Vicious Threats Against Jews at Cornell

Over the weekend, social media online at Cornell University was hit with graphic and vicious threats to kill and rape Jews by unidentified individuals identifying themselves as Hamas supporters. The news has sparked fear and outrage. Cornell's president, Martha Pollack, has strongly condemned the threats.

I am cross-posting the report by the Cornell Sun (campus paper) since it is quite detailed. (Viewer warning: The words are disturbing.)

While I am gratified that Cornell's president has quickly condemned this, with all due respect, she should not be shocked. Anti-Semitic incidents and expressions of hate toward Jews have been going on for years and has been well documented including on this site.

Consider this:

In the spring of 2017, the Cornell chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP)  disrupted a pro-Israel event on campus.

In November 2018, over the course of 9 days, 3 swastikas appeared on the Cornell campus.

In April 2022, the pro-Israel organization, Canary Mission, issued a 25-page report on how SJP at Cornell wages a campaign of intimidation against supporters of Israel on campus.

Subsequent to the horrors carried out by Hamas on October 7, Cornell professor Russell Rickford told a group of students that he was "exhilarated" and "energized" by what Hamas had done.

On October 11, 4 days after the Hamas attacks, SJP and Cornell Progressives issued a joint statement blaming Israel for the attacks.

In addition, the Amcha Initiative, which is linked on this site, has a compilation of anti-Semitic incidents on US university campuses including a page on Cornell, which can be accessed here. 

Frankly, I am weary of university administrators prattling on about how the latest incident violates their values of inclusivity, blah blah blah. When they start removing students and professors who cheer on the barbaric butchers of Hamas, then I will take them seriously. 

*Update: (11-1-23) A Cornell student identified as Patrick Dai has been charged with making the online threats.

UC Irvine Anti-Israel Event

Last week, I posted an article announcing that 4 UC Irvine professors would be holding an anti-Israel event on campus October 30.

I had initially decided not to bother attending especially since pre-registration for this BIG EVENT was required. This morning, I had nothing better to do, and I learned that a couple of friends of mine were planning to sit outside just to see what was going on, so I decided to join them. We made no effort to enter the room. Nor did we try to set up a counter-protest. We just whiled away the time chatting with each other. We even broke for lunch!

I am guessing there were about 75 people attending. Several of the attendees were older Jewish community members. Several of them came outside during the presentation and commented that they just couldn't listen to any more. Some went back inside hoping to participate in the Q and A. One local rabbi who serves the UCI campus set up a little poster inviting people to come and talk about Israel. 

After it was over, some Jewish attendees came out and complained not just about the fact that it was a one-sided event, but that the Q and A was designed in such a way that questions had to be written on cards and passed up to the front where about three were chosen.

Oh yes! Sounds like the old deep-6 the other side's questions tactic. I know it well.

In addition, one lady informed me that she was asked to turn off her cell phone because recording was not allowed in order to protect the students (from whom?). She complied.

I informed the lady in question that this was a public event at a public university, and that she had every legal right to videotape, photograph, or otherwise record the event as long as there was no disruption. I also suggested that she write a letter of complaint to the chancellor of UCI as I had done years before when campus police wrongly sided with students sponsoring an anti-Israel event on campus and asked that I turn off my camera. Even though I only intended to videotape the speaker and not the students, I followed the directions of the officers but wrote a letter to the administration the next day. The campus police apologized to me and assured me that the force would be advised of the correct policy.

Other than that, there was nothing else to report. 

 

Erwin Chemerinky's Revelation

Erwin Chemerinsky

Erwin Chemerinsky is the dean of the UC Berkeley School of Law. He previously served as the UC Irvine School of Law dean from 2008-2017, a period in which I was an adjunct teacher in the UCI Extension. He is regarded by many as one of the country's leading legal scholars.

That may be true, but over the years, Chemerinsky (of whom I have occasionally written pieces on this site) has shown an alarming tendency to deny anti-Semitism on campus. When he took the reins at UCI Law, I saw him speak once (in April 2010) and heard him downplay the problem at UCI. He told the audience that he never would have brought his family to UCI if he thought there was a problem on the campus with anti-Semitism.

Now, in the wake, of the horrors of October 7 and the disgusting shows of support for Hamas on campuses across the nation, the scales have apparently dropped from his eyes. He has penned an article that appears on a site called Prawfsblawg in which he, as a Jewish person, expresses his shock and dismay at the open displays of anti-Semitism on US college campuses.

While I welcome Chemerinsky's words at this time, my reaction is; where has he been all these years?

From 2007 to my departure from UCI in 2016, I documented countless expressions of anti-Semitism at UCI (and other universities). At UCI, I attended anti-Israel events and listened to their speakers rail against Israel and occasionally against Jews. Where was Chemerinksky when radical Oakland imam Amir Abdel Malik Ali was calling individuals, "Zionist Jews", literally spitting out the words? Where was Chemerinsky in May 2008 when the Muslim Student Union put up a caricature of Ariel Sharon drawn in the style of the old Nazi weekly, Der Stuermer?  Where was Chemerinksy in May 2016 when Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) violently disrupted a pro-Israel event forcing Jewish students to barricade themselves in the room as the thugs tried to bang their way in? Need I mention the 2010 disruption of the Israeli ambassador Michael Oren's speech at UC Irvine? I don't know if he was in the audience (I was), but it was during his tenure as UCI Law School dean. At the time, he refuted the Muslim Student Union's free speech claims but argued for leniency.

In addition, in September 2022, I exchanged letters with Chemerinsky when students in his law school announced they would not invite any pro-Israel speakers. His response to my initial letter is here.

And there is this from his post on Prawfsblawg:

 "But if you listen to what is being said on college campuses now (emphasis mine), some of the loudest voices are not advocating for a change in Israeli policies, but are calling for an end to Israel. Students regularly chant, “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” and “We don’t want no two states, we want all of 48,” referring to going back to 1948 before Israel existed."

Now? Is this really the first time he has heard the phrase, "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free"? Over the past couple of decades, I have heard that ditty so many times, it is ringing in my ears. Is it just now that Chemerinsky has realized that this entire pro-Palestinian campaign that has been raging on our campuses for so many years was not just about "justice" for Palestinians, but rather hatred against Jews in general-both Israelis and in the diaspora?

