Israel Conference veto in UCC is the wrong decision
Any attempt to deny the idea of free speech, a cornerstone of democracy, is very unwelcome, as Europe-wide protests after the Charlie Hebdo massacre in Paris showed.
The subject matter is not the issue but the idea that any topic, no matter how divisive or distasteful can be discussed, debated, and challenged openly must prevail. That this decision was reached by a university — a place of learning — makes it even more difficult to understand, much less support.
The college said its decision was influenced by security considerations — protests were anticipated — but that just confirms the impression that the ruling is a wrong-headed concession to intimidation. Freedom of speech was a hard-won right and it should not be so very easily conceded.
The decision also indulges the dishonesty that any criticism of Israel is always an expression of anti-semitism. This position is utter hogwash as recent UN declarations showed. Israel, like every other country, will be judged on its actions, not on the idea of itself it presents to the world.
When he spoke recently at a UCC ceremony marking his 90th birthday, historian Professor John A Murphy warned that a new puritanism limiting the freedom of expression is creeping into our universities. This veto seems another example of that shutting down, of that feebleness and fear.
