Tel Aviv University
Hagai Segal, the Middle-Eastern
Affairs Academic & Consultant, Concludes that TAU Management is Mortified by
the Founding of the Jewish State
The permission granted by university
management to the Nakba rally contained a subconscious component of
identification with the very idea and not only with organizers'
right to express it. Indeed, this academic institution has been
nurturing pangs of conscience over the events of 1948.
With every passing year, the university is
having greater trouble contending with the fact that we established
a state here despite Arab objections. This is why it approved the
rally without thinking twice. To this point, the school still does
not understand what's the problem – it's been listening to the
Palestinian narrative so closely that it developed emotional
indifferent to the Jewish narrative.
When the education minister urged the
university to renounce the permit for the event, he performed his
national and educational role well. A healthy state cannot show
indifference to a rally meant to express great sorrow over the
state's very establishment.
… [T]ake a look at the website of the
Zochrot non-profit group, a Jewish-Arab organization dedicated to
promoting the memory of the Nakba, also one of the rally's
organizers. When they speak about "the occupation," they refer to
1948, not 1967. For them, Tel Aviv University is in fact still
Sheikh Munis.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4230244,00.html
Say no to Nakba on campus
Op-ed: Israel should not allow university events that mourn
Jewish state's very establishment
Hagai Segal
Published: 16/05/12
Members of Tel Aviv University's
Statistics Department will tell you that support for Nakba Day
events closely corresponds to boycotts of cultural halls in the
territories. Indeed, the automatic defenders of the Nakba Day rally
at the university are also the first to boycott and undermine the
other side's ability to express itself.
The freedom of expression they fight for
so bitterly only applies to their own freedoms. There is no way they
would resort to similar rhetorical juggling in favor of holding a
commemoration rally for Jewish outposts razed by the High Court of
Justice. There is also no way Tel Aviv University would permit such
rally.
The permission granted by university
management to the Nakba rally contained a subconscious component of
identification with the very idea and not only with organizers'
right to express it. Indeed, this academic institution has been
nurturing pangs of conscience over the events of 1948.
With every passing year, the university is
having greater trouble contending with the fact that we established
a state here despite Arab objections. This is why it approved the
rally without thinking twice. To this point, the school still does
not understand what's the problem – it's been listening to the
Palestinian narrative so closely that it developed emotional
indifferent to the Jewish narrative.
When the education minister urged the
university to renounce the permit for the event, he performed his
national and educational role well. A healthy state cannot show
indifference to a rally meant to express great sorrow over the
state's very establishment.
If Israel shows indifference nonetheless,
future rallies will be much cheekier. They will pertain not to the
terrible disaster faced by the Arabs here 64 years ago, but rather,
to the disaster that should befall the Jews soon; that is, returning
the descendents of the refugees to the homes of their forefathers.
If you don't believe this, go ahead and
take a look at the website of the Zochrot non-profit group, a
Jewish-Arab organization dedicated to promoting the memory of the
Nakba, also one of the rally's organizers. When they speak about
"the occupation," they refer to 1948, not 1967. For them, Tel Aviv
University is in fact still Sheikh Munis.
Should their PR
campaign not encounter fierce government objection, one of these
days we may have to hold a Jewish Nakba rally around here, although
it's not quite clear whether Mahmoud Abbas or Ismail Haniyeh would
approve it.
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