Surbeck makes reference to a joint letter written to UCLA Chancellor Gene Block and UC President Janet Napolitano regarding the recent tensions at UCLA. The letter was written by seven pro-Israel organizations. Surbeck also points out that the Anti-Defamation League and Hillel were not parties to the letter-for which they should be ashamed.
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"As you probably know already, the last two weeks have not been good for the BDS movement, in particular for one of its most active components on campuses, the SJP (Students for Justice in Palestine). There is a clear sense of fatigue on the part of many students, notably among student governing bodies, over their being constantly hijacked by anti-Israel students, detracting them from their roles and poisoning the atmosphere on every campus where the SJP strikes. The most stinging defeat happened a few days ago at the University of Washington where the anti-Israel divestment resolution was crushed by an astonishing 59 against, 8 in favor and 11 abstentions.
Closer to us, after being also defeated at UCLA, the SJP tried to have the results disqualified by claiming that two of the student governors were biased (as if SJP wasn’t) for having accepted free trips to Israel by pro-Israel organizations. That sneaky assault on free speech was also rejected, leaving the SJP activists licking their wounds and going back to their lair to plot more disruptions next year, no doubt. That is, IF the administration lets them run as wild as it has until now.
And here is the interesting development that may bring some change in this unending saga. A group of seven pro-israel organizations, spearheaded by the indefatigable Tammi Benjamin, a lecturer at UC Santa Cruz that T.E.A.M. was privileged to host on our 5th Anniversary last March (here is her lecture, well-worth a close read: http://www.sdjewishworld.com/2014/03/31/insiders-guide-campus-bias-faced-jews/) wrote a superb statement, sent to both the UCLA administration and to Janet Napolitano, UC President.
Even though it is unusual, I have added below two articles in a row by the excellent Lori Lowenthal Marcus to explain the genesis of these developments, in particular the surprisingly firm responses (if still insufficient) from UCLA Chancellor Block and UC President Napolitano.
But maybe the most important message here is that the latter were finally shamed into taking a stand - which they should have done on their own without needing to be prodded into it in the first place - by whom? By seven pro-Israel organizations, some very small such as The Amcha Initiative, founded by Tammi Benjamin and Leila Beckwith, or Dumisani Washington, the towering African-American pastor presiding over the Institute for Black Solidarity With Israel (IBSI, based in Stockton, CA), the Lawfare Project, Scholars for Peace in the Middle East, the Simon Wiesenthal Center, StandWithUs and the Zionist Organization of America.
Who is missing from this picture? Hillel and ADL, that’s who. It’s telling that the groups that got results are not the ones who have been reassuring our communities for years with platitudes about how they alone have everything under control and are taking care of the problem, when they clearly are not. Here is another way to look at it: had Hillel and ADL really fought the battles that needed to be fought for years, there would never have been a need for all these other groups (T.E.A.M. included) to be created to meet these needs. We have here a clear indication that it is way past time for supporters of these old quasi institutional sacred cows to demand from them some accountability, and not just accept blindly their self-serving versions of what is actually going on. The trust of community donors would be better placed in the other groups who actually did something to fight this battle. And got results. Here is one simple challenge for Hillel and ADL to take on: UCSD is one of three or four UC campuses where the BDS movement succeeded in getting a divestment resolution adopted by the AS. That happened in March 2013. We are now in May 2014. Why is it still standing? Why has it not been rescinded, as it was at UC Riverside, particularly in view of the fact that the current AS is overwhelmingly pro-Israel? There is no excuse for such laxism. Removing this blot on UCSD should have been a priority this past year. Clearly it wasn’t. Thanks to whom is the question that needs to be asked. And answered.
Training and Education About the Middle East
www.sandiegoteam.org
E-mail: info@sandiegoteam.org
Tel. 760-613-9993
J.J. Surbeck
Executive Director
Executive Director
Training and Education About the Middle East
www.sandiegoteam.org
E-mail: info@sandiegoteam.org
Tel. 760-613-9993
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In the below article by Marcus, you can read the letter sent to Block and Napolitano. It describes the recent flap at UCLA over travel to Israel by student government candidates as well as a description of a recent SJP event at Brooklyn College in which pro-Israel students were ejected absent any legitimate reason.
In the article below, Marcus describes the responses of Block and Napolitano to the letter of concern.
While there is much good news to report, more needs to be done. I believe a more pro-active approach must be taken in regards to SJP and their allies when they use brown shirt methods. Universities that coddle them or allow them to violate the First Amendment rights of others must be made the targets of legal action. When the SJP-types act out and cross the bounds of civility, formal complaints should be made. Instead of waiting for these asinine BDS resolutions to be brought up non-stop and then reacting, take the offensive. Non-committed and uninformed students should be educated as to how this BDS drive and Israel Apartheid nonsense is creating increased anti-Semitism on campus.
It's time to go on the offense. Make the other side react.
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