Hank Danniker in Israel has sent me an update on the surgery for a little Palestinian girl named Esra. The surgery has been performed at Wolfson Hospital in Israel. As Hank says, the first 24 hours are crucial.
http://www.1newheart.org/Sponsored_Children.html
Please keep Esra in your prayers.
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Claremont College's Middle East Professor-Bassam Frangieh
Campus Watch has posted an interesting article on one of Claremont College's "academic stars". Since I once wrote an article for Campus Watch, I consider them to be a reliable source of information on what passes for education in America academia. (I also note their "Howler of the Month" comes from the institution where I teach (English-not my view of the world) UC-Irvine. Their posting is of a BigPeace article on Claremont professor Bassam Frangieh.
http://www.campus-watch.org/article/id/10500
This, of course, comes as no surprise. Most universities around the country (and Canada) are infested with pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel activists who owe their positions to the generous funding from Saudi Arabia which finances all these Middle East Studies departments sprouting like weeds from one university to another. There is very little objective research or teaching going on here.
I also couldn't help but notice mention of that silly character who has been reduced to going around the lecture circuit being advertised as "independent scholar with a phd from Princeton". That is, of course, the absurd Norman (Don't call me Norm) Finkelstein. This nit-wit (who was canned by DePaul University for his crackpot scholarship) has brought his phony theories to UC-Irvine at least three times. Previously, he was swooned over by radical professors, deans, asst. deans and vice chancellors, but the last time, he was made to look like a fool (which he is) by a community audience that had decided enough was enough at UCI.
http://garyfouse.blogspot.com/2010/05/norman-finklestein-at-uc-irvine.html
But back to this Frangieh character. What are we doing putting professors in our colleges who support Hamas and Hizbollah?
* PS- For you UC Santa Cruz Community Studies majors, Hizbollah is the bunch who blew up the Marine barracks in Lebanon shortly before they announced their formation to the world. Of course that happened before most of you were born, so maybe your "professors" have not told you about it.
http://www.campus-watch.org/article/id/10500
This, of course, comes as no surprise. Most universities around the country (and Canada) are infested with pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel activists who owe their positions to the generous funding from Saudi Arabia which finances all these Middle East Studies departments sprouting like weeds from one university to another. There is very little objective research or teaching going on here.
I also couldn't help but notice mention of that silly character who has been reduced to going around the lecture circuit being advertised as "independent scholar with a phd from Princeton". That is, of course, the absurd Norman (Don't call me Norm) Finkelstein. This nit-wit (who was canned by DePaul University for his crackpot scholarship) has brought his phony theories to UC-Irvine at least three times. Previously, he was swooned over by radical professors, deans, asst. deans and vice chancellors, but the last time, he was made to look like a fool (which he is) by a community audience that had decided enough was enough at UCI.
http://garyfouse.blogspot.com/2010/05/norman-finklestein-at-uc-irvine.html
But back to this Frangieh character. What are we doing putting professors in our colleges who support Hamas and Hizbollah?
* PS- For you UC Santa Cruz Community Studies majors, Hizbollah is the bunch who blew up the Marine barracks in Lebanon shortly before they announced their formation to the world. Of course that happened before most of you were born, so maybe your "professors" have not told you about it.
What Really Ails Greece (The Greeks)
Riot in Greece
"We want our candy! The Jews stole our candy!"
Hat tip to Orange County Independent Task Force on Anti-Semitism
Below is an interesting article on how some Greek priest is blaming the Jews for Greece's current financial crisis.
http://octaskforce.wordpress.com/2010/12/21/hi-level-greek-priest-goes-on-anti-semitic-tirade/
The Metropolite answered, “Adolf Hitler was an instrument of world Zionism and was financed from the renowned Rothschild family with the sole purpose of convincing the Jews to leave the shores of Europe and go to Israel to establish the new Empire.”
Great. Just what we need. Allow me to clear this matter up for the priest's edification. Greece's problem is merely the first and worst example of what plagues western Europe; non-stop spending on social welfare that the nation can't afford. According to one of my colleagues, who is married to a Greek, speaks Greek, and has lived in Greece (before they fled), about 35% of the work force is either working for the government or retired-a sure recipe for disaster. Now that the money has run out, Greece walks around hat in hand asking its European neighbors for hand outs. Then when any talk is heard about spending cuts, the Greek people run amok in the streets.
But it's all the Jews' fault.
Wrong. It is all the Greeks' fault. Maybe it's time for the lazy Greeks to get up off their asses and realize that life is not about the government of Mamby Pamby Land taking care of all your needs. (Maybe we Americans could learn that too.) The party is over in Europe. The money has run out. Now it is for the whole European Union to realize that they cannot save each country, one by one with bailouts.
Now comes this idiot priest blaming the Jews and Rothchild for all Greece's ills. Another black eye for Christianity, if you ask me.
Like the drill sergeant said,
"The Greeks are a bunch of jackwagens."
Talk about a has-been country!
What is a Bus?
I am cross-posting a message from David Horowitz's Freedom Center regarding a plan by some left-wing pro-Palestinian group in the Pacific Northwest to put anti-Israel ads on Seattle buses in the coming days. While it is an exercise in free speech, I think it is important to respond to this move by putting it in a little perspective.
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"Dear DHFC Supporter,
The movement here at home to delegitimize Israel and wipe all Jewish people off the face of the earth just received a surprise Christmas present in Seattle, Washington.
