Ralph Nader, Israel critic Omar Barghouti given Gandhi Peace Awards Yale distances itself from Gandhi award winners’ views

Omar Barghout,, co-founder of the BDS (Boycott Divestment and Sanctions) movement walks into Yale University’s Sheffield-Sterling-Strathcona Hall with Ralph Nader, center right, to receive a 2017 Gandhi Peace Award from the group Promoting Enduring Peace. less Omar Barghout,, co-founder of the BDS (Boycott Divestment and Sanctions) movement walks into Yale University’s Sheffield-Sterling-Strathcona Hall with Ralph Nader, center right, to receive a 2017 Gandhi ... more Photo: Arnold Gold — New Haven Register Photo: Arnold Gold — New Haven Register Image 1 of / 6 Caption Close Ralph Nader, Israel critic Omar Barghouti given Gandhi Peace Awards 1 / 6 Back to Gallery

NEW HAVEN >> Two peace activists from different generations and countries Sunday received the Gandhi Peace Award from the Connecticut group Promoting Enduring Peace.

Palestinian human rights advocate Omar Barghouti and consumer rights crusader Ralph Nader each received the award at Yale’s Sheffield-Sterling-Strathcona Hall. Several hundred people attended, giving standing ovations to the recipients.

Barghouti is the more controversial of the two. Some Jewish groups oppose his work for BDS (Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions), whose prime goal stated in its literature is “ending Israel’s occupation and colonization of all Arab lands.” His Jewish opponents fear this movement is working against the right of Israel to exist as a nation.

Moreover, Yale University officials issued an unusual statement distancing the university from endorsing the Gandhi event despite the fact it took place in a Yale building.

“A student organization reserved space for the awarding of the Gandhi prize, which is given by an organization not affiliated with Yale,” the statement began. “Yale honors requests by our community to invite speakers and groups to campus in accordance with our academic mission of fostering the free exchange of ideas. Views expressed at these events are those of the individuals involved and do not represent the views of the university as a whole.”

Barghouti’s presence at the ceremony was in doubt until recently, when Israel lifted a travel ban it had imposed on him. On March 20 that government arrested him on suspicion of evading taxes on $700,000 from his company and from speaking fees, according to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz. He was put under house arrest.

A Promoting Enduring Peace leaflet distributed at the event stated: “The Israeli government, which furiously opposes any criticism or pressure, slanders BDS activists as dupes or anti-Semites. They threaten Palestinians who call for BDS.” The leaflet said that was why Barghouti was arrested and his travel document taken away for a period.

Barghouti began his speech by dedicating his award “to the heroic Palestinian political prisoners in apartheid dungeons.” He asserted they are being held unlawfully.

He said the Israeli government is “trying to suppress the BDS movement” because support for it is growing worldwide. BDS literature states it is asking people “to especially target institutions and Israelis who take part in the injustices against Palestinians or help with Israel war-making.” Those targets include G4S, a British company that builds Israeli prisons.

Barghouti repeatedly said the movement is one of “nonviolent resistance.” He also said it is “inclusive,” welcoming all ethnic groups, including Jewish supporters.

“We are inspired by the South African movement against apartheid and the civil rights movement in the United States,” Barghouti said.

But he criticized President Trump for his support of Israeli government policies. He charged: “The Trump administration has embraced the Israeli government and used it as a model. Our oppressors are more united than ever.”

Nader, a native of Winsted, also criticized Israeli policies. “Who has killed 400 times more innocent men, women and children than the other side? The answer is the Israeli government.”

The Jewish Federation of Greater New Haven office could not be reached at the office Sunday evening, but has made clear in statements that many Jews say the BDS Movement’s ultimate motive is the destruction of Israel. Judy Diamondstein, chief executive officer of the Jewish Federation of Greater New Haven, has said. “We are very concerned about the BDS Movement and what it represents. We do believe that there needs to be two states for two people and that that will only be accomplished through direct negotiations by the parties.

“The BDS Movement, unfortunately, is a little bit of a wolf in sheep’s clothing. It states on the one hand that its goals are this peaceable resistance by a boycott of goods from what would be the Palestinian areas or the West Bank of Israel and, unfortunately, they’re also saying out of the other side of their mouths, to quote Omar Barghouti himself, that he only believes in a one-state solution, a unitary state, where, by definition Jews will be a minority, and he believes basically in the end of Israel. So we have to stand up for the rights of Israel as a nation and its right to exist and I think that the clear objective of the BDS Movement is to cease that existence.”

Nader said “state terrorism” is far more pervasive than terrorism by individuals. “It’s always legitimized as being in the service of national defense.”

This practice continues today, Nader said. He charged U.S. forces “can kill anyone” and U.S. presidents can do it unilaterally, with no declaration of war by Congress, “no adherence to the Geneva Convention.”

Nader asked how many in the audience were affiliated with Yale Law School; only several people raised their hands. Then he said of the military actions, “None of this is possible if the legal profession became a first responder for the rule of law.”

He added, “None of this is possible if other professions in the academic world stopped being so preoccupied with their own concerns and covering their own backs.”

Nader told the crowd, “We come from a culture of violence. We’re taught in school that Christopher Columbus ‘discovered’ America. My father quickly disabused me of that notion when he told me Columbus invaded America in search of gold and exterminated an entire tribe in the Caribbean.”

Nader asked, “How do we build a culture of peace?” He noted small groups can do it, such as elderly women gathering on town greens to protest nuclear weapons.

Nader said if the military budget were to be cut rather than increased, Americans would see improvements in mass transit, schools and other critical programs. “We would not have to cut the budgets of community colleges and state universities.”

Outside the building, a lone protester, Lance Laytner of New York, stood next to a giant inflated Pinocchio that had the message: “Omar Barghouti cheats on taxes, lies to students.” Laytner said Barghouti and his supporters “say they’re nonviolent but they’re anything but nonviolent. I don’t think he should be getting a peace award when he’s generated violence.”

Call Randall Beach at 203-680-9345.