12/16 Links Pt2: The ASA Advances the Longstanding Anti-Zionist War on Academia

From Ian:

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Gil Troy: The ASA Advances the Longstanding Anti-Zionist War on Academia

The American Studies Association’s rushed deadline of December 15 to vote on boycotting Israeli universities has provoked intense debate about the move and the manipulative tactics deployed, including exploiting this time of year when professors are busy grading. But the boycott is one skirmish in a larger fight. In their sustained war against Israel, anti-Zionists have launched a war against academia itself, repeatedly desecrating academic ideals.
The academic world is majestically broad. Scholars delight in our range of disciplines, methodologies, and approaches. Still, despite our delicious chaos, most of us leave graduate school with certain guiding principles. Most academics remain committed to intellectual processes that: ensure information’s accuracy; appreciate the world’s complexity; defend ideas’ permeability; applaud diversity; and preserve scholarly objectivity. Since the 1970s, campus anti-Zionists have violated these standards – while trying to enlist organizations like the ASA as allies in this unscholarly war.
“Israel Apartheid Week,” the annual anti-Israel festival on dozen of campuses, is particularly outrageous. Israel’s critics could use many words to express their disapproval. However, all academics, wherever we stand politically, should object to the sloppy, demagogic use of “apartheid” to describe the national not racial conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. South Africa’s apartheid system was rooted in racial distinctions, defining individuals and determining their rights -- or lack thereof – based on skin color. By contrast, there are dark-skinned Israelis and light-skinned Palestinians. No Israeli legislation has ever been based on race or any biological difference.

American Studies Association about to pass odious equivalent of Zionism is Racism resolution

The U.N. General Assembly in 1975 passed the odious Zionism is Racism resolution, which has since been rescinded.
Voting closes today at the American Studies Association on an equally odious resolution singling out Israel, and Israel alone, for academic boycott. It is, as former Harvard President Lawrence Summers notes, “anti-Semitic” in its effect “if not in intent.”
The resolution has been harshly criticized by the American Association of University Professors and eight Past Presidents of the ASA as an abominable attack on academic freedom, among many other denunciations:

DivestThis!: Proposed ASA boycott of Israeli academics is a guaranteed moral fail

Perhaps it is the sheer number of pathologies on display that forced me out of hiatus to comment on the recent BDS outburst having to do with the American Studies Association’s upcoming vote on an academic boycott.
First, you’ve got the usual breathless “This time for sure!!!” BDS bombast radiating out from the Israel-hating press, regardless of the fact that practically no one outside of the field of American Studies had even heard of ASA before they put themselves on the map by announcing their intention to flush the organization’s commitment to academic freedom down the toilet in order to strike a political pose.

Schooling the ASA on boycotting Israel

Shurat HaDin — the Israel Law Center, is a non-governmental organization that brings together a network of lawyers from across the world to prosecute institutions, governments and private companies responsible for abusing the human rights of Jews, Israelis and others.
Such a boycott and the intended curtailing of the academic freedom of Israelis and others who study in Israeli academic institutions would be high on our list of priorities. Indeed, only recently, in Australia we brought a case under the Racial Discrimination Act against a professor at the University of Sydney who voiced support for boycotting Israel.
The members of the ASA need to school themselves on the legality of their proposed anti-Israel boycott before they further embarrass themselves. The implementation of a boycott of Israel’s academics is as illegal as it is morally repugnant, and we will not hesitate in seeking all legal avenues against those who employ discrimination against the Jewish State in this way.

Europe is impinging on Israeli sovereignty

More than legislation, we should focus on international activities against European countries, speaking openly against the gall and absurdity inherent in jeopardizing our sovereignty and interfering in the conflict in favor of one side, which represents a new kind of European neocolonialism. Only Israel is treated with such unique norms, especially by Europe. Meddling in our affairs impinges on our democratic values and does nothing to advance peace. Why do the Palestinians even try? The Europeans are helping lay the pressure on Israel, mudslinging and supporting boycott movements.
When all is said and done, instead of responding through legislation, we should broaden the purview of conservative Zionist organizations. That would be a substantive answer to the organizations trying to rip us apart.