The Seattle Mideast Awareness Campaign, a local pro-Palestinian group, has purchased ads to run on the sides of 12 King County Metro buses in Seattle. The ads, which read "Israeli War Crimes: Your Tax Dollars at Work", are scheduled to begin running on December 27 -- the second anniversary of the Gaza War.
We expect this sort of attack on Israel by the left on our university campuses, where genocidal pro-Islamist groups monopolize the conversation about the Middle East. But such rancid propaganda on the streets of our major cities? It is a lie that cannot go unanswered, so the Freedom Center is fighting back.
The Freedom Center has purchased thousands of dollars of ads to counter the propaganda on 25 Seattle buses. Our ads will read "Palestinian War Crimes: Your Tax Dollars At Work" with pictures of Israeli bus passengers killed by Palestinian suicide bombers during the Second Intifada, and will also begin running during the period right after Christmas.
Will you help us fund these ads?
Your immediate tax-deductible contribution of $25, $50, $100, $250 or more will allow us to continue running these ads in Seattle and expand this pro-Israel campaign to other major U.S. cities, making sure Americans know the truth about how nearly a half a billion taxpayer dollars our government sends to Palestine each year. So please follow this link right away to give generously.
Isn't it ironic that these Seattle radicals chose to put their ads on buses, since buses carrying innocent Israelis have always been the targets of Palestinian murderers? Fortunately, the Freedom Center intends to make sure that the people of Seattle and the rest of the county know the truth about the Middle East, the pro-terror groups that are trying to bring the war against Israel home to the United States, and our own government's role in subsidizing rejectionism and terror.
So will you help me draw a line in the sand and tell these pro terror groups that their effort to spread the Big Lie here in America will not stand by raising $75,000 in the next 7 days? Please follow this link immediately to make a tax-deductible contribution of $25, $50, $100, $250 or whatever you can afford to help the Freedom Center pay for the bus ads in Seattle and other cities across the nation.
Thank you for standing with Israel, the truth and the Freedom Center in this time of need.
Sincerely,
David Horowitz
President & Founder
P.S. Help the Freedom Center counter anti-Israel bus ads in Seattle, Washington, by fund counter ads. We must raise $75,000 in the next 7 days, so please follow this link right away to make an emergency contribution of $25, $50, $100, $250 or whatever you can afford to the Freedom Center. Thank you.
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Here is some information on one of the main organizers of this Seattle bus campaign, Ed Mast:
(Hat tip to Jewish Facts From Portland)
http://jewishfactsfromportland.blogspot.com/2010/12/who-is-seattle-mideast-awareness.html
This is not some grass-roots move by a small group of peace-lovers in the Pacific Northwest; this is part of an international movement led by the International Solidarity Movement to de-legitimize Israel. If you think "de-legitimize" is an innocuous word, think again. It is the first crucial step in turning world opinion against the actual existence of the Jewish state. It is part of the worldwide Palestinian game plan.
* Late update: King County Metro has decided to reject the ads. Good news.
Janet Napolitano Gets an Earful From Slain Border Agent Family
Janet Napolitano and her colleague in fecklessness, Eric Holder, at an anti-intellectual property theft forum in Washington December 14. (AP)
Janet Napolitano was told by the family of a slain Border Patrol agent to "wake up her man in the White House". (That would be the president-or maybe the National Security Chief James Clapper, who always seems to be the last to know.)
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/12/23/napolitano-scolds-reporter-airing-complaints-dead-border-agents-family/
Agent Brian Terry funeral in Detroit (Fox News)
Of course, our out manned Border Patrol always seems to get the short end of the stick when it comes to support, and that goes back to the previous administration as well. No, we haven't forgotten the two agents (Ramos and Compean) who were sent to prison for shooting and wounding a drug smuggler as he was fleeing back across the border.
Now comes Napolitano, who doesn't want to address these issues with reporters after Agent Brian Terry's family had harsh words for her and the present administration.
The sad fact is that virtually every recent administration, Democratic and Republican, has neglected to do their duty to protect the border. It is not just people and drugs crossing illegally that is the issue. The border region is full of deadly violence that threatens anyone living or working in its vicinity. And the first ones to fall are Border Patrol agents, who are outgunned and out manned-while our feckless leaders in Washington spout empty words and set their priorities on such things as "intellectual property theft" and "environmental justice".
Witchcraft and Jews at Guantanamo Bay
Hat tip to Hot Air
Hot Air has posted a clip from Memri TV, which in turn, brings us the latest wacky Al-Jazeera interview of a former Gitmo detainee. You see, those Jewish doctors at Gitmo told him he was crazy, so they practiced witchcraft on him by giving him some pills and then a cat tried to penetrate him and....
well listen for yourself.
http://hotair.com/archives/2010/12/22/bad-news-from-freed-detainee-the-jews-used-witchcraft-on-me-at-gitmo/
What's (also) amazing is that the interviewer seems to take it all so seriously. (Another proud graduate of the Barbara Walters School of Interviewing). But that's Al-Jazeera; they specialize in interviewing wackos.
"And I guess that's why the color yellow makes me sad."
Hot Air has posted a clip from Memri TV, which in turn, brings us the latest wacky Al-Jazeera interview of a former Gitmo detainee. You see, those Jewish doctors at Gitmo told him he was crazy, so they practiced witchcraft on him by giving him some pills and then a cat tried to penetrate him and....
well listen for yourself.
http://hotair.com/archives/2010/12/22/bad-news-from-freed-detainee-the-jews-used-witchcraft-on-me-at-gitmo/
What's (also) amazing is that the interviewer seems to take it all so seriously. (Another proud graduate of the Barbara Walters School of Interviewing). But that's Al-Jazeera; they specialize in interviewing wackos.
