Faculty Lunacy at UC Berkeley: The Latest Manifesto

This article first appeared in New English Review.

The Daily Californian, the campus paper of UC Berkeley, for years, has been full of nonsense. Today is no exception. I am cross-posting an op-ed from something called, "Faculty for Justice in Palestine". In this piece (in which organizations are signees, no individual names are published), we see the standard talking points supporting the Palestinian cause and condemning Israel with the tired old accusations of genocide.

I am cross-posting the article not to help spread their propaganda, rather to show the readers just how silly it is. The language used suggests to me that it was actually written by a group of students, perhaps even graduate students, while their professors/indoctrinators are busy doing research, you know.

I am cross-posting this not to help spread their propaganda but rather to show the readers what nonsense is being peddled here by "Faculty". I have chosen several passages (in italics) with my responses.

"The purpose of this letter, and our coalition, is to break the silence that has fallen over the UC Berkeley campus since the start of Israel’s war on the Palestinian people — interrupted only by student teach-ins, actions and vigils."

Silence??!! Ever since Israel responded to the horrific attacks of October 7 (only mentioned twice in passing above), the UC Berkeley campuses and campuses have seen and heard little else but pro-Palestinian protests. What are they talking about? The only silence has been their silence as to what Hamas did to over 1,200 innocent Israeli civilians on October 7. 

"Together we are calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and an end to this genocide. We stand in solidarity with the campaign for campus divestment from the financial structures that support the current war machine. And we seek to defend our common rights to free speech and academic freedom while resisting the criminalization of public protest against these crimes on U.S. college campuses and around the world." 

Ceasefire? Did they call for Hamas to cease their atrocities of October 7? Did the US call for a cease-fire against Japan on December 8, 1941? What did they expect Israel to do after October 7- ask for the UN to approve a resolution condemning Hamas and demanding the release of over 200 hostages? Good luck with that.

Free speech and academic freedom? It's all we have seen on campus after campus including UCB since Israel responded against Hamas. Criminalization? Has anybody actually been arrested on campus for screaming, "from the river to the sea"? If anyone is being arrested, it is for illegal acts committed while protesting, like blocking access to major airports in New York and Los Angeles. You can scream "from the river to the sea" all you want, and others like myself will criticize it and point out what it is calling for-which is our right. 

"Israel’s attack on Gaza constitutes a deliberate and acknowledged act of genocide — a second Nakba — committed against the Palestinian people by the Zionist state. The heavy bombardment and use of banned chemical weapons, paired with ground assaults in Gaza and the West Bank, have killed more than 15,000 Palestinian civilians as of Dec. 2."

This talk of genocide is absurd. Over the course of the last several decades, the Palestinian population has exploded. Where is the genocide? As for the civilian deaths in Gaza, I take no pleasure in seeing civilians killed in war. I have been to Hiroshima, and it was a sobering experience. Visiting Pearl Harbor was also a sobering experience. What is not mentioned in the op-ed, is the long-documented fact that Hamas deliberately fights from behind its own civilians. They actually prefer to see their civilians killed so they can show the international press how "evil" Israel is. Hamas even sets up its fighters and rocket launchers in schools, hospitals, and mosques. Israel, on the other hand, makes great effort to limit civilian casualties, even warning them to evacuate certain buildings that are about to be hit. Did the Allies do that with Germany and Japan in World War 2? No. We were fighting for our survival, just as Israel is fighting for its survival, and attempting to force our enemies to surrender. As for the 15,000 Palestinian civilians killed (as of December 2), that number no doubt includes the Hamas fighters (terrorists), who are the true targets.

"The Israeli government has deliberately and knowingly committed war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza. Before Oct. 7, Gaza had been under military siege since 2007, during which it had been bombed repeatedly by Israel. This siege has now escalated radically, with Israel cutting off all water, food, power and fuel to the Gaza strip. This blockade has been followed by the systematic targeting of Palestinian civilian infrastructure, including the bombing of hospitals, ambulances, mosques, churches, schools, community centers, bakeries, orphanages, refugee camps and the Islamic University of Gaza."  

