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Israeli soldier writes President of Oxford Union
Ronen Berelovich
Israel
Luke Tryl
President of Oxford Union
Oxford University, UK
Dear Luke,
In spite of our differences, it was a pleasure to talk
to you on the phone today, 23-10-07. Thank you for
your openness and honesty. I am now following up with
a letter to register my official complaint about the
decision you took to remove Professor Norman
Finkelstein from the "One state is the only solution
for Israel" debate that was to be hold in 23\10\07 at
Oxford Union. I am registering my complaint as a
private individual living in Israel i am a film-maker
and a reserve soldier in the Israeli Army. There are a
few points that arose in our conversation, which I
believe would be of wider interest than just to the
two of us, so I'd like to highlight them and to share
this letter with Professor Finkelstein and anyone else
interested.
To reiterate our conversation, you told me that the
reason for the removal of Professor Finkelstein from
the debate was the intervention of certain interest
parties and people pressuring Oxford Union. You
identified Alan Dershowitz as one of those people and
you said that he had personally demanded that
Professor Finkelstein should be removed from the
debate. The reason being that with Finkelstein on the
"two-state" side, the debate would be too "anti
Israel" and "not balanced".
I replied that this debate was about a one-state
solution versus a two-state solution; the two parties
were to argue which of the two solutions might be best
for Israel and the Palestinians. It was NOT to be a
debate about being "pro" or "anti" Israel; therefore,
whether Finkelstein was "pro" or "against" Israel was
irrelevant. Finkelstein, like everyone else, has a
right to be pro or against Israel and it should NOT be
enough to exclude him from a debate at a place like
Oxford Union. You agreed with me and you stated that
this was what you thought as well. However, you were
forced to drop Finkelstein due to the pressure exerted
on you.
Unfortunately, with that decision you have
demonstrated that "freedom of speech" in Oxford
debating society is liable to be censored. You have
also revealed a sad fact that even such an established
and prestigious institution as Oxford, which is
supposed to represent the highest ideals of the
western culture, such as freedom of expression, bows
down to demands of interest groups i.e. the Israeli
lobby and Alan Dershowitz. I suggest that the only
honorable way for you to restore your academic
integrity is to officially apologize to Professor
Finkelstein on his website, explaining what really
happened.
I am not asking you lightly to stand up to what you
believe in. I used to be in the Israeli elite
paratroopers, but after what I saw and was forced to
do, I vowed that I would never go back to the Army and
act as a tool for enslaving 3.5 million people in
their own land without any basic human rights. As a
soldier refusing to go to the reserve duty (I am a
member of the Courage to Refuse group of IDF
officers), I live with the constant threat of
imprisonment. You can appreciate therefore that I do
understand ‘outside pressure'. I just wish you the
courage to follow your own ideals and integrity,
because as a president of the Oxford Union, your
fellow students and intellectuals world over expect
nothing less of you.
I wish you the best,
Ronen Berelovich
More on the Oxford Union
- The bottomless capacity for falsification at Oxford
(To: Dr B Simms, "RE: Dr. Alan Mendoza - Executive Director HJS") 11.18.2007
- Haaretz on Oxford and Beyond
(Haaretz: "Are two states still viable?" ) 11.15.2007
- Avi Shlaim on Oxford Farce
(Avi Shlaim: "Israel, Free Speech, and the Oxford Union") 11.13.2007
- More Oxford Fantasies
(Haaretz: "VIEWPOINT / 'Israel Lobby' book may have sinister impact in U.K.; Finkelstein comments at the bottom of this article." ) 11.12.2007
- What really happened at Oxford
(Finkelstein comments: "Insofar as the lies about what happened at the Oxford Union...;" Reader letters) 11.01.2007
- Rewriting history before the ink has dried
(Dr Alan Mendoza, Executive director, Henry Jackson Society, The Guardian "No pressure put on Oxford Union;" w/ reader letters) 11.03.2007
- More Oxford fantasies
(Haaretz: "High-profile invitees to Oxford Union debate on Israel walk out") 11.04.2007
- Israeli soldier writes President of Oxford Union
(From Ronen Berelovich (Israel) to Luke Tryl, President of Oxford Union (Oxford University, UK)) 10.24.2007
- Still more on the Oxford Union
(Peter Tatchell: "Free speech threatened by ban on Norman Finkelstein") 10.25.2007
- More on the Oxford Union
The Guardian: "Intellectual terrorism. For the sake of free speech, British organisations should confront pro-Israel bullies, not appease them.") 10.25.2007
- Shouldn't there be a mandatory decent interval before history is rewritten?
