The Good, The Bad & The Ugly of Desmond Tutu

Shortly after learning of the death of South African archbishop and Nobel laureate Desmond Tutu at the age of 90, I saw a couple of my friends on Facebook post tributes.

Their tributes were entirely understandable. After all, Tutu was a central figure in the anti-Apartheid movement. While Nelson Mandela was in jail, Tutu was arguably its most powerful figure in the international community. One cannot write a proper history about the dismantling of Apartheid in South Africa without devoting several chapters to Tutu's work. For this he must be remembered.

But Tutu must also be remembered for his blatant anti-Semitism. In 1989, while speaking at Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem, Tutu called upon Jews to forgive the Nazis which earned him a stinging rebuke from both Elie Wiesel and Rabbi Marvin Hier of the Simon Wiesenthal Center. 

Following the fall of Apartheid, Tutu spent a great deal of this time trying to persuade churches all over the world to recognize Israel as an Apartheid state repeatedly claiming that Israel's treatment of the Palestinians was worse than that of blacks under Apartheid in South Africa becoming a prominent supporter of the BDS movement. As I write this, the man who holds the balance of power in Israel's current government is a Palestinian Arab. South African blacks could not hold public office much less vote in Apartheid era South Africa. The notion that Israel bears any resemblance to Apartheid era South Africa is sheer defamation. Speaking of defamation, Tutu also called Jews "a peculiar people" and questioned our fidelity to G-d. 

Needless to say, I have a different view of Tutu and felt compelled to share it with my friends on Facebook both of whom I suspected were unaware of his attitudes towards Jews and they confirmed my speculation. 

With all that said, I have no desire to "cancel" Desmond Tutu. You can no more erase Tutu from South Africa's history books than you can erase Thomas Jefferson from American history. Like any other public figure, Desmond Tutu should be acknowledged for the good, the bad and the ugly. R.I.P.