Germany: Schools Are a Mess Due to Migrants

The conservative German blog, Journalisten Watch, has an article this week on the state of German schools having to deal with the mass migration of mostly Muslim migrants. Normal school operations have been destroyed, behavioral problems abound, and teachers and administrators feel their hands are tied. Please note in the translation below the reference to "imported anti-Semitism", a term being increasingly used around Europe. The implication for Jewish schoolchildren is obvious. This will go down as another legacy of former Chancellor Angela Merkel, who opened the floodgates to refugees and migrants in 2015. 

The article is translated by Fousesquawk.

 https://journalistenwatch.com/2023/12/08/deutschlands-schulen-brutstaetten-der-islamisierung-und-parallelgesellschaften/

Germany's schools: Breeding grounds for Islamization and parallel societies

The internal collapse of the German state is not only shown in laughable sentences against serious migrant crimes or climate sects, it begins in the schools. Heinz-Peter Meininger, honorary president of the German Teachers Association, complained: "In some schools, applicable law is no longer enforced. That concerns, school truancy, acts of violence, insults, and phenomena like drug crimes." Because these schools fear getting the image of "problem schools", violence and drugs are downplayed. Schools, however, are a safe space and thus, obliged to enforce applicable law and protect teachers and students from violence and aggression. Instead, too many school administrators simply look the other way. Even obvious offenses such as truancy are sometimes no longer punished. Although schools could issue fines through school administrators, many have given up and will simply no longer enforce compulsory school attendance. 

The conditions that Meininger described are similar to a third-world country, which Germany is increasingly becoming thanks to the mass migration of millions. In one case, an underage student was suspected of wanting to kill a schoolmate. Legally, however, it is "very hard" to protect the schoolmate from the aggressiveness of the boy. In addition, students under the age of 14 are not criminally liable. Thus, the penal code, even in acts of violence, cannot be applied. Even parents are threatening teachers, Meininger continues. There are, however, teachers who will do nothing about it because they fear being reproached for not being able to assert themselves. Because of mass migration, many schools have to integrate "hundreds" of new students from other cultures. "No school system in the world can do that," he states clearly. Meininger names the problem of "imported anti-Semitism," and appeals to Germany to enforce its values, also with disciplinary measures. But in contrast to France, teachers are not allowed to search school bags except in the case of imminent danger. 

Regulated school operation in many places no longer possible

He criticizes the prevailing aversion in this country to strict rules and hard measures. Calls for the police and justice in German schools would be quickly viewed as a failure by educators. Many schools would no longer know what to do without security guards. Rainer Wendt, federal chairman of the German Police Union, also states that many schools are "basically, a lawless space". Although German laws would apply here, they are "sometimes simply no longer enforced". In many immigrant families, sharia (law) is more present than the basic law. Contempt directed at women is felt by teachers as well as schoolgirls. Because people don't want to be suspected of Islamophobia, even violent incidents are not reported.

This insight into what is now completely "normal" German school life shows the grotesque condition the migration policy has led to here. A regulated school operation is, in many places, no longer possible because aggressive Islamic migrants, with their hate toward women, the German state, and their aversion to education, make it impossible. A climate of fear and terror reigns, in which the transfer of knowledge is left by the wayside. The same leftist insanity that drives this policy also makes it impossible to take action against its catastrophic results because they are hushed up, and in the long-overdue reports, it is not the perpetrator, but the teacher who is punished because they are not only considered "Islamophobic", but also have to deal with the ridiculous punishments that are handed out, if at all, (and) to be persecuted not just by the pupils but by their entire clan. Here also, Germany is destroying its future because it is depriving its own children of the education they need and instead prefers to appease culturally different migrants, who despise the State for its weakness, (and) will be the State's burden for the rest of their lives (TPL). 

 

M.I.T. Defends Pres. Sally Kornbluth

Sally Kornbluth

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.) President Sally Kornbluth testified before the House Committee on Education  on December 5 along with Harvard President Claudine Gay and University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill on the issue of campus anti-Semitism. All three performed poorly and prattled about context when asked about calls for the wiping out of the Jewish state of Israel. Beyond chants, their campuses have been plagued by incidents of harassment of Jewish students and anti-Jewish expressions.

While Magill has resigned, Harvard has decided to defend Gay and retain her as their president. It appears M.I.T. is also defending Kornbluth.

This is an official M.I.T. link with campus updates. It has a series of statements of support for Kornbluth which are linked here, here, and here,  These are all dated after December 5. I am linking them separately because it appears that this page is subject to regular updates.

Here is  Kornbluth's opening statement to the House on December 5.

Here is what Kornbluth wrote to the campus community subsequent to her testimony.

In addition, I am cross-posting two opposing op-eds in the campus newspaper, The Tech. They can be accessed here and here.

The impression I get is that M.I.T. will stand by Kornbluth while the campus newspaper, in true campus newspaper tradition, will give equal voice to the pro-Palestinian side and the side of Jewish students as if they are morally equivalent. Translation? Business as usual at M.I.T.

"Healing" at Harvard: "Gay is the Right Leader...."

The Harvard Corporation Board has voted not to remove Claudine Gay as Harvard's president in the wake of her disastrous testimony last week before the House Education Committee. Here is their statement.

In particular, I take note of the opening paragraph:

"As members of the Harvard Corporation, we today reaffirm our support for President Gay’s continued leadership of Harvard University. Our extensive deliberations affirm our confidence that President Gay is the right leader to help our community heal and to address the very serious societal issues we are facing."

Amazing. Setting aside the charges of plagiarism surrounding Gay, as well as the likelihood of a deep reduction in donations to the university, I don't see how Gay is the right person to bring about healing at Harvard. She is part of the problem, and her testimony about "context" when it comes to Jew-hating and genocidal expressions on campus has brought embarrassment to what is supposed to be America's most prestigious university. 