"And I guess that's why the color yellow makes me sad."
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
The Lockerbie Scandal
A report released after an investigation by four Democratic senators charges that the release of the Pan Am bomber by Scottish authorities was done as a result of British pressure to protect a 900 million dollar oil deal with Libya involving BP. This, of course, is what we always suspected.
http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/677-e2-wire/134703-report-decision-to-release-lockerbie-bomber-based-on-preserving-bp-libya-oil-deal
What the report does not explain is the involvement of the American government. Indeed, the US Government is hardly mentioned other than noting that the release was a violation of an agreement between the UK and US governments. The document also calls on the State Dept. to launch an investigation into the release.
Here is the report: "Justice Undone"
http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/MSNBC/Sections/NEWS/z-pdf-archive/Justice_Undone_Final.pdf
If true, this is a major blight on our relationship with Great Britain. What kind of nation have they become?
It is also time to do a serious investigation into what, if anything, the US did to allow this deal to go through. Just how strenuously did we "object" to the release before it happened? Did we give tacit approval-a diplomatic wink wink, nod nod? For starters, it is time to bring Secretary of State Hillary Clinton before Congress to testify under oath about this whole sordid story.
http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/677-e2-wire/134703-report-decision-to-release-lockerbie-bomber-based-on-preserving-bp-libya-oil-deal
What the report does not explain is the involvement of the American government. Indeed, the US Government is hardly mentioned other than noting that the release was a violation of an agreement between the UK and US governments. The document also calls on the State Dept. to launch an investigation into the release.
Here is the report: "Justice Undone"
http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/MSNBC/Sections/NEWS/z-pdf-archive/Justice_Undone_Final.pdf
If true, this is a major blight on our relationship with Great Britain. What kind of nation have they become?
It is also time to do a serious investigation into what, if anything, the US did to allow this deal to go through. Just how strenuously did we "object" to the release before it happened? Did we give tacit approval-a diplomatic wink wink, nod nod? For starters, it is time to bring Secretary of State Hillary Clinton before Congress to testify under oath about this whole sordid story.
The Three Stooges Are Standing Guard
This week's interview by Diane Sawyer of Janet Napolitano, John Brennan and James Clapper features an astounding revelation. Our Director of National Security, Clapper, was asked about the terrorist round-up in the UK. He sat there dumbfounded because he wasn't aware of it!! (Go to the 3:40 mark)
Video via Hot Air
http://hotair.com/archives/2010/12/21/u-s-director-of-national-intelligence-on-london-terror-arrests-er-what-terror-arrests/
This is.............
"What's the word?
There is no word.
Mary Nichols and California Air Resources Board Out of Control
I have previously written about the California Air Resources Board and their fanatic director, Mary D. Nichols, who was appointed by our famous Governor Katzenjammer. This is the woman who commissioned a study on diesel particulate matter by a man with a fraudulent resume.
http://garyfouse.blogspot.com/2010/01/california-air-resources-board-expert.html
Even though Nichols became aware of the fraudulent nature of her "scientist", she withheld that information from her board members until after they had approved new legislation on diesel vehicles based on that fraudulent study. Here is one result. The San Diego Blood Bank Foundation, a private non-profit group that has serviced some 150,000 people with blood in 2010 alone, must now spend at least one million dollars to re-fit and then replace their bloodmobiles.
As a result of new legislation arising from the aforementioned study, this foundation in San Diego now has one year to re-fit 7 out of their 8 diesel bloodmobiles-and replace them by 2015. The immidiate cost of re-fitting them this year will be one million d0ollars.
When they appealed to CARB, they were told that there were no exemptions for emergency vehicles.
There there we have it. Arnold Katzenjammer appoints this environmental wacko from UCLA to head CARB; Fraudulent scientists; fraudulent study; cover-up and draconian legislation on anyone operating diesel engine vehicles.
But hey! Who needs bloodmobiles when you're saving the planet?
Celebrating the "Winter Event"
Have you noticed the rash of TV car commercials that are proclaiming sales this season? Have you noticed that none of them say a word about what it is we are celebrating? According to Mercedes Benz, it is the "Winter Event". Other car companies are celebrating the "Holiday Event", the "Year End Event", the "Freezing Our Asses Off" event or whatever. Not a word about Christmas or Channuka.
Even Santa Claus seems to be getting phased out as evidenced in ever politically-correct Minnesota.
(Hat tip to Qudosi Chronicles)
http://www.qudosi.com/religion/57-united-states/947-santa-banned-from-minnesota-head-start-class-to-avoid-offending-muslims
Well, I guess we could celebrate Al-Shabab in Minnesota since so many of their Somali denizens seem to have run off to join the terror group. Maybe if we get rid of pesky old Santa, the Somalis will stop joining Al-Shabab-or so the reasoning goes.
Or maybe they are celebrating the real winter event in Minnesota, the collapse of the Humpty Dome in Minneapolis, which necessitated the big Monday Night Football game played on an ice rink called Univ. of Minnesota Stadium.
Of course, in Europe the politbureau aka the European Commission is issuing day planners which make no note of Christmas on December 25-just another day now as Europe enjoys its interregnum of secularism until Islam becomes the rule of the land. The Red Cross in the UK has removed all references to Christmas in their facilities in an effort to be "more inclusive" and not to offend others.
