, Bologna, Boston, Cape Town, Caracas,Chicago, Connecticut, Duluth, Dundee, Durban, Eastern Cape, Edinburgh, Edmonton, Gaza, Glasgow, Guelph, Hamilton, Houston, Ireland, Jenin, Johannesburg, Kingston, London (ON), London (UK), Madrid, Melbourne, Minneapolis/St.Paul, Montréal, Nablus, New York City, Nil'in,
Ottawa, Oxford, Peterborough, Pisa, Pretoria, Providence, Puebla, Roma, San Francisco, Seattle, Sudbury, Tilburg, Toronto, Truro (CA), Utrecht, Vancouver, Waterloo and Winnipeg.
Annual events
The first Israeli Apartheid week was held Jan 31 to February 4, 2005.The 2006 Israeli Apartheid week was held February 13 to 17, 2006.
The 2007 Israeli Apartheid week was held February 12 to 17, 2007.
The 4th Annual Israeli Apartheid Week 2008 was officially launched on February 3, 2008 in Soweto, South Africa as the "exiled Palestinian Israeli Knesset
Knesset
The Knesset is the unicameral legislature of Israel, located in Givat Ram, Jerusalem.-Role in Israeli Government :The legislative branch of the Israeli government, the Knesset passes all laws, elects the President and Prime Minister , approves the cabinet, and supervises the work of the government...
" Azmi Bishara
Azmi Bishara
Azmi Bishara , a former member of the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, is a Palestinian intellectual, academic, politician, and writer.In 2007, Bishara fled Israel and resigned from the Knesset after being questioned by police on suspicion of aiding and passing information to the enemy during...
, gave a lecture on the 60th anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba. The conference continued till the 19th of the same month. The week of the event was February 4 to February 9, 2008.
The 2009 Israeli Apartheid Week was held March 1 to 8, 2009.
The 2010 Israeli Apartheid Week was held March 1 to 6, 2010.
Support
While academic institutions hosted the events, amidst controversy and debate, other speakers at the various meetings around the world supported the goals of the Week. An Arab citizen of Israel and Member of the KnessetKnesset
The Knesset is the unicameral legislature of Israel, located in Givat Ram, Jerusalem.-Role in Israeli Government :The legislative branch of the Israeli government, the Knesset passes all laws, elects the President and Prime Minister , approves the cabinet, and supervises the work of the government...
, Jamal Zahalka
Jamal Zahalka
Dr Jamal Zahalka is an Israeli Arab who serves as a member of the Knesset representing the democratic Balad party. He is a Balad party leader.-Background:...
, spoke in Montréal in 2007. He said: "Calling the occupation apartheid isn’t an overstatement, it’s an understatement. The Israeli occupation in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip are worse than apartheid.
In response to "rhetorical attacks" and "institutional measures" directed at Israeli Apartheid Week 2009 in Canada, Omar Barghouti, one of the founders of the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel and a prominent speaker at the events, stated that equating criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism would be analogous to equating criticism of Saudi Arabia with Islamophobia, and labelled such accusations as "hypocrisy". He noted the role of Canadian Jewish citizens amongst the organizers of the event, while remarking: "Who says Israel equals Jews? Making this equation is itself anti-Semitic [...], since saying that attacking Israel is the same as attacking Jews assumes that Jews all over the world assume full responsibility for every crime and violation of international law committed by Israel."
At Toronto’s 2011 Israel Apartheid Week event, Chadni Desai, speaking on behalf of the organizers, announced, “We as the organizers of Israeli Apartheid Week in Toronto believe that we cannot speak meaningfully about Israeli apartheid without speaking first about the realities of apartheid here in Canada. Canada’s reservation system and the treatment of indigenous peoples is (sic) closely studied by the planners of apartheid in South Africa, although this is a hidden chapter of our history. From its very foundations, Canada has been based on the theft of indigenous land and the genocide and displacement of indigenous peoples. If you are with us in opposition to Israeli Apartheid, we encourage your consistent opposition to apartheid right here in Canada."
Reaction by university administration
The University of Toronto president, David NaylorDavid Naylor
Christopher David Naylor, OC, FRCPC, FRSC is a medical researcher and president of the University of Toronto.-Biography:...
, said of the week featuring the events "this isn’t [my] favourite time of year." However, Dr. Naylor responded to objections from the Friends of the Simon Wiesenthal Center
Simon Wiesenthal Center
The Simon Wiesenthal Center , with headquarters in Los Angeles, California, was established in 1977 and named for Simon Wiesenthal, the Nazi hunter. According to its mission statement, it is "an international Jewish human rights organization dedicated to repairing the world one step at a time...
for Holocaust Studies, in signing a statement that declared, "We do, in fact, recognize that the term Israeli Apartheid is upsetting to many people, [but] we also recognize that, in every society, universities have a unique role to provide a safe venue for highly charged discourse."
