Reference is made to the event I attended recently at the Bat Yahm Synagogue in Newport Beach.
http://garyfouse.blogspot.com/2017/01/interfaith-event-at-bat-yahm-synagogue.htmlI have received the below invitation to attend another such event.Gary, Thank you for attending the Combatting Hate: An Interfaith Town Hall. Organizers and participants are exploring next steps and hope to communicate with you soon. In the meantime, you are invited to hear from a cyber-hate expert: ADL's Director of Technology & Society who is tackling the new platform of hate online. See below for information on this special program and a link to registerhttps://www.eventbrite.com/e/anti-semitism-in-the-digital-age-tickets-311704657 Peter Peter S. Levi |Regional Director Anti-Defamation League: Orange County/Long Beach Region---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here is my response to Rabbi Levy.
Dear Rabbi Levy, Thank you for your invitation to the above event. However, before deciding whether to attend, I would like to know if audience members can ask questions of the speakers directly without having to write down questions that will never be chosen. Last week when I handed my question to (name deleted), she took a look at it and told me she didn't want to get into that issue. (My question was to identify who the perpetrators of anti-Semitism were at UCI and other campuses.) Having just concluded 18 years teaching part-time at UCI Ext. I know perfectly well who the perpetrators are. They are not KKK, neo-Nazis, skinheads, Trump supporters or white supremacists. They are members of the Muslim Student Union and Students for Justice in Palestine as on other campuses. Yet, this was never mentioned. Everything was about the aforementioned groups. As a Christian who is deeply involved in the fight against Jew hatred, I find it frustrating that the whole evening was devoted to shifting blame for anti-Semitism onto groups who are far from being the major contributors to anti-Semitism while ignoring anti-Semitism from Muslim quarters. This event was nothing more than a political event highlighted by UCI Vice Chancellor Thomas Parham's rant about the President having the moral decency of a cockroach and calling Jeff Sessions a "racist from Alabama". He has the right to say it, but it was inappropriate to the occasion. Is that the official opinion of UC Irvine? I thank you again for your invitation, but I have to wonder if this is just going to be another politically-correct event where differing viewpoints will be screened out. Sincerely, Gary Fouse -------------------------------------------------------
As yet I have not received a response from Rabbi Levy.
Squid,
ReplyDeleteYour ADvise is wise.