I recognize that the campus situation is now worse than ever, but this is nothing new. It has been going on for decades. Where was Erwin Chemerinsky all these years?

*Update: I have been advised that Chemerinsky's article initially appeared in the LA Times.

The Fate of Gaza

This article first appeared in New English Review.

 The latest outbreak between Israel and Gaza-based Hamas has followed the pattern of previous outbreaks in that once Hamas has initiated hostilities (as it did on October 7), as soon as Israel fights back and begins to pound Hamas in their lair, the world community turns against Israel and demands a cease-fire. Of course, the October 7 attack was much worse than previous rocket attacks and intifadas, both in scope and degree of horror. If Israel ever had justification to launch a full-scale retaliation and invasion of Gaza, this is it.

That the usual world bodies (like the UN) have chosen, even in the face, of the atrocities committed by Hamas on October 7, as well as their continued holding of over 200 hostages, still condemn Israel for the bombing and impending full-scale assault, is sickening. Yet, the images of October 7 are now being replaced in the worldwide media by images of the bombed-out landscape of Gaza City and the images of dead civilians. Once again, much of the world chooses to make Israel the villain. Now, they say, it is time for a cease-fire. This is after 1,400 Israeli men, women, and children have been slaughtered. 

The question I want to deal with here is whether Israel is justified in bombing Gaza City with the resulting loss of civilian life. I take no pleasure in seeing images of dead women and children, but given the circumstances, I see no other choice for Israel than to go in and destroy Hamas. If the terrorists choose to fight using their own people as human shields, they should bear the responsibility for those deaths.

So Hamas must be destroyed this time, at least their current military capacity and control of Gaza. True, even a full military victory will not destroy Hamas as an ideology.  Dead fighters and dead leaders can be replaced over time. Nazism was also an ideology, one that may still live in the hearts and minds of some extremists, but World War II did, in fact, achieve a military victory over Hitler and his ideology. Hitler committed suicide, Germany surrendered, war crime trials were held, and Germany became a democracy as did Imperial Japan. (Not that I expect any Palestinian entity to become a democracy.)

More to the point, we should not forget that in WW II, the US and Great Britain conducted an air war against German cities that preceded the actual incursion into German territory. Most every major German city was flattened with loss of civilian life in the hundreds of thousands. The fire-bombing of Dresden and Hamburg resulted in especially horrific death tolls. In the Pacific, the US conducted air raids on major Japanese cities that culminated in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.  I have visited Hiroshima, and I can tell you it was an emotional experience. I have also visited Pearl Harbor (twice), as well as Auschwitz, and Omaha Beach. Those were also emotional experiences. 

Did the Allies go to extreme lengths to limit civilian deaths in those bombings? Hardly. We were fighting for our survival, and destroying civilian morale was part of the strategy. Israel is also fighting for its survival against the attacks of aggressive and brutal enemies, yet they still try to limit the number of civilian deaths. They actually warn the civilians that attacks are coming to the very buildings they are about to hit. The Allies never did that in WW II to my knowledge.

It is a documented fact that Hamas goes to great lengths to ensure that many of their civilians die. They even prevent them from fleeing to safe places and set up their bases of operations in schools, hospitals, and apartment buildings. They want to show the world's media their dead bodies to turn world opinion against Israel. Consider this: Even the Nazis evacuated their children from major cities to the countryside to escape the bombings.

It is Hamas who set the ground rules here with their inhuman acts on October 7, just as the Nazis and Imperial Japan set the ground rules in World War II. We had no other option but to completely defeat and destroy those two powers, lest we be destroyed. 

If Israel gives in to the UN and the despicable pro-Palestinian protestors marching and rioting around the world, they merely push the can down the road to the next Hamas attack in one or two years. What happened on October 7 must never be allowed to happen again.  The political leaders of Hamas, like Ismael Haniyeh, who are sitting comfortably in Qatar, should be turned over to the Hague to be tried as war criminals in an international court. I do not expect that to happen because the Qataris are duplicitous and not to be trusted. But those fighters and their military leaders in Gaza must be destroyed. They must be killed.

If Israel doesn't go all the way this time, those 1,400 people who were slaughtered on October 7 will just be victims who died in horrific circumstances, never to be avenged. The military and terroristic threat will not be removed. Israel will try to limit the civilian casualties, but they are inevitable.

This is a moment of truth for Israel and a moment of truth for the civilized world. Evil must be eradicated. Hamas and Gaza are just one part of a much bigger threat, one that we all have to face.

Shame on Richmond (Ca) City Council

Hat tip Ted

California politics, which already is a national joke, has sunk to a new low. The activist Richmond City Council, which prides itself on imitating the UN when it comes to world problems, has passed a resolution accusing Israel of "ethnic cleansing and collective punishment".

I guess the politicos in Richmond don't consider the Hamas attacks on October 7, which resulted in the virtual slaughter and kidnapping of Israeli men, women, and children to be ethnic cleansing or collective punishment". It is deserving of much worse labels than that, actually,

I am cross-posting the below article from the LA Times. I have cut and pasted the actual text since the link could go dead at any time.

 https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-10-25/california-city-first-in-nation-to-support-palestinians-in-gaza-with-resolution-accusing-israel-of-ethnic-cleansing

California city first in U.S. to officially back Palestinians, accuses Israel of ‘ethnic cleansing

The Richmond, Calif., City Council voted early Wednesday to support the Palestinian people of the Gaza Strip with a resolution that accuses Israel of “ethnic cleansing and collective punishment” nearly three weeks after war broke out in the Middle East.

The resolution is believed to be the first show of support by a U.S. city for the Palestinian people after the Oct. 7 attack carried out by Hamas on Israel.

Some 1,400 people died in Israel during the initial attack this month, and more than 200 Israeli and foreign nationals are being held captive in Gaza, according to Israeli officials. Since then, roughly 7,000 people have died in Gaza amid intensifying Israeli airstrikes, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health.