To be sure, she is hardly the only university administrator who has shown cowardice and/or indifference to anti-Semitism on her campus. The two presidents of M.I.T. and the University of Pennsylvania showed the same faults in their testimony as they sat beside her. They all answered Congresswoman Elise Stefanik's question in the same manner. The latter, Liz McGill, has already resigned her position. Beyond those three, universities all over the country are plagued by the same kind of cowardly, indifferent, and incompetent leadership.

But the Harvard Corporation has spoken, and now the wagons are circling around Gay. This week's Harvard Crimson's front page is covered with op-eds, generally in support of Gay. To the Crimson, it is Elise Stefanik who is the villain here.

I have no doubt, as embarrassed as chastened as Gay is, that Harvard will double down on expressions of support for Jewish students and condemnation of anti-Semitism (and Islamophobia) without specifying who the purveyors of campus anti-Semitism are. Probably, a task force will be formed to hold meetings and issue recommendations. It will all mean nothing. I saw the same thing play out with the University of California's Statement of Principles on Intolerance. The pro-Palestinian protests and campus disruptions will continue, Jewish students will be bullied and insulted, and their events and speakers disrupted.  Calls for the eradication of the Jewish state of Israel will continue. Business as usual. Healing? Don't bet on it.

Is anybody listening to the stories of Jewish students who have come forth? Does anybody care? Is it really all about context as one of Harvard's law professors insists in Gay's defense in the Crimson?

In the wake of Harvard's inaction, it is time to bring civil rights lawsuits against the university and for donors to send their money elsewhere. Maybe that will get their attention.

Juan Cole Attacks Elise Stefanik

This article first appeared in New English Review.

 

It should come as no surprise that University of Michigan comedian Juan Cole is attacking Representative Elise Stefanik (R-NY) after she effectively grilled three university presidents and exposed their lack of concern or action for the problem of anti-Semitism on their campuses. Most shockingly, they told Stefanik that calls for genocide against Jews only violated university values depending on the "context". The president of the University of Pennsylvania has now resigned while Harvard has decided to keep their president in place, and there is no word from MIT, whose president also testified before the House committee.

As for Cole, whose main purpose in life is to help bring about the destruction of Israel, he takes exception to Stefanik's grilling of the three academics. To discredit her, he charges her with believing in the "Great Replacement Theory", based on very tenuous evidence. He similarly accuses Stefanik of being a hypocrite. Why? Because even though she is Catholic, she does not support the Pope's condemnation of Israel's military campaign in Gaza after the atrocities by Hamas on October 7-which Cole doesn't even mention. (He is not well-informed, apparently.)

He further blasts Stefanik because she apparently is not on the record as having condemned former President Trump's awkward comments after the Charlottesville incident.

 Here is the latest from Cole's blog, curiously entitled, "Informed Comment".

"Stefanik implicitly characterized campus protests against the Israeli total war on Gaza and its reckless disregard for civilian life as a form of antisemitism, indeed as a call for genocide. Apparently the logic is that if Palestinians get their basic civil rights, then an Israeli ethnostate becomes difficult to maintain, and if Israel has to be a pluralist state rather than retaining solely sovereignty for Jews, that outbreak of equal rights equates to a genocide."

Cole is being disingenuous here. The pro-Palestinian protests on campuses and in the streets have always been anti-Semitic, it's just that now, there is less effort to hide it. Count the number of anti-Jewish incidents since October 7. The phrase, "from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free," is not a call for a pluralistic nation with equal rights for all. It is a call for Israel's destruction from the (Jordan) River to the (Mediterranean) Sea, which are the eastern and western borders of Israel respectively. An intifada, which is against being called for is not just an "uprising". The previous intifadas have included deadly terrorist attacks against Jews in Israel. What is being called for in the above two chants are for the destruction of Israel and the establishment of a new Palestine. Israeli Jews can remain at their own risk. Should Israel be defeated, October 7 gives us a lesson in what would happen to Jews. Cole must know all this if he is truly "informed". It doesn't take a professor to figure this out.

"It is the same logic white nationalists use to argue that rights for African Americans equates to genocide against white people. That Stefanik is deploying Klan logic is no accident — see below."

"Stefanik is supposedly a Roman Catholic. Here is what the head of her church said about brutalizing Israeli tactics in Gaza: “This is what wars do. But here, we have gone beyond wars. This is not war. This is terrorism.”

I guess this is another form of what academics call "intersectionality", which is all the rage these days, to link Israel with every problem in the world. So now are we to think that Stefanik is against equal rights for African Americans? According to Cole's logic, apparently so.

And so what if Stefanik is a  Roman Catholic and doesn't agree with what the current Pope or the Vatican think about Israel's military campaign? A lot of Catholics don't agree with the Vatican's position on abortion. I am not Catholic but my wife is, and we raised our children in the Catholic Church, but I have my own disagreements with the Vatican on issues like priest abuse of children. As for the current Pope, I disagree with a lot of his positions including this one.

"We can further tell that Stefanik is a hypocrite because she did not bother to criticize Donald J. Trump for saying that the Nazis who chanted “Jews will not replace us” at Charlottesville in 2017 were “very fine people.” (She did, in her earlier incarnation as a somewhat normal person, herself condemn the white nationalists at Charlottesville. But she never protested Trump’s characterization.)"

Wow. So Stefanik condemned what happened in Charlottesville in 2017 (rightfully) but is not on the record condemning Trump's clumsy comment about "very fine people on both sides". (Personally, I would have said there were some bad people on both sides.) That is a stretch. There are a lot of things I have condemned on my blog since 2007. There are also a lot of things I have not condemned simply because I cannot post articles about every single thing that happens in the world. However, I concede that Stefanik is a politician, so she is expected to make a statement on every single thing. (I am being sarcastic here.)

