Geert Wilders Censored by Twitter in Netherlands

Hat tip Gates of Vienna


Geert Wilders

So much for social media and free speech.

https://gatesofvienna.net/2019/05/geert-wilders-blocked-on-twitter/

Rashida Tlaib and "Dignity"

Hat tip Renew America and Gates of Vienna





"We're going to impeach the MF-er!"


I am cross-posting an article written by Tabitha Korol on Rashida Tlaib and the concept of "dignity". This article encapsulates everything I believe and have long tried to say but not so succinctly. It is a great piece of writing.

https://www.renewamerica.com/columns/korol/190520

Reservists on Duty and UC Irvine

Hat tip Frontpage Magazine

"UC-Irvine is the most dangerous place for Jews today.”

Daniel Greenfield has an excellent article in Frontpage Magazine on the organization, Reservists on Duty, and their experiences on American campuses. Reservists on Duty is a group of Israeli military vets who travel the US presenting their side of what it is like to be an Israeli soldier. Not surprisingly, they encounter rabid opposition from the pro-Palestinian forces on campus, Muslim Student Associations and Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP).

I also note that the article singles out UC Irvine, where I taught part-time from 1998-2016 and where I witnessed first hand how rabid that anti-Israel movement can be. I have met several of the Reservists at UCI and was present when their presentation was disrupted by SJP in May 2017.

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/273812/reservists-duty-fight-israel-college-campuses-daniel-greenfield



Is UCI "the most dangerous place" for Jews today? I don't know, but one can certainly make that argument as far as college campuses in America are concerned. And where is it worse for Jews than on a US campus? I have always argued that 99% of UCI's students are not involved in the ugliness. Yet, over and over through the years, UCI has been given a black eye by the Muslim Student Union and SJP with their hateful invited speakers and their disruptions of pro-Israel events while the university turns a blind eye. In reality, the same problems exist across the country in our universities. The list is endless, from every UC campus to Columbia to Rutgers to Stanford to Harvard ad nausea. Outside of politics, no American institution is as intellectually corrupted as the university.

But I salute the courageous young men and women of Reservists on Duty. Unlike their critics, they are willing to put on the uniform of their country and defend it.

UCLA Still Taking Heat Over Rabab Abdulhadi

Hat tip The College Fix

"Hey, some of my best friends are in Jewish Voice for Peace."


On May 14, UCLA anthropology professor Kyeyoung Park invited the notorious San Francisco State University professor Rabab Abdulhadi to speak to her (Park's) class. By all accounts, it was a disaster.

https://www.thecollegefix.com/ucla-investigating-professor-for-inviting-speaker-who-compared-jews-to-white-supremacists/

I note with amusement UCLA's claim of being a friendly campus for Jewish students. Under Chancellor Gene Block and his politically-correct Inclusion hack, Jerry Kang, the Westwood campus has suffered a number of anti-Semitic incidents in the past several years including in 2015 when a Jewish co-ed, Rachel Beyda, suffered the indignity of being questioned about her Jewish identity and whether it made her fit to have a place in student government. This is also the institution that houses the Center for Near East Studies, a hotbed of pan-Arab, anti-Israel, anti-West discourse masquerading as scholarship.

Abdulhadi is hardly a person for any other professor to hold up to his/her class as a role model. At SFSU, she has been  mentor to the despicable General Union of Palestinian Students (GUPS) who made news a few years back when their members publicly expressed the desire to kill Israeli soldiers.

This is the anti-Semitic climate that the pro-Palestinian movement has brought to American college campuses. To be accurate, it is not just Palestinians like Abdulhadi and her UC Berkeley counterpart Hatem Bazian. There are hundreds of American professors infesting our campuses, some even Jewish, who have joined with the Abdulhadis and Bazians to make our universities very uncomfortable places for Jewish students. It is also administrators like Block who deny the problem exists and allow it to fester because they are terrified of their pro-Palestinian student activists and the organizations like CAIR who back them up. So they tolerate anti-Semitism in the very name of tolerence.