(The Jerusalem Post: "Oxford cancels one-state debate;" w/ Finkelstein's comment) 10.23.2007
- Isn't it time to seek therapy for his obsession?
(Alan M. Dershowitz, FrontPageMagazine.com: "Oxford Union Is Dead") 10.20.2007
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What we can do:
On Gaza, West Bank, East Jerusalem & the Occupation:
On the Lobby & "the New anti-Semitism"
On Hezbollah & Hamas:
- The Guardian: Hamas acted on a very real fear of a US-sponsored coup. (06.22.2007)
- Haaretz: Haniyeh: Hamas willing to accept Palestinian state with 1967 borders. (11.09.2008)
- Henry Siegman, International Herald Tribune: Bring in Hamas. (03.04.2008)
- The Washington Post: No Peace Without Hamas. (04.17.2008)
- Al Jazeera English: Talk to Jazeera - Khaled Meshaal. (03.05.2008)
- International Herald Tribune: Bring in Hamas. (03.04.2008)
- "the Hezbollah model"
and
"There is this claim that the obstacle [to peace] is that Hamas won't recognize Israel..." (09.30.2006)
"Israel always depended on the fact that its adversaries were stupid, incompetent... and, in fact, they were right... That when they were dealing with a Nasser, he was a blowhard; a Saddam Hussein,
he was a windbag; when they were dealing with Yasser Arafat, he was a hot air ballon.
They were nothing of any substance... [inaudible]... That was Israel's ace in the hole. Now comes along an Arab leader who says we have to use "reason."
It's a very remarkable thing to read. We have to use "reason."
We have to think, plan, organize."
- Hamas: A reasonable statement. (Los Angeles Times, 07.10.2007)
- The Guardian: Hamas condemns the Holocaust. (05.12.2008)
- Salon.com: The "hiding among civilians" myth. (07.28.2006)
- AIPAC v. Norman Finkelstein: A Debate on Israel's Assault on Gaza. (06.29.2006)
- Foreign Policy: Habitat for Hezbollah. (08.2006)
- The Irish Times: Hizbullah rockets cannot be fired from buildings. (07.31.2006)
Finkelstein on Israel:
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
Video: On the place of civility
in academic life (10.18.2007)
Finkelstein's talk at the academic freedom conference
Tenure Denial Letters
(June - November, 2007)
On How Actual Survivors Were Cheated by
Jewish Organizations:
- Haaretz: "The Claims Conference intentionally defrauded Holocaust survivors." (09.25.2008)
- Ynet: Where did the Shoah money go? (12.11.2006)
'First Class flights around the world, accommodation at deluxe hotels, dining at fancy restaurants and a series of credit cards, this is how the Claims Conference, which deals with restitution of stolen Jewish property from the Holocaust, operates.'
- Haaretz: Survivors' protest makes foreign journalists gasp, security vanish (08.06.2007)
"I want the Germans to know where the money they gave Israel went," he said angrily. "I want the Germans to know that Israel took the money we should have received. I want them to answer one question: Where did our money go?"
- AP: Holocaust survivors blast $20 stipend (07.31.2007)
'Survivors have long claimed that European countries treat them far better than Israel, where many elderly survivors live in poverty.'
- Jewish Week: Holocaust Cash Went To Shadowy Pal Of Ousted WJC Leader (05.04.2007)
'Israeli finance minister, now being probed for corruption, urged death camp tour group to hire little-known N.Y. consultant; Singer friend Curtis Hoxter can't explain what he did for $709,000.'
- Jewish Week: "Survivors Balking At Lawyer's Fee" (03.02.2006)
- Shocking revelation in the London Jewish Chronicle. ("The man on the left earns $437,811 a year handling Shoah claims. So why are so many survivors pleading poverty?"; 05.30.2006)
- Survivors Protest Holocaust Industry Shakedown (08.29.2000)
- Finkelstein: Will The Holocaust Industry Incite Anti-Semitism? (08.11.2000)
- Finkelstein: Lessons of Holocaust Compensation (2001)
Finkelstein on Jimmy Carter:
Israeli civil libertarian's introduction to German edition of Beyond Chutzpah. (03.27.2006)
Communication for Middle East Journal. (02.19.2006)
Alleged Errors in Beyond Chutzpah. (2005)
MEMRI NAZIS (again) (10.23.2006)
New evidence of old lies (2005)
Under the heading DIABOLICAL PLOTS, I stated in Beyond Chutzpah...
Articles and Reviews Related to The Holocaust Industry
Preface to German edition of The Rise and Fall of Palestine
Postscript to German edition of The Rise and Fall of Palestine
The Dershowitz File:
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