The city of Richmond, in the San Francisco Bay Area, passed its resolution of support in a 5-1 vote that started Tuesday evening and ended around 1 a.m. Wednesday after a five-hour public hearing. The resolution calls for a cease-fire and for humanitarian aid to flow into Gaza. It says “the state of Israel is engaging in collective punishment against the Palestinian people in Gaza in response to Hamas attacks on Israel” — while also highlighting Richmond’s support for Jewish people in the local community and its recognition of the atrocities carried out by Nazis during the Holocaust.

On Tuesday evening, as Richmond Mayor Eduardo Martinez opened the hearing for the resolution, people in the audience were shouting, calling out “Nazi!” and other comments that were drowned out in the noise. The disorder derailed the meeting, and a brief recess was called.

Richmond has taken strong stands in the past on international conflicts. In the 1980s, the city chose to divest from apartheid South Africa in a display of opposition to systematized racial segregation, and council members voted to support Ukraine last year during the Russian invasion.

“We are one small city weighing in on a conflict that has the attention of the entire world and on which global superpowers are pouring in money, political attention and military aid,” Martinez said. “The people of [the] United States, whose government and tax dollars directly support Israel’s military, have an immediate moral obligation to condemn Israel’s acts of collective punishment and apartheid state.”

Councilmember Cesar Zepeda cast the lone vote not to support the resolution, recognizing the issue as divisive.

“Let’s call out the atrocities that Hamas has done on the Israel communities and the atrocities the Israeli government has done on the Palestinian people,” Zepeda said, requesting a revised resolution. He said he wanted the city to “bring everyone together in a community for peace.”

Although a majority of speakers backed the council’s resolution, others disagreed with how the City Council broached the topic and language that was used.

“I think it’s shameful that you had to have public feedback until you finally included the 1,200 people in Israel who were butchered and set on fire,” Lucinda Casson from Temple Beth Hillel in Richmond said to the council. Before the meeting, the city’s resolution was amended to include information about the Israeli people who were killed by Hamas militants in border neighborhoods.

Another woman who spoke against the council’s decision asked for an Israeli flag to be held up behind her because she didn’t want to stand in front of a banner in support of Palestine that was held up by someone in the audience. She said she was ashamed of Richmond and scared.

“You have put me in this situation,” she said as she asked the council to reject the resolution.

Others thanked the council for taking a stand against the ongoing war. A man who identified himself as Yusef reminded the council that the conflict between Palestinians and Israel is nothing new.

He said nobody realized “the Palestinian people have been hurting for 75 years and no one [says] a word.”

Before the council meeting, Contra Costa County Supervisor John Gioia asked the council to table the resolution and work together with the Muslim and Jewish communities to develop a resolution that “validates the voices of both communities.”

The Jewish Community Relations Council in San Francisco condemned the city’s actions and in a statement said that, although the council had amended the resolution, it remained “inflammatory and biased.” The group also noted “the vitriol of resolution supporters” at the meeting.

The Arab Resource & Organizing Center in San Francisco thanked Richmond for taking a stance on the issue.

“We are you with you as the tide shifts across the US, as more decision makers echo the calls of the masses and rise up in support for Palestinian freedom,” the group said in a statement. “We have a long way to go, and we are proud that the Bay Area is leading the charge.”

Pro-Israel Rally in Irvine: A Study in Contrasts

 Last night, I attended a pro-Israell rally in Irvine, the second such event I have attended since October 7. I took a few pictures and a short video. The rally lasted two hours, and as virtually all pro-Israel rallies are, was peaceful. I would estimate 200-300 people were present. Below are photos and a short video.

What is worth mentioning is that the rally featured photographs of many of the hostages being held by the bestial terrorists of Hamas, mostly placed on empty chairs with the message to bring them home.

Another thing that is worth mentioning over and over again that in contrast to pro-Palestinian rallies, where one sees only Palestinian flags, this rally, like every other pro-Israel rally I have ever attended, featured both Israeli flags and US flags.

Since the rally was on the four corners of a major intersection, there was much positive honking of horns by motorists passing by. In past years, you would see some pro-Palestinian drivers giving us the finger or yelling something about "Free Palestine". Only one or two last night (I left a few minutes early, so I could have missed something.)

But the most telling contrast between pro-Israeli rallies and pro-Palestinian rallies is that the pro-Israel rallies are peaceful and orderly. Far too many pro-Palestinian rallies (I am referring to those all over the world) are not only noisy and disruptive, but often turn violent. In Berlin, recent pro-Palestinian protests have turned violent with protesters throwing rocks at police. In addition, I have just posted a video of what transpired at Tulane University just this week. In New York just days ago, Jewish students at Cooper Union College were forced to lock themselves inside the campus library as pro-Palestinian thugs banged on the door. I could go on and on with example after example throughout the recent years.

Final comment: In the wake of the horrific massacres of October 7 by Hamas and the ongoing hostage issue, the expressions of pro-Palestinian sympathies have taken on an especially grotesque nature. These people should be doing some self-examination as to just who it is they are supporting. They are supporting Hamas, which is designated as a terrorist organization by our own government. On October 7, Hamas demonstrated for all the world to see that they richly deserve the label. Whoever supports them is supporting terrorism and Jew-hatred, pure and simple. They should hang their heads in shame.

But they won't.

Violence Erupts at Tulane Over Israel-Hamas War

 

 This is what happened at Tulane University on Tuesday. It is self-explanatory. The video is from Students Supporting Israel at Tulane.

Here is more on the incident from The College Fix.

Fousesquawk comment:

“We condemn and are outraged by today’s violence and the hateful language and rhetoric we heard,” the university stated. “It’s counter to everything we stand for.”

Sweden: A Warning on Islamism

The conservative Swedish site, Samtiden, has a good article by Dick Erixon on the threat of Islamism, particularly in Sweden. He cites the late politician, Per Ahlmark, and concludes that Ahlmark's observations about Islamism were proved correct.

The below article is translated by Fousesquawk.

 https://samtiden.nu/2023/10/lar-av-ahlmark-islamism-maste-behandlas-som-nazism/

LEARN FROM AHLMARK- ISLAMISM MUST BE TREATED LIKE NAZISM

DICK ERIXON  23 OCTOBER 2023

We now see how Islamists make many Swedes want to strip off what identifies them as Swedes. We begin to submit to their demands, which is exactly what is their intention is with this mindless violence. Islamism must be equated with Nazism, just as former People's Party leader and minister, Per Ahlmark, saw it.

