Reference is made to my previous report on the anti-Israel film that was shown at UC Irvine on January 31, 2019, a presentation sponsored by three schools at UCI and "moderated" by UCI comedian Mark LeVine.
The LA Jewish Journal has just published an article on the event.
https://jewishjournal.com/news/los_angeles/community/294524/uc-irvine-screens-anti-israel-film/
“Given the nature of the film, we agreed to host it knowing that the filmmakers would attend the screening and answer audience member questions in a moderated discussion,” Maurer said. “Difficult dialogues further the educational mission of the university far better than simply screening a film without discussion, or allowing for the airing of others’ views without debate or question, or the simple utilization of the university as a soapbox.”
-Bill Maurer, Dean of Social Sciences
What a hoot! This was a one-sided event, "moderated" by an activist professor whose hositility to Israel is a well-documented fact. Where was the debate or question? Maurer should be embarrassed for this response. He must know that his campus is a place where pro-Israel speakers are routinely disrupted by Students for Justice in Palestine, the Muslim Student Union, or left-wing anarchists.
Rather than rehash what I have already said about the event (which I did not attend), I would like to address the May 6 event at UCI featuring a representative, Oren Segal, from the Anti-Defamation League. Below is more information on the event.
https://inclusion.uci.edu/events/state-hate-conversation-anti-defamation-leagues-oren-segal/
As I have stated many times in the past, during all the years over the past couple of decades in which anti-semitism has reared its ugly head at UCI, the ADL has been missing in action. Every year in May, when the Muslim Student Union and Students for Justice in Palestine bring their week of anti-Israel events to UCI, I have attended their events and listened to their speakers, from Amir Abdel Malik Ali, to Ben White, to George Galloway, to Abdul Alim Musa, to Mohamed al Asi, et al. I have engaged many of them in critical q and a. On several of those occasions, I have personally witnessed the head of the Orange County chapter of ADL standing there and watching-but never speaking out, never asking critical questions, never challenging the odious speakers.
From reading the flyer above, I worry that Mr Oren will limit his talk to the KKK, the Neo Nazis, white nationalists, and no doubt Trump supporters as being the main purveyors of anti-semitism in the US. Without giving a pass to right-wing racists (I reject the accusation of anti-semitism on the part of Trump), I still maintain the worst purveyors of anti-semitism in the US-in the world- are Islamists who are dedicated to the destruction of Israel. According to further bio I have read on Mr Oren, he is also knowledgeable about Islamic extremism. Therefore, I would hope that Segal will address the problem of anti-semitism within Islamic teaching when he speaks at UCI on May 6.
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