Professors school anti-Israel divestment forum, and get results
The greatest contrast during the night was that while the pro-divestment speakers lashed out at Israel with great vitriol, the anti-divestment speakers — many of whom were critical of some Israeli policies — were even-tempered and rational.Prof. Yael Aronoff against anti-Israel Divestment
This student rejected attempts to pigeonhole black students into an anti-Israel vote:
But the stars of the night were the opening guest speakers.
The pro-divestment group picked Max Blumenthal, who gave a predictably flame-throwing anti-Israel speech.
While anti-Israel advocates on Twitter and in the room were excited by Blumenthal’s tongue lashing of Israel, that excitement dimmed when two real professors took to the stage, one in opposition to the resolution and one selected to give a historical overview.
First up was Michigan State – James Madison College Associate Professor Yael Aronoff, who responded directly to Blumenthal. She spoke somewhat quickly so as to leave time for other guest speakers against the resolution, but basically destroyed Blumenthal by pointing out the one sided presentation and the resolution:
Prof Victor Lieberman U Michigan Divestment Debate 3 25 2014
Anti-Israel academic boycott turns ugly at Vassar
I began looking into these events several days ago, and have had extensive conversations with the two Vassar professors who were the target of anti-Israel rage. I also have obtained documentation not previously published.Victim Breaks Down in Footage From Aftermath of Brutal Anti-Semitic Attack in France (PHOTOS/VIDEO)
What transpired was anti-Israel vitriol directed at Professors and students taking a course that involved travel to Israel and the West Bank, an intimidating protest outside a classroom, and a campus forum in which the Professors and Jewish students were belittled, heckled and mocked in such crude ways that it left even critics of Israel shaken. Yet the Vassar administration has done little in response, and would not comment for this report.
The bigger story is that these events at Vassar reflect how the American Studies Association academic boycott of Israel has emboldened anti-Israel students to cross previous lines of academic respect and freedom. The “anti-colonial” and other rhetoric focusing on Israel’s supposed European roots, inaccurately used by the boycott movement to demonize Israel, has injected a racial context to the protests (as at U. Michigan) which is boiling over but only in one direction — towards supporters of Israel. (h/t Alexi)
Speaking on camera a day after his assault, the victim – a 59-year-old Jewish teacher only identified as David – said he was attacked by three North African “Maghreb men” at 10 p.m. on March 20 after leaving a kosher restaurant in Rue Manin, Paris, and making his way to a subway station.
“They started to curse me out: ‘dirty Jew,’ ‘death to the Jews,’ ‘son of a b***,’ etc. Then they started to beat me up,” David says in the clip before breaking down in tears. “I was hit on my face, I got my nose fractured… And then one of them took something out of his pocket, I thought it was a knife… It was a marker… And this is what they did to me (showing his chest), a swastika as they were screaming ‘dirty Jew.’ ”
Israel State Archives declassifies 1970s Egypt-Israel peace docs that read like today’s headlines
The iconic picture of Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin, Egyptian president Anwar Sadat and US president Jimmy Carter grasping hands at the White House does little to reveal the tension, frustration and political machinations that preceded that image, and which followed Sadat’s visit to Jerusalem in 1977. The 67 documents (18 of them in English), including telegrams, letters, records of conversations and meetings – have been declassified and are available on the archives website.Anti-Israel Norwegian former PM who invited members of terrorist PFLP to youth camp touted as future head of NATO…….
“Many books and articles have described events at Camp David, but until now no original documents have been published to give the public a firsthand impression of the twists and turns of the negotiations,” the archives wrote in introducing the documents. “The documents illustrate the doubts, dramas and personal relations among the participants.”
Obama hasn’t sounded a negative peep about Stoltenberg’s nomination, neither has his fellow democrats who are supposedly pro-Israel, nor the rank and file. On the contrary, according to The Local article, Stoltenberg has the full backing of the Obama administration. Apparently inviting terrorists from the PFLP to his party’s socialist youth camp at Utøya, and smoked pot with them, is not a buzz kill for the secretary-general top spot at NATO.Al-Quds U. president resigns three days after Hamas rally
British Prime Minister David Cameron on Wednesday declared that former Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg was “an excellent” candidate for the Nato leadership, the first time the leader of a leading Nato country has made a public comment.
Just three days after masked protesters marched through Al-Quds University’s East Jerusalem campus in support of Hamas, the institution announced that university president Sari Nusseibeh would be resigning from his post.J Street U, Wash. U. Hillel Hosting NGO That Promotes Criticism of IDF Soldiers
A statement on the Palestinian university’s website posted Wednesday said Nusseibeh, 65, had reached retirement age and would resign at the conclusion of the current academic year, after nearly 20 years as the institution’s president. The decision was announced following a meeting of the university’s board of trustees.