The day after her UCLA appearance, Abdulhadi was scheduled to speak at UC Irvine before Students for Justice in Palestine, Bazian's brown shirt organization, at the UCI Cross Cultural Center. Whether she actually showed up or not I have no idea. She was a no-show the last time she was supposed to speak at UCI.

I commend Stand With Us for holding UCLA's feet to the fire. It's a shame other Jewish organizations like the Jewish Federation and Anti-Defamation League don't do likewise instead of providing cover for anti-Semitic universities.

Gaza Meddling in Swedish Politics

Hat tip Katerina Magasin

The below article by Tobias Petersson in Katerina Magasin, a Swedish site, describes how Palestinian activists in Gaza are meddling in Swedish politics on behalf of those Swedish politicians who support their cause, namely Social Security Minister Annika Strandhäll and Foreign Minister Margot Wallström.

Translation by Fousesquawk.

http://katerinamagasin.se/utlandsk-paverkanskampanj-strandhall-drivs-av-antisemitisk-aktivistgrupp/

Foreign Influence Campaign for 

Strandhäll Driven by Anti-Semitic Activist Group

Now Gaza is involving itself in (the fact that) Swedish opposition party has submitted a declaration of mistrust against Social Security Minister Annik Strandhäll.  It is the activist group Ihbid Electronic Army which supports Strandhäll. Ihbid Electronic Army is a Palestinian propaganda network in Gaza which has launched a campaign for the Social Democrats on Facebook and Twitter. This is revealed by Tobias Petersson, an opinion maker against violent extremism and anti-Semitism.

That is what the activist group has written in Arabic on its Facebook page with 35,000 followers. "Social (Security) Minister Annika Strandhäll is being subjected to attempts to remove her by the right alliance and pro-Zionist parties. She is known for her positions in support of the Palestinian cause. She and her party had the courage to make the decision to recognize the Palestinian state, which made Sweden the first European country to do so." 





The activist group has spammed a Facebook post from Parliament member Anders Österberg (S) in support of Annika Strandhäll. On their Facebook page, Ihbid Electronic Army urges its activists to write positive comments in the comment field on Österberg's post for Strandhäll. "What a wonderful person and wonderful minister!" And "You should fight back and be strong!" people are asked to write to Strandhäll. Österberg's contributions have received thousands of comments, mostly from the activists of the Palestinian activist group. Currently, Österberg's Facebook page has been removed or inactivated.

The activists in Gaza have also released a video in Arabic with English text where they accuse Israel of acting like the Nazis in Nazi Germany. To compare Israel's current policy with the Nazis is anti-Semitic according to the IHRA's working definition of anti-Semitism.

This weekend, the "Ihbid Electric Army" also tried to influence the EU election by urging its Palestinian activists to spam Foreign Minister Margot Wallström's Facebook page with positive messages. Unfortunately, I do not think it is entirely without Social Democratic involvement as this happens.

The spamming from Gaza cannot be described as anything other than a foreign influence campaign, which was perhaps meant to help the Social Democrats, but which in fact contributes in damaging the image of the party. If the Social Democrats need help from Gaza to run their campaigns, it must mean that the Swedish voters are deserting the party. Of course, this will drag down confidence in the Social Democrats.

-Tobias Petersson

Tobias Petersson is an opinion maker against violent extremism and anti-Semitism.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If the Swedes are interested in getting to the bottom of this, Robert Mueller is now available.

What Can Europe's Leaders Be Thinking?

For more than a couple of years now, I have been shaking my head following the events in Europe, where mass migration (of mostly young, single Muslim men) has threatened to rip each respective society asunder. Not only has Europe seen a drastic rise in Islamization, but also terror attacks, crime in the streets, murders and rapes like they had never seen before. In much of Western Europe, Jews are coming to the conclusion that there is no future for them in France, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and other places. It seems their societies are not really willing to protect them from the immigrant Jew haters.

European politics are more complicated than our own, if that's possible, but even after having spent three years in Germany and five in Italy, the whole mess is confusing. You have multiple parties and coalitions needed to form governments, which can fall when they screw up etc. Add the European Parliament, which is looking more and more like the old Soviet Union, and one can understand why the continent seems to be slipping away.

