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"Come and See Haifa": Academics Challenge Hackney over Plan to Cut 58-Year Ties
(Jewish News-UK) Annabel Sinclair - As the Hackney Council in east London moves towards ending its 58-year twinning with Haifa, two senior academics in the city say councilors are overlooking precisely the kind of place that should be engaged with rather than cut off. Historically, the link supported medical exchanges between Homerton Hospital in east London and Rambam Health Care Campus in Haifa. Dr. Reda Mansour, Senior Director of Global Resource Development at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, said, "Haifa is really the model of coexistence for us in Israel." Mansour, a retired Israeli diplomat, author and historian, who is Druze, said, "Living together, working together, studying together, is something that is so normal that nobody really speaks in terms of integration or diversity." Mansour describes Haifa as an important center for Israel's Arab middle class, drawing doctors, academics and other professionals from towns and villages across northern Israel. At the Technion, 23% of students are Arab. "These are students; some of them identify as Palestinian Israelis. So, you are going to boycott this Palestinian community, supposedly, to protect another Palestinian community? It doesn't make sense." Prof. Uriel Simonsohn, a historian at the University of Haifa, said, "People do not consider living with one another here as something that is exceptional." He added that there are "forces here in Israel that are very much committed to peace, to shared society, to human dignity, to liberal values, democracy. I fail to see the point of ostracizing us." Simonsohn urged council representatives to visit Haifa before reaching their final decision. "Come over. Meet with us, see what we're doing, see what people think. Ask them, go to the street, speak with people. You'll come out of it with a very different impression from the one you currently hold."