I think I first heard the phrase Israeli Apartheid" when I was a sophomore here at Tufts. It wasn't something I had ever heard before, and I'll admit that I was taken aback. That's an understatement: I was repulsed. Comparing the struggle of Israelis and Palestinians over ancient lands and modern dreams was, to my mind, nothing like the blatant denial of human dignity to which South Africa subjected a subset of its own population on the basis of skin color. To appropriate the struggle of blacks in South Africa to demonize the state of Israel disgusted me.
It still does. But that's not the biggest problem with so-called "Israeli Apartheid Week." The seminal issue, for me, is the message that the title perpetuates about Jews.
I acknowledge that, of the pro-Palestinian protestors sprinkled across this campus, many of them do not mean to be hurtful. Many of them do not mean to send the wrong message. But they do. Here's what "Israeli Apartheid" sounds like to someone who knows little about the complex security dilemmas, humanitarian needs and historic context of the region: Israel. That's the Jewish place, right? Apartheid. That's racism, right? Oh, I get it