One who early on understood Islamism's terrible power and threat was Per Ahlmark. I gladly single him out because he cannot be accused of being conservative or something that the left sees as terrible.

Crystal clear on evil

When he passed away in 2018, at 79, I cited him from his acclaimed book, "The Left and Tyranny" (which came out in a new edition in 2003 from Timbro when I was working there). There, he is crystal clear on Islamism's evil. This is what he wrote in the preface:

"The view of international terrorism has become the focal point in a partially new battle of ideas concerning our civilization. Above all: the third totalitarian worldview in the last hundred years has now emerged with strength and clarity. After communism and Nazism, we see how Islamic fundamentalism is placing similar demands upon us. We must adapt ourselves to its claims that do not allow for objections, pluralism, or compromises (...) The three ideologies demand to rule the world and are all intent on genocide.  They despise freedom, reject democracy, and hate Jews. The Islamists' methods, therefore, are uncontrolled violence."

See Islamism as contemporary Nazism

I completely agree with him. We should see Islamism as a political ideology borne with the same evil as Nazism. It is not a religion. It is an ideology that makes brutal demands on us in the West. We will submit ourselves to their will, with bloody violence if necessary.

We who live in the secularized world can make the distinction between Muslims who in private and for their part, follow Islam's teachings. In this connection, it is usually said that "jihad" can be interpreted as an inner struggle or striving in every person to live a better life, In this part, Islam can exist in the West.

But when you make jihad into a fight to impose sharia laws upon "infidels", meaning to force Christian civilization to submit itself to Islamism's extreme interpretation, then it is a political movement as dangerous, violence-glorifying, and totalitarian as Nazism.

Taking the threat seriously

After the terror act last Monday against two Swedes in the colors of the soccer team, all authorities must drop the political correctness that excuses Islamists.

Last weekend, I read the book, "From the Frontlines of Terror" (Mondial 2023) by Magnus Ranstopr. He shows the astonishing reluctance of Swedish authorities to understand the threat from the terror-promoting Islamists. For example, he tells of the "Rosengård Report" from 2009, in which he participated for the Defense Academy. It highlighted the infiltration of Swedish associations and authorities by Islamists but received a lot of harsh criticism for being "Islamophobic". Even the head of Säpo (Security Police) fell for the outrage of the left and the media and considered the report exaggerated, despite (the fact) that the security police who knew Rosengård stood behind what was reported.

Just a few years later, Ranstorp was terrifyingly right. As a proportion of the country's size, Swedish citizens were the third-largest group in Europe who joined the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, where they beheaded, burned people alive, and took women as sex slaves.

If we don't see Islamism for what it is, we may see the same brutal violence in Sweden. Then we have barely seen the beginning.

University of California Ethnic Studies Faculty Council Sides With Hamas

Recently, I have written about an insidious force within the University of California system called the University of California Ethnic Studies Faculty Council, which is attempting to make certain courses of study-approved by them- to be required courses in California high schools in order for a student to be admitted to the UC system.

I and numerous other individuals and organizations have charged that the curricula being advanced by these folks and others contains teaching material that would teach our children that Israel is oppressing Palestinians. It is this very campaign that has proven to encourage growing anti-Semitism on our campuses.

Now, in the wake of the horrific events of October 7 and the barbaric, evil actions taken by Hamas, this very council is doubling down and proving that the charges are true. They have written a letter to the University of California leadership criticizing them for their public comments condemning Hamas. They object to Hamas being called terrorists-which they are. In effect, this disgusting letter legitimizes the massacre of innocent Israeli civilians-Jews-, including women, children, and even infants beheaded in their cribs or burned alive.

The Amcha Initiative, an organization dedicated to exposing and fighting anti-Semitism on campus, especially in California, along with other aligned groups has exposed this letter to the public. In their own response, they urge the University to reject this radical and dangerous group and their ethnic studies curricula requirement. It is hard to grapple with the fact that the University can condemn what Hamas did on the one hand while having an obviously anti-Jewish council advising it and objecting to the University's accurate characterization of Hamas and its evil actions.

The entire University of California system is a mess and has been for many years, much of it personally observed by this writer during his employment at UC Irvine (1998-2016). This institution is in serious need of reform. This radical, anti-Semitic council should have no place in the UC system.

UC Irvine Professors Holding Pro-Palestinian Event

 I am cross-posting links that were mostly provided by Rabbi Dov Fischer, a well-known Orange County rabbi who writes op-eds in American Spectator and American Thinker, among many others. He is a supporter of the state of Israel.

Halloween is just around the corner, but at the University of California at Irvine, the goblins will be out one day earlier. On October 30, another obscene, pro-Palestinian event will take place on campus, defying common sense and common decency in the wake of the horrendous, barbaric  Hamas massacres of innocent men, women, and children, including babies beheaded in their own cribs!

Here is the public announcement of the event, labeled, "Ask a UCI professor: Israel-Palestine conflict 101"

Here is what I would ask a UCI professor:

Given the horrific events of October 7 by Hamas, how can you, in good conscience, stand with Hamas against Israel and its right to fight back in defense against this barbarity?

Having been a part-time teacher at UCI from 1998-2016, I am only personally familiar with one of the above 4 characters pictured above. That would be UCI professor Mark LeVine, who is also a part-time rocker and occasional op-ed writer for Al Jazeera, the Qatari-based propaganda news outlet. Several years ago, when he was holding a similar event at UCI, he got very upset at me for calling him an anti-Israel activist in front of his class. You would have thought I didn't use his preferred pronouns, whatever they are. He also once hosted a spokesman for the Muslim Brotherhood in his class, an open event that I attended. That was in October 2008.

You can read what Campus Watch has written about LeVine over the years here, here, and here.

And here is what Frontpage Magazine has to say about LeVine.

As for the others, here is what we know about them:

Liron Mor

Her endorsement of this book, Voices of the Nakba, appears on the inner front page.

