Academic fraud of the day: Vijay Prashad, Trinity College

Vijay Prashad is professor of international studies at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut. He is the author of 18 books, and a member of the advisory board of the U.S. Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel.

He is also a provable liar.

He writes in Alternet:

Hamas does not “deny” Israel’s right to exist. Its Charter, written during the First Intifada in 1987, bears the marks of the moment. But it does not define Hamas’ politics, for which a reading of its 2006 election manifesto gives a much clearer picture. In a 2009 interview with the New York Times, Hamas leader Khaled Meshal “urged outsiders to ignore the Hamas charter,” for, in Meshal’s words, “We are shaped by our experiences.” What is the Hamas position, the Times’ reporters asked Meshal? “We are with a state on the 1967 borders, based on a long-term truce. This includes East Jerusalem, the dismantling of settlements and the right of return of the Palestinian refugees.” Nothing here is outside the international consensus. Israel is not denied by Meshal, the leader of Hamas.

If one reads the rest of the same New York Times article, which the scholar doesn't bother linking to, it says

Apart from the time restriction and the refusal to accept Israel’s existence, Mr. Meshal’s terms approximate the Arab League peace plan and what the Palestinian Authority of President Mahmoud Abbas says it is seeking.

Let's forget about the dozens of examples that I have gathered since then showing that Hamas considers all of Israel "occupied" and that it's goal is Israel's destruction.

Let's look at Khaled Meshal's own words since the deceptive 2009 NYT interview.

First of all, Palestine – from the [Jordan] River to the [Mediterranean] Sea, from its north to its south – is our land, our right, and our homeland. There will be no relinquishing or forsaking even an inch or small part of it.

Second, Palestine was, continues to be, and will remain Arab and Islamic. It belongs to the Arab and the Islamic world. Palestine belongs to us and to nobody else. This is the Palestine which we know and in which we believe.

Third, since Palestine belongs to us, and is the land of Arabism and Islam, we must never recognize the legitimacy of the Israeli occupation of it. The occupation is illegitimate, and therefore, Israel is illegitimate, and will remain so throughout the passage of time. Palestine belongs to us, not to the Zionists.
[...]
The liberation of Palestine – all of Palestine – is a duty, a right, a goal, and a purpose. It is the responsibility of the Palestinian people, as well as of the Arab and Islamic nation.

Fifth, Jihad and armed resistance are the proper and true path to liberation and to the restoration of our rights, along with all other forms of struggle – through politics, through diplomacy, through the masses, and through legal channels. All these forms of struggle, however, are worthless without resistance.
[...]
Politics are born from the womb of resistance. The true statesman is born from the womb of the rifle and the missile.

That's as explicit a rejection of Israel's right to exist as words can convey. The whole speech is here:



No doubt Professor Prashad knows this, and he knows he is lying. So he is yet another academic fraud.

(The rest of his article could be fisked just as thoroughly, but once Prashad is exposed as a liar, really, what's the point?)

(h/t YMedad)

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