"When challenged on Trump’s association with Kanye West and other genuine antisemites, Stefanik lamely excused him on the grounds that he had recognized Israel’s illegal occupation of Syria’s Golan Heights. No wonder she can’t understand, like, college. She thinks breaking international law is a sign someone isn’t an antisemite."

This is weak and an example of guilt by association. I also criticize Trump's dinner with Kanye West and white nationalist Nick Fuentes. If Stefanik made a weak argument in Trump's defense, is this really a big thing? Does this make her an anti-Semite? One could argue that Cole is an anti-Semite because he is such a fervant supporter of the Palestinians, even now after  October 7. I am not making that accusation.

"It gets worse. In 2021, Stefanik began taking up the talking points of the Great Replacement Theory. It holds that wealthy Jewish businessmen are bringing in immigrants from the Global South to replace white workers, since the immigrants will work more cheaply. Stefanik perhaps did not utter the phrase, but she appealed to all the dog whistles of this odious theory."

"Marianna Sotomayor noted last year at the Washington Post that Stefanik put out campaign ads saying, “Radical Democrats are planning their most aggressive move yet: a PERMANENT ELECTION INSURRECTION . . . Their plan to grant amnesty to 11 MILLION illegal immigrants will overthrow our current electorate and create a permanent liberal majority in Washington.” Guess who the “radical Democrats” might be, to which she refers? Could they possibly be people such as, oh, I don’t know, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and other Jewish American legislators who have worked for immigration reform?"

It gets worse alright. Did Stefanik state that "wealthy Jewish businessmen were bringing in immigrants...."?  If so, where is the documentation? Is it the video clip he attached of Peter Beinart, a prominent anti-Israel crusader? In the next breath, Cole concedes that perhaps, Stepanik did not utter the phrase ", but he goes on to put the thought, if not the words, into her head, if not her mouth. She just "began taking up the talking points," according to Cole. Tricky bit of writing, I would say. 

As for the documentation I raised above, is Cole referring to the writing of Marianna Sotomayor in the Washington Post, which he references above? If Stefanik says that radical Democrats want to allow millions of people into the country who will give them a permanent majority in future elections, I agree with her. Do I believe that "wealthy Jewish businessmen" or any other Jews are behind this? Absolutely not, and I see no evidence that Stefanik believes it or said it. Those words are Cole's words, not Stefanik's.  And when he raises the names of Jamie Raskin, Jerry Nadler, and Adam Schiff, those are Cole's words, not those of Stefanik. If that is their intention, their Jewish religion has nothing to do with it. Tricky writing indeed.

 "As defenders of illiberalism and implicitly of hatred of Jews, these useful idiots of the far right are symbolically still deployed around Hitler’s bunker, defending it from the approaching Allies.”

I am grateful, however, to Cole for introducing me to Rene Binet, who supposedly invented the great replacement theory and who it was he hated and wanted to keep out of France. Very educational. As for those "useful idiots" on the right, yes, some of them ascribe to the theory, and some of them are anti-Semites, but they are hardly the main purveyors of anti-Semitism in the US, particularly on college campuses where they have no sway. The main purveyors of anti-Semitism today in the US and the world are radical, Islamist Muslims (not all Muslims). It is easy to take mass shooting attacks against Jews committed by non-Muslims in Buffalo or Pittsburgh, but Cole ignores all the attacks against Jews and the hateful rhetoric by many Muslim leaders and imams. Anti-Semitism is deeply embedded in Islam, and coupled with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, it's like lighting a match to the gasoline. 

"The fact is that Stefanik was not defending Jewish American students on US campuses but attempting to silence non-white and progressive students and ensure that their speech is criminalized."

Wrong. Stefanik is, indeed, defending Jewish students. The hearings in question also took testimony from several Jewish students who described their own experiences on campus. Who else was defending them? Certainly not the Democrats. It was the Republicans in the hearing who sharply criticized the three university presidents who testified (Harvard, UPenn, and MIT). Is Cole conceding that it is non-white, progressive students who are involved in these allegations of anti-Semitism? What happened to all those white nationalists from the far right Cole was talking about previously? As for silencing and criminalizing people, has Stefanik said that? (Perhaps, I don't know). Don't worry, Dr Cole; we are not going to silence anybody or arrest them for chanting offensive phrases and expressing anti-Israel feelings. Even hate speech is protected unless it includes physical threats and direct incitement to violence. We have a right to condemn it, however, and express our own outrage as the universities should do. The universities also have a responsibility to protect their students from bullying and intimidation. There have been countless incidents of this on campuses all over the country, and usually, there have been no consequences. "Silence"? Whose speaking events are disrupted, pro-Israel events or anti-Israel events? Here's a clue: It is the former. Who does it? The pro-Palestinian groups like Students for Justice in Palestine.

 "Some 46% of young people aged 18-29 disapprove or strongly disapprove of the Biden administration’s handling of the Israeli-Hamas conflict, whereas only 19% strongly approve."

Hmm. What about the other 35% that Cole doesn't mention? Am I to assume they "approve"? That would make (35+19) 54% approve or strongly approve. (I hope that missing 35% have heard of Israel/Gaza and have some sort of opinion.)

 "The issue is not discrimination against a minority but critique of the 18th most powerful military in the world and its shameful, blatant disregard for International Humanitarian Law."

