The University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) in Johannesburg has found itself in the center of a dispute involving Israelis, Palestinians — and now, the trade unions.

An Israeli pianist, Yossi Reshef, was giving a piano concert at the university on 12 March when the performance was disrupted by anti-Israel protestors.  The performance, which had been sponsored in part by the Israeli embassy, was cancelled after protestors stormed the stage, 15 minutes into the performance.  (See this report on the Radio Islam website.)

The University is considering disciplining several of the students, which has provoked widespread outrage.  COSATU, the national trade union center, has stepped into the fray with its general secretary, Zwelinzima Vavi, calling for the charges to be dropped and has warned that otherwise the university “risked being an instrument of ‘Zionist racists'”.  COSATU published Vavi’s speech in full on its website.

In the speech, Vavi goes to on to refer to the pianist Reshef, as “an Israeli (publicly admitted Zionist)”.  One wonders how he knows that Reshef is a Zionist and what COSATU’s view would have been had he merely been an Israeli.  Reshef currently lives in Germany, not Israel.