Et Tutu?

By: Mark D. Tooley
FrontPageMagazine.com
Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Retired Archbishop of Cape Town Desmond Tutu won his 1984 Nobel for boldly opposing the racist government of South Africa But his interest in human rights has been selective, and Israel often enters his sights as the supposed successor to Afrikaner Apartheid. Most recently, the Archbishop let loose at a British literary convention, implying that Israel was worse than Boer rule, winning standing ovations from 1,000 self-styled sophisticates, including Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, the head of the worldwide Anglican communion.

Tutu’s visits to Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, passing through Israeli checkpoints, “brought back memories of what things had been like at home” in South Africa under apartheid, he recalled, as reported by The (UK) Guardian. “The arrogance of the police or the soldiers, you depend on their whim whether they'll allow you through or not.” But some Israeli misdeeds are even worse than old South Africa’s, citing the “collective punishment” that Israel ostensibly wages against Palestinians suspected of terrorism, such as home demolitions.

He believes the Israel-Palestinian conflict is the linchpin of world peace. “You can give up on all other problems,” Tutu warned his British audience. “You can give up on nuclear disarmament; you can give up on ever winning a war against terror, you can give it up. You can give up any hope of our faiths ever working really amicably and in a friendly way together.” the rest