What about the shameful, blatant disregard for International Humanitarian Law that occurred on October 7 at the hands of Hamas? What about the fact that Hamas fights from behind the shield of its own civilians, not to mention hostages? Cole does not mention the fact that Israel attempts to avoid civilian deaths, more than any other army I can mention, including the Allies in World War 2. The blood of those civilians is on the hands of Hamas. It is Hamas that has brought death and destruction to their civilian population. I find it instructive that the word "Hamas" is only mentioned once in Cole's article, in referring to the "Israel-Hamas conflict".

"University Presidents should stop playing into the hands of wily sociopaths such as Stefanik, who is plotting to impose Trumpism and his promised dictatorship on all Americans, to take away a woman’s right to choose nationally, to ban Muslims, and to put the nail in the coffin of the Voting Rights Act. They should simply say that in this country we have a first amendment and we can criticize any government we like– Argentina’s, China’s, Hungary’s, or Israel’s. That isn’t racism, that is responsible world citizenship, and the right of free citizens of a democracy."

In closing, Cole brings up "sociopath" Stefanik's alleged "Trumpism", a dictatorship to be imposed on all Americans, the threat to the right to abortion, and the Voting Rights Act. (Is this intersectionality?) Yes, we have a First Amendment, and people can chant, "from the river to the sea, " and "Intifada" to their heart's delight. We are free to criticize it. Stefanik knows that. But those chants are just emblematic of the larger problem-that Jewish students are being bullied, intimidated, and subjected to a climate of fear on campus, which is a violation of their civil rights. Universities are failing to protect Jewish students from this harassment and disruption of their events by pro-Palestinian goons. That, Dr Cole, is what this is all about.

Boy, would I love to read Cole's PhD dissertation.

Taher Herzallah ("Irvine 11") Back in the News

 Hat tip Jihad Watch, Canary Mission, and Investigative Project on Terrorism

Taher Herzallah

"Anybody who has any relationship or any support or identifies himself as a Jewish person or as a Christian Zionist then we shall not be their friend, I will tell you they are enemy number one and our community needs to recognize that.”

https://www.jihadwatch.org/2023/12/american-muslims-for-palestine-director-a-jewish-person-is-enemy-number-one#comment-2503980

Taher Herzallah, who is an official for American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), which reportedly has ties to Hamas, was one of the 11 characters who were prosecuted in Orange County, California for disrupting the Israel ambassador to the US's speech in 2010 at UC Irvine.  He has a history of disrupting events (including a confirmation hearing for a Trump-designated US ambassador to Israel (see below), and inflammatory statements in general.

Now he is being featured in a video clip making another "strong" statement about Jewish people.

Jihad Watch has the report. The video clip of  Herzallah speaking on X can be accessed here (Hat tip Canary Mission).

Hunter Biden Indictment:Knee Jerk Reactions

I am posting a copy of the indictment against Hunter Biden filed in the Central District of California for income tax evasion. It is long and I have not read it in detail. I should also add that I am not a lawyer, but a retired DEA agent (who, incidentally, worked often with the US Attorney's Office in that district, which is based in Los Angeles).

As has been faithfully pointed out by the talking heads in the mainstream media, Joe Biden does not appear in the indictment, which his supporters are using to make their case that the President had no involvement in his son's business dealings (notwithstanding that, there is plenty of evidence suggesting that he did.) 

 One question that needs to be asked is why there are no charges pertaining to violation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), given the fact that much of Hunter Biden's income has come from foreign business entities, and there are indications of foreign government involvement in those entities, the Chinese Energy Company, for example. My personal opinion is that this would bring the case much closer to President Biden and his actions on behalf of Hunter in regard to Burisma and China.

In this vein, I do note that there are references to Burisma of Ukraine and the China Energy Company, from which Hunter Biden allegedly derived millions in income that was not reported. The indictment states that Hunter was initially receiving $1,000,000 a year from Burisma, which was later reduced to $500,000 a year. That's a lot of strippers and escorts.

When it comes to income tax evasion, it is legitimate to examine the sources of that income, The income could be legal but not reported, or it could be derived from illegal sources, in which case, it will almost definitely not be reported. According to the indictment, investigators have documented much of his expenditures, which are elements of evidence, but in this case, the sources of the income though they may or may not be legal, do raise serious questions since Joe Biden was vice president during much of that time. The indictment makes clear that the investigators have uncovered a massive amount of income to Hunter Biden from a variety of sources.

Keep in mind that Hunter Biden is only being prosecuted for tax years 2016-2019 due to the Statute of Limitations. Federal prosecutors have been criticized for allowing the Statute (for previous years) to expire without charges since they cover key points in time as to Burisma and China and when his father was vice president. However, I do note that there are references in the indictment, not only to Burisma and China but also references to actions going back as far as 2009. Even if you cannot charge crimes beyond the Statute of Limitations, there is nothing that says that you can't use evidence that dates beyond the Statute to prove charges that are still prosecutable. 

Those are just my immediate reactions and some lawyer may come along and correct me on some legal point or another. But I tend to agree with critics who suspect that these charges were brought simply because of the plea deal fiasco in Delaware and the testimony of IRS and FBI agents to the effect that Hunter Biden was given special treatment and that this indictment is designed to show the public that Hunter Biden is not being treated differently than any other citizen.

It will be interesting to see how this case goes through the federal court in Los Angeles. Will there be a trial, and if so, how will it affect President Biden? What might come out in such a trial? Will there be an eventual plea deal in which Hunter pleads guilty to some lesser charge without incriminating his father and spends a couple of years in some cushy federal prison like Lampoc (California)? I'm betting on the latter, but if it happens that way, the prosecutors are going to have a hard time explaining why this case was handled simply as a case of income tax evasion on the part of Hunter Biden without delving into the larger question of whether he and his father, then-Vice President Joe Biden, were parties to bribery and influence peddling.

Did Yahya Sinwar Flee With Civilian Refugees in Gaza?

