Contrasting views of Israel faced off on Tuesday at talks put on by opposing student groups. Students Against Israeli Apartheid discussed “the Apartheid policies of Israel,” while the group Zionists @ U of T moved to dispel the notion of Israeli apartheid in an open Q & A session with four Israeli soldiers.
Gal Fontyn, a missile boat commander in the Israeli army, opened the afternoon program with his reaction to the week’s events.
“When I heard about the Israeli Apartheid Week I was really shocked,” said Fontyn. “I think that’s a huge word to use, and someone who uses it doesn’t really know what they’re talking about. There is no correlation between what is happening in Israel and what happened in Apartheid-era South Africa. If someone wants to disagree, that’s okay, we’re a democratic country, but we’re here to give you our side of the story.”
When asked what Israeli citizens thought of Israeli Arabs, Fontyn answered, “There is no separation between Jews and Israeli Arabs. We are a democratic country with an emphasis on human rights. We’re all about pluralism.”
While the Israeli soldiers fielded most audience questions, things got cagey when they were asked their views on Israel’s disengagement plan and its so-called “demographic time-bomb.”
That’s when Hedai Offaim, the coordinator of the soldier exchange program, piped up to explain that the Israeli soldiers were not allowed to comment on politics.
“As a soldier, you serve the country, and you can’t take a political side,” he said.
SAIA, meanwhile, held the second in a week-long series of lectures aimed at raising awareness of what it calls the apartheid policies of Israel.
Azadi Rahi, an organizer of Israel Apartheid Week, began the lecture “The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine” with her thoughts on Palestinian refugees.
“Palestine is in a struggle based on land possession. Palestinians are the largest group of stateless refugees. With this information, we need to ask ourselves how this came to be and why Palestinians can’t return to their homes.”
The third speaker of the night was Issam Al Yamani, a second-generation Palestinian from Lebanon and a former member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which the Canadian government considers a terrorist organization.
Yamani shared his views on the Palestinian right of return.
“Because we are Palestinian refugees, we refuse to recognize the right of Israel to exist. Because we are not subhuman, we will not recognize the right of Israel to exist. We believe we have the right of return.
“Palestinians one day will destroy Zionism and live with equal rights to the Israelis in Palestine.”
Yamani then argued against the popular two-state solution advocated by many Israelis and Palestinians. “I’m sure that one day, the Jewish population will recognize that the two-state policy is not the solution. There can only be one solution.”
Israel Apartheid Week wraps up this week. The group Zionists @ U of T is preparing Freedom and Democracy Week, a counter-event that will run from March 3 to 7.
