On May 9, Hatem Bazian, professor at UC Berkeley and anti-Israel activist, brought his power point presentation back to UCI. If you read my posting about Omar Shakir's presentation earlier in the week, you know what Bazian's presentation was all about. It was yet another recitation of Israel's "oppression" of the Palestinians. Bazian stood at the podium with his laptop and the slides appeared on the screen with all the stats. It was all there; the number of Palestinians killed by the Israelis, the number of arrests, the check points, the settlements, the wall. It was the same constant theme.
Of course, there were no numbers given on the number of suicide attacks (drastically reduced in recent years by the wall. There was no mention of the massacre of the Fogel family in Itimar in 2011. There was no number given as to the number of rockets lobbed into southern Israel from Gaza.
Predictably, Bazian (as is his wont) took a couple of slaps at Congress and George W Bush. (Bazian doesn't like Republicans).
During the Q and A, I asked him if this was the type of information he gave to his students in the classroom-in other words-his opinion. Bazian replied that when he was giving the Palestinian narrative, he gives the Palestininan narrative. When he gives the Israeli narrative, he invites the Israeli consul to give the Israeli narrative. I stated to him that if this is what he gives his students then they are receiving a one-sided view.
The last "question" was for local activist Shaheel Syed, who apparently arrived with Bazian. He asked Bazian to comment on the amount of American aid given to the "Zionist Apartheid state in Israel." Bazian obviously knew the question was coming because he had his answer prepared. A 6 point response no less.
All in all, it was typical Bazian lecture read from his laptop in a boring monotone and full of one-sided propaganda.
No comments:
Post a Comment