Above is the first of two passing mentions of October 7! War crimes? Apparently, fighting back is a war crime according to the learned "faculty". Repeated bombings by Israel? That has occurred after  Hamas has launched rockets into Israel, usually from the very schools, hospitals, refugee camps, etc that the op-ed lists.

"This genocide is being carried out with nearly the full support of the United States government, including President Joe Biden and his collaborators in Congress. The U.S. government offers diplomatic and public backing for this genocide while using U.S. tax dollars to deliver weapons, military intelligence and direct military support to Israel. UC Berkeley is also complicit in this genocide through itsextensive investments in both Israeli companies and select defense contractors who are profiting off of war: Boeing, BlackRock, Lockheed Martin, RTX (formerly known as Raytheon), Northrop Grumman and General Dynamics. The blood of Palestinian people is on the hands of the U.S. government and leaders, and especially on those in the UC system who remain silent." 

This is typical hysterical language of the academic left. Yes, the US is Israel's ally, and we need make no apologies for that. It is right that we should supply them with military aid. That has been our policy over decades ever since 1948. Then the language really gets hysterical with mention of investments with Israel (Can you say '"BDS"?). The UC system, for all its faults, does not have the blood of Palestinians on its hands. That blood is on the hands of Hamas.

"University campuses across the nation have failed to defend free speech and academic freedom by criminalizing protests against this genocide, firing academics who publicly oppose this war and banning Arab, Muslim, Palestinian and Jewish student groups who speak up and organize for peace. Leadership at UC Berkeley has created a hostile environment for free speech by uncritically signing on to an irresponsible and inaccurate statement that legitimates the Zionist resort to violence by ignoring the historical context of the ongoing Israeli colonization of Palestine. The UC Berkeley administration has furthermore failed to protect Arab, Muslim and Palestinian students who are being harassed, doxxed and attacked on campus". 

Yes, they have failed to protect free speech for decades, but it is supporters of Israel, conservatives, etc who have had their free speech rights taken away. How many pro-Israel speakers/events have been disrupted by Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), etc? The disrupters are the very people who are crying foul now. Their words have not been criminalized, only when they resort to vandalism, denial of free speech rights for others, and/or assaults does anybody ever get charged-and all too rarely.  

"As faculty, students, academic workers and staff at UC Berkeley in solidarity with Palestine, we are committed to centering the Palestinian struggle for freedom and justice on campus. We will strive to expand the syllabi we use to teach to include coverage and representation of Palestinian history, arts and culture within the context of settler colonialism, anti-colonial struggles and decolonization. We will continue to organize teach-ins on a regular basis from a Palestinian viewpoint. We are committed to supporting the call for boycott, divestment and sanctions — in particular from the UC’s investments in Israeli-affiliated corporations and the military industrial complex. We will fight fear and silencing by supporting each other across campus in our different roles as faculty, students and staff."

I cringe every time I see that phrase about "standing in solidarity with....". It is instructive that here they admit proudly that they will use their classrooms to indoctrinate students to their point of view. They support BDS against Israel. (I wonder with what other countries they support BDS-Iran? North Korea? Sudan? Russia?) Hardly.

And here come the demands:

"We demand the campus take no action to suppress any student groups who exercise their freedom of speech and assembly to raise public awareness of an ongoing genocide;"

Such expressions have never been suppressed on campus. Much worse, when the voices of pro-Israel speakers are disrupted by people like SJP/Muslim Student Association etc, disciplinary action of any consequence is hardly ever taken. 

"We insist that the university’s leadership ensures UC Berkeley is a place where all Arab, Muslim and Palestinian students, faculty and staff can thrive;"

How about Jewish students, College Republicans, etc?

"We urge the UC Berkeley administration to expand access to sufficient, noncarceral, culturally responsive, and trauma-informed counseling and mental health support for students facing anti-Palestinian, anti-Arab, and Islamophobic racism;" 

What, are the poor snowflakes upset that people criticize them for supporting Hamas, for their disruptions, and tactics of intimidation against others? Pass the handkerchiefs.