"A comprehensive, illuminating and moving work of scholarship, which is also, quite simply, a work of art.’ —Liron Mor, Assistant Professor, Department of Comparative Literature, University of California, Irvine

 As a member of Cornell Students for Justice in Palestine in 2013, Mor signed a "Palestinian Right of Return" letter.

In August 2023, Mor co-signed a letter entitled, "Elephant in the Room" condemning Israel. (In fairness, I should note that Elephant in the Room also posted a letter on October 14, condemning what Hamas did on October 7 but calling for an immediate cease-fire and permanent peace agreement. In other words, Hamas was wrong, but Israel can't fight back. I could not find Mor's signature on this letter, but with over 1,000 signatures, I could miss it.)

And there is this by Mor.

 Yousef Al-Balushi

Al Bulushi, who studied at the University of North Carolina and Duke, centers his scholarship around African-African diaspora studies. It appears that while at Duke, in 2001, Al-Bulushi wrote a letter to the Duke Chronicle condemning Israel.

 Meryem Kamil

Her UCI faculty profile

Her 2019 doctoral dissertation at the University of Michigan.

And there is this tidbit from Duke Press.

I think it is safe to say that each of these 4 professors at UC Irvine stand solidly on the Palestinian side of the conflict, and no pro-Israel voices will be featured at their event. Of course, that is their right, just as it is their right to sign whatever letter or petition they desire, just as it is their right to hold a one-sided event on the topic. We on the other side of the issue also have a right to express our point of view and ask whether this particular event has any scholarly value to UC Irvine students beyond pure indoctrination. It is also our right to point out that it is disturbing that so many academics and universities are hosting events like these at this particular point in time after the atrocities committed by Hamas. Again, it is their legal right, but we also have the right to draw our own conclusions about these institutions and faculty.

This is also a time when government, institutions, and individuals should reconsider their giving money to such universities. As I have pointed out countless times, the pro-Palestinian movement on our campuses, which has now taken on grotesque features, has led to out-and-out anti-Semitism, bullying, and intimidation of Jewish students-both now and in the last several years. If any university can not or will not provide a safe learning environment for its Jewish students, that university does not deserve a dime. 

 

 

University of California Lunacy Continues

Hat tip Campus Reform

Professor William Robinson, UC Santa Barbara

The latest conflict in the Middle East began on October 7 when the terrorists of Hamas attacked Israel and slaughtered over 1,000 innocent Israelis including music concert-goers, families attacked and murdered in their homes, babies beheaded, and hundreds of civilians taken hostage. 

Yet, in the face of it all, when Israel responded, the loons in academia go crazy. Led by professors like UC Santa Barbara's William Robinson, a career anti-Israel activist, a group of professors and (mostly)  graduate students, undergraduates, and alumni in the University of California system have signed a public letter that can only be described as hysterical, full of leftist jargon, rambling from one perceived grievance unrelated to Israel to another, to downright being full of lies. It even refers to the Hamas monsters who carried out the atrocities as "resisters" and "freedom-fighters"!!

Campus Reform has the report here. 

Where to begin?

“More specifically, we join a growing international chorus of voices holding the Zionist Israeli government accountable for the violence that we have witnessed over the last several days,” it states. 

“We strongly condemn the University of California’s attempt to reproduce Western media’s narrative of ongoing violence in Palestine,” it says. It continues to state that this “includes the victimization of Israeli women and children to manufacture consent for intervention and further violence against Palestinians.”

”We urge the community to practice critical media literacy when consuming mainstream media stories of violence against women and children committed by Palestinian resistors which serve to frame Palestinian freedom fighters as evil, monstrous ‘terrorists,"

It is jaw-dropping that these people could absolutely ignore and even imply that Hamas did, not in fact, carry out so many atrocities against innocent men, women, children, even beheading babies on October 7! It is the same old story: The Palestinians attack innocents and launch rockets into Israel, but as soon as Israel fights back, it is they (Israel) who are committing atrocities! This is the level of stupidity and moral bankruptcy we see today in our universities. 

“We condemn in the strongest possible terms the UC’s failure to create a safe environment for Palestinian students and their supporters.” 

We do not condone violence toward Palestinian students from Zionist supporters on UC campuses, which took place in the last few days and in past instances where pro-Palestinian solidarity rallies, meetings, or events have taken place. We condemn in the strongest possible terms the UC’s failure to create a safe environment for Palestinian students and their supporters. For example, people at UCLA have been shoved, hit, spit on, called derogatory names and violently harassed by Zionist students.

This is another blatant lie. In my experiences attending both pro- and anti-Israel events, it is the opposite that is true. It is the pro-Palestinian bully boys (and girls) who are engaging in volatile behavior. I have never seen instances of Jewish/Zionist students attacking or bullying pro-Palestinian students. It is the Jewish students who need a safe environment from the thugs who created a hostile environment on campus. In contrast, I have seen so many efforts by Jewish students to dialogue with the pro-Palestinian students, only to be rebuffed.

As for the people who signed that letter, I am only familiar with one, William Robinson, a professor at UC Santa Barbara. Years ago, I heard him speak at UC Irvine. During the q and a, I told him that I did not consider him to be an educator, but rather an indoctrinator. He did not respond.

So what to do about our universities, places that produce such intellectual garbage as this? Yes, it is free speech, but it is our responsibility to expose and counter this speech with our own criticisms. In addition, there is a growing movement to take away funding from universities that will not protect our Jewish students and that produce such garbage as this. I support that movement. Those universities, which include the UC system, should have their public funding slashed drastically. Donors should stop giving millions of dollars to these institutions, which, in my opinion, have been corrupted by obscene sums of money over the years, not to mention funding from places like Saudi Arabia and Qatar to establish one-sided Middle East Studies departments, dedicated to spreading anti-US, anti-West, anti-Israel propaganda.

The events this month, both in Israel and here at home should teach us it is time to fight back against evil.

Italy: Politician Under Threat From Islamists

Silvia Sardone

We have previously written about Silvia Sardone of the conservative Lega party, who is a representative in the European Parliament. Sardone has spoken out frequently about the growing Islamization in Europe, and, as a result, is the target of numerous death threats. With the latest fighting in the Middle East between Israel and the terrorists of Hamas, she has received even more threats.