University of Manitoba
University of Manitoba
The University of Manitoba , in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, is the largest university in the province of Manitoba. It is Manitoba's most comprehensive and only research-intensive post-secondary educational institution. It was founded in 1877, making it Western Canada’s first university. It placed...
President David Barnard, in a report to the Board of Governors regarding Israeli Apartheid Week in 2010, that "while he had not personally attended any of the events, the events proceeded as anticipated and were orderly. He added that he had received a lot of communication from the external community regarding this, and that while there were a number of people against the event, there was also support for the University's position in allowing the event to proceed." In 2011, Barnard responded publicly to complaints about IAW, saying "Ultimately, we have an obligation to uphold the right to freedom of expression, and will not censor an individual or group for what has not yet been expressed."
Criticism
In April 2011, 16 African-American members of the Vanguard Leadership Group published full page ads in several U.S. university newspapers, with an "Open Letter to Students for Justice in Palestine" saying that the SJP's use of the word "apartheid" in regards to Israel and Israel Apartheid Week "is not only false, but offensive."In March 2011, various Canadian government and other political figures, including Prime Minister Stephen Harper
Stephen Harper
Stephen Joseph Harper is the 22nd and current Prime Minister of Canada and leader of the Conservative Party. Harper became prime minister when his party formed a minority government after the 2006 federal election...
, Immigration Minister Jason Kenney
Jason Kenney
Jason T. Kenney, PC, MP is Canada's current Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism. He has represented the riding of Calgary Southeast in the Canadian House of Commons since 1997....
and Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff
Michael Ignatieff
Michael Grant Ignatieff is a Canadian author, academic and former politician. He was the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada and Leader of the Official Opposition from 2008 until 2011...
all criticized IAW. Kenney indicated that he was "deeply concerned about the events and activities" associated with IAW and said that the event was "all too often [...] accompanied by anti-Semitic harassment, intimidation and bullying." He further indicated that students participating IAW were "free [...] to speak their mind" but encouraged them to "reflect on whether these activities are beneficial." Ignatieff, in condemning the week, said it is a “dangerous cocktail of ignorance and intolerance” that threatens “the mutual respect” of Canadian society.
Stuart Appelbaum, gay president of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union
Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union
Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union is a labor union in the United States and Canada that is a semi-autonomous division of the United Food and Commercial Workers, Change to Win Federation...
feels that those groups opposing the New York LGBT
LGBT
LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...
Center’s decision to prohibit an Israel Apartheid Week March 2011 event were intellectually dishonest, saying "This was not a question of free speech. This was hate speech. The center should not be used as a venue for racism, Islamophobia or anti-Semitism. Nor did they even care about free speech. The same groups have consistently sought to ban and prevent supporters of Israel from expressing their views."
In advance of the 2011 IAW, the government of Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
chose a group of Israelis, including Arabs, gays, Ethiopian Jews and an MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
"VJ" (presenter) to oppose the apartheid analogy used by going on a speaking tour of the USA; an additional group went to Britain "to combat anti-Israel messages students there are receiving from Israel Apartheid Week activities."
In an effort to combat IAW, the Jerusalem Post wrote in March 2011 that NGO Monitor
NGO Monitor
NGO Monitor is a non-governmental organization based in Jerusalem, Israel whose stated aim is to generate and distribute critical analysis and reports on the output of the international NGO community for the benefit of government policy makers, journalists, philanthropic organizations and the...
has produced "the “BDS Sewer System” which provides detailed information, in graphic form, on the sources of delegitimization campaigns against Israel."
Popular gay columnist and film producer Michael Lucas
Michael Lucas (director)
Michael Lucas is an American-Russian-Israeli gay pornographic actor, director, activist, writer and the founder/CEO of Lucas Entertainment, New York's largest gay-adult-film company...
has called Israel Apartheid Week "a hate group" and "a group of antisemites." In February 2011 he brought about the cancellation of a planned event involving New York's LGBT
LGBT
LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...
Center and Israel Apartheid Week after threatening to organize a boycott of large donors to the center. He said of his achievement that it was a landmark moment in his life, of which he was enormously proud.
In 2009, Canadian MP Michael Ignatieff
Michael Ignatieff
Michael Grant Ignatieff is a Canadian author, academic and former politician. He was the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada and Leader of the Official Opposition from 2008 until 2011...
condemned IAW as a form of "demonization" of Israeli and Jewish students, causing them to "fear for their safety" on campus. He went on to say that IAW "should be condemned by all who value civil and respectful debate about the tragic conflict in the Middle East."
A representative of the Simon Wiesenthal Center
Simon Wiesenthal Center
The Simon Wiesenthal Center , with headquarters in Los Angeles, California, was established in 1977 and named for Simon Wiesenthal, the Nazi hunter. According to its mission statement, it is "an international Jewish human rights organization dedicated to repairing the world one step at a time...
described it, in 2009, as an event that "promotes anti-Semitism on Canadian university campuses."
