Controversy surrounding public appearances by Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres outside the World Summit on Sustainable Development has sparked a debate about the freedom of expression.
Peres cancelled a scheduled address to the SA Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA) on Tuesday after advice from the South African security services that it would be met by more violent protest.
An address by the Israeli moderate to an invited Jewish audience on Monday was overshadowed by violent demonstrations outside the venue and at a nearby police station.
The Palestinian Solidarity Group’s Naeem Jeenah, speaking in his personal capacity, on Tuesday said he opposed Peres speaking in South Africa.
Jeenah, who is also an executive member of the Freedom of Expression Institute (FXI), said he was opposed to the politician entering South Africa.
”That is not about freedom of expression, that’s about the fact that he is a war criminal. We believe that Shimon Peres should be arrested and should be in prison,” Jeenah said.
In its reaction, the Israeli Embassy said it was saddened that the threat of violence had deprived South Africans of the chance to hear Peres first-hand.
A representative for the SA Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD) on Tuesday said it found Jeenah’s views ”very disquieting.”
Yehuda Kay said there were legitimate and conflicting views on what was happening in the Middle East, but a distinction had to be drawn between rhetoric, propaganda and hate speech.
”Where do we go next?”
Asked whether he thought Jewish and Israeli leaders no longer enjoyed the right to speak and be heard on the issue, he said: ”That is my perception.”
”We (the SAJBD) don’t go around calling Arafat a murderer or terrorist. Peres a war criminal? He is a Nobel (Peace) Laureate! We have a process (towards democracy) in South Africa that works. We can either destroy or build it. The PSG and Jeenah are destroying it.”
Yasser Arafat is the president of the Palestinian Authority, and a Palestinian leader for since the 1960s.
Asked whether Peres had the right to speak on the Wits campus, university vice chancellor Norma Reid-Birley said the university ”absolutely” supported the right of people to express themselves freely on campus.
”We have hosted controversial speakers before and there have sometimes been a security risk.”
”In those cases we judged that we could handle it.”
In this case there was a tension were two conflicting principles: the university’s commitment to freedom of speech, and the principle of public safety and security.
”Because of the information we were given about the intended scale and nature of the security thought necessary for this event …the latter principle of public safety predominated,” she said.
One recent controversial visitor was US Secretary of State Colin Powell.
His visit, under strict security, was met with pro-Palestinian protests outside the university’s Great Hall and by hecklers inside.
The events are the latest in a series of protests against the situation in the Middle East, the holding of the WSSD in Sandton and the privatisation of state assets that have been marked by partisan statements, intolerance and violence.
The FXI’s Console Tleane said the issue was not
”black and white.”
Peres had the right to speak but this right had to be balanced against other rights and the reality of the ongoing violence in Palestine and Israel.
”We are living in a globalised world. We cannot detach people from the context from where they come,” he said.
”Jeenah has a right to his views and when we debate what he said we must ask why he says so.”
Tleane said the FXI, as an organisation, was also entitled to hold views.
”One thing is clear: We are not going to claim we don’t have positions. If we believe injustice is being done we will not sit on the fence.”
He added that the organisation had in the past fought fiercely to uphold the rights of people to speak and be heard from a wide range of backgrounds and viewpoints. This would continue.
FXI executive director Jane Duncan concurred. – Sapa