Hate Fest at UC-Irvine-Mohammed Al-Asi

After an upbeat week-long celebration of Israel's 60th birthday last week, the Muslim Student Union now takes over the stage at UC-Irvine this week with their usual invited speakers who come and preach hate. Today, I witnessed the speech of "Imam" Mohammed Al-Asi as he talked for an hour about the "racist, Zionist State of Israel".

Let me set the scene for you. The event took place outside near the flagpoles. The Muslim Student Union boys were all decked out in paramilitary-looking olive green T-shirts with Palestinian-type scarves. On the front of the shirts was a tank with some reference to "Resistance". On the back was a quotation from Martin Luther King (an apostle of non-violence who would never have countenanced terror and suicide bombings.) During the speech, about 5 of them flanked the speaker, trying to look menacing in the fashion of Louis Farrakhan's Fruit of Islam. (Personal note to MSU: dressing up like Jihadist fighters will not win many hearts and minds in this country.)

Meanwhile several of the university deans and their assistant deans hovered around the area making sure bystanders (and Jewish counter-protesters) kept the walkways clear for students. Several Jewish counter-protesters walked around with posters referring to Hate Speech. The ever-vigilant deans,led by Dean of Judicial Affairs, Edgar Dormitorio, tried on several occasions to move them here and there.

Al-Asi, who is an American-born Arab, was formerly affiliated with the Islamic Center in Washington DC until they apparently cashiered him for his radical preachings. He is an ally of Iran, Hizbollah and Hamas. He advocates the destruction of Israel and removal of Jews from "The Holy Land". In his past speeches, he has made such statements as, "You can take a Jew out of the ghetto, but you can't take the ghetto out of the Jew". In his previous speech at UCI, he questioned Jews on why they would want to live in the ghetto of Israel (by building a wall to keep out Palestinian suicide bombers).

In his speech, Al-Asi took us through his version of the Israel/Palestinian conflict. Of course, he conveniently ignored how Arabs attempted to invade Israel in their unsuccessful wars to wipe out the Jewish state. Also missing was any mention of the terror attacks and the suicide bombings. It was all about how Israel has victimized the Palestinians. Al-Asi basically painted the Arabs as victims who are merely trying to reason with Israel in the interest of fair play.

Al-Asi is a master of the implication in his speech. As his speech progressed, he became increasingly angry in his tone. He made an ominous reference to the millions of Palestinians, Muslims and others who surround Israel and implied that Israel's time is running out. His main implication was that Jews must leave the Holy Land-or else("or else"- my words).

He also made a slip when he referred to the Oslo Accords, that led to increased hope for Palestinians that never succeeded. He informed us that the principal US negotiator was a "member of the Jewish faith" (a polite way of saying that he was- a JEW). Of course, Mr Al-Asi would insist that he is not anti-Jew, only anti-Zionist.

At the conclusion of the speech, the MSU shouted "Allahu Akbar!", and Al-Asi took a couple of questions from a Jewish student. The first question was whether during the Jordanian occupation of Jerusalem, Jews could pray at Temple Mount. His answer was that he could not speak for Jordan since he was just as opposed to the government of Jordan as he was to Israel (No answer).

The next question was whether Muslims are allowed to pray at the Al-Aqsa Mosque. His answer was that some were, but it was restricted by the Israelis.

The last question was from a sympathetic listener who asked why Palestinians had to pay for the crimes that were done to Jews in Europe (the Holocaust).

The audience? Muslim students, Jewish students and deans- A total of perhaps 100 people. The vast majority of students passed through the area and ignored the whole thing.

But there was another group of people present. A group of about 30 or so middle school students who had been bussed in for a UCI tour. There they were, gathered by the flagpoles with their bus in the background, listening to the words of hate being preached by Mr Al-Asi. It would have been fitting had Dean Dormitorio and his horseholders taken the pains to move them out of the way of Al-Asi's poison.