In 2008, Orna Hollander of Betar Canada called for supporters of Israel to stand up to the event telling the Canadian Jewish News
Canadian Jewish News
The Canadian Jewish News is a weekly, English-language tabloid-sized newspaper serving Canada's Jewish community. Though independent, the newspaper has been, since 1971, owned by a group of Jewish leaders involved with Canadian Jewish Congress...
that, "The strategy has been … from an organized community end, to not lend credibility, to be quiet about it, not bring press around it … Four years later, I think we definitely learned that we can keep our heads in the sand, but it’s going to go on with or without us. [IAW organizers] very much control the PR
Public relations
Public relations is the actions of a corporation, store, government, individual, etc., in promoting goodwill between itself and the public, the community, employees, customers, etc....
and rhetoric on campus, and its time to stand up and take responsibility.”
Also in 2008, pro-Israel activists countered the event with "Islamic State Apartheid Week" organized by the Hasbara Fellowships
Hasbara Fellowships
Hasbara Fellowships is an organization that brings students to Israel and trains them to be effective pro-Israel activists on college campuses. Based in New York, it was started in 2001 by Aish HaTorah in conjunction with the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs...
and endorsed by Betar
Betar
The Betar Movement is a Revisionist Zionist youth movement founded in 1923 in Riga, Latvia, by Vladimir Jabotinsky. It has been traditionally linked to the original Herut and then Likud political parties of Israel, and was closely affiliated with the pre-Israel Revisionist Zionist splinter group...
.
The Institute for Global Jewish Affairs describes Israel Apartheid week as example of anti-Israelism and anti-Semitism
Anti-Semitism
Antisemitism is suspicion of, hatred toward, or discrimination against Jews for reasons connected to their Jewish heritage. According to a 2005 U.S...
.
Organizers of the counterprotest stated that they "want to remove the connection that modern-day students have to the word apartheid and Israel and refocus it to the countries that we think really exemplify the definition of apartheid, being a policy of separation and segregation. Through a week which encompasses the themes of gender, sexual and political apartheid, we hope to get out a new message."
Some commentators have called for an "Arab Apartheid Week" to counter Israeli Apartheid Week.In one of his series of articles accusing the government of Lebanon of practicing "apartheid" against the resident Palestinian community, journalist Khaled Abu Toameh
Khaled Abu Toameh
Khaled Abu Toameh is a Israeli Arab journalist and documentary filmmaker. Abu Toameh is the West Bank and Gaza correspondent for the Jerusalem Post and U.S. News and World Report, and has been the Palestinian affairs producer for NBC News since 1988...
describes the "special legal status" as "foreigners" assigned uniquely to Palestinians, "a fact which has deprived them of health care, social services, property ownership and education. Even worse, Lebanese law bans Palestinians from working in many jobs. This means that Palestinians cannot work in the public services and institutions run by the government such as schools and hospitals. Unlike Israel, Lebanese public hospitals do not admit Palestinians for medical treatment or surgery.
Palestinians in Lebanon
Palestinians in Lebanon refers to the Palestinian refugees who fled to Lebanon during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, the 1967 war, and the expulsion of the Palestinans from Jordan following the events of Black September and their descendants....
"
In 2008, Israel's ambassador to Canada, Alan Baker, denounced Israeli Apartheid Week as "crude propagandism, pure hypocrisy and cynical manipulation of the student body."
In 2007, the event spread to New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
, Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
and Hunter College
Hunter College
Hunter College, established in 1870, is a public university and one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York, located on Manhattan's Upper East Side. Hunter grants undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate degrees in more than one hundred fields of study, and is recognized...
in New York City. The David Project, organized meetings the same week in opposition to the characterization of Israel as an apartheid state, and the American Jewish Committee
American Jewish Committee
The American Jewish Committee was "founded in 1906 with the aim of rallying all sections of American Jewry to defend the rights of Jews all over the world...
Koppelman Institute on American Jewish-Israeli Relations denounced the apartheid week saying "the specter of apartheid should not be raised in any form."
See also
- Economic and political boycotts of IsraelEconomic and political boycotts of IsraelBoycotts of Israel are economic and political cultural campaigns or actions that seek a selective or total cutting of ties with the State of Israel...
- Persecution of MuslimsPersecution of MuslimsPersecution of Muslims is the religious persecution of Muslims as a consequence of professing their faith, both historically and in the current era.-Anatolia:...
- Israel and the apartheid analogy
- Israel Peace WeekIsrael Peace WeekIsrael Peace Week is an annual event on college campuses worldwide aimed at presenting Israel as "a democratic, peace-seeking nation attempting to coexist with neighbors." It is scheduled each year for the week after Israeli Apartheid Week as a pro-Israel response. Israel Peace Week is an...