Dr Imtiaz Sooliman was awarded the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (honoris causa).
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Dear Aviva
We do not know each other well, but from our brief interactions over many years and from what I’ve seen of your work in the performing arts, my impression was of a huge musical talent and a warm, generous, humorous, and smart human being.
Which is why I find your objection (now in the public domain) to UCT’s awarding of an honorary doctorate to Imtiaz Sooliman so disheartening. It again reflects how people whom one believes to be basically decent human beings come to display a completely different persona when it comes to the subject of Israel. As I understand it, you and your co-signatories question UCT’s honouring of Dr Sooliman because of his alleged antisemitic and anti-Zionist statements, his criticism of Israel, his alleged support for Hamas and his allegiance to his faith when it conflicts with the law. Many of these allegations have been debunked or have been contextualised by others and by Dr Sooliman himself in his book and in interviews.
However, from the victimisation of many individuals in academia, the arts, business and other sectors around the world because of their support for the fundamental rights of Palestinians, it is unlikely that evidence-based arguments or contextualisation are going to make much difference to those for whom the state of Israel and Zionism are fundamental to their identity and beliefs.
Having said that, Aviva, what I have genuine difficulty in understanding is how supporters of Israel appear to be blind to Israel’s innumerable human rights atrocities, its impunity with regard to the lives of brown people and its contemptuous disregard for international law. These are directly responsible for the rise in antisemitism globally, for the expression of hatred towards Israelis in particular and for the increasing sympathy for Palestinians (157 UN members now recognise Palestine as a sovereign state).
Many have educated themselves about the history of Israel and of Zionism and the Greater Israel ambitions of both, so that there is widespread support for those who resist Israel’s violent expansionism. If there is criticism of Dr Sooliman for his alleged antisemitic and anti-Zionist ‘sins’, then surely, at the very least, the signatories who criticise UCT for recognising his humanitarian work, should be critical of Israel’s contraventions of humanitarian law, and like thousands of other Jews around the world, declare that Israel’s atrocities and its disregard for the UN Charter, are not being committed in your names?
Less than a week before UCT’s graduation ceremony, an 18-month-old Palestinian toddler was held by Israeli soldiers for ten hours and allegedly tortured by having cigarettes burned into his legs, which were also pierced with nails to force a confession from his father. What levels of cruelty and depravity must a society have sunk to that a young child is tortured in this way? The day before the award ceremony, Israel’s parliament passed a law that would oblige Palestinians to be sentenced to death if they were found guilty of killing a Jewish Israeli. This law would not apply to Jews who killed Palestinians.
Even the apartheid South African government – which I’m sure you and your co-signatories would not have supported - did not discriminate in such a fundamentally racist way. That same week, the Israeli defence minister announced that they would demolish all the houses in south Lebanon, and that the 600 000 people who had been displaced by Israel’s invasion would not be allowed to return, echoing what Israel had done to Palestinians eight decades before. Israeli settlers continue to violently take over the houses and property of Palestinians in the West Bank, despite the International Court of Justice ruling in 2024 that Israel’s occupation of this territory is illegal. It is because of actions like these that not only Dr Sooliman but also millions of people around the world - including hundreds of thousands of Jews in the USA, Britain, Australia and Canada - oppose Zionism because it is a political ideology rooted in racism and violence against indigenous people, an ideology that claims exclusive human rights and freedoms for one ethnic group to the detriment and dehumanisation of others.
Given our apartheid past that privileged one ethnic group above others, it is quite understandable and indeed imperative that our country – and institutions like UCT – adopt values that affirm the dignity of every human being, and that it rejects political ideologies and practices that discriminate in the way that Israel so clearly does. Is the tribal loyalty so great, the existential fear so deep, or the arrogance and hubris so profound that the academics among the signatories are silent about the deliberate targeting of academics and the demolition of universities in Gaza? That the doctors among you turn and look away from the destruction of hospitals and the murder of health workers? That your humanity is compromised by your accepting, justifying, defending or remaining silent about the butchering of journalists, artists, aid workers and tens of thousands of children?
The head of Gift of the Givers in Gaza was killed in an Israeli strike, and another team member allegedly lost more than a hundred extended family members in Israel’s bombing of Gaza. How can anyone with a shred of humanity turn a blind eye to or remain silent about such barbarity? Or not cry out against the perpetrators? How is it possible not to see the links between Israel’s actions - the cruelty of its soldiers, the hateful racism of its political leadership, the violence of its military – and the arrogance of its supporters in strategic positions of power and influence in so many countries on the one hand, and the rise in anti-Zionism, anti-Israeli sentiments and antisemitism on the other?
Rather than turning on individuals like Dr Sooliman, who has an outstanding record of humanitarianism, surely, Aviva, you and your co-signatories should focus on Israel and its direct responsibility for the rise in antisemitism? The increasing rejection of Zionism is not limited to Israeli Zionism but also to Christian Zionism, so influential in American policies. Christian Zionism requires a militarised Israel as integral to an end-of-times theology in which Israel will engage in wars – the cost in Jewish lives being of little concern to Christian Zionists – that will herald the return of the Christian messiah and the rapture of Christians to heaven.
