I had the privelage of being invited to attend The Durham Union Society debate on Thursday 14 May 2009 and drinks with the speakers after.
The debate was held in the Debating Chamber on Palace Green, Durham University.
The debating was on the following “This House believes that Israel is a victim, not an agressor in the Middle East”
The speakers were: For: Jonathon Hoffman – Co-Chairman of the Zionist Foundation, Eric Lee – Prominent figure in the Labour movement, Douglas Murray – Journalist and Director of the Centre for Socail Cohesion. For oppostion: Dr Ghada Karmi – Palestinian author, Keith Sonnet – Deputy General for Unison and Luke Wells – Past president and Durham Debator.
I’m a big fan of Douglas Murray and his knowledge and speaking skills were superb, the best of the night. I was very, very concerned about the remarks of Keith Sonnet – Unison, who’s lack of historical and current laws in the Middle East really showed. It seems to me that it seems to be fashionable for major trade unions and large business to have anti Israel policies, when in fact they don’t really have any need for this stance, very worrying when they claim to do so much for anti racism and Holocaust awareness, when they themselves have these policies. How can they promote all the good work they do and then support a country/government that wants Israel wiped off the map!!