Yahya Sinwar

Multiple reports are going around that Hamas' leader in Gaza fled to the southern part of the Gaza Strip disguised as a civilian fleeing the fighting in a humanitarian convoy.  He is currently believed to be hiding like a rat in an underground tunnel in the town of Khan Younis. If this is true, I wonder what the Gazans are thinking right now. Of course, this will not make one iota of difference to the brain-dead Westerners marching in support of Hamas in our cities and on our college campuses.

They might want to consider this, however:

As Nazi Germany was collapsing in 1945 in the final days of the Second World War, many of Germany's top civilian leaders and war criminals were scurrying like rats to escape the Allied forces. The most notable example was SS chief, Heinrich Himmler, one of the key figures in the Holocaust. After escaping Berlin, he made his way to Flensburg on the Danish border where he offered his services to Admiral Karl Doenitz, who had been named as Hitler's successor. His offer refused, he tried to make his way south disguised as a lowly soldier who had laid down his arms. He wore an eyepatch over one eye and shaved off his mustache. At a British checkpoint, he was rounded up with several other German soldiers and taken to a POW camp by British soldiers. After a couple of days, he identified himself to his captors and was taken to Luneburg for interrogation. While undergoing a body search, he bit down on a cyanide capsule and died within minutes. He was buried in an unmarked grave in the nearby countryside.

Rather an ignoble end, wouldn't you say?

Himmler in death

In addition, other major war criminals tried to escape and went into hiding. Rudolph Hoess, the commandant of Auschwitz, hid out on a farm disguised as a gardener for several months in northern Germany until he was captured and eventually hanged in Poland.

Dr. Joseph Mengele, the "Angel of Auschwitz", managed to escape to South America using the infamous and appropriately named "ratline" through Italy and evaded capture for decades until he drowned swimming on a Brazilian beach in 1979.

Of course, Adolf Eichmann also escaped to Argentina in a similar manner until captured by Israeli agents in 1960 and returned to Israel for trial and eventual execution.

Then there was "Il Duce", Benito Mussolini, who tried to sneak into Switzerland disguised as a German soldier. He was captured and executed by Italian partisans near Como. Last seen, he was hanging upside down by his feet in a Milan gas station.

He's in there somewhere

Hitler, in comparison, refused to flee Berlin and committed suicide in his bunker along with his paramour, Eva Braun, who had actually traveled to Berlin to share Hitler's fate, quite in contrast to Mr Sinwar, who has reportedly resorted to the "Heinrich Himmler maneuver". Josef Goebbels and his Frau, Magda, also refused to leave Berlin and committed suicide, taking their 6 small children with them.

Somewhere among this motley crew, we can add Sinwar, the butcher of October 7. I suppose we could also add Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas political leader, and others who are sitting comfortably in Qatar shielded by that despicable nation. I remember in 2009, when Mr Haniyeh's friend and collaborator, British politician, George Galloway, came to speak at UC Irvine, and the hat was passed around the room for contributions to Gaza under the moniker, Viva Palestina. That was the night Galloway called Yours Truly a "liar" for mentioning anti-Jewish screeds voiced by Palestinian supporters in places like Los Angeles and Ft Lauderdale, which were documented facts, by the way.

l-r, Galloway-Haniyeh

But I digress.

On a final note, it is my hope that justice will be brought to Sinwar, not to mention Haniyeh. I really wonder, however, about all those thousands of kids marching around campuses in support of Hamas. Do they really know anything about any of the names I listed above? Given the state of our higher education these days, it wouldn't shock me if they never heard of any of them.

SJP at UC Irvine Back in Hot Water

This just came to my attention today. The UC Irvine (UCI) chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) is involved in yet another campus controversy. On October 10, UCI Chancellor Howard Gillman issued a statement in condemnation of Hamas' October 7 attack on Israel. That was the day, the butchers of Hamas massacred some 1,200+ people, beheaded babies and burned them alive in ovens, raped women, and kidnapped men, women, and children into Gaza. Reading Gillman's statement, it struck me as pretty mild considering the atrocities involved. Maybe he wasn't aware of the full scope of what Hamas did when he issued the statement.

But the statement upset the sensitive feelings of SJP. They issued their own statement accusing the University of California (UC) of being "a land-grabbing, racist institution" with huge assets in Black Rock. In addition, the university was accused of financial dealings with Black Stone. (There was no mention of Black Pebble.) I fail to see the connection, but in the interest of full disclosure, when I was a kid, my parents purchased stock for me with Standard Oil of New Jersey-but I have long since sold it. 

Additionally, it seems that on November 9, SJP was involved in some sort of campus "Shut it down" activity over the Israeli-Hamas war. This allegedly violated the campus code of conduct according to UCI's administration. In addition, SJP members were allegedly involved in what is being called a disruption of a presentation by Professor Alon Burstein, a UCI Jewish Studies professor on November14.

In response, SJP and their supporters are accusing the university of being unfair. 

I should note that I was not present at any of the events in question, so I don't know what happened or didn't happen. All I know is SJP's history, both on the UCI campus and on other campuses across the nation. Disruption is their tactic. Whether they engaged in that on November 9 or 14 at UCI, I cannot say, but I will be looking into it. At this point, it appears that about 5 members of SJP are under some sort of administration inquiry at UCI and the organization may face some sort of disciplinary action by the university.

But there is good news for the UCI-SJP. They are receiving support from something called the World Socialist Web Site, which tells you all you need to know about those folks. The above link provides what is reportedly the charged violations of SJP in this instance. (I don't know if this is accurate, includes all or less than the total charges.)

"102.16 Failure to Comply, “Failure to identify oneself to, or comply with the directions of, a University official or other public official acting in the performance of his or her duties while on University property or at official University functions; or resisting or obstructing such University or other public officials in the performance of or the attempt to perform their duties.”