Sanctions against Israel are a crime

The 70 nations ignore, for some reason, the fact that the Land of Israel was our home at a time when most of them -- the Palestinians included -- lived in tents and caves. They seek to use the crime of sanctions, the new face of anti-Semitism, as their weapon of destruction. Just like in Alterman's poem: "We are upon you with 70 decrees and 70 hatchets." This is a belligerent attempt to force us back to "that" death house.
In our world, power is the only thing of significance. When the nations, including Iran, come to realize just "how great the strength of Avraham is" they will relent, and that is word enough to the wise.

NGO Monitor: Response to Proposed Restrictions on Foreign Government Funding for Israeli Political Advocacy NGOs

Extensive foreign-government funding for non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that lead international campaigns demonizing Israel is a serious source of concern. The false allegations and immoral exploitation of universal human rights, in order to promote “lawfare” (efforts to arrest elected leaders and IDF soldiers abroad) and boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS), warrant widespread condemnation across the Israeli political spectrum.
However, as NGO Monitor has repeatedly stated, legislative proposals that go beyond democratic transparency and accountability for these NGOs are ill advised, not enforceable, and damage Israel’s vital national interests.
NGO Monitor notes that in February 2011, the Knesset adopted the NGO Funding Transparency Law. Both the secrecy of funding procedures and the external manipulation of civil society were understood to violate the accepted norms and practices among sovereign democratic nations.

SWU: Why Does the Myth of Apartheid Persist in Israel?

Meshoe [fmr. S.A. MP] told the story of young man who needed special lenses to see. His doctor ordered them. When they didn't arrive he contacted the customs officials in South Africa only to be told that they had been refused because they had been manufactured in Israel.
Meshoe suggested that in order to continue to rationalize the 40-year policy of shunning Israel, leaders have promoted the false accusation of Israeli apartheid. They play on the memories of apartheid which are still strong and painful. By attaching the label apartheid to Israel, these leaders can justify denying their people access to innovative Israeli technology and assistance that can lift Africa out of poverty.
Politics prioritized over people.
John Fitzgerald Kennedy said, "The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie but the myth, persistent, persuasive and unrealistic."

UK: Women barred from speaking at university seminar

Female students were banned from speaking during a seminar run by an Islamic society at a leading university.
They were also forced to walk through a “sisters only” entrance to attend the event at Queen Mary University of London, and were segregated from men by being seated at the back of the lecture theatre.
Men were able to ask questions by raising their hands but female students had to write down their queries for Ustadh Abu Abdillah, the speaker of the event, which was hosted by the Queen Mary Islamic Society, and pass them to the front.

Roger Waters’s Anti-Jewish Paranoia

Waters has not been adequately coached. In the BDS movement, you are supposed to refer to your targets as “Zionists” (because it is all right to view people who support Israel’s national project as proto-Nazis) or as “pro-Israel.” With that one “Jewish lobby,” the mask slipped. One does not have to think that Roger Waters dislikes Jews to think that his general way of thinking, along with the way of thinking of many of his comrades in arms, is infected with anti-Semitic mythology. To repeat: Roger Waters thinks that there is a powerful Jewish lobby in the music industry that may just be out to kill him.
Waters has not apologized for these remarks, and his fans in the pro-boycott community remain “comfortably numb” about Waters’s record. They continue to regard his support as a great blessing.

Pigs are flying! And Norwegian NGO criticizes red-green govt’s political agenda in humanitarian aid

Doctors Without Borders believe several states receive more humanitarian aid than the actual needs would suggest. This applies to the Palestinian territories, which have played a central role in Norwegian foreign policy since Norway’s participation in the negotiations that led to the Oslo Accords .
Critical to aid for Palestinians
The report points out that health indicators in Palestine is good , with a life expectancy on par with Hungary.
- A child in Chad is over six times as likely to die before the age of five , as a Palestinian child. Nevertheless Palestine received 3.5 percent of the total humanitarian aid from Norway in 2012, while Chad received 0.00022 percent.