(Hat tip to Free Republic)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2643885/posts
Of course, we all know what is going on here. There is a move afoot to remove Christmas and its meaning for us out of our consciousness. Then we will all live happily in Multicultural land.
"....and no religion too."
-That great philosopher John Lennon
Or just maybe, after watching the Bears and Vikings slide around last night in sub-freezing temperatures, we can celebrate the debunking of all that Global Warming hysteria.
So head on over to your nearest Mercedes dealer and cash in on a great deal to celebrate "End of Global Warming Hysteria Event."
MPAC Conference in LA
The Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) held their annual conference in Los Angeles this past weekend. Here is the report by Steve Emerson and the Investigative Project on Terrorism.
http://www.investigativeproject.org/2426/mpac-whitewashes-terror-threat-while-condemning
* Reema Salahi is a recent UC graduate, member of the MSA, and acted as legal counsel for the UCI Muslim Student Union in the recent Oren affair.
As is evident, MPAC's agenda is to portray themselves as a moderate, mainstream organization that speaks as the official voice of the Muslim community in America. Yet, they whitewash any suggestion that we have a home-grown terrorist problem in America and maintain that they (Muslims) are victims of "Islamophobia" and suspicion. Now their message seems to be one of non-cooperation with the police and government. How nice. You talk about isolating oneself from American society.
"Muslims have never targeted American civilians."
No? Leon Klinghoffer might disagree.
What about 9-11?
What about the 1993 World Trade Center bombing?
The Times Square bomber?
The underwear bomber?
The shoe bomber?
What about the bombings of the American embassies in Lebanon, Tanzania and Kenya?
I could go on, but my fingers are getting tired. I think you get the point.
In my view, one of the biggest problems that decent American Muslims in America have is their so-called "leadership".
http://www.investigativeproject.org/2426/mpac-whitewashes-terror-threat-while-condemning
* Reema Salahi is a recent UC graduate, member of the MSA, and acted as legal counsel for the UCI Muslim Student Union in the recent Oren affair.
As is evident, MPAC's agenda is to portray themselves as a moderate, mainstream organization that speaks as the official voice of the Muslim community in America. Yet, they whitewash any suggestion that we have a home-grown terrorist problem in America and maintain that they (Muslims) are victims of "Islamophobia" and suspicion. Now their message seems to be one of non-cooperation with the police and government. How nice. You talk about isolating oneself from American society.
"Muslims have never targeted American civilians."
No? Leon Klinghoffer might disagree.
What about 9-11?
What about the 1993 World Trade Center bombing?
The Times Square bomber?
The underwear bomber?
The shoe bomber?
What about the bombings of the American embassies in Lebanon, Tanzania and Kenya?
I could go on, but my fingers are getting tired. I think you get the point.
In my view, one of the biggest problems that decent American Muslims in America have is their so-called "leadership".
Article by Alexandre Joffe at Hudson Institute
I am posting this important article by Alexander Joffe of the Hudson Institute entitled, "Israel on Campus". Not surprisingly, UC-Irvine is mentioned. Below the link, I have cross-posted the entire text and highlighted some important points-points which are relevant to the on-going controversy over UCI.
http://www.hudson-ny.org/1695/israel-on-campus
"The situation on campus continues to change for Israel's supporters: abuse is now almost everyplace. There have been important successes, like upholding the recent veto of a "boycott, divestment and sanctions" (BDS) proposal at the University of California at Berkeley's student council, and the U.S. Civil Rights Commission's recent definition of anti-Semitism on campus as a violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. But there have also been notable failures, such as the continuing unwillingness of the administration of the University of California at Irvine to take harassment of Jewish and Israeli students and speakers seriously. Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren was heckled and silenced there by a group of students from the Muslim Student Association before university security stepped in and removed them. These students later accused the university administration of denying them their First Amendment rights.
At Evergreen State University Jewish students have felt compelled to transfer to other schools after overt harassment. Sukkahs have been vandalized in recent years at Stanford, the University of Colorado, the University of Southern California, and other campuses. "Israel Apartheid Week" is now an established part of the calendar at colleges across the country, bringing verbal harassment and even physical assaults against Jewish students. At these events, "Jews" are assumed to be "Zionists" and are subject to abuse on this basis, as well as because they are Jews. Worse, universities and the community at large are getting accustomed to it all.
Seeing the anti-Israel movement in isolation has always been part of the problem. There is a well-organized network of international anti-Israel activists and organizations. In the U.S. it operates at all levels, from giant state universities, to local churches, to suburban living rooms. The group that makes up "International Apartheid Week" sponsors a coordinated week-long protest in the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Israel, Italy, South Africa, Holland and elsewhere. Groups like "Al-Awda, The Palestine Right to Return Coalition" sponsor speaking tours by noted anti-Israel figures such as Norman Finkelstein, George Galloway and countless others throughout the U.S.. Local branches of Al-Awda and the "International Solidarity Movement" are found throughout the U.S., Canada and the United Kingdom. Coordinated internationally, these groups share speakers and also train and bring "activists" to Israel. Muslim student groups facilitate and support these. and bring their own speakers, such as the radical Muhammad al-Asi, to their gatherings.
