Majority of Oxford Union students say
pro-Israel lobby stifling debate
British university’s prestigious debating
society hosts Arab forum, majority of student audience approves
motion claiming pro-Israel lobby in US suppresses criticism of Jewish
state. Panelist: It wasn’t the Israeli lobby that made Egypt,
Jordan, or Syria dictatorships
YNetnews.com / Israel News, 05.02.2007
A series of heated exchanges marked the arrival of the Doha
Debates at the Oxford Union Tuesday night, where two-thirds of the
student audience approved a motion claiming that Israel’s
supporters are stifling western debate.
This was the first time that the Doha Debates, a unique forum for
free speech in the Arab world, have held an event outside Qatar.
The debate took place amid mounting controversy over the role of
the pro-Israel lobby in the United States and accusations that it has
suppressed criticism of Israel – a charge that the lobby
vigorously denies.
Norman Finkelstein, a leading academic critic of Israeli policies,
argued in favor of the motion claiming that the Pro-Israel lobby sows
confusion to avoid being held to account:
“They claim that the (Arab-Israeli) conflict is so
complicated that it would require rocket science to penetrate its
mysteries,” she said.
Finkelstein maintained that the American people are ignorant of
solutions to the conflict that have been available for 30 years due
to the “misinformation, disinformation, and sheer fraud which
masquerades as scholarship that is validated by mainstream
media.”
'Lobby didn't make Egypt or Syria
dictatorships'
The journalist and writer Andrew Cockburn supported this view,
claiming there are “red lines” in discussing Israel that no
politician or journalist in the US would dare cross for fear of being
demonized or driven out of public life.
Dr Martin Indyk, former US Ambassador to Israel, and Director of
the Saban Center for Middle East Policy, argued strongly against the
motion, saying that last night’s event in Oxford was proof of a
lively debate on the subject.
He said controversy over a recent book by former US president
Jimmy Carter – branded anti-Semitic in some quarters – was
further evidence that criticism of Israel was not being stifled.
His fellow panelist David Aaronovitch, the journalist and
broadcaster, dismissed accusations of conspiracy around the lobby,
insisting that Americans naturally identified with Israel, a country
surrounded by autocracies, because of their belief in democracy:
“It wasn’t the Israeli lobby that made Egypt, Jordan, or
Syria dictatorships,” he said.
He added that what may be true in the US is not the case in Europe
where there is no such movement to sow confusion or stifle
debate.
“But if debate is stifled it isn’t coming from the
pro-Israeli lobby as some Danish cartoonists found out to their
cost,” he said.
[end of article]
