Academic boycott
YOUR campaign to equate the call for an academic boycott of Israel with anti-Semitism is an attempt, as sinister as it is absurd, to stifle an important debate.
There are other countries that occupy territory recognised as not their own; kill large numbers of civilians in military action; stockpile nuclear weapons without joining the Non-Proliferation Treaty, and violate the 1973 UN convention against apartheid. But only one does all four.
There is no non-Jewish state in that category, so the charge of discrimination is easily disproved. Or are you resolved not to let facts get in the way of a good witch-hunt?
Jake Lynch, director, Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, Sydney University
Combative Toben
The Australian June 25, 2013 12:00AMNG the past week, you have published a number of news reports, letters and an editorial touching, among other matters, on the character and views of Fredrick Toben.
This coverage has described him as a "Holocaust denier" and an anti-Semite. Toben holds a PhD for study conducted under the political philosopher Karl Popper. He is better described as a Holocaust revisionist, signifying that he has had the courage to challenge aspects of a key dogma of the age. Toben can be described as an eccentric with a combative personality. But he deserves fair treatment.