These groups have made common cause on and off campus with extremist groups, seemingly united by their hatred of Israel, the U.S., and its policies worldwide. Anti-Israel events have also been co-sponsored -- or organized as a part of "anti-war," "anti-globalization'" and "anti-imperialism'" protests -- by groups such as "Act Now to Stop War and End Racism (ANSWER)," "United For Peace and Justice," and the "Stop the War Coalition." The U.S. and Israel appear to be regarded as part of a larger "capitalist-imperialist conspiracy" that must be "exposed" and "smashed."
Anti-Israel groups have also been allied with those defending Iran, such as the Socialist Workers Party; although the "Great Satan" and the "Little Satan" are both forthright about defending themselves and the freedoms of others. The related "boycott, divestment and sanction" (BDS) movements against Israel are also active everywhere, from the Cambridge City Council to the Olympia Food Co-op in Olympia Washington, to pension funds in Canada and England. This too is an international movement. The group "International BDS" is directed by the "Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions Campaign National Committee," made up of Palestinian non-governmental organizations (NGOs), trade unions and Islamist groups While they have so far failed to get any American university or significant group to actually boycott or divest from Israel, they lie and say they have succeeded, as occurred recently at Hampshire College and Harvard University.
In Europe, BDS has mostly succeeded in provoking weekly protests outside Israeli shops, such as the Dead Sea cosmetics firm Ahava, and rampaging through French supermarkets.
While extreme right-wing groups have always hated Israel, usually on traditional anti-Semitic terms, anti-Israel organizations are now primarily on the far left. But Neo-Nazis, radical Muslims and anarchists are all happy to put aside their differences to join in hatred of Israel. Far right groups such as the John Birch Society or the Lyndon LaRouche movement and neo-Nazis are still not welcome on campus. But left-wing groups have been accepted or even invited on American university campuses by faculties that either embrace them or who are merely "tolerant" of their presence, and who indignantly pull out free speech and academic freedom defenses when challenged. University administrations and trustees have been equally tolerant. They simply want the problem to stay manageably quiet, and for the money to keep flowing in from the government and from donors.
The language and tools of human and civil rights have also been hijacked. The respect for NGOs like Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International is especially high on campuses, along with the United Nations, since these represent secular and "global" alternatives to the U.S. government and groups like church-based charities. NGOs and international organizations are wrapped in a "halo effect" provided by the secular religious term "human rights." To question them and their ideas is to appear to be "against human rights." Mainstream NGOs tend to focus on Israel to a disproportionate degree, as opposed to countries that violate human rights extravagantly; these NGOs bitterly criticize every Israeli action to defend itself against terrorist attacks and overt threats of annihilation. Other NGOs, such as Adalah, Badil and the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, often backed by the European Union, attack Israel as virtually their sole focus, and are deeply connected with the BDS movement. Even Israel's defense of its identity as the sole Jewish state has been cast as a violation of "international law" and "human rights," and regularly send speakers to appear regularly on U.S. campuses.
The Goldstone investigation, ordered by the United Nations Human Rights Council, was apparently intended provided legal cover for the intensification of such abuses of law and language. By ignoring evidence presented to them by Israelis, and ignoring the words and deeds of Hamas, the report reached a completely predictable outcome that has rippled around the world. Shooting back at those who shoot at you was declared de facto a "war crime;" Israeli politicians and military leaders have now been subjected to investigations and arrest warrants in Europe, on charges brought by NGOs, Muslim groups and other fellow travelers. Pro-Palestinian groups have long claimed that Israel is practicing "genocide," albeit a strange kind that actually increases the life span and numbers of its alleged "victims," as just this year alone, over 180,000 Palestinians, as well as people of all races and creeds are treated daily in Israeli hospitals.
This vitriol, however, his has spilled over onto college campuses in the U.S., where Israel is branded as a criminal state by a growing number of activists and professors, both inside and outside the classroom. Convincing idealistic college students not to be blinded by the "halo effect" around NGOs is a challenge. Helping them to recognizing that faith in NGOs and other forms of "global governance," which may be distorted and politicized, and is part of a Western secular religion of internationalism, albeit where there is no further recourse, is vital to understanding and combating their abuses.
The hijacking of human and civil rights has been especially cruel blow to persecuted peoples elsewhere. Darfur, while not entirely off the map, has been pushed far to the back burner in favor of "engagement" with the cruel government of Sudan. Accusations that Sudanese persecution and mass murder are all Zionist fabrications are common from those who elsewhere express passion for the "plight of the Palestinians." These trends also explain something about why the plight of persecuted Christians in Muslim countries like Pakistan, Egypt and Iraq, and Christian communities fighting for survival in countries like Nigeria, get so little attention. Anything that takes away from the obsessive focus on the supposedly unique evil and cruelty of Israel is dismissed as either a myth or disinformation. Even Christians slaughtered in church in Baghdad receives barely a fraction of the attention of an announcement that an Israeli urban planning committee has approved construction of housing in Jerusalem. In the view of all too many, Christians can only be the persecutors and not persecuted. Defending Christians on campus is often as difficult as defending Israel.
The unique focus on Israel on campus increasingly fits former Soviet dissident Natan Sharansky's '3-D test' of the new anti-Semitism; demonization, double standards, and delegitimization. Israel is singled out for special attention, judged not simply by Western standards but impossible ones -- and then condemned. The revival of the "one state solution" by academic activists as the preferred outcome is another such sign. To them, Israel is so uniquely bad and its future such an impossible blight that it must dissolve itself and share its land, institutions and wealth by accepting the "right of return" by Palestinian "refugees." Never mind that ethnic groups all over the world are busy trying to break away from one another. The Czechs and the Slovaks divorced in 1993; and the Scots and the Welsh have been trying to get out of the United Kingdom for centuries; there is Quebec from Canada; the Basque from Spain; the Chechnyans from Russia; the Kurds from Turkey, and so on. Israel is expected to go out of business, voluntarily or by force,. Increasingly, if one does not accept that Israel is uniquely bad and its dissolution necessary, one is called a racist. Accepting that Israel must go is a litmus test for both the far left and the far right, and for all too many liberal Jews and Christians alike.