On a positive note, the European Parliament held their continent- wide elections these past few days, and for the most part, the results were positive. In Italy, Matteo Salvini's Lega party won big, while in France, Marine Le Pen's party did better than President Emmanuel Macron's. In Hungary, the results were very good for head of state Viktor Orban's party, while in Britain, Nigel Farage's Brexit party was a stunning winner. Meanwhile, the Netherlands, Sweden  and Germany pretty much went with the status quo (The Greens were the big winner in Germany.)

But what is hard to figure out is how the Western European countries have allowed this migration, asylum-seeker mess to get so out of hand. Can they really be that stupid that they think they have been doing something positive? I say Western European because the Eastern European members of the EU are refusing to let in more migrants and refugees. They know it would destroy their societies and they say so. In response, the EU and countries like Germany try to whip them into line with threatened sanctions and other financial penalties. Dare I say that the Eastern Europeans are more realistic about world affairs having only recently broken the shackles of communism?

Another question I ask is whether these politicians can rise to the top of their field as heads of state, party leaders or members of the European Parliament by being this incredibly stupid? Well, closer to home we have people like Maxine Waters, Nancy Pelosi, Hank Johnson, Beto O'Rourke, Elizabeth Warren, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Oh, what about Republicans? I give you Arnold Schwarzenegger and Lisa Murkowski.

It can happen.

Or do people like Angela Merkel, Emmanuel Macron, Mark Rutte (Netherlands) , Stefan Löfven (Sweden)  represent something more sinister? What about aspiring leaders like the anti-Semitic Jeremy Corbyn of Britain's Labour party? Can it be that because of their leftist nature, they are perfectly willing to see their countries, their continent fall to pieces in order to rebuild it into whatever sort of multi-kulti utopia they envision? They are leftists. Their parties are leftist. Now that they are middle aged, they  may cut their hair, wear nice suits, and sound like responsible people when they speak, but that is deceiving. Angela Merkel came out of the old DDR (East Germany), and for several years, appeared to be a responsible leader in Europe. But it is she who took the lead in creating this migration  mess. And I recall her predecessor, Gerhardt Schroeder, who came from a university background of leftist protests. As a lawyer, he got a founding member of the Baader-Meinhof terror group, Horst Mahler, out of prison. As chancellor, he was noted as "Putin's pal". His foreign secretary and vice chancellor,  Joseph "Joschka" Fischer , spent his formative years throwing rocks and bottles at the police. Merkel seemed like a breath of fresh air for a time.

Perhaps, we have historically tended to overrate the Europeans as being more cultured and sensible especially in the decades after World War II-forgetting the long history of disastrous wars they have wrought with their silly royal families and leaders like Hitler and Mussolini. Perhaps, they are simply cowering before their restive Muslim immigrants, seemingly resigned to the fact that democracy will not survive and that Islamic supremacy is inevitable.

So is it sheer stupidity, cowardice or design that Europe is so quickly sinking into a nightmarish future? I suspect it is a combination of all three. The question now is whether leaders like Salvini and Orban can reverse the tide, save their nations, and lead Europe out of the woods. The envisioned coalition of  Orban, Salvini and Farage promises to have a lot to say in the European Parliament. There is cause for hope, but the process of reversing the damage will not be pretty even if successful.

The Motive in Lyon? Jihad

Mohamed Hichem M.


The suspect arrested this week in the Lyon bombing that left 13 injured has reportedly confessed to the French police that he had pledged allegiance to ISIS. He is identified only as Mohamed Hichem M., 24, a native of Algeria. His parents and brother were reportedly detained, but later released.

https://www.france24.com/en/20190530-lyon-bombing-suspect-police-terrorist-jihad

What this all means for those who  are tired of hearing all those news reports after terror attacks asking for the possible motive....it is jihad.

Robert Mueller's Odd Press Conference

This article first appeared in New English Review.




Wednesday's press conference by Robert Mueller is raising questions and speculation from both sides of the political spectrum  especially as to whether President Trump could have been charged with obstruction.  Mueller certainly dropped a nugget for the CNN and MSNBC talking heads when he stated:

"And as set forth in the report after that investigation, if we had had confidence that the President clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said so.