"We demand that the academic freedom that faculty and all academic workers have in their classrooms be respected;"

Yes, the freedom of professors and their teaching assistants to indoctrinate our youth in the classroom.

"Conclusion"

And here comes the Intersectionality

"How many Americans in the 1890s opposed the war on the Sioux or Lakota? How many more might have anticipated future federal orders to return Native American remains to their ancestors, let alone the campus’ reliance upon “Land Acknowledgement” to address the history of indigenous genocide and settler colonialism? Who besides the free speech activists themselves in the early 1960s would have anticipated that a movement the administration attempted to crush with police violence would become the primary brand recognition of UC Berkeley? How many in the 1980s who saw a growing shanty town constructed on Sproul Plaza as unsightly and unscholarly would have imagined the UC’s eventual divestment from South Africa and the impending fall of Apartheid?" 

South Africa? Apartheid? The Sioux and Lakota? Police violence in the 1960s? Who would have imagined?

And finally.....

"As so today, in which there is a growing global movement that stands against these ongoing atrocities in Palestine which are only an episode in the longer colonization of Palestine. Students and the youth across the globe already understand this horror to be the singular moral crisis of our time. This is why you have seen, and will continue to see, unprecedented protests in support of Palestine and Palestinians on our campus and across the world. We ask our friends and colleagues to look honestly and think carefully about what is happening in Gaza right now, not just on Oct. 7. When the history of this genocide, and the wider war it threatens to ignite, is finally written, where will you have stood?"

Here we have the second-and final reference to October 7. Yet as the writers speak of the "atrocities" in Palestine (committed allegedly by Israelis), there is no listing of the Hamas atrocities of October 7. Not one word about the 200+ plus young people attacked at a music festival and slaughtered, raped, and/or kidnapped back to Gaza. Not one word about families slaughtered in their homes. Not one word about babies beheaded and/ or placed in ovens to burn. Not one word about the 200+ hostages taken to Gaza, many of whom have died in captivity. Not one word about the 1,200+ Israelis murdered on October 7. Did the feminist signers of this letter have one word to say about all the Israeli women and girls who were tortured, raped, and murdered? Not one frickin word.

And when the final history is written, where will I have stood? With Israel-not with the murderous butchers of Hamas and its ignorant supporters on US campuses like UC Berkeley.

Sweden and (Parental) Child Abductions

Swedish State Television (SVT) has been conducting an investigation into the problem of children being removed from Sweden by one of their parents in a custody dispute and being kept in the country of origin of one or both parents. These countries are primarily Somalia and Iraq, but other countries in the Middle East are also mentioned. For the parent left behind in Sweden, the process is long and difficult in trying to recover their child. The below article in SVT is translated by Fousesquawk. There are 5 videos in the article (translation pending).

 https://www.svt.se/nyheter/inrikes/granskning-minst-916-barn-har-forts-ut-ur-sverige

Caption below top video: There are no national statistics on the number of children who are abducted or detained in another country. But SVT's survey shows that it is approximately 916 children during a five-year period. In the video, reporter Sarah Ibrahim explains what the cases are about. Photo:SVT

Examination: At least 916 children have been taken out of Sweden.

Updated March 26, 2023. Posted March 18, 2023.

At least 916 children have been taken out of Sweden during a five-year period. Over 400 children have been taken to countries with which Sweden has a developed cooperation under the Hague Convention, but there is still a large problem when a child is detained, SVT's continuing investigation on child abduction shows.

"I want more people to know that this can happen," says Lara, who was able to get her children back home when the father kept them in a custody dispute in Turkey.

The majority of abductions happen within an honor-related context. Children are taken on "educational trips" or to be married off, or for genital mutilation. Last year almost half of the honor-related cases were to Somalia and Iraq. But more and more of the cases involve custody disputes. Most of the children are taken to countries where the Hague Convention does not apply. (In that case), Sweden has little possibility of getting the child back.

Hala's daughter was one of these children. She was taken to Jordan by her father when she was 8 years old. In a few months, the daughter will be 18 and will marry.

Hear Hala tell about her daughter's abduction in the video clip below. Here are parts of the investigation in Arabic.

