Are You a Nazi?
Ministerial Meandering
Are you a Nazi?
Sheila read a short news clip to me at breakfast this morning. It shook me to my roots. I have just read a full report of the event in the Spectator - a well-respected political journal. It is horrifying.
It has to do with the Oxford Union tabling a motion for debate entitled, “This House Believes Israel is an Apartheid State Responsible for Genocide.” The wording of this alone is loaded, and distorted when applied to Israel.
It is important that I point out that the Oxford Union is not a part of Oxford University, but many of its members are students from the university. The Union has been (until now) a forum for intellectual debate and discussion, and a proving ground for ambition, a training ground for those destined to lead.
What took place on December 2nd was a travesty; this wasn’t an evening for intellectual rigour or balanced argument. From the very beginning, it was clear the organisation of this event was deeply and worryingly dishonest, aggressive and one-sided. Speakers infamous for their unhinged views were invited, and the very few Jews who had the courage to attend were terrified before the end of the verbal attacks that took place. The president - who should remain impartial - Ebrahim Osman Mowafy, an Egyptian Arab, seemed to be openly biased from the outset. His behaviour throughout the evening was not that of a neutral chair but of an orchestrator, stacking the odds against the opposition and fostering an environment of unchecked hostility. It was found out only on the night that Osman Mowafy himself would forgo the traditional impartiality of the chair’s role and speak against Israel himself.
The result of this was no less than the fall of the Oxford Union; but if this is the intellectual and moral climate shaping the leaders of tomorrow, then the implications are chilling – not just for the Union, but for society at large.
Some of what I have just written above is extracted from the Spectator article - particularly if you think my prose is better than usual - but the shock that accompanied my breakfast is still lingering in my mind and heart, and sickening my soul. This is exactly how the rise of the Nazis started in 1930’s Germany.
I want to make it clear that I am not taking sides on the debate. As I have already said, such a title is loaded from the start, and I wouldn’t attend such a biased event. I was again saddened and upset to learn that the few Jews who had the courage to attend, had to flee out a back way, so as not to be mobbed by the rest. Needless to say the motion passed with a frightening majority of 278 in favour to 59 against. It was clear that the entire event had been a sham. This was not a debate; it was a show trial, orchestrated by a deeply biased president and cheered on by a mob that had no interest in facts or truth.
How easy it is to be swayed by the crowd…how terrifyingly easy. I recall another such ‘show trial’ in the first century, when the mob had ‘…no interest in the facts or truth.’
And Jesus died for such a mob.
Philip+