The “Israeli Apartheid Week” event which
was supposed to begin on Monday evening in the Universiteit Vrije of Brussels (VUB) has been
cancelled. Lucas Catherine, the central speaker on the opening evening refused
to appear after the University asked to change the contents of the program
following a request made by the Israeli Ambassador and the Belgian League
Against Anti-Semitism (LBCA) to the Rector of VUB, Paul de Knop.
“Israeli Apartheid Week” is an
organized event which is held simultaneously in a number of states, including Israel, and which seeks to draw attention to the
meaning of “Israel’s
Apartheid policy towards the Palestinians” while calling for
“boycott, divestment and sanctions” against Israel. In Belgium, COMAC,
the youth movement of the PTB, was one of the event’s organizers.
“Our program
was know about a long time ago, but only after contacts were held between the
Ambassador and the Rector, did the latter begin making demands” said
Olivier Goessens of COMAC. The University had asked for a more open debate to
be held, one in which more diverse opinions would be taken into account.