We did not, however, make a determination as to whether the president did commit a crime. The introduction to the volume two of our report explains that decision. It explains that under long-standing Department policy, a President cannot be charged with a federal crime while he is in office. That is unconstitutional. Even if the charge is kept under seal and hidden from public view, that too is prohibited. The special counsel’s office is part of the Department of Justice and by regulation it was bound by that Department policy. Charging the president with a crime was, therefore, not an option we could consider."

Under normal circumstances, what would have been more proper for a prosecutor to say is something along these lines:

"If we had confidence that the President clearly committed a crime, we would have said so"

Instead, in my view, Mueller wanted his listeners to infer that but for the Justice Department policy that a sitting president cannot be charged with a crime, he would have charged President Trump with obstruction (even though he could not determine that Trump or members of his campaign were guilty of collusion -the underlying crime-with the Russians in their meddling of the 2016 presidential election).

So he threw out a nugget for the Democrat members of the House to chew on as they (possibly) move to impeach the President.

Speaking as a retired federal agent (Drug Enforcement Administration) and having worked with countless prosecutors from the Department of Justice, I can say emphatically that when a person is not going to be charged with a crime, it is unethical for a prosecutor to go out and publicly insinuate that the person actually did commit crimes. If you have the evidence, you indict. If you don't, you don't indict, and you say nothing other than we don't have a case. Period.

And to be fair, when James Comey gave his famous press conference in July 2016 announcing the conclusion of the Hillary Clinton e-mail case, he did two things wrong (aside from usurping the role of the prosecutors at the Justice Department): First, he laid out what seemed to be a pretty solid case against Ms. Clinton before then stating incredibly that no reasonable prosecutor would bring charges. Secondly, if he really felt that way, he should not have laid out the case against her in such detail.

At the same time, Mueller made it pretty clear that he has no desire to testify before Congress, basically saying that he would add nothing to what he has already stated. Mueller knows that he would be facing hardball questions from both Republicans and Democrats about the conduct of his investigation and findings. No doubt Mueller really wants to walk away from this whole thing altogether and leave it to Congress to deal with it-without him.

And isn't it interesting that the whole affair of Russian meddling in our election-which few doubt- all took place during President Barack Obama's watch? They learned it was going on in 2014 and did nothing. Why aren't the self righteous Democrats yelling about that? Where is the press?

As for Mueller, in my view, this latest event cements my perception of him as a truly enigmatic figure. While I am pleased that there were no charges, it remains that after investigating Trump for two years, he walks off the stage leaving everybody arguing over what he really determined as to the question of obstruction. Altogether, not a good performance in my view. Unfortunately, I don't think we have heard the last of Robert Mueller.

Two Names on a Wall (2019)

In 2007, I wrote a posting after hearing that the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington had been defaced. The article was in tribute to two of my high school friends who had laid down their lives in that tragic war, Dorian Houser and Michael Vinassa. Ever since, I make it a yearly practice to re-post that article in observance of Memorial Day. Here it is.

http://garyfouse.blogspot.com/2007/12/two-names-on-wall.html

Recently, a friend in the Netherlands who I speak with on a weekly basis via Skype (He is my Dutch language conversation partner as I attempt to achieve fluency in that language), took a vacation to France and Germany with an American friend of his. They were planning to visit Normandy, and I told him that for his American friend, the visit to the American cemetery at Omaha Beach would be an emotional experience. After returning last week, my Dutch friend told me that it was, indeed, an emotional experience, not only for his American friend, but for him as well.

Today is a somber reminder that America, our country, is indeed worth fighting for.

Netherlands: Riot in Eindhoven

Hat tip Vlad Tepes


Yesterday in the Dutch town of Eindhoven, the anti-Islamist organization, Pegida, held a demonstration and march under extensive police protection. You can watch the march at the below video. At the 10-minute mark, the Muslim counter protesters turned against police and a riot ensued in the area of a mosque.




