CUPE ban is out to lunch!

In his latest article, Michael Coren wrote: “Peaceful and legal protest against Israel or any other nation is entirely acceptable and even helpful in a free and democratic society, even when it’s ill informed and predictable.”

I think we would all agree, however, that CUPE’s support for a “a ban on Israeli academics doing speaking, teaching or research work at Ontario universities as a protest against the Dec. 29 bombing of the Islamic University in Gaza”, is absolutley absurd. Simply put, Sid Ryan, CUPE president, wants to see Israeli academics condemn Israel’s current military operations in Gaza, or banned from teaching in Ontario universities.

Obviously I do not need to go into why this ‘ban’ is out to lunch; but I will anyways.

Firstly, but not necessarily most importantly, the very foundation of post secondary education is, or at least should be, about promoting free academic inquiry. This of course, has the ability to create debate, discourse, and dialouge. To simply say that there is but one ‘right’ academic view on the military situation in Gaza is a slap in the face to academic freedom.

Secondly, why Israel? Why not go futeher; banning all academics that do not denounce the military action in Gaza. Interestingly enough, I heard no calls to ban Chinese academics over China’s role in Tibet, or Russian academics for Russia’s role in Goergia. “As Bernie Farber, Canadian Jewish Congress CEO, pointed out last week, CUPE has not called for Palestinian academics to be banned over Hamas rocket attacks.”

Thirdly, this ‘ban’ does not target those who have made the decisions in Gaza. Instead, they target members of the academic community who happened to be born in the Jewish state. Most probably, these men and women had no role in creating or enacting the government policies that resulted in the military invasion into Gaza (and they certainly are not the ones firing rockets from Gaza into Israel). Yet, it is still these men and women that CUPE has decided to target.

I could go on and on. Simply though, the problem with such a ban is that is is contrary to the freedom of expression, it undermines academic freedom, and is hypocritical.

Most importantly, however, it is simply anti-Semitic. As Steyn concludes, this is just a form of the ‘oldest’ kind of hatred. “Once upon a time on the Continent, Jews were hated as rootless cosmopolitan figures who owed no national allegiance. So they became a conventional nation state, and now they’re hated for that. And, if Hamas get their way and destroy the Jewish state, the few who survive will be hated for something else. So it goes.”