The boycott by the University of Cape Town (UCT) of Israeli universities that are associated with the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) is a de facto blanket boycott given that most Israeli students and academics will have been drafted into army service.
Conscription is a case of necessity — no other country faces the threat of regional and national attacks that Israel does from the likes of Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah and other terrorist proxies of the Islamic Republic.
Presenting this boycott as an act of human rights activism is disingenuous as it blatantly ignores Israel’s situation, its right to self-defence and the protection of its citizens. It also disregards the reason for the current war: Hamas’ savage attack on October 7, its murder of 1, 200 people and its kidnapping of over 250 civilians, 105 of whom, including young children, still remain hostage.
Unsurprisingly, when it comes to other countries with egregious human rights records UCT’s principles take a sharp right turn. On August 16 UCT and the Metropolitan University of Hong Kong signed a memorandum of understanding establishing working relations between the two. Hong Kong is Chinese territory, and China is hardly a bastion of civil liberties.
Beijing severely tightened its grip on Hong Kong in 2020 by imposing a broad-sweeping national security law, resulting in harsh crackdowns on dissidents, curbing voting rights, the prosecution of prodemocracy activists, journalists and lawyers, limiting press freedom, and interfering in Hong Kong’s political and legislative processes.
China’s systematic repression of Muslim ethnic groups, including the Uyghurs and Kazakhs, is well documented: up to 1-million Uyghurs are arbitrarily detained in labour camps. China — an authoritarian one-party state — consistently receives a failing grade on global indices measuring political rights and civil liberties.
Yet this has somehow bypassed the attention of UCT’s decision makers. This blatant hypocrisy of singling out Israeli universities reveals an institution that has embraced — and perpetuates — the long-term smear and indoctrination campaign against Israel that is manifesting as a viral trend of hashtags, disinformation and anti-Semitic rhetoric cloaked in euphemisms.
The double-standard also disrespects UCT’s Jewish students, staff, alumni and the broader Jewish community, and will no doubt embolden anti-Semitism and division on campus.
Mandy Allen
Via email
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