What is Anteaters for Israel up to these days? A few days ago, I went to their website and there are no new entries since September. The last entry is something about Fidel Castro saying that Israel has a right to exist. Is it possible that pro-Israel groups have been beaten down by the far-left activism and the constant anti-Israel drumbeat of the Muslim Student Union and their compadres in the Students for Justice in Palestine? I guess I should mention that every year they have I-Week, which is indeed, devoted to celebrating Israel. What do they do during I-Week? Well, they sell cookies and put up signs telling people that Israel did interesting things like inventing the cell phone and all that. They also smoke hookas. The best part is the belly-dancing-not to be missed. It's a nice contrast to the Israel Apartheid Week put on by the Muslim Student Union with all their fire-breathing speakers that call for the death of Israel and all that stuff. If you read this blog, you know all about that. Yet, aside from that, AFI seems pretty laid back.
Ditto for UCI's College Republicans. If you go to their website, you will see that their last entry was April of 2009. Whatever happened to them? Have they been beaten down?
Where are the pro-American events on college campuses? It seems everybody from faculty on down to students is afraid to put on something positive about America let alone Israel. One can only conclude they don't want to. Instead, what we see are programs like this supposedly even-handed Olive Tree Initiative, that is spreading from UC-Irvine to the other UC campuses. They insist it is designed to expose Jewish, Muslim and other students to both sides of the Israel-Palestine conflict. Their critics point to the activist pro-Palestinian figures in the Mideast who are involved and say the OTI is a wolf in sheep's clothing. That brings me to the "Is it True?" question of the day:
Is it true that the founder of an Olive Tree Initiative chapter at a UC campus is also a member of Students for Justice in Palestine, a virulently anti-Israel organization?
Just a question. I am sure that the Orange County Jewish Federation and the Rose Project (a Federation creation which funds the travel for Jewish OTI members) will check into this and get back to us.
Anyway, it sure would be nice if some student group held an event and brought in well-known people who will tell their audiences of the good things about America-and Israel. Where do we hear speakers on US university campuses (and classrooms) telling their students that yes- America is a great country, one that does deserve their love and loyalty?
I know. I know. That all went the way of the argyle sweater.
4 comments:
Maybe the good guys have written off these pathetic losers as unworthy of the negative publicity. Maybe the good guys realize that the attention just pumps up their own sense of self-importance, which is badly inflated already.
FYI, Gary: 'Israeli Apartheid Week, Students for Justice in Palestine, UCLA, February 23, 2011'.
Check out this “stealth” op-ed in the Daily Bruin which purports to be critical of Students for Justice in Palestine’s “shock-and-awe” approach, but is equally critical of Bruins for Israel. Nor does the op-ed state for the record that BfI’s protests came about as a response to Israeli Apartheid Week.
The author steers the unknowing student to the Olive Tree Initiative and J Street U. This reminds me of meeting a member of UCI's MSU. Thinking I was Jewish (I'm not), he was recommending OTI to me. What does that tell you?
Check out this “stealth” op-ed in the Daily Bruin which purports to be critical of Students for Justice in Palestine’s “shock-and-awe” approach, but is equally critical of Bruins for Israel. Nor does the op-ed state for the record that BfI’s protests came about as a response to Israeli Apartheid Week.
The author steers the unknowing student to the Olive Tree Initiative and J Street U. This reminds me of meeting a member of UCI's MSU. Thinking I was Jewish (I'm not), he was recommending OTI to me. What does that tell you?
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