In September of 2009, the Olive Tree Initiative held a meeting in the West Bank with Aziz Dweik (aka Duweik), who is a member of the Palestinian Authority legislative body, but also a member of Hamas, in fact, the highest-ranking Hamas member in the West Bank. The meeting's disclosure caused a firestorm within the Orange County Jewish community. Keep in mind that Hamas is designated by the US State Department as a terrorist organization. (At least DOS gets something right once in a while.) OTI's officials and defenders stated that the meeting was a mistake which would not be repeated, and only occurred as a last minute change of schedule. I have written about this previously, so there is no need to go into detail.
Dweik has now been arrested (again) by the Israelis for his terrorist connections. It has prompted a letter from UC Santa Cruz teacher Tammi Benjamin and Leila Beckwith, Prof. Emeritus from UCLA to UC president Mark Yudof. That letter is posted below. I have linked the referenced Jerusalem Post article reporting the arrest within the letter's text.
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Dear President Yudof,
In a letter that was sent to you on September 19, 2011, signed by more than 5,000 members and supporters of the California Jewish community, we expressed our outrage that UC administrators, including yourself, continue to fund, promote, and honor the Olive Tree Initiative, a program which brings students into contact with individuals and organizations that call for the murder of Jews and the elimination of the Jewish state. We urged you at that time to assure us that the University of California would issue no awards, funding, or recognition of programs such as the Olive Tree Initiative, which associate with terrorist organizations such as Hamas. In your response to us, you ignored our concerns and defended the OTI, calling it “the best tradition of activism, public service and open discussion” and saying that you remain “a strong supporter” of the program.
We therefore feel compelled to bring to your attention a recent news story about Israel's arrest of Aziz Dweik, the Hamas leader with whom OTI students met in 2009. Mr. Dweik was taken into custody yesterday on suspicion of involvement with terrorist groups. (He had been arrested in 2006 on similar charges and spent 2 years in Israeli prison, a fact which OTI leaders must surely have known before arranging a meeting between Dweik and UC students).
http://www.jpost.com/Defense/Article.aspx?id=254408
We remain deeply troubled that you could bestow on the OTI the President's Award for Outstanding Student Leadership, with full knowledge of the improper meeting between OTI students and the leader of a U.S. State Department-designated terrorist organization. Moreover, we are concerned that the U.S. State Department was not informed of the OTI-Dweik meeting prior to honoring the OTI as a "top citizen diplomacy program" in 2010.
In addition, even though the meeting with Aziz Dweik was not part of the planned itinerary, it was entirely consistent with the OTI philosophy. As we have documented, a large number of OTI speakers have advocated boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) against Israel and publicly called for the elimination of the Jewish state. Some have ties to organizations that have committed terrorist acts against Jews.
For many in the Jewish community, it is unconscionable that a public university would use taxpayer dollars to fund such a program. We therefore urge you, once again, to remove all University of California support for the Olive Tree Initiative.
Sincerely,
Leila Beckwith
Professor Emeritus, University of California at Los Angeles
Co-founder the AMCHA Initiative
Tammi Rossman-Benjamin
Lecturer, University of California at Santa Cruz
Co-founder the AMCHA Initiative
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The Dweik episode still has (to my knowledge or recollection) unanswered questions. First of all, who exactly arranged the meeting with Dweik and OTI students? Was there a third party involved in the meeting? In addition, was any OTI money paid to Dweik for the meeting or any other "services" he provided? In the latter case, if money was paid to Dweik, there may have been a violation of law since Hamas is designated as a terrorist organization. Finally, are all of the organizations and politicians who are bestowing honors, recognition, approval and legitimacy on OTI aware of the meeting with Dweik? I would bet the farm there are readers of this blog who know the answers to those questions.
4 comments:
If Dweik was a member of the Palestinian Authority legislative body, that means he was ELECTED to office. (That was the election George W. Bush insisted on, because we are for democracy and free elections everywhere in the world). The fact that he is an elected representative makes him a relevant person to meet with, no matter what his reputation or other activities may be.
Now if he was conducting seminars on making and smuggling bombs for OTI students, that would be legitimate cause for concern. But if they talked to him to learn, who are Palestinians voting for, what do their representatives stand for, and why, that was good use of the trip.
Tammi and her nanny-state pedagogues should back off, and recognize that these students are legal adults, over the age of 18, who are perfectly capable of making informed judgements about what they hear. If what they hear is not always worthy of endorsement, neither is a lot that goes on in the world.
Siarlys,
I repeat what I said. If money was paid to Dweik (a member of Hamas) that may be a violation of law.
Nobody from UCI or OTI will ever disclose anything about those arrangements or payments. They both have a proclivity to defend the Palestinian positions. No appeal on the grounds of fairness or legality will make a difference. They will continue the coverup and continue to use the academic freedom excuse to justify their actions.
Any Jewish student who goes to UCI is making a poor choice. Anyone who donates money to the Federation is nuts.
Maybe. If an honorarium was paid to a member of a national parliament for giving an educational presentation, it would be a far stretch to suggest that this was a donation to support terrorism.
Members of congress have been arrested who, prior to their arrest, received honoraria. Does that make those who paid the money co-conspirators?
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