J Street U, the campus arm of the self-labeled “pro-Israel, pro-peace” lobby, will host the Israeli NGO “Breaking the Silence”—which works with Israeli veterans who severely criticize Israel Defense Forces operations—at the Washington University in St. Louis Hillel center on March 31.Speakers at NYU distort Israeli-Palestinian conflict
Blumenthal began the night with the discriminatory precondition that anyone who felt uncomfortable with the facts that he and Abunimah were about to vocalize could feel free to “click their heels together five times” in order to be “instantly transported to a Hillel house on campus, with 24-hour G4S security.” What had been labeled as an anti-Israel panel had swiftly become explicitly anti-Semitic.San Francisco State University Professor Found Promoting Terrorism
Both Abunimah and Blumenthal said that Israel oppresses the minority citizens of the country. How could this be when Arab-Israelis living in Israel have the same rights as Jewish-Israelis? In fact, there are 12 elected Arab members in the Israeli Parliament. Meanwhile, Palestinians elected many members of Hamas, an internationally recognized terrorist organization whose charter calls to destroy Israel, to the Palestinian Legislative Council in 2006. A year later, in 2007, Hamas executed a military coup in Gaza. In Judea and Samaria — the West Bank — the Palestinian Authority has control of the predominantly Palestinian areas, as delineated in the Oslo Accords.
The AMCHA Initiative issued a press release today following an investigation which found that a professor on the campus of San Francisco State University had glorified and promoted terrorism:Loyola student gov’t head vetoes divestment act
Santa Cruz, CA, March 26, 2014 – AMCHA Initiative, Scholars for Peace in the Middle East, the Simon Wiesenthal Center and the Zionist Organization of America, today, wrote to San Francisco State University (SFSU) President Leslie Wong urging him to investigate a recent event held by SFSU Professor Rabab Abdulhadi where she and others glorified and condoned terrorism to SFSU students. AMCHA Initiative coordinated the letter after obtaining an audiotape of the March 6, 2014 event. According to eye-witness accounts, Jewish students were in tears following the meeting.
“This is the same professor who was the faculty advisor to the SFSU knife-wielding student investigated by the FBI and Joint Terrorism Task Force,” said UCSC Professor Tammi Rossman-Benjamin, AMCHA cofounder. “Is she trying to recruit new soldiers from the SFSU student body?”
The president of Loyola’s United Student Government Association vetoed the resolution, which called on the institution to remove its holdings from eight companies that provide equipment to Israel for use in the West Bank.BDS Leader Posts ‘Overtly Threatening’ Photo to Facebook
“No matter what viewpoint you hold on the larger issue, this resolution caused harm among the student community,” said student government president Pedro Guerrero in a statement.
He added that he made the decision because “diversity of thought on campus was not taken into consideration” during the two votes on the measure, which was proposed by the Loyola chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine.
A pro-Palestinian activist on the University of Michigan’s campus recently posted what experts described as “an overtly threatening” photo of himself wearing a traditional Arab headscarf and jamming a knife into a pineapple.U.K.’s King’s College Passes Israel Divestment Resolution
The emergence of the photo comes just days after Palestinian activists on the University of Michigan’s campus leveled death threats and racial epithets at pro-Israel students who opposed a resolution to divest from Israel.
A StandWithUs spokesperson told JNS.org that the KCLSU trustees are likely to veto the resolution.KCLSU to Jews: You are not welcome
Following the resolution, King’s College distanced itself from the student-led resolution, saying the student union is “constitutionally separate from, and independent of, King’s College London.”
In passing a motion to boycott Israel, the King’s College London student union has sent a disturbing message to a sizeable contingent of our student body.Caterpillar Boycott Calls: Another Example Of BDSHole Hypocrisy
You are not welcome. You are complicit in ‘human rights’ violations. You are ‘immoral’ for standing for the right of a country to exist.
As someone who identifies as being pro-Israel, with lifelong ties to the country, I feel targeted for my political views. Nobody should be demonised, intimidated and singled out for holding a political opinion. That is totalitarianism. It represents a trend which epitomises everything our student union stands against.
The BDSHoles and Israel haters have for years pushed for the boycott of Caterpillar.BDS Can’t Get What They Want…with The Rolling Stones
I say this as an introduction to..drum roll please…Palestinian Tractor!
"Palestinian Tractor is a truly Palestinian enterprise and is set to play a leading role in the country’s economic and industrial development, as well as training and development to its Palestinian staff."
What is ironic about Ziadah’s statement is that it’s the BDS movement, not Israel, that’s using the concert to gain publicity. By attacking a group like the Rolling Stones, which hold enormous cultural status and thus commands public interest, the BDS movement and its delegitmization of Israel, get covered in newspapers such as The Daily Telegraph.The Prodigy Concert in Tel Aviv, Israel. May 29, 2014
This sort of cultural exploitation is one of the main tactics the BDS movement uses to spread its anti-Israel message. Too bad the media is so willing to be used as a tool to promote the BDS narrative.
