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Tuesday, October 30, 2018

Hatem Bazian Accuses Jews of Islamophobia


"In the past, I wrote an article for the American Studies Journal and I estimated then that 70% of the funding for the Islamophobia Industry comes from the pro-Israel/Zionist sources and concrete evidence is slowly emerging."

"Examining the tax returns from the 2014-2016 period, Josh Nathan-Kazis, pointed out that: “The federation’s support of Canary Mission connects the American Jewish establishment itself to a website that is facing increasing criticism from young Jews.” 


UC Berkeley professor Hatem Bazian, a Palestinian by birth, has a long history of attacking Israel dating back to his days as  a student activist at San Francisco State University. Ever since, many of his critics have accused him of crossing the line from criticism of Israel to anti-Jewish rhetoric. Over  a decade ago, he was was captured on videotape calling for an intifada in the US. He has also been accused of quoting that cuddly little hadith that tells of the Day of Judgment, when the Jews will hide behind rocks and trees, and the rocks and trees will call out, "O Muslim! There is a Jew hiding behind me. Come and kill him." Bill O'Reilly asked him about that quote on air several years ago and couldn't get a straight answer from him. Bazian also once reportedly told his student audience to count the number of buildings on campus with Jewish names. Later, I asked him about those statements when he spoke at UC Irvine and couldn't get a better answer either. He referred me back to the O'Reilly interview.

Now the man who not only founded the Islamophobia Research and Documentation Center at UC Berkeley as well as the brown shirt Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), is accusing Jewish organizations like the San Francisco Jewish Federation and others of stoking the "fires" of Islamophobia. Specifically, he accuses groups like the Federation and the Diller Foundation of providing funding to Canary Mission, (a site that exposes those on college campuses who are engaged in anti-semitic expression).

http://www.hatembazian.com/content/jewish-federations-and-diller-foundation-are-funding-islamophobia/

"The recent reports on the San Francisco Jewish Federation and the Diller Foundation funding for the granddaddies of the Islamophobia Industry make the initial estimates very conservative."

Well, given the events in Pittsburgh, Bazian's timing is ironic. Personally, I don't know anything about the Diller Foundation, and I have no idea where Canary Mission gets its money not that I necessarily consider it a scandal. My own experience has been that most major Jewish organizations are loathe to attack Muslims even preferring to ignore rampant Islamic anti-semitism especially on college campuses. But before Bazian goes around accusing various Jewish groups of financing Islamophobia, I would point out that another organization co-founded by Bazian, American Muslims for Palestine, is a major funder of SJP. That goes to fund things like disrupting pro-Israel events on college campuses, holding annual, week-long events dedicated to condemning Israel, and hosting radical, Jew-hating speakers.

Bazian has also been in the news recently thanks to Cheryl Davila, a Berkeley city council woman. She has taken the bizarre step of designating Bazian as her designated stand-in in times of emergency. When the inevitable criticism ensued, Davila responded by lashing out at "Zionists", "colonizers" etc.

The Pittsburgh attack notwithstanding, my own personal experience of watching the anti-Israel campaign on college campuses has convinced me that most of the anti-semitism in the US is being stoked on college campuses. That is a by-product of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. That means that it is mostly pro-Palestinian forces, both students and professors, who are stoking the flames of anti-semitism.

Say hello to Hatem Bazian. But don't take my word for it. Read his own quotes from this article.






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