102.14 Disorderly or Lewd Conduct, and 102.13 Disruption which includes, “Obstruction or disruption of teaching, research, administration, disciplinary procedures, or other University activities.”

Pending further information, I will close with this observation: If SJP or anyone else wants to march around campus to make their point, that is their right. If that's all they did on November 9 with their "shut it down" event, there should be no problem. If they disrupted the business of the school or classes, that is something else. Again, I don't know what happened. As for the presentation of Professor Burstein on November 14, if SJP or anyone else came to listen without disrupting and then asked questions during the q and a, no problem. If there was disruption of the event, which took away Burstein's right to speak or the ability of the audience to hear what he had to say, that is different. 

I regret that I missed this story when it happened, but I will follow up and get more information. 

*Update: 12-10-23

I just spoke to someone who was at the Burstein event on November 14. My source tells me that at the start of the event, the audience was given the ground rules for q and a, and that any disruption would be met with disciplinary action. During the q and a, at least three people stood up and read pro-Palestinian statements for a few minutes (less than 10) from their cell phones. Eventually, campus police came in and the protesters left. My source stated his/her opinion that it was a disruption, and it was met with an angry reaction from the audience.

As for the November 9 event, in which my source was not present, according to a (second-hand) source, the pro-Palestinian protesters chanted their usual chants then marched around Ring Road, which goes in a circle around the campus. There was reportedly shouting and chanting outside classrooms, which would be considered, at least to some, as a disruption.

Our Universities: What Is to be Done?

This article first appeared in New English Review.

Claudine Gay, President of Harvard, during testimony

 It is heartening that the recent testimony before the House Education Committee by the three pathetic presidents of Harvard, MIT, and the University of Pennsylvania is getting national attention. The odds are that all three will be forced to resign. That, however, will not fix the problem by itself. The question must be asked, "Who will replace them?". Secondly, there are so many other universities across the land where Jewish students do not feel safe-and for good reason. Just this morning, it has been announced that 6 other institutions of higher learning are under the microscope including Santa Monica College, a two-year-school in Santa Monica, California where I attended and played on the baseball team for two years back in the 1960s.

I have very little faith that the new presidents at the above three universities will be much better. It is a culture we are battling, one that goes back to the 1960s and which has solidly taken root. Most people who are conservative or pro-Israel have no inclination to be involved with academia once they have their 4-year diploma in hand. Academia has pretty much been left to the far left, at least in the humanities and social sciences.

I myself got into academia almost by accident as I was completing my career with DEA in the 1990s. My final five years were spent as an instructor in DEA's Office of Training, which, at the time, was co-located at the FBI Academy in Quantico. (At the time, there was serious consideration to merging DEA into the FBI, which thankfully, did not happen. DEA now has its own facility down the road from the FBI Academy.)

While I was at Quantico, DEA and the FBI had a program in which we could take night classes at the academy toward a master's degree in education at the University of Virginia. The costs were covered by both agencies since it was argued that the program would enhance our teaching abilities. In two years, I was able to obtain a master's degree. When I retired in 1995, I was offered a part-time position teaching English as a Second Language at Northern Virginia Community College, which was a natural for me since I had spent 11 years of my life overseas and had an intense love of languages. In 1998, when we moved to California, I got a similar position at the University of California at Irvine Extension. I taught a total of 18 years there from 1998-2016.

That is a long-winded way of saying that I have a fair amount of experience on college campuses.

So given the above and the fact that I have been involved in the campus anti-Semitism issue for some 15 years, I have some thoughts on what should be done to make our campuses once again safe for Jewish students.

First of all, we must recognize who the perpetrators are at least when it comes to college campuses. To the extent that anti-Semitism exists across all parts of society, I concede that some of it comes from white nationalist/right-wing sources. We must also condemn it, but these people have no sway on college campuses. It is my fervent opinion that most anti-Semitism in the US today comes from the left, which does hold sway on campuses. It must be pointed out here that the far left in America has entered into a marriage of convenience with radical Islamists and pro-Palestinian activists-witness organizations like Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP). In addition, it should be no surprise that the rise of the WOKE ideology, Critical Race Theory (CRT), and Intersectionality fits right in with the pro-Palestinian victim narrative. While CRT consigns Jews to the classification of "white oppressors", Intersectionality is structured so that a broken sewer pipe in Philadelphia can be blamed on Zionism and "settler-colonialism". Such is the reasoning that predominates on university campuses as practiced by the "community of scholars" today. It has gotten so insane that academic feminists and LGBTQ activists are ignoring how their own would be treated in Gaza under Hamas rule and joining the chorus against Israel.

The above two organizations, particularly the former, are responsible for a large part of the trouble on campuses. The SJP, which was co-founded by UC Berkeley Professor Hatem Bazian, himself a Palestinian, is made up of people of different faiths, mostly Muslim. SJP has taken the lead in promoting boycott resolutions by student governments, as well as using tactics of intimidation and disruption of Jewish students and their pro-Israel events. Let's take UC Irvine as an example. Prior to 2010, it was the Muslim Student Union (MSU) that was most active in making pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel noise. Each May, they held a week of events devoted to demonizing Israel.  Prior to 2010, there was no SJP chapter on campus. That changed in 2010 when MSU members disrupted the speech of the Israeli ambassador to the US, Michael Oren at UC Irvine, an incident in which I was present. Consequently, the MSU was suspended on campus. Soon thereafter, SJP formed a chapter and since then, they have taken the lead and allowed MSU to keep a lower profile in order to protect its campus recognition.  Both groups share members except that MSU is exclusively Muslim in membership while SJP is open to all who share the philosophy. There are even some misfit Jewish members in SJP.

