Thank you for your front page article on the death of Desmond Tutu. He was an inspiration to millions of people around the world fighting for racial justice, LGBT and universal human rights.
Like much of the reporting on Archbishop Tutu’s activism, however, there was one glaring omission: his strident criticism of Israel’s policies toward the Palestinians. These policies, according to Tutu, amount to an apartheid system very similar to the one that existed in South Africa. Desmond Tutu admired Jews and believed in the fundamental right of Israel to exist. He, however, also advocated a boycott, divestment and sanctions movement like the one that contributed to the dismantling of South African apartheid. It is no accident that the Israeli government was the biggest supporter of the apartheid regime in South Africa.
At the same time, it must be kept in mind that many Jews, within Israel and well beyond, not only opposed South African apartheid, but also continue to oppose the Israeli version. These courageous people are not antisemitic and neither was Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Another South African Nobel Prize laureate, Nelson Mandela, said, “We know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians.”
— Kenneth Baitsholts
Anchorage
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