Cape Town - Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu on Tuesday thanked all who supported him after his call for a cultural boycott of Israel led to a demand for his removal as patron of the SA Holocaust and Genocide Foundation.
"While there were some people who were offended by the archbishop's call and responded harshly, the overwhelming majority of people who entered the debate were very supportive," the Desmond Tutu Peace Centre said.
It quoted Tutu as saying: "We would like to say thank you to all the people who supported us through this difficult period.
"We received messages from individuals and faith-based organisations, from across the world including from Palestine and Israel.
"But mostly, we would like to say thank you to so-called ordinary members of South Africa's Jewish community."
Late last year the vice chairperson of the SA Zionist Federation, David Hersch, launched a petition demanding Tutu's removal as patron of the holocaust centres.
It accused the Nobel Peace Prize laureate of being a bigot, dishonest and a "defamer of Israel and the Jewish people".
A counter-petition was launched last month by members of Open Shahuda Street and it garnered nearly 6 000 signatures from around the world, including those of former chief justice Arthur Chaskalson and Lord Joel Joffe.
Tutu called for a cultural boycott of Israel as a peaceful means to encourage policy change towards the Palestinian territories. Last October, he asked the Cape Town Opera not to travel to Israel.
http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/Thank-you-for-support-says-Tutu-20110201
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