Speaking out against Israel’ s handling of the Palestinian conflict is the best act of solidarity one can show towards Israelis and the Jewish people, argued Tanya Reinhart in the latest of the Sydney Ideas lecture series.

Israel’ s current policies threaten not just the Palestinians and its Arab neighbours, but also the Israelis themselves, she said. “In the long run, this war over land is suicidal.”

Drawing on the struggle of civil rights leader Nelson Mandela, Professor Reinhart suggested that “consistent, international, non-violent political action can lead Israel to make political concessions”.

Professor Reinhart, eminent Israeli academic, author and linguist, is Emeritus Professor of Linguistics and Media Studies at Tel-Aviv University and Professor of Linguistics at the University of Utrecht in The Netherlands.

For more information, visit:
www.seymour.usyd.edu.au/ideas/index.shtml (Homepage of the Sydney Ideas lecture series.)