Caption below video: "I wish I could hug her before I die." Photo: Sara Kosar/SVT

Many abducted (children) involved in custody disputes

To try and get children back is not only difficult and time-consuming, but it is also costly. Rasoul's 3-year-old daughter was kidnapped by her mother around Christmas 2016. Rasoul had just won a long custody dispute and gotten sole custody of the child. Then her mother decided to take the child to her native Morocco.

"Hope that she will come back never disappears," says Rasoul. But after 18 trips to Morocco and hundreds of thousands of kronors that went to lawyers and private detectives, he has had to temporarily pause the search.

Hear him tell about the fight to get his daughter back in the video clip below.

Caption below video:

In the apartment, there are many traces of the daughter, her toys are still there like the Christmas present she was supposed to get from Rasoul's sister for Christmas 2016. Photo: Urban Ermling/SVT

Half of the children got no protection-despite requests for travel bans

A tool social services have to try and stop children from being abducted is the law on travel bans. Only one-half of children, however, have received protection when social services sought a travel ban since the law came into effect in 2021, SVT's examination shows.

Caption below video: Hear parts of the telephone conversation that was recorded. Voices have been altered. Photo: Sara Cosar/SVT

The new law didn't help Sandra's children who were taken to Saudi Arabia when they were one and three years old despite (the fact) that she had expressed her worry about that even before (their) birth.

"If only someone had reported their concern, then I might have understood how dangerous the situation was, " she says.

The hospital never reported to social services although they wrote in their files that they should. When Sandra then asked for protection for her other two children, they too did not get a travel ban.

Hear her tell about missing her children in the video clip below.

Only a third come back

More than 400 have been taken to countries with which Sweden has developed cooperation under the Hague Convention, but it is still a big problem when a child is detained, SVT's continuing examination on child abductions shows. But it is getting easier. 

Caption beneath photo: Anna and her sisters remain stuck in Turkey after a vacation trip with their father. Hear the family tell about their fight to get them home in the feature. Photo:SVT

"I want more people to know that this can happen," says Lara, who managed to get her children home when the father kept them in a custody dispute in Turkey. There may be a different legal system in other countries, where the can more easily have sole custody. But help is available.

 

California: Gov. Newsom Signs Critical Race Theory Bill for Calif. Schools

"Jews not wanted" in German

It is hardly surprising. California's woke governor, Gavin Newsom, having waited until he survived a recall vote, has now signed California's version of Critical Race Theory that will result in this divisive and false theory being taught to California schoolchildren.

In spite of letters and petitions from outraged parents and Jewish groups who foresaw an increase in anti-Semitism in California schools (Features of this bill would teach that Israel is oppressing Palestinians and that Jews are merely nothing more than "privileged whites"-thus, "oppressors".). So now, in addition to the myriad of anti-Semitic problems that reign on California university campuses, Jewish students in secondary schools will now be exposed to additional harassment. 

And make no mistake: The California Teachers Union supported this measure, and now their more "woke" members will be able to spread their poison against white students and Jewish students just as Palestinian-supporting professors/students do on our university campuses. 

My friend and colleague, Tammi Rossman-Benjamin of the AMCHA Initiative, who lobbied hard against this measure, has an article breaking the bad news.

Biden: Old, Tired, Befuddled and Defeated

 

I don't know how much longer they can keep putting Joe Biden out there to face the cameras in the wake of this mess in Afghanistan. Today, hours after the suicide bombing that has left at least 13 Americans dead, as well as some 60 Afghan civilians, including children, Biden finally came out to speak. He looked old, tired, befuddled, and defeated. It was a pitiful performance. Even when he promised to track down the people responsible (ISIS), he spoke without energy.

Then, toward the end, he inappropriately lightened up for some inexplicable reason. When he called on Peter Doocey of Fox, knowing he was going to finally get a hardball, he referred to him as "the most interesting guy I know in the press" (probably forgetting his name). Then, when Doocey threw out the hardball question about how much responsibility he bore, the President turned defensive, lowering his head and at one point resting it on his hands with his elbows on the podium The image has gone out worldwide and will be the final, lasting image of Joe Biden. Long after this catastrophic presidency has ended, this will be Biden's legacy.

