"CUPE's moment of shame"
Gregory Levey, National Post - February 21, 2009

This weekend, CUPE Ontario, the union that represents 200,000 public employees, will vote on a boycott of Israeli universities. The resolution has elicited controversy. But while union president Sid Ryan has softened it somewhat, he is still determined to push it forward.

The resolution's supporters and opponents have debated, using familiar Middle East talking points, but this only misses the point. Initiatives like this one may hurt not just Israelis, but Palestinians as well -- not to mention CUPE itself.

Recently, a fellow instructor at Toronto's Ryerson University came into my office visibly upset. She explained that she felt intimidated by the union (of which she is a member), and frightened to voice any concern about the resolution. And she thought there were many more like her. That's one of the key problems with unions taking political stances far afield of their mandates. They're charged with serving as the voices of their members. But on political issues with no connection to the union's actual business, it's mostly a radical minority whose voice is heard -- and which actually votes at politicized meetings. CUPE is, notoriously, a perfect example.

If I were a CUPE member, I would be upset for a more practical reason. Unions are vital on issues such as salary, benefits and work conditions. In today's economy, universities are making budget cuts and foisting extra work on CUPE members. Its membership should expect the union's leaders to focus on that. Instead, they routinely waste time and money on issues well beyond the scope of their office. For example, CUPE spends its members' dues to fund a useless circus on campus called "Israel Apartheid Week."

Initiatives such as this are also counterproductive in regard to Middle East peace. With the Obama administration's plans to engage in Middle East peacemaking and cultivate dialogue and confidence-building, the region may be seeing a sliver of light in dark times. In order to capitalize on it, peace-seekers on both sides of the conflict need the support of the rest of the world. One-sided resolutions stripped of all nuance and evenhandedness do not provide that support.

Worse, CUPE is targeting academics and universities. This is one of the most dovish segments of Israeli society, often on the forefront of outreach to Palestinians. I know of one right-wing Israeli scholar, for example, who had to leave Israeli academia for a university elsewhere because his views were considered too hawkish in Israel. By targeting Israeli academics, CUPE would be silencing precisely the wrong voices.

Supporters of the resolution will argue that it stems from the Israeli assault on the Islamic University in Gaza, and the resulting effect on the university's students. This is disingenuous at best. Under the oversight of the university's professors, the campus laboratories were used to develop explosives for Hamas. Rockets and bombs were housed in its buildings and top leaders from Hamas's military wing often met there. Doesn't sound like a good place to study at the best of times.

Palestinians in Gaza face continual suffering. Without a doubt, some of it is due to Israeli policy. But a good deal is due to the decisions of the Hamas leadership to use its own people as hostages and cannon fodder. A university should not be used as an arms depot. Children should not be used as human shields. Private citizens should not be bullied into making their homes refuges for militants.

The Palestinians are mistreated by everyone, especially their own leaders. But one-sided resolutions like CUPE's, which don't acknowledge that if both sides have rights then both sides also have obligations, only foster the deadly delusion that all responsibility for the Middle East situation lies with Israel. When speaking candidly, Palestinians who honestly want peace will tell you that this just isn't so. It doesn't help their plight to pretend that it is.

Gaza Palestinians could certainly do with a new breed of leader. But maybe CUPE Ontario could as well. It goes without saying that the Israeli victims of the endless conflict deserve better than CUPE's meddlesome and counterproductive resolution. What isn't said enough is that Palestinians do, too.