*Update:
I sent this report to a friend of mine in the Netherlands. He had not even heard it on the news.

French Police Arrest 4 Algerians in Lyons Bombing

French police have made 4 arrests in the case of last week's bombing in Lyons that left 13 people wounded. According to various sources, the arrestees are a 24-year-old Algerian, his brother, and their parents. In addition, the type of explosive used is one known to be used by ISIS.


https://www.afp.com/en/news/15/french-police-arrest-four-over-lyon-package-bomb-blast-doc-1gy8lp5

Motive? Need you ask?

Update (L'Express-France)

Principal suspect is identified only as Hichem M., a native of  Algeria. He reportedly arrived in France in 2017 on a student visa.

https://www.lexpress.fr/actualite/societe/enquete/colis-piege-a-lyon-comment-la-police-est-remontee-jusqu-a-hichem-m_2080637.html?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook&Echobox=1558968208#xtor=CS3-5076

The suspect was identified partially through suspicious purchases on his Amazon account according to the above article. It is also reported that he was taken into custody on Monday at a bus stop. He was under surveillance since police did not want to attempt an arrest at his residence for fear of explosives.

At this point, it is not clear what the status is of the above-mentioned family members.

Jews in Germany

Hat tip Jihad Watch


As anyone who knows the slightest bit of history knows, Germany, more than any other nation, has a special responsibility to fight anti-Semitism. In my view, the country has worked hard to make itself once more a respected member of the family of nations, a decent country. It has accepted its responsibility for the Third Reich and the Holocaust-even while some of their accomplices in other nations have not. Germany has worked hard to educate its youth about the horrors of the Third Reich. Now, however, it is all in danger of collapsing. Under Angela Merkel's insane immigration policy, which has dumped a million Muslims-mostly single young men- into the country, anti-Semitism has returned to Germany in force, as well as in the rest of Western Europe.

Now comes the country's commissioner for anti-Semitism, Felix Klein, who this week advised Germany's Jews not to wear their kippahs in public. Israel, understandably, has reacted in anger and defiance. Of course, Klein wants to blame most of the hate on the far-right and supporters of Alternatif fuer Deutschland party.

To the extent that there are some neo-Nazi types among native Germans, that certainly must be condemned. The main problem, however, lies with the attacks coming from those who arrived in Germany with a previously learned hate for Jews-not something they recently picked up on the internet. To cover up or downplay that problem is to become an accomplice.

If Germany has to assign security for every single Jew, synagogue, and Jewish school in the country, they must do so. The solution is not to ask Jews to hide under their beds. This is tantamount to when the government advised women to dress modestly and/or stay indoors at night because they cannot protect their own populace from  rape and other forms of violence from asylum-seekers from places like Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. Not since the Red Army was storming through Berlin in 1945 has such advisement been necessary. The question I would ask Mr Klein is if he believes that advice given to German women is due to the uptick in neo-Nazis, the far right, or Alternatif fuer Deutschland. Of course, the answer is no. Of course, we remember New Years Eve in Cologne a couple of years back when hundreds of German women were sexually assaulted in front of the city's famed cathedral while police were unable to even reach the women to protect them. And it wasn't neo- Nazis, the far right, or Alternatif fuer Deutschland that were doing the attacking. The fact is that it is mostly the same perps attacking Jews as the ones who are attacking women.

If Germany really wants to combat anti-Semitism, make the country safe for women to walk the streets, and reduce the violent crime wave, the answer is clear. Close the borders and start expelling all the so-called asylum-seekers.

Hatem Bazian: The Mossad Planted a Chip in My Brain

UC Berkeley professor Hatem Bazian's recent blog posting smacks of "They're coming to take me away" as he tells us of a secret Mossad operation at UC Berkeley to monitor and discredit him. "Psy-Group", he calls it.

http://www.hatembazian.com/content/private-mossad-on-campus-and-no-one-is-alarmed/

Perhaps we should have seen the signs of paranoia when Bazian created his silly Islamophobia Research and Documentation Center at UCB several years ago. They hold a conference every year complete with "call for papers" and the whole nine yards dedicated to the proposition that for some unknown reason, Muslims are being picked on in America. Of course, he has nothing to say when Muslims "pick on" others in Muslim-majority countries.