I have predicted from the start that, given Biden's cognitive decline, he will not be able to finish his presidency. At this point, I wonder if he will be able to last through the end of 2021. The problem is that we have Kamala Harris waiting in the wings, a woman who has as much business being president as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. God help us.

God help the world.

Germany: Kristallnacht 2021

Hat tip Journalisten Watch. Translation by Fousesquawk. 

Hof

The German town of Hof is located in Upper Franconia (Bavaria) on what was the border between East and West Germany during the Cold War when Germany was divided. Today it is in the news for other reasons. In May, a shop selling Israeli products was vandalized. Now two Syrians are charged with smashing the store's window. According to police, they have confessed that they did it for anti-Semitic reasons.

In the below article, Journalisten Watch asks where are the voices of Germany's politicians? This latter-day Kristallnacht was not carried out by pot-bellied German thugs in brown khaki uniforms. It was allegedly done by two of Angela Merkel's imports who brought their age-old Jew-hatred with them from the Middle East to Germany.

https://www.journalistenwatch.com/2021/07/14/syrer-attacke-israel/

Syrians commit anti-Semitic attack on Israel-shop, politicians keep their hypocritical silence

July 14, 2021

Where is the outcry from hypocrites like Maas,*Baerbock, Roth, and the like? Two "youths" reportedly smashed the window of an Israel store in Hof out of anti-Jewish motives.

After the window of a business (selling) Israeli cultural goods was destroyed in the inner city of Hof at the end of May, police wondered if it could have been a politically motivated act. In an interview with BR (BR 24 News in Bavaria), the operator of the shop ruled out an accident since there were no traces of such. He called it deliberate property damage, which, according to BR, because of recent "escalation of the Israel-Palestinian conflict", meaning here from the public news sender, BR, the attack by the terror organization Hamas upon Israel could have motivated the attack by the perpetrators.

Now it is clear who was (involved), who was motivated here, and who let their Jew-hatred have free rein. Two 17-year-old Syrians of Palestinian origin, according to the police, confessed to smashing the window of the 33-year-old business for anti-Semitic reasons. As Bild reported, the two imported anti-Semites only expected a charge of property damage. Their anti-Semitic action will presumably, as has previously happened, be classified as "right-wing violence".

From (Foreign Minister) Heiko Maas, (Green Party politician) Claudia Roth, and other allegedly Jew-hatred-fighting verbal heroes, thus far, there is not a single word said about the incident.

* Annalena Baerbock (Green-Alliance90 politician)

The Mocro-Mafia Connection to the Amsterdam Shooting of a Journalist

Peter R. de Vries

Aside from mere speculation, there is now a link possibly connecting the shooting of the Dutch crime reporter, Peter R. de Vries with the Moroccan Mafia, based in the Netherlands. The suspected shooter is reportedly a first cousin of another Mocro-Mafia member currently in Dutch prison. 

This information was first published by the Dutch newspaper, De Telegraaf. However, since they have a subscriber firewall to this report, we are translating a similar report from the German newspaper, Frankfurter Allgemeine. The translation is by Fousesquawk.

As of today, de Vries is still in critical condition.

 https://www.faz.net/aktuell/anschlag-auf-de-vries-neue-spur-fuehrt-zu-drogenboss-ridouan-taghi-17429758.html

New trail leads to Radouan Taghi's circle

Delano G. is believed to have shot Peter R. de Vries. He is related to a man who reportedly planned contract killings for drug boss Radouan Taghi. After a prison sentence, Delano G. tried his hand as a rapper.

By Thomas Gutschker, Brussels- Updated July 9, 2021 at 11:38

In the case of the murder attempt on journalist Peter R. de Vries, there is a first lead in the circle surrounding the drug dealer Ridouan Taghim, who, due to several contract murders, is on trial in Amsterdam. As the newspaper, De Telegraaf" reports, one of the two suspects arrested by police is related to a convicted offender, who comes from Taghi's circle. The arrested (person) is 21-year-old Delano G., (who) allegedly shot and critically wounded the crime reporter on Tuesday. Delano G. is, according to the newspaper report, a first cousin of Jaouad W., who, in 2019, was sentenced to 13 years in prison.