The below article from yesterday's Il Giornale is translated by Fousesquawk.

 https://www.ilgiornale.it/news/europa/continuer-essere-libera-sardone-sotto-scorta-minacce-degli-2230057.html

"I will continue to be free". Sardone under escort due to threats from Islamists

23 October 2023-12:46

Francesca Galici

The climate of tension in our country is palpable, and the escalation in the Middle East war has recently exacerbated the tensions. The consequences can be very grave, and it is for this that the anti-terrorism system is on alert. As the ministers have explained several times, at the moment, there are no specific threats in our country, but the risk that there exist lone wolves ready to strike sensitive and symbolic targets is very high. Among the targets, there are prominent political personalities, especially those who expose themselves by countering the spread of violent and supremacist Islam.  Among these, Silvia Sardone stands out, whose vulnerability increases considering the fact she is a member of the European Parliament and often travels between Brussels and Strasbourg.

She receives threats daily, many of these from people in the Muslim world residing in Italy. Particularly worrisome are those death (threats) directed at herself but also at her two children, especially in a historical moment as this. For this reason, considering the strong risk she is exposed to, now Silvia Sardone has been provided with an escort. "Obviously, for these extremists, it is particularly bothersome that it is a liberated woman expressing certain ideas, not oppressed and silent as many of them would like," explains the Euro-Parliamentarian in a note. The  Lega (party)  representative is often at the barricades and has no fear of expressing her positions on the Islamic veil, the Islamization of Europe, and illegal mosques.

"I have also recently reported the new death threats sent to me on social media and in the mail to the competent agencies. Notwithstanding the obvious worry in my family, I will continue to express my opinions freely, I will not back off of our values, which are put in danger from extremism," she declared, making it clear that the threats will not force her to self-censure, that it will not happen. "I firmly believe that in Europe, and also in Italy, there are dangers of radicalism and of a growing Islamization of our cities: In the face of an Islamism that is gaining strength, it is worrying that there is weak behavior, in particular, with the European institutions, which respond with do-goodism and political correctness," she added, stressing  the right of defense of local traditions at the expense of  substitution. For that reason, she concludes, "it is important to be present at the Lega demonstration Saturday, November 4 in Milan where we will be there to reiterate the values of liberty and democracy in the fight against terrorism, anti-Semitism, and Islamist fanaticism."

UC Davis Professor Under Investigation for Posting Threats Against Jews

It is hardly a surprise that the latest violence in the Middle East is bringing out the worst in US academia. Not only do we have obscene demonstrations in support of the butchers of Hamas, but various and sundry professors are also weighing in and bringing further disgrace to their respective campuses.

Now a University of California at Davis professor is under fire for reportedly posting messages on social media threatening Jewish reporters.

 https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/uc-davis-condemns-social-media-post-threatening-jewish-reporters-reportedly-made-by-professor/ar-AA1iA6lq

I appreciate that UCD Chancellor Gary May has condemned the comments attributed online to this professor. We will have to wait and see if this professor remains employed at UC Davis. I am also waiting to see if the campus newspaper, The California Aggie, covers this story,

Netherlands: Jewish Schoolchildren Suffering Threats and Bullying

This is a very disturbing article appearing this week in the Dutch daily, De Telegraaf. As anti-Semitism spreads worldwide by those who support the monsters of Hamas even after the horrific massacres carried out on October 7, Jewish children in the Netherlands are reporting being harassed. Some Jewish parents are already removing their children from public schools in favor of Jewish schools.

I am sure it is not Dutch schoolchildren who are making life miserable for their Jewish classmates. The Dutch are a tolerant people, who have a long history of giving refuge to Jews. This is clearly a problem of imported anti-Semitism, now common in virtually all Western European nations who have opened their doors to millions of people who have brought with them a hatred of Jews learned from childhood.

The below article is translated by Fousesquawk.

 https://www.telegraaf.nl/nieuws/1005129533/cjo-joodse-kinderen-bedreigd-en-van-school-gepest

"No words for what is now happening"

CJO: Jewish children threatened and bullied from school

Vincent Lengkeek

 Updated today 01:43, yesterday 22:18 in Domestic

Amsterdam- Jewish children are being threatened and bullied now that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has flared up. Dozens of parents have held discussions about transferring to one of the three Jewish schools in Amsterdam-Buitenveldert, reports the Central Jewish Management. The organization speaks of a "troubling trend".

"Six children have already made the change this week," says Chairman Chanan Hertzberger, Thursday to De Telegraaf. "We hope this won't become common, and we ask for action from the government. This is not just Amsterdam, but rather a national problem. That children must leave their school because they are threatened. I have no words for it. At least in France, they are taking tough action against it."

According to the CJO, the Jewish community in the Netherlands is devastated by the "lack of support" from society after the bloody terror attack by Hamas last week in southern Israel and the anti-Semitic reaction to Jews abroad. "That one cannot make the distinction between Israel and Jews. A  schism has arisen: You are for or against. This is how it gets completely out of hand."

The CJO is unhappy with the action of Rotterdam city council members over a motion on Jew-hatred. According to Hertzberger, the news that the motion failed to pass hit the Jewish community like a shock. "Just that such a motion is necessary, but that several parties subsequently decided to walk away....We find it unbelievable."

Jew-hatred

Last week, anti-Semitic actions took place in Madrid, London, and Paris, among others, such as the smashing of windows in a kosher restaurant or the defacing of a synagogue. Jewish institutions were more closely monitored on the streets by security services. In France, after the massacre by Hamas, dozens of anti-Semitic incidents took place, said the Minister of Interior, Gerald Darmanin earlier.

On Thursday, the Israel Center for Information and Documentation criticized the role of some Dutch media this week after an explosion at a hospital in Gaza, likely by a Palestinian rocket. That led the same evening to protests in various cities, such as in the Hague, a couple of hundred people went to the Israeli embassy. "Police had to be deployed to guard the entrance of the embassy to ensure that protesters did not storm the embassy, as they did in Jordan."

