"We stopped complaining and got results"
Is it true? department
Iiiiiiiiiiis it true that the Rose Project, the financial arm of the Orange County Jewish Federation and Community Services, had a big shindig last night in Corona del Mar, California for some Israeli visiting professor at the University of California at Irvine?
Well, apparently according to our sources, all the community big wigs were there including Israeli diplomatic personnel.
We also hear that the main theme expressed at said shindig was that "WE stopped complaining and started getting results" (at UCI). Quoted as examples was the fact that UCI ( to its credit) is still conducting liaison with Israeli universities and bringing in visiting Israeli professors to the campus notwithstanding the loud screams of protests from the UC lefties and other assorted radicals.
But were they also referring to complaints of anti-Semitism (coming from others-not them) as well as events like the annual bash Israel week every May and incidents like the disruption of the Israeli ambassador's speech at UCI back in 2010?
What results can they point to here?
Last time I checked, the anti-Israel festival still occurs every May.
Last time I checked, Amir Abdel Malik Ali still shows up at most of these events. (He last came in 2012.)
Don't forget that the UCI student government passed one of those boycott, divest and sanctions resolutions against companies doing business in Israel in November 2012.
And most recently, the same student government passed a resolution condemning UC Santa Cruz professor Tammi Benjamin last April because she still complains about anti-Semitism on UC campuses.
Results? Get outta here!
Gary- this is something I'm been thinking about alot. Much of the BDS movement is about creating paper tigers- the activists pass "divestment" motions, knowing full well that they have no teeth, and they have zero economic impact on Israel. And in the meanwhile, across the board ties with Israel are strenthened from the top down. Like here: http://today.uci.edu/news/2012/04/nr_israelvisit_120402.php We get tangible victories, the other side gets propaganda victories. And as much as we'd like to deprieve the anti-Israel cru of their "lets pretend divestment is unstoppable" fantasies, maybe its as significant for us to work on building the relationships that make a difference in the long term. Just thinking....
ReplyDeleteDusty,
ReplyDeletePersonally, I think the divestment resolutions by student governments controlled by liberal, Muslim Student Union-SJP types are silly. The universities themselves ignore them. Is the symbolic value of these resolutions important? I don't think so.
I care more about the vicious anti-Jewish rhetoric on our campuses that come with these asinine anti-Israel events.