Day Two at UC-Irvine Anti-Israel Week

Alison Weir

Today, Alison Weir spoke at UC Irvine just as she did last year on behalf of the Muslim Student Union. Weir is the founder of If Americans only knew, which produced a film of the same name. She is, of course, anti-Israel. Her theme is that Israelis stole the land and are horribly mistreating Palestinians. That was the topic of her speech, which is pretty much what it was last year.

Of course, much has changed in the Middle East since last year, hasn't it? That was not addressed today. I doubt if many or any of the speakers will talk about that this week. The violence, the governments shooting at their own people, the attacks against Christians in Egypt (and Pakistan too). No-the problem is Israel.

Weir is also president of a group called Council for the National Interest (CNI), which is a critic of Israel. That was the topic of part of my question to Weir during the Q and A.

I told her that (prior to her becoming president in 2010), there was a gentleman named Abdulrahman Alamoudi, who served on the board of the CNI Fund, an arm of the CNI. He eventually had to resign when he was convicted of terror financing and tax charges in 2004. (It seems that in 2003, Mr Alamoudi was stopped at London Heathrow Airport with $340,000 concealed in a false-sided suitcase. It was determined that Alamoudi had been given the money by the Libyan government for the purposes of organizing an assassination of the Saudi Crown prince. He is now serving 23 years in prison.)

I also brought Weir's attention to three radio interviews she did in the past year with a character named Clay Douglas, a right-wing militia guy, conspiracy theorist and anti-Semite. During an interview on August 25, 2010, Douglas made numerous anti-Semitic comments which can be found in the below link:

http://ifamericansknewalisonweir.com/tag/clay-douglas/

This guy even believes the Protocols of the Elders of Zion is legitimate.

I asker her if she could comment on those associations.

Weir correctly stated that she became president of the CNI in 2010, years after Alamoudi resigned and went off to prison. She was able to describe some details of the case, but I had to fill in some blanks, such as the nature of the money. She said she needed to check into this person some more.

As to Douglas, she stated that she would appear on any show with any person, no matter their views to spread her own views about the Israel issue. She disagreed with my description of Douglas as an anti-Semite. I told her I had the transcripts of the August 25, 2010 interview and would be glad to go over them with her later if she wished.

After the event, Weir came over to me and gave me her card. We engaged in some polite debate about the Israel-Palestinian issue, and I told her I had become involved on this campus because many of the MSU speakers had made anti-Semitic remarks, some of which I recited for her. She did not offer to debate my questions about Alamoudi and Douglas.

On a side note, none other than Muzammil Siddiqi showed up to watch the event. He was with a group of interfaith clergy, a Jew, a Christian and another Muslim imam. They were all dressed to the nines to show their religious affiliations.  I am told they are all part of some Orange County Interfaith Council. I am not sure why they came-to support the MSU's program against Israel? Who knows? (I did catch him giving me  a dirty look as Weir was speaking.) Below are a couple of them chatting with two officials from the OC Jewish Federation.

Above is the OC Interfaith Council checking out the mock Israeli wall



On another side note, the Anteaters for Israel put up the "Wall of Lies" on Monday. On Tuesday, it did not appear. We'll see what happens on Wednesday and Thursday.

Update: All in all, the Wall of Lies appeared Monday and Wednesday.

The circus continues two more days. Stay tuned.