British electronic legends, The Prodigy are coming to perform in Tel Aviv, Israel in May 2014. Founded in 1990, the Prodigy were one of the pioneers of the rave, techno, and big beat genres, with their megahits including ‘Firestarter’ and ‘Breathe’, among the iconic tunes of the 90′s. The Prodigy have sold over 20 million albums worldwide during their career, and are expected to be heading to Tel Aviv for a concert on May 29, 2014 at the Tel Aviv Exhibition Ground. Tickets are on sale soon.In-Depth Analysis: The New York Times, Washington Post & LA Times
The way the New York Times covers Israel displays a clear bias. We have analyzed its coverage on its own merits and compared to other leading American newspapers — that are not known for being pro-Israel. In all our studies going back over many years, it has shown a consistent bias, reporting negatively on Israel and Israeli actions. Negative stories far overwhelm positive ones, important context is lacking, misleading terminology is used, and quotations showing subjective bias influence readers to have a poor impression of Israel.Chuck Todd Rips Saudi Arabia Over Failure To Grant Visa To Jerusalem Post White House Reporter
Calling it "outrageous" and "completely tone deaf," Chuck Todd appeared on the Andrea Mitchell program and blasted the Saudi government for its refusal to grant a visa to the Jerusalem Post's White House reporter.White House Correspondents Association: WHCA STATEMENT
Todd, who is traveling with President Obama, appeared with Mitchell to discuss the rest of Obama's trip, but first wanted to discuss the case of the Jpost reporter:
Michael Wilner, who covers the White House for the Jerusalem Post, had signed up to cover the visit and sought a visa along with the rest of the White House Press corps.
On Monday, he was the only one denied a visa. He had planned to travel straight to Saudi Arabia to cover that part of the president’s trip.
The denial is an affront not only to this journalist, but to the entire White House press corps and to the principle of freedom of the press that we hold so dear.
Nation Press Club: Club urges Saudi government to allow reporter to cover Obama visit
The National Press Club is urging the government of Saudi Arabia to grant a visa to the Washington bureau chief of the Jerusalem Post so he can cover President Obama's visit to Saudi Arabia this week.The “Facts” According to Journalists
The journalist, Michael Wilner, is reportedly the only member of the press corps seeking to cover the president's visit who has been denied a visa for it.
But anyone reading this review would easily conclude that just like the Palestinians always claim, they–not the Jews–are the Holy Land’s indigenous people: Look, there never was a Jewish state there; “Palestine” existed even back in the first century! And if so, then Israel is indeed a thief who stole the Palestinians’ land.Outspoken Israel critic set to replace Falk as UN monitor
All this means that many well-meaning people don’t know even the most basic facts, like the Jews’ historic ties to Israel or the indiscriminate rocket fire from Gaza. And unless pro-Israel activists tell them, they never will–because the media certainly won’t.
The high-level position of UN special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories will instead go to Indonesia’s former UN envoy, Makarim Wibisono, an outspoken critic of Israel, according to Geneva-based UN Watch.Anne Bayefsky: Antisemitism at the UN, Then and Now
In a series of letters to UNHRC president Remigiusz Henczel, the Arab League reportedly objected to Georgetown Law lecturer Christina Cerna’s candidacy because she did not have a prior record of statements on Palestinian issues. Cerna received a unanimous recommendation from UNHRC’s five-member vetting committee.
Prof. Gerald Steinberg, UN HRC, on the Durban Strategy
Ultra-Orthodox grandfather from London assaulted in NY
A 65-year-old Haredi Orthodox man from London visiting New York for his grandson’s wedding had his face smashed into a sidewalk early Tuesday morning in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Borough Park as he left the wedding reception, the New York Daily News reported. His lip was split and a tooth was chipped; nothing was stolen, according to CBS New York.Israel’s Elbit Wins UAV Contract for Brazil’s 2014 World Cup
He was treated at a local hospital.
New York police and a Brooklyn councilman differ over whether it was a knockout game assault in which the assailant tries to knock out an individual with one punch. A spate of such attacks in New York in recent months appeared to target Jewish people. Other incidents have occurred in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Washington, DC, as well as other US states, according to reports.
Israeli defense manufacturer Elbit Systems won a contract from the Brazilian Air Force to supply a Hermes 900 UAV for use during the 2014 FIFA World Cup games to be hosted by Brazil, Israel’s Globes business daily reported on Wednesday.When Putin met his Jewish German teacher in Israel
The UAV, which will be delivered in two months, will be used for safety and security missions and will be equipped with a new intelligence gathering system to be used during the games.
In the late 1990s, Mina Yuditskaya Berliner recognized a familiar face on the screen of her television set in Israel.Makor Rishon And NRG Sold To Yisrael Hayom
It was her former student Vladimir, now on television for becoming head of Russia’s FSB security apparatus.
Before immigrating to Israel in 1973, Yuditskaya Berliner, now 93, was Vladimir Putin’s German teacher at St. Petersburg’s High School 281, she recently told the Israeli news site Ynet.
The development was reported by the site Ha'ayin Hasvhi'it. It is worth noting that Yisrael Hayom is owned by Jewish-American millionaire philanthropist Sheldon Adelson, who is considered to be a friend and supporter of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. The pro-Netanyahu paper has in recent years broken the left-wing monopoly on mainstream printed news.A Druze Voice Enlightens...
Yisrael Hayom has been targeted by a new Knesset bill, attempting to force the paper to charge for its paper, reportedly making the paper less popular and influential. Surprisingly the Jewish Home party co-signed the bill that limits the nationalist paper, reportedly to put pressure on Netanyahu.