In short, the situation on for Israel and its supporters on campus is abysmal. Jewish students especially are finding it harder and harder to avoid being actively challenged by professors, activists and the general campus atmosphere; they are urged to give up Israel and join the "mainstream," or be labeled "far right" or "racist." Once students are informed about Sharansky's 3-D test, however, and sensitized to the way concepts like "human rights" and "international law" are being abused, it will be apparent that there are few places to hide.
There are no easy solutions. Becoming informed about the facts is a prerequisite. Groups like the David Project and Christians United for Israel are active across the country providing resources and support for students and communities who refuse to accept the one-sided picture of Israel's "original sin" put forward by many professors and activists. Larger Jewish institutions such as the Jewish Federations of North America and many Hillels (although unfortunately not all) are more conscious of the problem and have begun taking steps to combat the skewed propaganda. The Israeli Foreign Ministry and Israel Defense Forces are also equipped to get information into the hands of those who are countering attacks on Israel,
Sadly, the uncritical financial and moral support of universities continues from Jews and others, who refuse to believe that isolated incidents add up to a pattern. The treatment of Jews and Israel in Western universities merely reflects the larger corroding intellectual and moral health of the West.
The nature of activism is changing rapidly. Groups of rival students standing on opposite sides of the quad holding banners has given way to aggressive behavior in which students are challenged and assaulted by activists, and active responses are quickly met with un-thought-through bumper-sticker cries of "racism" or "Islamophobia," '"censorship" or "interference in academic freedom," wherein name-calling replaces discussing issues.
Pro-Israel groups have not stooped to that level of intimidation, insults and even violence, which means that their voices are typically drowned out. But pro-Israel groups must aggressively hold universities to their own standards of free speech and freedom from intimidation. Universities want to cover up exactly how ugly anti-Israel protests have become. This cannot be permitted.
Both pro-Israel and anti-Israel protests should be filmed to document just who is using what kind of language and techniques. Legal complaints about universities and state and Federal authorities should be pursued when necessary. Parents and alumni need to get involved as well, letting their peers and the universities know that campus anti-Semitism is unacceptable and has consequences.
Social networking is another new battleground, along with new media. The numbers of pro-Israel Facebook groups and YouTube videos are tiny compared to those belonging to pro-Palestinian groups. The need to organizing these areas is obvious, relatively easy and does not require an aggressive personality or special leadership training. Getting Israel's message out, and showing the lengths to which anti-Israel activists will go, is vital.
BDS petitions have a way of being submitted at the end of a student council meeting and debated on Friday nights or holidays. Once publicized, they tend to wither in the light of day. And new, creative means to get Israel's case across have been used across the country – "buy-cotts," in which Israeli goods are sold, dance parties where a message is delivered, and expert panels are only some of the ways. Keeping a bright light shone on campus is especially important. The best way to fight back is to use the truth. Finding like-minded people through church and synagogue groups also remains key. But having the courage to speak up for Israel in ways large and small remains a challenge that canbe met by first finding resources within ourselves."
Alexander Joffe is a Research Scholar at the Institute for Jewish & Community Research.
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I highlighted the reference to Evergreen College because it is a notoriously liberal institution. It is this college that Rachel Corrie studied at before joining the International Solidarity Movement and going to Israel where she was run over while trying to block an IDF bulldozer making her an ISM "martyr".
I also highlighted the reference to the Jewish Federation and Hillel because undoubtedly the Orange County chapters of these two national organizations represent the exceptions to which Mr Joffe referred. Make no mistake, the Hudson Institute is well aware of the UC-Irvine situation.
The article is also noteworthy because it shows the connection between the anti-Israel forces and the American far-left.
Finally, it may also be inferred from the article that universities cannot be trusted to rectify the situation without outside pressure. That is why I have always advocated and supported the involvement of the community in holding the university's feet to the fire.
http://www.hudson-ny.org/1695/israel-on-campus
"The situation on campus continues to change for Israel's supporters: abuse is now almost everyplace. There have been important successes, like upholding the recent veto of a "boycott, divestment and sanctions" (BDS) proposal at the University of California at Berkeley's student council, and the U.S. Civil Rights Commission's recent definition of anti-Semitism on campus as a violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. But there have also been notable failures, such as the continuing unwillingness of the administration of the University of California at Irvine to take harassment of Jewish and Israeli students and speakers seriously. Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren was heckled and silenced there by a group of students from the Muslim Student Association before university security stepped in and removed them. These students later accused the university administration of denying them their First Amendment rights.
At Evergreen State University Jewish students have felt compelled to transfer to other schools after overt harassment. Sukkahs have been vandalized in recent years at Stanford, the University of Colorado, the University of Southern California, and other campuses. "Israel Apartheid Week" is now an established part of the calendar at colleges across the country, bringing verbal harassment and even physical assaults against Jewish students. At these events, "Jews" are assumed to be "Zionists" and are subject to abuse on this basis, as well as because they are Jews. Worse, universities and the community at large are getting accustomed to it all.