As you would know, the Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism seeks to clarify the ‘working definition’ of antisemitism developed by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) with its 11 examples of antisemitism, of which 7 are Israel-centric. The Jerusalem Declaration defines antisemitism as ‘discrimination, prejudice, hostility or violence against Jews as Jews (or Jewish institutions as Jewish)’. The IHRA definition largely resonates with the definition of the Jerusalem Declaration, but cites as antisemitic examples the equating of the policies and actions of Israel with Nazi Germany, or claiming that Israel is a racist or apartheid endeavour, or accusing Jews of being more loyal to Israel than to the countries of which they are citizens.
The Jerusalem Declaration states in Article 13, ‘Evidence-based criticism of Israel as a state:…includes its policies and practices, domestic and abroad, such as the conduct of Israel in the West Bank and Gaza, the role Israel plays in the region, or any other way in which, as a state, it influences events in the world. It is not antisemitic to point out systematic racial discrimination….even if contentious, it is not antisemitic in and of itself, to compare Israel with other historical cases, including settler-colonialism or apartheid.’ Article 12 states with regard to ‘Criticising or opposing Zionism as a form of nationalism…it is not antisemitic to support arrangements that accord full equality to all inhabitants ‘between the river and the sea’ whether in two states, a binational state, unitary democratic state, federal state or in whatever form.’Putting aside the fact that Israel has committed acts of violence in Gaza deemed to be war crimes against actual Semites (which the Palestinians are, as they speak Arabic), what is deemed to be antisemitic depends on the definition one chooses.
However, the premise of both definitions is that it is racist to discriminate and commit violence against Jews or Jewish institutions on account of their Jewishness. Surely then, the same standards should apply to other people, i.e. that it is equally racist – and therefore, morally wrong – to discriminate and commit violence against Palestinians, Muslims, black people, etc., on account of their ethnicity, religion or colour? There is no hierarchy of racism in which it is more racist or worse to discriminate against one group of people than another so that the vitriolic weaponisation of racism – i.e. accusations of antisemitism – as a fig leaf to justify, defend or provide cover for the cruelty and mass violence premised on racism against Palestinians or other brown people in the region, does not stand any moral or rational test.
Aviva, we work in the performing arts, in theatre that has to do with the exploration of the human condition, with humanising ‘the other’, with shining a light on acts of inhumanity, with searching for and celebrating our common humanity and affirming human values. We do this in a country where not that long ago, although qualitatively different because of their different pigmentation, Jews and people of colour both experienced forms of racial discrimination.
Kelvin Grove in Cape Town had a ‘No blacks, no Jews, no dogs’ policy, while the Royal Johannesburg and Kensington Golf Club, as recently as the eighties, required Jewish golfers to change in the parking lot. Jewish people are less likely to experience discrimination in contemporary white societies because of guilt due to the holocaust. On the other hand, black and brown people continue to be subject to direct and subtle discrimination despite us supposedly living in an era of ‘human rights and dignity for all’. Just a week before Dr Sooliman was awarded his honorary doctorate, the United Nations passed a resolution that declared the transatlantic slave trade the gravest crime against humanity. 52 mainly European countries abstained from voting, with only the USA, Argentina and Israel voting against the resolution. We know all too well in this country how accusations of racism are weaponised to suppress legitimate criticism of corruption, government incompetence, or unjust self-enrichment. With Islam being associated with brown people and Islam being weaponised by Israel and its allies to justify Judeo-Christian violence against the ‘barbarism’ of Islam, the accusations of antisemitism (racism) against Dr Sooliman may themselves be expressions of racist Islamophobia.
The devastation of Gaza and the unrelenting mass killings of tens of thousands of civilians are the moral issues of our time. Calling out UCT for allegedly violating its values through honouring the ultimate humanitarian in Dr Sooliman, while remaining silent or even worse, defending and justifying Israel’s actions in Gaza and in neighbouring countries, is to choose narrow, defensive tribal loyalty against our common humanity, against human rights for all and against peaceful coexistence rooted in justice.
Netanyahu recently stated that ‘Jesus Christ has no advantage over Genghis Khan. If you are strong enough, ruthless enough, powerful enough, evil will overcome good. Aggression will overcome moderation. While he may have been justifying the Israel-USA war against Iran, he aptly describes how Israel (and the USA) are seen throughout the world, countries with no discernible moral compass, but for whom military might, ruthlessness and aggression are the triune god that will bless and protect their citizens, no matter the cost to others. One of the arguments for the creation of Israel was for Jews to have a safe homeland, a haven from the discrimination and violence of white Europeans. With Iran fighting back against the current Israeli-USA aggression and the possibilities of spiralling violence in the region, few would argue that Israel is a safe space for Jews today, or that Israel’s actions are making Jews safer in other parts of the world.
The rapid decline of support for Israel in the USA, especially among a younger generation, means that it is only a matter of time before Israel is rendered more vulnerable. For the sake of humanity, and even for your own sake, I really do hope that you and your co-signatories will hear the voices of people throughout the world, will listen to your fellow Jews who are siding with the broader human race, and that you will reflect on how you may be better citizens of, and better neighbours in our world, with others who have as much right to occupy that world too. I hope too that we can have the conversations – privately or in public forums - that we need to have within our sector, conversations that we have largely avoided. Whether we like it or not, these issues will increasingly impact our working relationships and the distribution of power and influence in our sector. In working towards a better, more just world, we could do worse than begin with ourselves.
Yours in humanity