To make one of his points, Bazian points to an article  in the New Yorker in February by Adam Entous and Ronan Farrow, who wrote of the alleged activities of Psy-Group, who they termed as some sort of private Mossad. Bazian also refers us to another article written in Febrarury by Entous which specifically talks about Bazian. In the latter article, Entous states:

"Although it is unclear who left the fliers, internal documents from a private Israeli intelligence firm called Psy-Group show that, at the time of the incident, the company, and possibly other private investigators, were targeting Bazian because of his leadership role in promoting the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement, known as B.D.S."

Yes, and about that same time, Fousesquawk was also criticizing Bazian. So what?

Even though Entous puts Bazian's photo on the article and begins its first paragraph with the professor, he himself fails to document the link with Psy-Group.

And just what is a "private Israeli intelligence firm" by definition?  Is the Investigative Project on Terrorism, for example, a "private American intelligence firm", and if so, what is the connection to the American government? And who are those "possibly other private investigators"? Not only does it appear that Bazian is jumping to conclusions, it also appears that at least one of his sources (Entous) is also jumping to conclusions. 

In his own article, Bazian ominously quotes an Israeli intelligence official as saying:

“Social media allows you to reach virtually anyone and to play with their minds…You can do whatever you want. You can be whoever you want. It’s a place where wars are fought, elections are won, and terror is promoted."

Imagine that. Social media as formers of opinion. Who knew? 

Bazian continues:

"The documents provide a clear indication that the Psy-Group targeted all aspects of my social media and internet profiles as well as pursuing any criminal records.  After I read the documents, I believe that the Psy-Group did break into my Twitter account and post despicable anti-Semitic messages to shift the discussion around away from my work on BDS and Palestine activism."

Leaving aside the semantic difference between the words, "clear" and "indication", is Bazian really claiming that this Psy-Group broke into his Twitter account and posted anti-Semitic material in his name? One assumes he is referring to this incident which happened in 2017 when he was accused of  re-tweeting anti-Semitic images. At that time, Bazian claimed:

"Bazian then offered one of the least convincing apologies in a season that has been full of them. “I did not realize or read the full text in detail,” he claimed, as though the material he shared was subtle and required careful analysis to determine that it was insanely bigoted. He then proceeded to insist that he has Jewish friends (citing “the anti-racist work that I do fighting anti-Semitism with progressive Jewish groups”) and that he is only anti-Israel, not anti-Semitic, despite obvious evidence to the contrary (”my issue is with Zionism … not with Judaism or Jews”).
-Tablet Magazine


To be fair, maybe Bazian (in his own article) is referring to some other time when anti-Semitic material showed up on his Twitter account. Who knows? 


But if the Mossad or this Psy-Group hacked in to his Twitter account and planted anti-Semitic images in his name, did they also manufacture that famous 2004 video where Bazian is speaking to a crowd and calling for an intifada in the US? Is it the Mossad or Psy-Group that put words in his mouth when he reportedly told a campus audience to look around the campus and count the number of buildings with Jewish names on them? Was it the Mossad or Psy-Group that put the words into his mouth when he reportedly mouthed that quaint little refrain from the hadith that tells of the Day of Judgment when Jews will hide behind rocks and trees, which will call out, "Oh Muslim. There is a Jew behind me. Come and kill him"?

To be fair, I have not seen or heard any videotape of Bazian saying the latter two quotes, but I did pointedly ask him about them in 2010 when he spoke at UC Irvine. I never did get a straight answer out of him.

"Moreover, I believe that my UC Berkeley courses on Islam in America and Deconstructing Islamophobia were subject to this intelligence gathering operation.  The annual Islamophobia conference at UC Berkeley was subject to intense surveillance which sought to record and intimidate participants and those attending as an audience.  The harassment and surveillance included the blanketing of the campus with posters referring and labeling me as a terrorist as well as putting flyers on all the cars on my street and in downtown Berkeley parking lot that is a block away from city hall."

