Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Shame on Britain

Recent news that the British University and College Union endorsed a boycott yesterday of all universities in Israel is very troubling.  Lets be honest about this- we’re talking about a country that has a two-thousand year history of anti-Semitism.  You would expect them to be a bit more sensitive to something as silly as this.  University professors boycotting the only democracy in the Middle East?  University professors boycotting the only country in the Middle East where Arab legislators are elected and serve without fear?  University professors boycotting the Jewish state because it tries to suppress terrorism that comes from Gaza and the West Bank to blow up innocent civilians on a daily basis.  

It’s interesting, Briton has been in Northern Ireland for hundreds of years and the Irish have said they were very oppressive in n Ireland and they had good reason to be:  IRA terrorists were bombing innocent people and the British had to crack down.

But what is so sad about this is that Britain is the country that started parliamentary democracy, often a beacon of human rights.  For them to take anti-Semitisms like these and to single out Israel over all other countries is just disgraceful.  

Where is the boycott on Saudi Arabia where Christians and non-Muslims aren’t even allowed to enter the country?  Where’s the boycott on Syria where the government is run by a brutal, tyrannical dictator?  Where is the boycott on Iran who’s despicable, anti-Semitic government is calling the destruction of Israel?  I wonder all those things.  It’s simply unbecoming of Britain to be a part of this.

It is a country that I became a man in- I arrived when I was 22 years old and left when I was 33; I rabbi-ed at oxford for 11 years.   Six of my eight children were born there and I hold British citizenship.  It’s really sad.  

*Dictated and unseen prior to posting