A Voice of Reason
The Edinburgh University Student Association (EUSA) recently voted to boycott Israel and all Israeli goods because we are an "apartheid regime." Hyperventilating yet? Me too.
Meet Dr. Denis McEoin, non-Jew, originally of Belfast, editor of Middle East Quarterly, expert on Islamic history and on the rise of radical Islam, fluent speaker of Arabic and Farsi, aficionado of French cinema and Portuguese fado music, and writer of thrillers under the name Daniel Easterman. He is my new hero, and only partly because he writes a blog called "A Liberal Defence of Israel." He just published a letter excoriating the EUSA for their asinine boycott vote. A snippet:
For apartheid to exist, there would have to be a situation that closely resembled things in South Africa under the apartheid regime. Unfortunately for those who believe this, a weekend in any part of Israel would be enough to show how ridiculous the claim is. That a body of university students actually fell for this and voted on it is a sad comment on the state of modern education....
University is supposed to be about learning to use your brain, to think rationally, to examine evidence, to reach conclusions based on solid evidence, to compare sources, to weigh up one view against one or more others. If the best Edinburgh can now produce are students who have no idea how to do any of these things, then the future is bleak.
(H/T PG. By the way, this item appeared on the website of Archbishop Cranmer, who not only tweets -- somehow, I never pictured an archbishop tweeting -- but says he takes his inspiration from Sir Humphrey Appleby, the civil servant nemesis of hapless Prime Minister Jim Hacker on the fantastically great comedy show Yes, Prime Minister. This is all very encouraging.)
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Apr '11
Re: A Voice of Reason
I've been an occasional reader of Archbishop Cranmer's blog for several years and I've never seen any indication that he is an actual archbishop, or indeed any official of the Church of England. I may be wrong but I always assumed that "Archbishop Cranmer" is just a blogging persona, and that he is an (anonymous) lay person who supports a more orthodox and socially conservative C of E.
Apr '11
Re: A Voice of Reason
(duplicated comment deleted)
Edited on Sep 8, 2011 at 1:07amSep '10
Re: A Voice of Reason
One has to remember too that today's college students were not even alive during Apartheid, or in most cases even during its fall, so there is no reason they should understand the stupidity of some professor (or many) telling them a nation they have never been to or had any reason to pay attention to is such a state.
Though the history majors should become curious, one would hope.
Mar '11
Re: A Voice of Reason
The real Archbishop Cranmer has been dead for over 500 years. This is indeed a pen-name. Great blog, though!
Aug '10
Re: A Voice of Reason
http://www.thejournal.ie/readme/column-the-palestinian-people-have-an-inalienable-right-to-independence/
Judith, Denis MacEoin is a hero of mine also. The above thread is a debate on Journal.ie, an Irish news/debating Website which is visited by a healthy smattering of supporters of Israel, by far the most distinguished and able of whom is the estimable Mr MacEoin.If you follow the thread you will see the imperious manner in which he swats away an opponent who challenges his knowledge of the subject.He is also accused of "trolling".I think you will also find that the standard of contributions from the other side is generally of low quality. This particular conversation is actually quite restrained by normal standards- the haters must have been busy elsewhere.
May '10
Re: A Voice of Reason
It's Zombie Cranmer! And he's tweeting!
The Yes, Minister/Yes, Prime Minister series were favourites of the Baroness Thatcher as well. Not surprising when you see the main villains are civil service bureaucrats and trade unions.
Jun '10
Re: A Voice of Reason
If McEoin is from Belfast, perhaps some of his disgust with this anti-Israeli nonsense may have been formed by years passing by the idiotic mural outside Sinn Fein headquarters accusing Israel of thoughtlessly murdering thousands of Palestinians.
Jun '10
Re: A Voice of Reason
Obviously, the students are talking about the kind of "apartheid" that Great Britain practiced in WWII--not letting any German Nazis storm British beaches on their way to kill Brits in their beds. In other words, anti-being-murdered-in-bed bigotry.
Jun '10
Re: A Voice of Reason
Etoiledunord, were absolutely apartheid-type practices and policies in place throughout GB & its empire. Some quite recent, in fact. Ireland?
The EUSA claims, however, are rubbish.
Jun '10
Re: A Voice of Reason
StickerShock: Etoiledunord, were absolutely apartheid-type practices and policies in place throughout GB & its empire. Some quite recent, in fact. Ireland?
The EUSA claims, however, are rubbish. · Sep 8 at 6:33am
I wasn't really commenting on the history of the British Empire. I was just trying to illustrate why Israelis may actually need a fence between them and Gaza. It's not because Gazans are Muslim. It's because a good number of Gazans want Israelis (young, old, and in-between) dead, and would start the project if the fence disappeared.
Jun '10
Re: A Voice of Reason
To steal a little Churchillian imagery, a darkness is settling on the UK's attitudes toward Israel. Thank God there are men like Professor McEoin, who are willing to keep the lights burning.
Dec '10
Re: A Voice of Reason
Young people hear about how their forebears fought the Good Fight and want to see themselves as equally meritorious and brave. Rather than focus on a real fight against an enemy that does really bad things to its victims, as in Iran or Burma or Syria, they prefer to pick a target that won't actually fight back physically.
Israel is a target of choice because it follows the norms of civilized societies, so it doesn't deliberately target protestors for killing as the ayatollahs and the Burmese junta and the Ba'athists do, and because it committed the grievous offense against the Left of deviating from the path of True Socialism. It's not the occupation and the border fence that offend these people, despite their stated objections to Israeli policy: it's the Hurvitz Zero and the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange.