While tributes to Desmond Tutu pour in from around the world...
Trump attack dog, Dershowitz goes on Fox News to call Tutu an "anti-Semite"
As his country marks Tutu's life and death, people around the world are doing the same, including many from groups he supported, from LGBTQ communities to Palestinians and climate justice advocates. — CNN
Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s passing this week gave millions of us around the world an opportunity to reflect on the history and legacy of the great movement that in 1994, succeeded in liberating millions of South Africans from the chains of European colonialism and racial Apartheid.
But while tributes to Tutu poured in from all over the world, there were a few isolated voices on the right who couldn’t contain their hatred for the beloved freedom fighter.
While I try to pay as little attention as possible in times like these, to the racist ravings of Fox News talking heads, I couldn’t help cringing when I read about wing-nut, Alan Dershowitz, using his appearance on Fox to call Tutu an “anti-semite” and a “bigot.”
Dershowitz, is a rabid Trump supporter and serves as Rudy Giuliani’s lawyer. He’s is a regular on Fox and and right-wing talk radio. His disdain for Tutu stems from his own support of Isreal’s apartheid system of oppression of the Palestinians. Tutu was well-known for his support for the Palestinian cause and he often compared life under Israeli apartheid to his own experience growing up under the system of strict racial segregation in his homeland.
When Trump declared Jerusalem the capital of Israel in 2017, Tutu responded:
“God is weeping over President Donald Trump’s inflammatory and discriminatory recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. It is our responsibility to tell Mr. Trump that he is wrong.”
Remember, Israel along with the U.S. was one of the last countries to support and collaborate with the old crumbling South African apartheid regime and even helped them develop a nuclear weapon. This, even as South African Jews like Joe Slovo, Helen Suzman, Albie Sachs, Ruth First, and others worked alongside Nelson Mandela in the ANC.
Ironically, it was Israel’s own former ambassador to South Africa, Arthur Lenk, who gave one of the best assessments of Desmond Tutu.
“He was a great human rights icon and he was also someone who was truly interested in using lessons from his liberation in South Africa to impact Palestinian liberation and peace in the Middle East,” said Lenk, who served as Israel’s envoy from 2013-2017.
Of course, for Dershowitz and the present Israeli regime, anyone who criticizes Israel is an “anti-semite.”
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