Speech critical of Israel will go on
by Peter Harriman
Alison Weir
A speaker sharply critical of Israel will speak at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Brookings Public Library as planned.
But it won’t be sponsored by the South Dakota World Affairs Council that originally backed Alison Weir’s appearance in Brookings. The council’s decision to cancel her was made knowing it might appear to stifle the free exchange of ideas, acknowledged board chairman Nels Granholm, who also heads the South Dakota State University Global Studies Program.
“I often hear about attempts to block my talks. I think that does happen more than I know. This is one of the only times … an organization has backed out of an event it has already announced. That was really pretty shocking,” Weir said.
Live at 3: Alison Weir will be the guest on “100 Eyes” today. Watch and join the conversation at www.ArgusLeader.com/100Eyes.
Former U.S. Sen. Jim Abourezk, who had contacted the world affairs council about having Weir speak, was more inflammatory and blunt.
“The local Zionists in Brookings got a hold of the World Affairs Council and convinced them to cancel her appearance there,” Abourezk said. “Those guys are nothing but a bunch of bullies.”
Actually, Granholm said, the council’s cancellation was a result of their inability to find someone credible to oppose Weir’s view that Israel provokes violence in Palestine and elsewhere in the Middle East. The pressure to find such an opposing view “mostly came from within our organization,” he said. “We recognize she had a particular point of view, and we wanted to be absolutely sure we had another point of view.”
The council’s “objective and mission,” Granholm said, “is to present issues in a nonpartisan, non-biased, balanced manner.”
A fear that canceling Weir’s appearance could be construed as censorship “was in the background” as world affairs council officials made their decision, Granholm admitted. But he added, “The primary thing we keep going back to is we thought it was extremely important, essential, that we be able to present all the views, all the sides.
Desire to present a counterpoint
The council knew from the outset it wanted to present such a counter to Weir’s claims.
“We simply didn’t have the time or the resources to do it,” Granholm said.
So, Weir’s presentation Wednesday will take place under the auspices of the Council for National Interest, a group founded by former U.S. Rep. Paul Findley, R-Ill. Weir has been Council for National Interest foundation president since last year.
“We reserved the same room in the library in Brookings, and we will speak under their sponsorship,” Abourezk said.
The library is not being drawn unwillingly into controversy. Library director Elvita Landeau said the library does not endorse Weir’s position, and “they are using our meeting room within our meeting policy. There is no charge for admission and no selling of commercial materials.”
In addition to the speech in Brookings, Abourezk helped Weir line up presentations at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University Center and Farber Hall at the University of South Dakota. She also will speak to the Sioux Falls Downtown Rotary Club and the Minnehaha County Democratic Forum.
2001 visit, brutality changed her views
A transforming trip to Israel and Palestine’s Gaza Strip in 2001 as a freelance reporter changed Weir.
From someone who generally was supportive of Israel, if only vaguely aware of that nation’s relations with its neighbors, she became a committed herald of alleged Israeli brutality backed by U.S. economic and diplomatic support.
“Our tax money enables horrible violence,” she said.
“In Gaza I saw in some locations, residential neighborhoods, that were completely bullet-riddled. I saw Israeli soldiers shooting at children; happily, I didn’t see one get shot.
“I saw Israeli forces move in and randomly shoot at crowds of people with rubber bullets. In other cases, they used live ammunition. One place, I was trying to film, and somebody pulled me back and said, ‘That’s live ammunition.’ ”
In addition to founding an If Americans Knew organization devoted to exposing what she sees as Israel’s aggression against its neighbors, supported by the U.S., Weir speaks widely on the subject. Recently, she completed speaking tours in Colorado, Kentucky, South Carolina, Georgia and Montana, she said, and she’s been as far as Alaska.
“Happily, I am almost always received well. People are very receptive, concerned. They question, ‘What can we do about this?’ ” she said.
At some appearances she is challenged by supporters of Israel, and she pointed out to South Dakota World Affairs Council the Jewish Community Relations Council for the Dakotas could have filled that role in Brookings.
If her offer smacks of the Harlem Globetrotters playing the Washington Generals, Weir demurs. The Jewish Community Relations Council is no hand-picked opponent, she said.
“They are not an ally of mine. They’re a strong opponent of what I am doing. They can supply speakers at a moment’s notice, and they are well funded,” she said.
Granholm said he is not sure why Weir’s suggestion was not acceptable. “I suppose it was just a matter of timing and other types of things,” he said. But he maintains the world affairs council still would be eager to hear Weir speak if a countering voice can be found.
“I don’t know if it can happen yet this fall,” Granholm said, “but it can happen later. I think it would make a great forum.”
Weir can recall only one other incident wherin which a scheduled speech was canceled.
“In Greenwich, Conn., several years ago, there was going to be an event. The local public library was pressured by a donor not to have the event.”
Weir protested such interference with a publicly funded institution, and she was allowed to speak at the library. Ironically, she said, “because of the controversy, there were triple the attendees we thought might come.”
This article was published at ArgusLeadeer.com
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