Professor Joseph Massad's "Take" on the Copt Church Bombing

For those of you out there who have children attending Columbia University, here's where your tuition money is going.

http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContentP/4/3258/Opinion/Sectarianism-and-its-Discontents.aspx


"One week before the terrorist attack in Alexandria, the Egyptian authorities uncovered a major Israeli spy ring... Given the history of Mossad bombings of Egyptian post offices, cinemas, cultural centers, and train stations in the 1950s... it would be important to investigate possible or even potential links between the Mossad operatives and the church bombers."

Those are the words of Professor Joseph Massad a Middle East Studies professor at Columbia. I wonder if Massad is acquainted with that other Columbia professor, Rashid Khalidi.

"Uhhhh......yeaaaah."

Here is Massad's Wikipedia entry:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Massad

You see, this is what passes for scholarship in American universities, even the so-called "prestigious" schools like Columbia, when it comes to the Israel-Palestinian conflict. The last thing these Middle East studies departments want to talk about is Islamic extremism and acts of hate and violence toward other religions. And if you think there are many voices in those departments that defend Israel, think again. Oh, you may likely find a few showcase Jewish professors, but even those tend to be virulently anti-Israel. Thus, we are left with universities with Saudi-funded Middle East Studies departments that basically promote one side of the conflict.

But let us return to Massad's Wikipedia entry.

'On antisemitismFollowing arguments made by Edward Said in his 1978 book Orientalism, Massad asserts that 19th Century European anti-Semitic characterizations of Jews have transformed in the present era to target Arabs, while maintaining the same racialist characterizations, and thus, racism towards Arabs and Muslims today is a form of "Euro-American Christian anti-Semitism and...Israeli Jewish anti-Semitism."[15] Massad bases this belief on an understanding of anti-Semitism as a specific historical phenomenon originating in Europe, rather than simply as hatred of Jews; he writes: "...the claims made by many nowadays that any manifestation of hatred against Jews in any geographic location on Earth and in any historical period is 'anti-Semitism' smack of a gross misunderstanding of the European history of anti-Semitism."[16]'


Being a simple guy, maybe I don't understand all that stuff, but I do remember that back in the first half of trhe 20th century, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem was a guest of Adolf Hitler during World War II. The Mufti, while residing in Berlin, was making radio broadcasts back to the Middle East urging his followers to rise up and drive the Jews out. He also helped organize a Bosnian (Muslim) SS division, which "lent a hand", shall we say, in the Holocaust. I bet you won't hear about that in any of Massad's lectures.

Of course, according to Wikipedia, this Jordanian-born immigrant to the US doesn't exactly hold his adopted country in high esteem either. If I may put on my nationalistic hat, I say to Massad that if you feel that the US is an imperialistic, racist and misogynistic nation, why don't you go back where you came from?

But not to single out Columbia for its Massads and Khalidis. They sprout like weeds in universities all over the US.