Campus Anti-Semitism: More Dangerous Now Than Ever

This article first appeared in Times of Israel Blogs.

The world has been shocked by the horrific attack by Hamas upon Israeli civilians, including women and children, even babies slaughtered in their own homes by terrorists from Gaza. Shockingly, Western countries have witnessed demonstrations in support of Hamas. In the US, pro-Hamas rallies have taken place in New York City, Cambridge, Massachusetts, and other cities including most notably, many of our college campuses.

It should hardly be surprising that campuses across the nation are seeing demonstrations of support for the Hamas murderers, calling it "legitimate resistance". As if cutting off the heads of babies, and burning people alive are acts of "legitimate resistance."

Leading the way in these obscene demonstrations is Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), a nationwide organization of students dedicated to the destruction of the Jewish state. Co-founded by UC Berkeley professor, Hatem Bazian, this organization uses brown-shirt tactics of bullying of Jewish students and disruptions of pro-Israel events on campus to get their message across. 

For over two decades, the pro-Palestinian movement on college campuses has been proceeding without pause. Aside from criticizing Israel, which everyone agrees, is free speech, these anti-Israel organizations and their invited speakers have all too often crossed the line into vicious anti-Jewish screeds invoking ancient anti-Jewish tropes as part of their argument that Israel is oppressing Palestinians and stealing their land.

In my experience teaching part-time at the University of California at Irvine Extension, I have personally witnessed anti-Israel events on campus where Jews were attacked as a people. I attended numerous speaking appearances by Oakland-based imam Amir Abdel Malik Ali, where he would call various prominent individuals, "Zionist Jews" literally spitting out the words. In 2008, during the annual anti-Israel week of events sponsored by the UC Irvine Muslim Student Union (MSU), I personally saw a cartoon caricature of former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon as a bloodthirsty cannibal with stereotyped Jewish physical features, hooked nose, thick lips, etc.

I was personally present in 2010 when the Muslim Student Union loudly disrupted a speaking appearance on campus by then-Israeli Ambassador to the US, Michael Oren. In the wake of MSU's suspension (reduced from one year to one quarter by the retiring Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs), SJP formed a chapter on the UCI campus. Over the years, I have personally witnessed disruptions of pro-Israel events by this vile organization. I could go on and on. These incidents have been occurring regularly on college campuses across the nation for over two decades. Meanwhile, university administrations uniformly hide under their desks while their Jewish students are bullied and intimidated.

Back in 2007, a group of concerned Jewish residents of Orange County, California formed an organization, the Orange Country Independent Task Force on Anti-Semitism,  to deal with complaints of pro-Palestinian-inspired anti-Semitism at UC Irvine. That was a period when the US Department of Education, Office of Civil Rights was investigating the university based on these same complaints from Jewish students. The above task force issued a report that contained a list of recommendations. Since then, many of the faces have changed at UC Irvine, but the points are still applicable today. 

For years, I have been saying that the focal point of the resurgence in anti-Semitism in the US has been on our college campuses. Now it has metastasized into society at large, and it is primarily speared by the well-oiled, well-organized, well-financed pro-Palestinian movement, which has joined in a marriage of convenience with the radical left in America. And now it has come full circle. At a time when all these pro-Palestinian voices in the US should be hiding under a rock in shame at what Hamas has done, they are back in full force on our campuses. Just this week, we have seen people at Harvard, the University of Virginia, Columbia, UCLA, the University of California at Santa Cruz, the University of California at Irvine, and many others singing the Hamas tune with the asinine chants accusing Israel of genocide and killing babies (how ironic!) The list of campuses is sure to grow. This has been widely publicized and has outraged and shocked most decent people in this country. They should be outraged.

But they should not be shocked. This is where it all started-on our college campuses. For too long now, it has been tolerated by weak-kneed or sympathetic administrators, often harried by leftist professors who side against Israel, to say nothing about propagandistic Middle East Studies departments, largely funded by places like Saudi Arabia and Qatar.  Our universities have tolerated intolerance in the name of tolerance. 

Another important aspect of the problem has been the lack of fortitude by many major national Jewish organizations who have been unwilling to confront the largely Muslim forces harassing Jewish students. The Anti-Defense League has largely been missing in action, as has been Hillel and many chapters of the Jewish Federation. They have chosen to keep a low profile, and in the case of the Jewish Federation of Orange County, have attacked members of their own community including students who have chosen to speak out about the problem. Again, I have seen this first-hand in the case of UC Irvine. In contrast, other Jewish organizations like the Zionist Organization of America, Stand With Us, the Amcha Initiative, and the Louis D Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law have consistently stepped to the plate and supported Jewish students while pointing out instances of campus anti-Semitism.

With all due respect, now is not a time for candlelight vigils. It is a time to stand behind Israel and hope that this time they destroy Hamas in Gaza once and for all. I take no pleasure in seeing civilians in Gaza City living under Israeli bombing, but it has now become unavoidable. Even now, Israel is trying as they have in the past, to limit civilian casualties, issuing warnings to evacuate. Not even the US and UK did that in World War II with Germany and Japan, but we were fighting for our survival as Israel is today.

But at home, we must stand with our Jewish fellow citizens and our Jewish students. And we must stand against barbarism even as some of our population chooses to use their freedom of speech to support evil.

In addition, universities, at least public universities, should be put on notice that if they cannot or will not support and protect Jewish students, they risk losing public funding. That should become a reality.

We have now witnessed evil in its purest form. But aside from the conflict in the Middle East, there is support for that evil on our own shores. Once again, our universities are playing a disgraceful role. That evil in academia must be confronted and exposed. Not only that, but our Jewish students must be protected. The universities have demonstrated time and time again they are unable or unwilling to protect Jewish students. 

Years ago, I warned the administrators of UC Irvine and the leaders of the UC system as a whole that one day, we would witness a strategy on one of our campuses as a result of this problem. I pray it won't happen, but the possibility of it happening is now closer than ever. 

Germany: Excellent Editorial by Editor of Berliner Morgenpost

It has been a difficult week in Berlin since the infamous attack upon innocent civilians in Israel. There have been pro-Hamas demonstrations with rocks thrown at police (subsequent demonstrations in Berlin have been banned in the interest of public safety), Stars of David were painted on the front doors of Jewish residents, and last night, Molotov cocktails were thrown at a synagogue in Berlin.

