First Attempt to Engage with Wits Senior Manangement

Wednesday 05 August 2009

Dear Professor Loyiso Nongxa,

The Wits Palestine Solidarity Committee and other concerned students would like to bring your attention to the imminent presence of Lieutenant-Colonel David Benjamin on the University of Witwatersrand campus. Benjamin will be participating in the Limmud conference to be held at Wits Medical School on Sunday the 9th and Monday the 10th of August 2009.

Benjamin was the prime legal advisor to the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) and advised senior IDF commanders on Operational Law issues. Benjamin served in the Military Advocates Corps, which provides legal advice to the Israeli Army. Benjamin declared that all the military factors regarding Israel’s December 2008 attack on Gaza, including the use of white phosphorus as a chemical weapon (illegal under international law), were approved by the Military Corps. By virtue of his position and his explicit statements (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aqhXg9VD8v6o&refer=home), Benjamin is intimately implicated in the use of white phosphorus in Gaza and what the United Nations has declared as the deliberate targeting of civilian locations including schools and universities.

It is for this reason that a number of applicants in South Africa, including former Wits Law professor, John Dugard, former Intelligence minister Ronnie Kasrils, and Law professor Max du Plessis, have included Benjamin's name in a dossier - that was lodged with the National Directorate of Public Prosecutions on Monday, 3 August 2009 - which alleges war crimes against a number of Israeli political and military figures. That someone of the stature of Professor Dugard calls for the arrest of a person - on charges of war crimes - is certainly relevant to Wits University when such a person will be speaking at a Wits venue. Furthermore, the possibility of Benjamin being arrested on our campus can be extremely embarrassing for Wits.

In order to persist in building the case that Wits is “A World-Class African University” and “a prestigious leading university that…inspires confidence, hope and pride in our country and our continent,” we strongly urge Wits to disallow Benjamin from speaking on our premises and further call for Wits to formally dissociate itself from him. We feel that hosting Benjamin who is a war criminal would severely tarnish the image of our institution. We as students who find the presence of Benjamin inimical to the values of the university and justice will not let it go unrecognized and will join the protest of the speaker should Wits grant him the space to proceed

with his presentations.

Given the pertinence of this issue, we would appreciate your expeditious response to this letter.

Sincerely

K. Joseph

Wits Palestine Solidarity Committee