Seeing the anti-Israel movement in isolation has always been part of the problem. There is a well-organized network of international anti-Israel activists and organizations. In the U.S. it operates at all levels, from giant state universities, to local churches, to suburban living rooms. The group that makes up "International Apartheid Week" sponsors a coordinated week-long protest in the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Israel, Italy, South Africa, Holland and elsewhere. Groups like "Al-Awda, The Palestine Right to Return Coalition" sponsor speaking tours by noted anti-Israel figures such as Norman Finkelstein, George Galloway and countless others throughout the U.S.. Local branches of Al-Awda and the "International Solidarity Movement" are found throughout the U.S., Canada and the United Kingdom. Coordinated internationally, these groups share speakers and also train and bring "activists" to Israel. Muslim student groups facilitate and support these. and bring their own speakers, such as the radical Muhammad al-Asi, to their gatherings.
These groups have made common cause on and off campus with extremist groups, seemingly united by their hatred of Israel, the U.S., and its policies worldwide. Anti-Israel events have also been co-sponsored -- or organized as a part of "anti-war," "anti-globalization'" and "anti-imperialism'" protests -- by groups such as "Act Now to Stop War and End Racism (ANSWER)," "United For Peace and Justice," and the "Stop the War Coalition." The U.S. and Israel appear to be regarded as part of a larger "capitalist-imperialist conspiracy" that must be "exposed" and "smashed."
Anti-Israel groups have also been allied with those defending Iran, such as the Socialist Workers Party; although the "Great Satan" and the "Little Satan" are both forthright about defending themselves and the freedoms of others. The related "boycott, divestment and sanction" (BDS) movements against Israel are also active everywhere, from the Cambridge City Council to the Olympia Food Co-op in Olympia Washington, to pension funds in Canada and England. This too is an international movement. The group "International BDS" is directed by the "Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions Campaign National Committee," made up of Palestinian non-governmental organizations (NGOs), trade unions and Islamist groups While they have so far failed to get any American university or significant group to actually boycott or divest from Israel, they lie and say they have succeeded, as occurred recently at Hampshire College and Harvard University.
In Europe, BDS has mostly succeeded in provoking weekly protests outside Israeli shops, such as the Dead Sea cosmetics firm Ahava, and rampaging through French supermarkets.
While extreme right-wing groups have always hated Israel, usually on traditional anti-Semitic terms, anti-Israel organizations are now primarily on the far left. But Neo-Nazis, radical Muslims and anarchists are all happy to put aside their differences to join in hatred of Israel. Far right groups such as the John Birch Society or the Lyndon LaRouche movement and neo-Nazis are still not welcome on campus. But left-wing groups have been accepted or even invited on American university campuses by faculties that either embrace them or who are merely "tolerant" of their presence, and who indignantly pull out free speech and academic freedom defenses when challenged. University administrations and trustees have been equally tolerant. They simply want the problem to stay manageably quiet, and for the money to keep flowing in from the government and from donors.
The language and tools of human and civil rights have also been hijacked. The respect for NGOs like Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International is especially high on campuses, along with the United Nations, since these represent secular and "global" alternatives to the U.S. government and groups like church-based charities. NGOs and international organizations are wrapped in a "halo effect" provided by the secular religious term "human rights." To question them and their ideas is to appear to be "against human rights." Mainstream NGOs tend to focus on Israel to a disproportionate degree, as opposed to countries that violate human rights extravagantly; these NGOs bitterly criticize every Israeli action to defend itself against terrorist attacks and overt threats of annihilation. Other NGOs, such as Adalah, Badil and the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, often backed by the European Union, attack Israel as virtually their sole focus, and are deeply connected with the BDS movement. Even Israel's defense of its identity as the sole Jewish state has been cast as a violation of "international law" and "human rights," and regularly send speakers to appear regularly on U.S. campuses.
The Goldstone investigation, ordered by the United Nations Human Rights Council, was apparently intended provided legal cover for the intensification of such abuses of law and language. By ignoring evidence presented to them by Israelis, and ignoring the words and deeds of Hamas, the report reached a completely predictable outcome that has rippled around the world. Shooting back at those who shoot at you was declared de facto a "war crime;" Israeli politicians and military leaders have now been subjected to investigations and arrest warrants in Europe, on charges brought by NGOs, Muslim groups and other fellow travelers. Pro-Palestinian groups have long claimed that Israel is practicing "genocide," albeit a strange kind that actually increases the life span and numbers of its alleged "victims," as just this year alone, over 180,000 Palestinians, as well as people of all races and creeds are treated daily in Israeli hospitals.
This vitriol, however, his has spilled over onto college campuses in the U.S., where Israel is branded as a criminal state by a growing number of activists and professors, both inside and outside the classroom. Convincing idealistic college students not to be blinded by the "halo effect" around NGOs is a challenge. Helping them to recognizing that faith in NGOs and other forms of "global governance," which may be distorted and politicized, and is part of a Western secular religion of internationalism, albeit where there is no further recourse, is vital to understanding and combating their abuses.