I don't know who these people are Bazian is referring to. Are they Mossad agents? CIA officers? I am also not certain how open to the public these events are that Bazian hosts, but if they take place on the UCB campus, a public university, then there's a good chance they are open to the public. As one who has attended countless such events at UC Irvine (including hearing Bazian speak twice), I videotape and record many of the speakers because I have the legal right to ( I actually did not videotape either Bazian event.) And it is not surveillance because I do it openly. And just for the record in case Bazian is wondering: I am not employed by Mossad (or anybody else). Nor have I called him a terrorist.

"The university and the City of Berkeley leadership provided the air space and the hospitable environment for all of this targeting to become normal and acceptable since it includes all these a activities as falling under the Palestine-Israel conflict.  Rather than condemning this foreign intelligence intervention into the campus and city life; they issue statements that speak of a need for civility without ever mentioning who is doing all of this targeted harassment, spying and who is the target.  One comes to consider the spying and campus organizing to be on the same level and what we are dealing with is the hostilities from the “Middle East” coming to campus. The university and City of Berkeley leadership want to play the “peace process” mediator on campus and the City rather than coming to the defense of academic freedom, freedom of speech and defending the safety and well-being of Palestinian, Arab and Muslim faculty, students and community members."

Nonsense. Both Berkeley and the university are left-wing bastions with little tolerance for any expression in favor of Israel. In contrast, it is the pro-Palestinian narrative that is favored. Pro-Israel events and speakers run the risk of being disrupted while campus police stand around like potted plants.

"At UC Berkeley and the UC System, the university adopted a student group and a project, Olive Tree Initiative (http://www.olivetreeinitiative.org/) after the UC Irvine 11 case and used it to frame a counter-narrative and strategy directed at isolating and neutralizing the work of SJP and the BDS movement.  This means that the university, as an institution, was actively working as a front for the interest of a foreign government and targeting faculty and students who are exercising their academic and constitutional rights to speak and organized against what they consider it to be an injustice.  You can also see the case of Professor Rabab Abdulhadi at San Francisco State University and how the university leadership coordinated its actions with the local ADL, JCRC and the Israeli consulate to disrupt her academic program and cancel two lines of faculty to be hired to assist in building the AMED program in Ethnic Studies."

More nonsense. I am quite familiar with the Olive Tree Initiative (OTI) since it was inaugurated at UC Irvine. It was and is a thinly-disguised program to take students of various backgrounds to Israel and the West Bank and supposedly expose them to both sides of the conflict. However, even though students have met with Israeli Knesset members and residents of the controversial settlements, it was and is slanted in favor of the Palestinian narrative. In addition, the University worked in concert with activists affiliated with the International Solidarity Movement, who served as tour guides in the West Bank. It may very well be that members of the Muslim Student Association or Students for Justice in Palestine (the latter co-founded by Bazian) had no desire to go because they couldn't stomach the idea of meeting pro-Israel voices, but it doesn't change the fact that OTI is slanted in favor of the Palestinian narrative. I knew of four Jewish students at UCI and UCLA who made the trip and came back only to join SJP. And let us not forget that in 2009, the students were shepherded into a meeting with Aziz Dweik, a Hamas official in the West Bank.

As for Rabab Abdulhadi, Bazian is defending a figure who for years has brought national embarrassment to SFSU through her agenda-driven (Palestinian) "scholarship" and mentorship of the General Union of Palestinian Students (GUPS), who made news a few years back when they were spreading murderous expressions of wanting to kill Israeli soldiers across the SFSU campus.

Hatem Bazian is an activist with two agendas, Israel and Islamophobia. He has chosen to enter the public arena. He travels the country giving speeches attacking Israel and plenty of individuals. He has been accused of making several anti-Semitic expressions. Of course, he, like anyone else in America, has the right to express his views. However, he is not immune from criticism. That means that others are free to challenge what he says in public. His opponents are free to show up when he speaks in public and document what he says. He need not worry. Nobody is going to haul him off to jail. But this latest posting tells me that he is becoming very paranoid. Even by Berkeley standards, he is a joke and an embarrassment.