By its actions over the years, SJP has demonstrated that it should be banned from all campuses nationwide. A handful of universities have taken steps to suspend their chapters, The bans should be permanent. Going back to the topic of university president, it will take people vastly different from those we saw this week on Capitol Hill. Those three women are emblematic of the cowardice that most university administrators have shown when it comes to confronting anti-Semitic hate-especially when the perps are Muslims. Not only Muslims, but when administrators cower in fear of their own students and leftist faculty, it is further evidence that the inmates are running the asylum.

In addition to taking action against SJP-as well as Muslim Student Association chapters who cause hate on campus-all students must be put on notice that anti-Semitic speech and actions will not be tolerated and will result in expulsion. 

In a larger sense, academia needs to change its culture, a culture that welcomes far-left professors who use their classrooms as a soapbox to advance radical causes, trash America, Israel, and the West in general, and basically indoctrinate students rather than educate them. Aside from the issue of Israel, it is the far-left that rules in academia, and as I pointed out above, the far-left is solidly in the Palestinian camp.

The influence of the extreme left in academia must somehow be reversed. That will take a lot of time and effort. I am not talking about summarily firing leftist professors. Still, the universities must be put on notice that serious intellectual reform is necessary-a return to education as opposed to indoctrination. I must be cautious here because I know how the Nazis, as one of their first priorities, purged universities of professors and administrators they deemed hostile to Nazism-particularly Jewish faculty who all lost their jobs in the first year of Hitler's rule (1933). Purges and litmus tests can cut both ways.

Universities must also reexamine their emphasis on useless ethnic studies, gender, and LGBTQ studies. Individual courses are one thing, having entire departments devoted to this victimology is quite another. The now institutionalized DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) offices are also a part of the problem. They are not well-meaning. They do not bring students from diverse backgrounds together, rather what they do is divide students into tribes, "People of Color" pitted against whites-and Jews, who are basically considered part of the "white oppressor class"-witness Israel. When it comes to campus anti-Semitism, they have shown themselves to be unwilling or unable to come to the defense of Jewish students.

There is also a financial aspect to this issue. Universities are awash in money, billions of dollars depending on the size of the university. In fact, much of the job description of a university president is to bring in donations and raise money. Questionable countries like China, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia are pumping in millions of dollars to American universities, in the cases of Qatar and Saudi Arabia, largely to establish Middle East Studies departments. These departments tend to be pan-Arab, pan-Islamic, anti-Israel, anti-US, and anti-West. They are a significant part of the current problem of campus anti-Semitism. Law schools like those at Harvard, UC Berkeley, and UC Irvine are nothing more than training schools for activist lawyers. Campus newspapers are so politically correct that they are a joke. And that is being charitable. In covering the current Israeli-Hamas war and its impact on their campuses, they struggle not to offend the pro-Hamas side.

In addition, public universities receive money from their state governments as well as federal funding. To his credit, President Trump put the universities on notice that if they could not or would not protect their Jewish students, they risked losing federal funding. Of course, President Biden has not followed through with that. In addition, donors who give millions of dollars to their favored schools need to stop when anti-Semitism runs rampant on campus-especially Jewish donors. Already we have seen one donor publically announce that he is withholding $100,000,000 from the University of Pennsylvania in light of recent events. That is precisely what more of is needed. Also, we are now seeing lawsuits filed against universities on behalf of Jewish students who have been subjected to bullying and harassment. There need to be more such lawsuits filed.

Furthermore, parents, especially Jewish parents must consider whether they wish to send their children and pay tuition to places like Harvard, the University of California, Columbia, University of Pennsylvania, etc when so much anti-Semitism is being tolerated on campus. The list is really long, and I'm not sure which schools could be considered truly a welcome environment for Jewish students. 

The bottom line is that if you want our universities to truly begin the process of reform, it comes down to the money. Take away the money, reduce student enrollment, and then they will pay attention.

I believe in free speech, but as a teacher, I never brought my opinions about the world into the classroom. Unfortunately, I was an exception and not part of the rule. There is a line separating free speech from indoctrination. Yes, our students should be exposed to differing viewpoints, but currently, that does not include conservative, pro-American, pro-Western, or pro-Israel viewpoints. It is intolerable that there is actual censorship in academia. Why is it that pro-Israel, pro-America, or conservative speakers are routinely disrupted when they appear on campus? Why is there no punishment?

Ultimately, universities should drop this idea that their role is to teach our kids what they should think about the world and get back to educating them. Were I to advise a high school student on the question of college, I would encourage them to major in something that they can use in the real world. There is no problem studying engineering, languages, or hard sciences, for example. As for the humanities or social sciences, forget it. For decades now, the private sector has been telling universities that they are not turning out graduates who are prepared to enter the workplace and contribute. That has never been more true than now. Post October 7, when we see thousands of students marching in solidarity with Hamas and calling for intifada in the wake of these horrific atrocities, we know that something is terribly wrong on our campuses.

Personally, I would not be heartbroken to see universities like Harvard collapse under the weight of their own insanity and hate. They would not be missed. I am hopeful that the three incompetent ladies who testified about their universities this week will quickly find themselves out of a job. But we should not be deluded that their resignation or firing represents the ultimate solution. There is far too much work to be done.