Today, Jörg Quoos, the. Editor of Berliner Morgenpost, has written an excellent editorial in which he calls on his fellow citizens to defend their Jewish fellow citizens. He also points the finger of blame for the Jew hatred largely where it belongs.

The article is translated by Fousesquawk.

https://www.morgenpost.de/berlin/article239833491/Synagogenanschlag-jetzt-sind-wir-alle-gefordert.html

Caption: Jörg Quoos. Editor of Berliner Morgenpost

Synagogue attack in Berlin: Now we are all challenged

Jews in Berlin can no longer feel safe. We must all stand up against hate, Jörg Quoos demands 

First, there were hateful words. Then apartment doors smeared with the Star of David. Now the first incendiary devices thrown at a synagogue.

Since the Hamas attack on the population of Israel, the security situation for Jews in Berlin has worsened. Real- but also emotional, which is no less bad after the experiences Jews in Germany have had to go through. 

It is right to forbid further hate demonstrations

Only the ignorant could overlook that this is a giant problem with open, dangerous Jew-hatred, which not only the State, but the entire civil society must stand against with all its weight. Justice, police, interior authorities, and not least, the governing mayor have so far made their stance clear. It is right to ban further hate demonstrations because only hate and violence, not peace come from them. But more police will not prevent the climate for our Jewish fellow citizens from becoming harsher and more dangerous.

In a metropolis like Berlin, it is not possible to provide security in every square meter. The police are already working overtime to guarantee security for Jewish institutions. It is up to all of us to give Jews in public life a feeling of safety. Rabbi Yehuda Teichtal, in an interview with Berliner Morgenpost, describes it well: "When the majority is silent, that has consequences for the reality of Jewish people in Germany".

Uncomfortable truths must not be ignored

If the security of Israel, as the chancellor says, is a raison d'etre, then it is also true for the safety of Jews on German soil. And the State is the citizens. Every individual can do something. For example, showing solidarity at vigils and demonstrations. Contradicting tasteless jokes. Contradicting when crude conspiracy theories at the cost of Jews flood social media. Contradicting when barbaric murder attacks against civilians are rhetorically placed at the level with hard military reaction. Contradict when a politician pretends that illegal migration in the last few years has nothing to do with creating security problems.

Caption: Police vehicles in front of synagogue on Rykestrasse in Prenzlauer Berg (Berlin)

It is a fact that Jews in Germany feel threatened by many groups of Arab origin, who have brought their Jew hatred when they arrived here. Yes, we should not form a general suspicion in these cases, in this, the (federal) president is right. After all, it was a right-wing German extremist who, in 2019 wanted to carry out mass murder at the synagogue in Halle. But we must look at each case in detail and without prejudice, and we cannot ignore uncomfortable truths just because they, perhaps, do not fit our worldview.

Civil courage of all is needed

It is easy to recognize in which Berlin districts Jews and the state of Israel encounter the greatest hate. It is the areas in which for years, a parallel society has been built, notable not only for Jew hatred but also for a mountain of additional problems for the police. The laxity that several Berlin governments is responsible for is taking a toll.

It is possible that the coming days will be decisive for the Jews in Germany and the whole world. It depends on our own civil courage that the "days of unprecedented anger" find no innocent victims.

The "Energizer" at Cornell

Hat tip Campus Reform

Cornell University professor Russell Rickford told a group of students this week that he was "exhilarated" and "energized" at seeing the Hamas attack on Israel. Campus Reform has the video.

This is what's teaching our kids, Folks. This "exhilaration" is going on all over the country. Personally, I was not energized or exhilarated by what Hamas did to all those innocent men, women, and children. I was sickened. I was horrified by the sheer inhumanity of it all. I am also sickened by the response of Rickford to these atrocities.

*Update: 

Here is how the campus newspaper, Cornell Daily Sun, reported the story.

The Cornell Review is an independent conservative campus newspaper at Cornell. Here is how they reported this story.

A Stanford Professor Did What???!!!

Of all the outrages coming out of our campuses in the wake of Hamas's infamous attack upon Israeli civilians, a professor from Stanford, Ameer Hasan Loggins, has taken the cake. It is reported that he singled out Jewish students and told them to go stand in a corner!

 https://freebeacon.com/latest-news/stanford-instructor-told-jewish-students-to-stand-in-corner-like-israel-does-to-palestinians-report/

And they complied???

If I had been in that classroom, I would have told that *%#^* to try and put me in a corner.

I guess now we know how Colin Kaepernick went off the rails.

Seriously, I hope Stanford terminates this guy for the sake of their own reputation.

Belgium: Police Kill Terrorist

Abdesalem Lassoued

 Below is a partial translation from the French-language Belgian daily, 7 sure 7, describing how police in Brussels found the man who shot two Swedish football fans to death the previous evening.

The suspect was identified as a Tunisian national, Abdesalem Lassoued, an illegal migrant, who was previously known to them. He was located in a cafe in the Schaerbeek district of Brussels. Upon being confronted by police, Lassoued reportedly drew his weapon and was killed by police.

Translation is by  Fousesquawk.

https://www.7sur7.be/belgique/le-recit-dune-chasse-a-l-homme-comment-abdesalem-lassoued-a-ete-neutralise~a95e6582/

According to a Brussels correspondent for the British Sky News, Lassoued was recognized around 8 in the morning as he was seated on a bus in the center of Schaerbeek. He reportedly took refuge  in a coffee shop in Schaerbeek, At that time, he still had his weapon on him, as well as a bag of clothes. The coffee shop is located less than three kilometers from the place where he perpetrated a massacre a few hours earlier.

He calmly entered the cafe. A short time later, police managed to neutralize him. He was reportedly recognized by a young man, according to sources close to the investigation. The customer was in doubt and called his father to get confirmation. The (father) calmly went out to signal a police patrol.  The police entered the coffee shop and indeed saw that Lassoued was sitting calmly at a table. He drew his weapon. The police neutralized him at 7:52 with a shot before he could (fire at them).