14 Friday, February 7, 1986
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
CLOSE-UP
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Bishop Desmond Tutu has
singled out Jews in South
Africa as the leaderloof the
anti-apartheid movement,
but at the same time escal-
ated his rhetoric against
Israel, calling it a "col-
, laborator" with the racist
regime. The comments came
during exclusive interviews
with Tutu and Jesse Jackson
during the South African
Nobellaureate's whirlwind 17
hour visit to Chicago.
Asked whether Jews in
South Africa were doing their
part to oppose Apartheid,
Tutu answered, "Most of the
outstanding whites in South
Africa who have been in the
forefront of the struggle for
justice and peace have been
Jews. You have Helen Suz-
man [Member of Parliament
who, with Harry Schwartz,
founded the opposition Pro-
Israel, as a government, has
been known to collaborate
with the South African
government."
Asked specifically what
Israel should, be doing, Tutu
acknowledged, "I am not
worried about Israel's eco-
nomic involvement with
South Africa. That doesn't
concern me so much because
I don't think it is significant.
It is their collaboration over
military and security things...
so that South Africa is able
to carry out such activities as
hot pursuit." Tutu's refer-
ence was the training of the
South African police.
Jesse Jackson accompan-
ied Tutu on various legs of
his American tour. During
the Chicago visit, the only in-
dividuals at Tutu's side were
Chicago Mayor Harold
Washington and Jesse Jack-
The Nobel Peace Prize winner
appears inconsistent in his
criticism of the Jewish State
Biship Tutu (left) and Chicago Mayor Harold Washington.
Bishop Tutu
On Jews,
Apartheid
And Israel
BY EDWIN BLACK
Special to The Jewish News
•
gressive Federal Party] and
many other outstanding
lawyers, doctors and profes-
sional people who have been
committed to the struggle."
Bishop Tutu cited as one of
many recent examples,
"[When] our own Council of
Churches...[was] being haras-
sed by the government and
being investigated, our chief
counsel were Jews: Sidney
Kentridge, one of the out-
standing legal brains of the
English speaking world, and
Jack Unterhalter."
However, Tutu applied a
double standard referring to
the involvement of Israel and
Arab states in South Africa.
Tutu was asked about the
fact that some 70 percent of
South Africa's oil emanates
from Arab and Moslem oil
states. He replied ambiguous-
ly, "I would hope that if we
are looking for nonviolent, for
peaceful strategies and one of
these is economic pressure, it '
goes without saying that
anything that . gives comfort
or support to a racist regime
...ought not to be happen-
ing?'
In a follow-up question,
Tutu was asked what Israel
could do to further that anti-
Apartheid movement. He
answered that both he and
the Jews of South Africa
"share this one distress: that
■
son. In private Jackson con-
tinually coached Tutu on
"issues to be sensitive about"
in his public statements.
During his interviews,
Jackson exhibited the same
double standard regarding
Arab and Israeli trade links
to South Africa. Responding
to South Africa's dependence
on Arab oil, Jackson reveal-
ed, "I met with Arab am-
bassadors in Britain, Wash-
ington and the UN. Each
time I was advised that they
have a policy position against
their oil going to South
Africa. But if there is any
evidence of oil being diverted
[to South Africa] on the high
seas, they will take punitive
action against those corpora-
tions."
Advised that Arab oil and
precious commodity transac-
tions exceed even that of
South Africa's greatest
trading partners, Jackson
remarked, "All that we can
do is to make the appeal."
But that our country is so
generous in selling arms to
Israel and that Israel would
then be collaborating militar-
ily with South Africa. Of
course, it is very distasteful."
Israel's weapons sales to
South Africa have been main-
ly naval patrol boats de-
signed to protect interna-
tional shipping lanes — ann