Truth not enough
Re: Liberals Back Anti- BDS Motion As NDP Calls It ‘ Thought Crime’ Creation, Feb. 23; Beat BDS With Truth, Robyn Urback; Enrol At York, letter to the editor, both, Feb. 24.
Robyn Urback is so very, very wrong in concluding boycott, de-invest and sanction ( BDS) could be beaten with truth and that the antidote is reality. The reality is BDS has infected and poisoned many Canadian university campuses ( witness what happened at McGill this week) with unilateral, vicious bias so devoid of truth, resembling historic Jew- hating diatribes like the Protocols of the Elders of Zion and Mein Kampf.
She is correct that BDS will be ignored in the real world and that even the Jew haters will benefit from the goods and services Israel provides freely, even to its sworn enemies. But BDS is not thinly veiled anti- Semitism any longer; it provides a forum to foster anti Jewish emotions on campus, to harass and intimidate Jewish students, to prevent them from holding pro Israel rallies and t hereby bury the universal quest for truth universities are supposed to foster.
University administrators are either blinded or intimidated by the noise so the truth remains buried. Shame on them for their cowardice.
Richard Steyn, Thornhill, Ont.
Kudos to letter-writer Judith Weinroth for encouraging people to attend York University and support Jewish life there. Although York, like many other university campuses throughout North America, has had distressing flare- ups of anti- Israel activism, the bottom line is it is one of the most vibrantly Jewish universities in the diaspora. With one of Canada’s largest Jewish student bod- ies, active and engaged Jewish student organizations such as Hillel and Hasbara, a centre for Jewish studies, undergraduate and graduate programs in the field, and a Jewish teacher education program, York offers a broad palette of options for Jewish life and education.
Although it may not always be publicly evident, Jewish students and faculty also enjoy the active attention and support of York’s administration.
In addition, issues of concern to Jewish students are being addressed by a broad coalition of administrators, faculty, and professionals, both Jewish and non- Jewish.
The way to ensure the continued health of Jewish life at York is not by abandoning Jewish students and their allies, but by supporting them, whether financially or by encouraging students to make York their university of choice. Carl S. Ehrlich, director, Israel and Golda Koschitzky Centre for Jewish Studies, York University, Toronto.
As a parent who is getting ready to send off her one and only youngster to university this coming fall, unlike letter-writer Judith Weinroth, I am delighted York University is not among his selections. It’s not that I think that the Israel- hate, which I see as the Jew- hate of time, is any more pervasive or pernicious there than at other universities: it is clear that Israel’s enemies are relentless, and they have chosen post- secondary institutions as ground zero in their allout agit- prop war against the Jewish state.
It’s just that anytime an anti-Israel incident on campus comes to the media’s attention, York authorities seem to deal with it in such a wishy- washy and even weaselly manner — by downplaying the hatred and championing the “rights” of the haters. For that reason, I simply do not trust them to ensure the safety of any student who, like my son, happens to be vocally and vociferously pro- Israel.
Mindy G. Alter, Toronto.
New Democratic Party Leader Tom Mulcair is talking like a fool. Like terrorism and rockets, BDS is a weapon designed to destroy Israel and its civilians, and our government’s vote is simply a condemnation of this vile movement.
Would Mulcair balk at a condemnation of Communism or Nazism or is it simply Islamism he wishes to defend?
By taking the position it did, the NDP has firmly aligned itself with fascists, extremists and other fringe groups who share an antiSemitic hatred for the state of Israel.
If Mulcair and the NDP will not defend Israel against the Jew- haters who are trying to destroy it, they had better keep their mouths firmly shut when Israel has no choice but to defend itself. Steven Scheffer, Burlington, Ont.