The hijacking of human and civil rights has been especially cruel blow to persecuted peoples elsewhere. Darfur, while not entirely off the map, has been pushed far to the back burner in favor of "engagement" with the cruel government of Sudan. Accusations that Sudanese persecution and mass murder are all Zionist fabrications are common from those who elsewhere express passion for the "plight of the Palestinians." These trends also explain something about why the plight of persecuted Christians in Muslim countries like Pakistan, Egypt and Iraq, and Christian communities fighting for survival in countries like Nigeria, get so little attention. Anything that takes away from the obsessive focus on the supposedly unique evil and cruelty of Israel is dismissed as either a myth or disinformation. Even Christians slaughtered in church in Baghdad receives barely a fraction of the attention of an announcement that an Israeli urban planning committee has approved construction of housing in Jerusalem. In the view of all too many, Christians can only be the persecutors and not persecuted. Defending Christians on campus is often as difficult as defending Israel.
The unique focus on Israel on campus increasingly fits former Soviet dissident Natan Sharansky's '3-D test' of the new anti-Semitism; demonization, double standards, and delegitimization. Israel is singled out for special attention, judged not simply by Western standards but impossible ones -- and then condemned. The revival of the "one state solution" by academic activists as the preferred outcome is another such sign. To them, Israel is so uniquely bad and its future such an impossible blight that it must dissolve itself and share its land, institutions and wealth by accepting the "right of return" by Palestinian "refugees." Never mind that ethnic groups all over the world are busy trying to break away from one another. The Czechs and the Slovaks divorced in 1993; and the Scots and the Welsh have been trying to get out of the United Kingdom for centuries; there is Quebec from Canada; the Basque from Spain; the Chechnyans from Russia; the Kurds from Turkey, and so on. Israel is expected to go out of business, voluntarily or by force,. Increasingly, if one does not accept that Israel is uniquely bad and its dissolution necessary, one is called a racist. Accepting that Israel must go is a litmus test for both the far left and the far right, and for all too many liberal Jews and Christians alike.
In short, the situation on for Israel and its supporters on campus is abysmal. Jewish students especially are finding it harder and harder to avoid being actively challenged by professors, activists and the general campus atmosphere; they are urged to give up Israel and join the "mainstream," or be labeled "far right" or "racist." Once students are informed about Sharansky's 3-D test, however, and sensitized to the way concepts like "human rights" and "international law" are being abused, it will be apparent that there are few places to hide.
There are no easy solutions. Becoming informed about the facts is a prerequisite. Groups like the David Project and Christians United for Israel are active across the country providing resources and support for students and communities who refuse to accept the one-sided picture of Israel's "original sin" put forward by many professors and activists. Larger Jewish institutions such as the Jewish Federations of North America and many Hillels (although unfortunately not all) are more conscious of the problem and have begun taking steps to combat the skewed propaganda. The Israeli Foreign Ministry and Israel Defense Forces are also equipped to get information into the hands of those who are countering attacks on Israel,
Sadly, the uncritical financial and moral support of universities continues from Jews and others, who refuse to believe that isolated incidents add up to a pattern. The treatment of Jews and Israel in Western universities merely reflects the larger corroding intellectual and moral health of the West.
The nature of activism is changing rapidly. Groups of rival students standing on opposite sides of the quad holding banners has given way to aggressive behavior in which students are challenged and assaulted by activists, and active responses are quickly met with un-thought-through bumper-sticker cries of "racism" or "Islamophobia," '"censorship" or "interference in academic freedom," wherein name-calling replaces discussing issues.
Pro-Israel groups have not stooped to that level of intimidation, insults and even violence, which means that their voices are typically drowned out. But pro-Israel groups must aggressively hold universities to their own standards of free speech and freedom from intimidation. Universities want to cover up exactly how ugly anti-Israel protests have become. This cannot be permitted.
Both pro-Israel and anti-Israel protests should be filmed to document just who is using what kind of language and techniques. Legal complaints about universities and state and Federal authorities should be pursued when necessary. Parents and alumni need to get involved as well, letting their peers and the universities know that campus anti-Semitism is unacceptable and has consequences.
Social networking is another new battleground, along with new media. The numbers of pro-Israel Facebook groups and YouTube videos are tiny compared to those belonging to pro-Palestinian groups. The need to organizing these areas is obvious, relatively easy and does not require an aggressive personality or special leadership training. Getting Israel's message out, and showing the lengths to which anti-Israel activists will go, is vital.
BDS petitions have a way of being submitted at the end of a student council meeting and debated on Friday nights or holidays. Once publicized, they tend to wither in the light of day. And new, creative means to get Israel's case across have been used across the country – "buy-cotts," in which Israeli goods are sold, dance parties where a message is delivered, and expert panels are only some of the ways. Keeping a bright light shone on campus is especially important. The best way to fight back is to use the truth. Finding like-minded people through church and synagogue groups also remains key. But having the courage to speak up for Israel in ways large and small remains a challenge that canbe met by first finding resources within ourselves."
Alexander Joffe is a Research Scholar at the Institute for Jewish & Community Research.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I highlighted the reference to Evergreen College because it is a notoriously liberal institution. It is this college that Rachel Corrie studied at before joining the International Solidarity Movement and going to Israel where she was run over while trying to block an IDF bulldozer making her an ISM "martyr".
I also highlighted the reference to the Jewish Federation and Hillel because undoubtedly the Orange County chapters of these two national organizations represent the exceptions to which Mr Joffe referred. Make no mistake, the Hudson Institute is well aware of the UC-Irvine situation.
The article is also noteworthy because it shows the connection between the anti-Israel forces and the American far-left.
Finally, it may also be inferred from the article that universities cannot be trusted to rectify the situation without outside pressure. That is why I have always advocated and supported the involvement of the community in holding the university's feet to the fire.
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