|
| |
|
| |
|
|
|
June 15, 2002Speaker compares Israel to South Africa- Israeli native says many are afraid to criticize the governmentBy TOM CARRRecord-Eagle staff writer TRAVERSE CITY - Rachel Persico, an Israeli Jew, compares her native country's treatment of Palestinians to South Africa's former system of Apartheid against blacks. Persico, who is married to an Israeli Palestinian, told an audience of more than 50 people here Friday that the more than 1 million Palestinians in the country are barred from certain jobs, as well as owning land or buying homes in certain communities. "We boycotted South Africa until they changed their system of Apartheid," she said. "Yet when we say, 'What is to be done about this,' it's not allowed to be asked." Persico, who now lives in Ann Arbor, was speaking at a forum hosted by Mideast: Just Peace, a group that opposes the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. According to Persico, she was taught while growing up on an Israeli kibbutz that "the Jews were fighting a righteous war, a just war." But she said she later found out that as Israelis conducted an "ethnic cleansing" campaign against the Palestinians in 1948, many Palestinians left their homes only to be shot when they tried to return later. Persico said she doesn't question Israel's right to exist. But she added that many people are afraid to criticize Israel because of the Jews' persecution at the hands of Nazis. "Israel's allowed to do what it does and claim victimhood while doing so," she said. A man in the audience agreed. "You're called an anti-Semite when you oppose Israeli policies, so you go 'Whoa' and you back off," he said. She said Israelis criticize their government's policies more than people realize. "At most, they're labeled self-hating Jews," she said. "But remember, you're not opposing Jews, and not even Israelis. You're just opposing Israeli policies." Persico's parents, survivors of the Nazi Holocaust, taught her to question authority, she said. "We were taught that it was in the national character of Germany for its citizens to blindly follow their leaders," she said. "Yet now, Israelis are acting an awful lot like good Germans." Marion Kromkowski, a member of the loosely-knit local peace group, had heard of Persico and contacted her via e-mail to speak to the group. The group is not associated with any national groups and has hosted other speakers in the past to support its point of view, Kromkowski said. Tom Carr is the reporter for Wexford, Missaukee and Kalkaska counties. He can be reached at (231) 269-4500 or tomcarr@coslink.net |
|
