More Jew Hatred on Display at UC Berkeley

Hat tip JWeekly and Pro Israel Bay Bloggers


On December 4, a union representing 13,000 graduate student workers in the University of California will be voting on a resolution calling for (yawn) an academic boycott of Israel. It appears they are trying to keep it low key to keep the voter turnout low. (So that is why I am telling you.) The union in question is UAW 2865 (United Auto Workers???) Yes. They oversee 2865, which is a union for graduate student workers. Go figure.

Tammi Rossman-Benjamin of the AMCHA Initiative has written an article about an ugly incident that occurred at UC Berkeley on November 12 when Lara Kiswani, the director  from the Arab Resource and Organizing Center (whatever the Hell that is) spoke in support of the measure. The meeting was arranged by-get this- the BDS caucus of UAW 2865. Here is what happened:

http://www.jweekly.com/article/full/73278/as-long-as-you-choose-to-be-on-that-side-im-going-to-continue-to-hate-you/

“See, part of the problem with the Palestine question particularly on campus is it always gets framed as this two-sided thing and liberal democracy loves to make it seem like everyone has a right to speak, including the oppressor alongside the oppressed. … I don’t think that this form of liberal democracy really has a place in terms of real struggle. … Maybe liberal Zionists here on this campus have a hard time understanding what that means. … As long as you choose to be on that side, I’m going to continue to hate you.”

After Kiswani’s remarks, the Jewish graduate student left the room in tears."

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At least the young lady learned a valuable lesson. It is fruitless to try and engage in dialogue with these ideologues. Her time would have been better spent trying to get Ms Kiswani to leave the room in tears.

As Tammi says, this asinine BDS movement against Israel is really about (Jew) hatred.

I am also posting this item from Pro-Israel Bay Bloggers about this measure coming up for a vote on December 4. First of all, the UAW is opposed to BDS.

And then there is this message I received from Pro-Israel Bay Bloggers tonight:

"To all Graduate Students at the University of California: (parents and friends of grad students, please forward)

You may not have already heard about this- the opposition is keeping it very quiet, because low voter turn out is what they are hoping for .

The graduate student union that represents all 13,000 graduate students at the University of California is voting on an academic boycott of Israel on Dec. 4.  This isn't about disagreeing with Israeli policies- its about endorsing the elimination of academic collaboration with Israel.  Its an egregious break with academic principles of academic freedom, diversity and discourse.

These folks are coordinating the effort to have it defeated http://informgrads.org 

Please sign the petition, and pass on the contact information.   They can fill you in on the particulars of where to vote .

If you aren't already a member of the graduate student union, you can join on Dec.4, the day of the vote.  We need to spread the word among graduate students to vote No on this resolution."

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I urge my readers to go to this site and sign the petition. I have.

Let me close by saying this: Beyond the issue of one young Jewish lady learning a lesson the hard way about  trying to dialog with these characters, it never ceases to amaze me how many Jews and Jewish organizations have such an unnatural hatred for Israel. I suppose most of it is related to being leftists. Jews have an expression for this called, "self-hating Jews". Being a Gentile, I don't use that term preferring to leave it to the Jews to thrash that out.

But I have nothing but contempt for that crowd nonetheless, whether it be despicable organizations like Jewish Voice for Peace or J Street or individual Jews. 

Since the focal point for anti-Israel agitation and Jew-hatred in general is right smack dab on our university campuses, I have a particular contempt for left-wing Jewish professors who engage in anti-Israel activism and indoctrination of their students to that end. Perhaps, surprisingly there are a fair number of them out there, but perhaps that is because universities are hotbeds of leftist thought.

How can any self-respecting Jewish person, religious or not, align him/herself with such Jew-hating forces? I am still trying to figure that out.