Austria: Added Security for Christmas Markets

Vienna

Austria, like virtually all of its European partners, is taking increased security measures to protect Christmas markets from terrorist attacks by Muslim jihadists. The below article from today's Austrian daily, Heute, is translated by Fousesquawk.

 https://www.heute.at/s/staatsschutz-chef-weihnachtsmaerkte-potentielles-ziel-120008516

The danger is so high

State Security chief: Christmas markets "potential target"

This year, the police have significantly increased their presence at Christmas markets. These of, naturally, a target, but the DSN (State Security and Intelligence) -chief has no worries

By Newsdesk Today

December 9, 2023 at 20:50

Caption: He has no uneasy feelings, but State Security needs more options, their chief demands

By Sabine Hertl

Omar Haijawi-Pirchner, chief of the State Security and Intelligence Service (DSN), makes people sit up and take notice with a statement in an interview with the "Kleinen Zeitung". Though we currently live  (We are in the second-highest alert threat level) "in a time of threats", he, nevertheless, has no uneasy feelings anywhere. There is no need to limit yourself.

But, "Naturally, Christmas markets are a potential target, especially in the extremist area. There have been repeated plans or attacks here in recent years." For this reason, the sensitivity is set very high, and, in concert with the police, covert and non-covert protective measures are put in place. "So our population doesn't need to fear when they enter a Christmas market," he reassures. 

Heightened security at Christmas markets

At Austria's Christmas markets security is heightened compared to last year, the Interior Ministry tells "Kleinen Zeitung". There will be more patrols, and civilian officers will be on-site and in regular contact with stand operators. In Styria, for example, additional barriers will be installed.

Such attacks have already been planned in Germany, but the authorities have been able to prevent them in advance. In Austria, however, the DSN chief sees gaps. "We have a good overview in the area of extremism and terrorism, but we cannot say what will be communicated by encryption within these networks (for example, telegram, notes) There our hands are tied." 

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Fousesquawk comment: Not exactly reassuring, is it?

Germany Accepting Afghans Deported from Pakistan

"Good news, mein Fuehrer. Reinforcements are on the way."

The nation of Pakistan has a problem (a lot of problems, actually). It has about 4-1/2 million refugees from neighboring Afghanistan in its country, almost 2 million of whom have no valid papers. What to do? The answer, of course, is dump them off into the West. To the rescue comes Germany. The below article from Zeit reports that 188 Afghans have been flown to Leipzig with many more to follow. 

"Ah wunnerful, ah wunnerful, ah"

And just in time for the Christmas holidays! I suggest the Germans reinforce the guard at those Christmas markets. Just days ago, German police arrested three people who were allegedly plotting to attack Christmas markets in Germany. Oh, by the way: Two of the suspects are Afghans.

The below article is translated by Fousesquawk.

 https://www.zeit.de/politik/ausland/2023-12/afghanen-pakistan-migration-flucht-aufnahme-zusage-reise

Migration

188 Afghans travel to Germany from Pakistan with promise of acceptance 

The federal government wants to protect Afghans from mass deportations from Pakistan. 188 of them are now scheduled to arrive in Leipzig, (and) more could follow.

Updated 7 December 2023 at 16:59. Source  Zeit Online

Caption: Afghan passports  in baskets for further processing in an office of the German embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan

With a promise of acceptance in Germany, 188 Afghans from Pakistan have been flown to Leipzig. That was learned by the DPA News Agency from circles within the German embassy in the capital Islamabad. It is the first large charter flight from Pakistan with admitted Afghans in 10 months. The majority of people are traveling under the federal admittance program, including former local employees.

The federal government has announced that it wants to protect Afghan refugees from mass deportations from Pakistan with a promise of admittance to Germany. In the beginning of October, the Pakistani government announced that refugees without residence permits would be deported. According to government figures, some 4.4 million Afghan refugees are in the country, 1.7 million of whom are without valid papers.

According to federal government (Germany) figures, about 11,500 people from Afghanistan with a promise of acceptance are awaiting travel to Germany. Of those, some 3,000 are in Pakitan, 300 in Iran, and more than 8,000 in Afghanistan. Since the end of June, 573 have actually traveled to Germany. Relatives of Afghan journalists and activists have been criticizing the federal government (Germany) for a long time for failing in its obligation to protect Afghans.

Among those eligible to enter the country, 572 also have a promise of acceptance under the federal admittance program. Through the federal admittance program, Afghans especially endangered due to their work for women's and human rights or through their activity can come to Germany. The program would accommodate 1,000 Afghan women and men per month.

Iraqi Man Fires Shotgun in Front of Albany Synagogue

Mufid Fawaz Alkhader

Further evidence that the war between Israel and Hamas has come to our shores. On December 7, at around 2 pm, in Albany, New York, an Iraqi man (naturalized US citizen) named Mufid Fawaz Alkhader, 28, approached a synagogue on the first day of Hanukkah and fired two shots from a shotgun into the air. About two dozen pre-school children were in the synagogue at the time. Alkhader reportedly yelled, "Free Palestine". He has been federally charged with one count of illegally possessing a firearm.

 https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/temple-shooting-28-year-old-federally-charged-after-gunshots-at-ny-synagogue/ar-AA1ldjvy

It is my understanding that hate crime charges may still be brought, but given the nature of the current US Justice Department, who knows? Same goes for the New York State prosecutorial apparatus. (I'm not sure who would bring charges for unlawful discharge of a weapon.) Here is one point I think should be considered. If you want to make a statement (legally) regarding the Israel-Hamas war, do it in front of the Israeli embassy or a consulate (peacefully). When you do it in front of a synagogue, that is not just a statement against Israel. It is much more a statement against the Jews as a people. So firing a gun in front of a synagogue seems like a hate crime to me. Had he caused damage to the synagogue, would that not be a hate crime? If someone vandalizes a mosque, is that not a hate crime?

As to further charges, in my mind, there have to be. What if he had legally possessed the weapon and had a concealed carry permit? Would there not be charges for firing the gun? (I know: it's pretty hard to conceal a shotgun and even harder to fire it while it's concealed. Save your cards and letters,)

I hope the feds and/or the State of New York throw the book at the guy.