I'm Dreaming of a White Jesus

The most recent manifestation of the desire to de-Judaize Jesus has come not from European Christian churches, but from anti-Israel activists in the Arab world, who have engaged in a campaign to assert that Jesus was, in fact, a Palestinian (in other words, a member of a people that did not come into being until roughly 100 years ago), and that the Jews are guilty of deicide and genocide, among other -cides.
The most famous proponent of this idea has been the Reverend Naim Ateek of the Sabeel Center in Jerusalem, which was established to argue against the historical and theological claims of the Jewish people to the land of Israel. Ateek foments anti-Semitism by making terrible accusations such as this one: “Jesus is on the cross again with thousands of crucified Palestinians around him. … The Israeli government crucifixion system is operating daily.”
Aslan is a critic of Israel, and he gave a telling answer when Fisher asked him to describe what Jesus might have looked like. “Well, what we know about him is that he was a Galilean. As a Galilean, he would have been what is referred to as a Palestinian Jew.
He would look the way that the average Palestinian would look today. So that would mean dark features, hairy, probably a longer nose, black hair.”
Aslan is not in the camp of those who deny, or minimize, Jesus’s connection to Judaism, but in this answer, he made an obvious attempt to associate Jesus with the Palestinians, rather than with the Israelis of today.

Swedish police detain 28 after neo-Nazi attack

Swedish police detained 28 people Sunday after a group of neo-Nazis attacked an anti-Nazism demonstration in a Stockholm suburb by hurling bottles, torches and firecrackers.
Two people were hospitalized and a policeman was injured in the back after being hit by a heavy object, police spokesman Sven-Erik Olsson said.

Despite ban, institute vows to publish Mein Kampf

The Institute for Contemporary History vowed to press ahead with the publication of an annotated version of “Mein Kampf” despite a ban by the Bavarian state.
In a statement, the institute said it would not abandon the project, which it considers an “important contribution toward historical-political education” and the book’s “demystification.”

Holocaust conference in Tunisia commemorates forced labor, deportations

Historians, scholars and authors spoke at Saturday’s conference, which remembered the 5,000 Jews subjected to forced labor in Tunisia during a six-month Nazi occupation of the country in 1942-43. Some were deported to Nazi death camps on the European mainland.
It was among the first events focusing on the Holocaust to be held in an Arab country.

Exclusive: Hungary seeks Israeli gas as alternative to Russian supply

Hungary is looking to Israel and its newfound natural gas to help it shake its dependency on Russian energy, State Secretary for Foreign Affairs and External Economic Relations Péter Szijjártó told The Jerusalem Post in an exclusive interview in Tel Aviv on Friday, following a two-day visit.
“Hungary is very dependent on Russian gas. We heat 80% of our houses with gas and import 90% of our gas from Russia,” Szijjártó said. “Being so dependent means that you’re quite defenseless."

Frutarom buys Hagelin for $52.4 million

Israel’s Frutarom Industries, one of the world’s 10 biggest companies in the flavors and fine ingredients trade, recently announced its fourth acquisition this year of 100 percent of the share capital of US-based Hagelin for a cash consideration of $52.4 million. The acquisition strengthens Frutarom’s foothold in the world’s biggest flavor market.
“The acquisition of this lucrative company will intensify Frutarom’s technological capabilities, especially in the growing and profitable beverage flavors sector, and adds to its R&D capabilities, sales and marketing infrastructure and cross-selling opportunities. In this acquisition, we will enjoy a significant reinforcement of excellent managers, R&D, sales and marketing personnel,” said Ori Yehudai, President and CEO of Frutarom.

Shark Tank’s Daymond John Invests in Jewish Decorations for Christmas Trees (VIDEO)

A Jewish entrepreneur, whose marriage to a Christian woman prompted him to start selling Jewish decorations for Christmas trees, won a deal with fashion mogul Daymond John, in the latest episode of the hit TV series “Shark Tank.”
In the show, which features pitches from businessmen to the investor “sharks,” Morri Chowaiki introduces his product with a decidedly Jewish themed pitch, opening with “hello gefilte sharks.”

Ritz-Carlton opens its doors in Israel, eyes more branches

Ritz-Carlton cut the ribbon of its first hotel in Israel Sunday at the Herzliya Marina, featuring the branch’s first kosher restaurant, after over four years of preparation and NIS 600 million of investment.
“The Ritz-Carlton chain is happy to open its first hotel in Israel and provide its guests from all over the world the opportunity to enjoy the service whose name precedes it and the award-winning guest experience,” said Ritz-Carlton president Hervé Humler.
The Ritz-Carlton is the first of a wave of international luxury hotels slated to open in Israel, including a Waldorf-Astoria in Jerusalem and a W Hotel in Jaffa.