{"id":117462,"date":"2024-12-05T17:00:25","date_gmt":"2024-12-05T15:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=117462"},"modified":"2024-12-04T11:27:00","modified_gmt":"2024-12-04T09:27:00","slug":"04-00-95","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=117462","title":{"rendered":"German University Cancels Lecture by Israeli Historian Benny Morris Due to Student Protests, \u2018Security Concerns\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>German University Cancels Lecture by Israeli Historian Benny Morris Due to Student Protests, \u2018Security Concerns\u2019<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/h5>\n

Algemeiner Staff<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Israeli historian Benny Morris in 2024. Photo: Screenshot<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

The University of Leipzig in Germany has canceled a lecture by Israeli historian Benny Morris<\/a> following student protests described by the school as \u201cunderstandable, but frightening in nature.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Morris, one of Israel\u2019s leading public intellectuals, was scheduled to deliver a lecture about extremism and the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, in which the Jewish state secured its independence, at the university on Thursday as part of a lecture series on antisemitism.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, the school released a statement this past Friday announcing that it had canceled the planned event, citing protests over the lecture and what it described as security concerns.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOur invitation to Prof. Morris was motivated by the desire to talk about his earlier work, which has had a profound impact on historical research,\u201d the university said in its statement<\/a>. \u201cUnfortunately, Prof. Morris has recently expressed views in interviews and discussions that can be read as offensive and even racist. This has led to understandable, but frightening in nature, protests from individual student groups.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The University of Leipzig did not elaborate on any specific comments by Morris, whose works include the seminal study The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem<\/em>, first published in 1988, and made a point of noting it did not endorse the historian\u2019s views.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIn principle, inviting speakers to the university does not necessarily mean that we agree with their views, and we firmly distance ourselves from Prof. Morris\u2019 controversial statements,\u201d the school said. \u201cThe purpose of the event with him was to engage critically, not to endorse his theses or later statements. In our opinion, science thrives through the exchange of diverse ideas, including those that are challenging or uncomfortable. We trust that our students are able to engage constructively and critically with the guest speaker.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Various groups including Students for Palestine Leipzig had called for the lecture to be canceled, arguing Morris \u2014 who has expressed political opinions associated<\/a> with both the left and the right \u2014 held \u201cdeeply racist\u201d views against Palestinians.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cTogether with security concerns, the above points mean that Prof. Benny Morris\u2019 lecture will not take place,\u201d the university stated.<\/span><\/p>\n

Morris, 75, told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz<\/em> that the decision to cancel the lecture was \u201cdisgraceful, especially since it resulted from fear of potential violence by students. It is sheer cowardice and appeasement.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The groups protesting Morris pointed to comments he made in a 2004 interview in which he said that \u201cin certain conditions, expulsion is not a war crime \u2026 When the choice is between destroying or being destroyed, it\u2019s better to destroy \u2026 when the choice is between ethnic cleansing and genocide \u2014 the annihilation of your people \u2014 I prefer ethnic cleansing.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Morris, a former professor at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, also said that \u201csomething like a cage has to be built for\u201d the Palestinians.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI know that sounds terrible,\u201d he continued. \u201cIt is really cruel. But there\u2019s no choice. There is a wild animal there that has to be locked up in one way or another.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The historian explained to Haaretz<\/em> that those comments were made 20 years ago during the second intifada, or violent Palestinian uprising, \u201cwhen terrorists were bombing buses and restaurants in Israel almost daily.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe word \u2018cage\u2019 that I used was indeed inappropriate, but my intention was correct \u2014 the need to place the Arab population in the West Bank and Gaza behind fences so they could not enter and explode in Israeli cities,\u201d he said. \u201cIsrael eventually did so, and it ended the phenomenon of mass killings by suicide bombers. Perhaps today, the word \u2018cage\u2019 might very well be fitting for the Hamas murderers and their enthusiastic supporters.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In an interview with The Algemeiner<\/em><\/a> earlier this year, Morris argued that, while he \u201cdisliked\u201d Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, he agreed with the premier\u2019s policy of waging war against the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas in Gaza.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s right that the war should continue until Hamas is crushed, if only because around the region, we will be seen as losers if we don\u2019t complete the job,\u201d Morris said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Despite canceling Morris\u2019 lecture, the University of Leipzig expressed concern about the increased efforts to boycott and marginalize Israeli scholars because they are from the world\u2019s lone Jewish state.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cRegardless of this case, we want to express our concern that a double standard is being established that is being applied to Israeli scholars, who are increasingly marginalized and excluded from events under the pretext of political differences of opinion, while other voices are given unhindered access to the university,\u201d the university said. \u201cThis applies, for example, in Leipzig to events by colleagues who are close to the BDS movement, which is classified as a suspected extremist case<\/a> in Germany. We are far from establishing a culture of cancellations, but the possibility should remain open to be able to discuss difficult and critical voices from both sides in a tough manner.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The Algemeiner<\/em> has reported extensively on wide-ranging efforts across academia to exclude Israeli scholars<\/a> and institutions in accordance with the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement, which seeks to isolate Israel from the international community as a step toward its eventual elimination.<\/span><\/p>\n

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German University Cancels Lecture by Israeli Historian Benny Morris Due to Student Protests, \u2018Security Concerns\u2019 Algemeiner Staff Israeli historian Benny Morris in 2024. Photo: Screenshot The University of Leipzig in Germany has canceled a lecture by Israeli historian Benny Morris following student protests described by the school as \u201cunderstandable, but frightening in nature.\u201d Morris, one of Israel\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[26,24],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117462"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=117462"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117462\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":117492,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117462\/revisions\/117492"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=117462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=117462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=117462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}