Tutu appearance canceled amid Jewish concern

[zgrams at zgrams.zundelsite.org]

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 From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA).

Tutu appearance canceled amid Jewish concern

http://www.jta.org/cgi-bin/iowa/popups/email.html?article=104490


Published: 10/03/2007


A speech by Archbishop Desmond Tutu was canceled after local Jews 
expressed concern about his views on Israel.

The spring visit to Minnesota's University of St. Thomas was canceled 
because local Jewish groups were upset by comparisons Tutu had made 
between Israel and Hitler, according to a report in City Pages, a 
Minneapolis alternative weekly.

University officials reportedly canceled the appearance after 
consulting with a spokesperson for the Jewish Community Relations 
Council of Minnesota and the Dakotas, and with several rabbis on the 
faculty.

The uproar apparently was linked to a speech Tutu made in Boston in 
2002. A news release from the Zionist Organization of America, which 
condemned Tutu's remarks, cited a report from Ha'aretz that quoted 
Tutu as saying that "Israel is like Hitler and apartheid." A 
transcript of the speech available online does not include the Hitler 
quote.