Jaouad W. was tried in the so-called 26Koper proceedings. This criminal trial concerned the preparation for contract murders in the area of organized crime. Five defendants were sentenced to long prison terms, among them, W. In 2015, they were found in possession of more than 100 firearms, hand grenades, and stolen vehicles. Based on (intercepted) conversations and decoded messages, the Amsterdam Appeals Court concluded that the defendants had the firm intention of killing several people. Previously, the District Court in Utrecht had imposed lesser sentences because they viewed the death plans as not been sufficiently proven. Taghi, at the time, was not one of the defendants, but since then, decoded messages indicate that he was the head of the gang.

As the newspaper, Volkskrant, reports, Delano G. committed two thefts as a youngster and five residential break-ins, all in Tiel (Gelderland Province), where he grew up.  He was sentenced to a prison term of ten months for this and for a violent crime. After his release, he founded a music label and released a rap song. In it, it says that he is "on the rampage because I am sick of the crisis". At the end of the day, it is above all, "money that we smell". Acquaintances told the newspaper that the man reportedly fell into the drug milieu. Delano G. and the second suspect, Kamil E.- he reportedly drove the getaway car-will be brought before the judge this Friday.

Peter R. de Vries was a confidant of prosecution witness Nabil B. in the so-called Marengo Trial against Radouan Taghi. The brother and the lawyer of the witness were already murdered, which commentators attributed to a campaign of revenge by Taghi. The drug dealer, born in Morocco, along with 16 other defendants, must answer for 6 other contract murders. He was arrested in Dubai in 2019 and delivered to the Netherlands. The second principal defendant in the trial, Said R., is soon to be delivered to the Netherlands. He was arrested in Medellin at the beginning of 2020, (and) on Thursday, the Highest Court in Colombia approved his extradition. Said R. was reportedly the "right-hand man" and the one who selected and trained personnel for the contract murders. 

Is the Administration Ignoring Persecution of Christians by Muslims?

Hat tip Jihad Watch


John L Allen, author of a 2013 book on the plight of Christians worldwide, is taking our State Department to task based on their 2014 human rights abuse report which appears to downgrade the importance of religious persecution.


http://www.jihadwatch.org/2015/06/author-state-department-guilty-of-ignoring-muslim-persecution-of-christians


If true, this would confirm my long-held suspicion that this administration and its State Department are all but ignoring the on-going persecution of Christians who live in Muslim-majority countries.

Today, I also received an update about the on-going plight of a Pakistani Christian woman named Asia Bibi, currently imprisoned and facing a death sentence on what appears to be trumped up charges of blasphemy (as if any charge of blaspheming a religion merits imprisonment and death).

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2015/06/29/support-builds-for-ailing-pakistani-christian-facing-death-for-drinking-from/?intcmp=latestnews

Of course, we never know what kind of diplomacy is on-going behind the scenes, but if you look at results, they appear to be few and far between. (One notable exception was the release of a Sudanese Christian woman last year whose husband was an American citizen.)

What we see is a constant stream of Somalis and now Syrians being brought to the US. How many are Christians from Syria or Iraq? We don't know. Suffice to say, while I support giving Arab Christians asylum, I consider bringing tens of thousands of Muslims to the US as a danger given the fact that we are regularly reading of arrests of US-based Muslims assisting ISIS and also given the fact that ISIS is regularly calling on their followers in the US to strike us. Does that mean that many deserving Muslims would be denied entry? Of course, but damn it! We are talking about the safety of of our own people. We can never forget the example of the accursed Tsarnaev family, supposed refugees from Daghestan. We don't need any more bombs going off on our streets. We don't need any more people going off to join ISIS  and return bent on massacring our own people on our own soil.

What this country and the rest of the Western countries desperately need is sensible leaders who understand the threat and are prepared to offer refuge to those most in need-which in this case are the Christian minorities who are being persecuted and killed by Muslims. Those who pose a risk of harming us should be excluded.