A Sdanese View of Jerusalem

Human Rights Activist Takes on Tutu

Yesterday’s Cape Argus has an article from Simon Deng in response to the speech that Archbishop Desmond Tutu gave at Boston’s Old South Church at a conference on “Israel Apartheid”. Simon Deng is an escaped jihad slave from Southern Sudan and is today a leading human rights activist.

Late last month I went to hear Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu speak at Boston s Old South Church at a conference on “Israel Apartheid”. […]

The State of Israel is not an apartheid state. I know because I write this from Jerusalem where I have seen Arab mothers peacefully strolling with their families, even though I also drove on Israeli roads protected by walls and fences from Arab bullets and stones. I know Arabs go to Israeli schools and get the best medical care in the world. I know they vote and have elected representatives to the Israeli Parliament. I see street signs in Arabic - an official language here. None of this was true for blacks under apartheid.

I also know countries that do deserve the apartheid label. My country Sudan is on the top of the list, but so are Iran, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. What has happened to people in Sudan is a thousand times worse than apartheid in South Africa. And no matter how the Palestinians suffer, they suffer nothing compared to my people. Most of the suffering is the fault of their leaders.

Archbishop Tutu, I see black Jews walking down the street here in Jerusalem. Black like us, free and proud.