New debates shouldn't start with false allegations

I’m new to town and impressed by the rich culture on the IU campus, including debates on numerous topics. This newspaper is certainly a good example.
However, when I picked up an IDS copy last Thursday, I found someone calling for more space to debate a particular international conflict. No, not Iran or Ukraine, and not the mass killings in Syria or the Central African
Republic.

The writer wanted to see more debate about the Israel-Palestinian conflict. For this reason he founded an IU J Street chapter — an advocacy group for a so-called two-state solution. So far, so good.

But the call for debate included criticism and a false allegation against Israel while no criticism was voiced against the Palestinian authority, or Hamas. This seems a bad start to me. I was particularly irritated by the claim that laws in Israel do not apply equally to Arabs and Jews.

Few people would deny that there is racism — as is the case in most countries, unfortunately, including the United States — but all laws are applied equally to all Israeli citizens. This includes Jews, (Muslim) Arabs and Christians. Additionally, all faiths have the freedom to worship.

The sole legal distinction between Jewish and Arab citizens of Israel is that the latter are not required to serve in the Israeli army. This basic democratic standard of equality before the law is quite distinct in that region.

Arabs form about 20 percent of Israeli society. They are represented in Israel’s parliament and the justice system, including the Supreme Court. The overwhelming majority prefer to remain Israeli citizens instead of becoming citizens of a future Palestinian state, as surveys in the border area have shown.

The reality of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is complex, with outside political campaigns easily becoming biased and detached from reality.

One clear example is the campaign to boycott Israeli universities, which was also condemned by J Street.

As IU President Michael A. McRobbie noted, such campaigns “undermine the principle of academic freedom.”

New debates should be welcomed, but they should start with the truth, not biased allegations.

­— Gunther Jikeli, visiting scholar at the Institute for the Study of Contemporary
Antisemitism