By Donald H. Harrison
SAN DIEGO – An upcoming panel at Ben-Gurion University in Beer Sheva is so controversial that members of the group Im Tirzu have reached out to this Jewish publication and presumably others to denounce it.
At issue is a day-long seminar on “Whistleblowing Through The Ages and Today,” to be presented at the college in the Negev at the end of this month. Among the whistleblowers to be examined are Socrates (Ancient Times); Galileo (Middle Ages); Emil Zola and Jean Paul Sartre (modern France); Thomas Mann (modern Germany); the Jewish minority and McCarthyism (modern U.S.) and Natan Alterman and Yishayahu Leibowitiz (modern U.S.) There will also be a lecture on Eugene Inonesco’s anti-Nazi play Rhinoceros.
So what upsets Im Tirzu?
The organization’s CEO Matan Peleg wrote a letter to the university administration demanding that the event be cancelled because the modern Israel panel includes Yuli Novak and Nadav Weinman, whom he identified as representatives of the organization ‘Breaking the Silence. ” He described Breaking the Silence as ‘an anti-Zionist political organization that deals with defaming the State of Israel and IDF soldiers in Israel and in the world, backed by foreign government funding.”
He added that by allowing Breaking the Silence representatives to participate, Ben Gurion University in effect will be allying itself “with those who bolster the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, thus legitimizing the industry of lies against Israel.”
Andrew Lavin, a spokesperson for the university, said the same panel includes representatives from the right such as Yair Sheleg and Dror Eydar, as well as members of the academic community. Sponsored by BGU’s Department of History, each of the panels will include academicians who are “leading researchers and the topic of the conference is central to their research,” Lavin said.
He said that the panel does not embrace any political viewpoint, but instead is intended to enable “an open and diverse dialogue.”
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Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World. He may be contacted via donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com. Comments intended for publication in the space below MUST be accompanied by the letter writer’s first and last name and by his/ her city and state of residence (city and country for those outside the United States.)