I remain dismayed at what looks to be a sincere disregard for the well-being of Jewish students on the campus of San Francisco State University.
This may come as something of a surprise to SFSU President Leslie Wong because I have no doubt that he thinks of himself as just as much a friend of the Jewish community as he is with every other ethnic group at the university.
Well, sadly, he isn't.
Let's look at two very simple facts.
1) Wong praised the General Union of Palestine Students (GUPS) and their advisor, Professor Rabab Abdulhadi, as representing the best values of the school in April of 2015.
What I fail to understand is how he can possibly square this circle.
In a video created during a reception to celebrate the Arab and Muslim Ethnicities and Diasporas (AMED) initiative, and the creation of an undergraduate minor in that sub-field, Wong said:
"I want to offer my personal congratulations to the student leadership of GUPS. They have been an inspiration for me. And they have helped me when I have to tell other community groups to mind their own business. GUPS is the very purpose of this great university."
The student leadership of GUPS?
Would that include this former president of GUPS, Mr. Mohammad Hammad, and his famous blade from 2013?
In case anyone has any difficulty reading Mr. Hammad's sentiment, he claims:
"I seriously can not get over how much I love this blade. It is the sharpest thing I own and cuts through everything like butter and just holding it makes me want to stab an Israeli soldier."
The case of Mohammad Hammad, from 2013, when he posted his violently-inclined social media bit, was well-known to President Wong long before he praised GUPS leadership as a personal inspiration in 2015. This story was well-covered and we know for a fact that Wong was well aware of it.
Tammi Benjamin, of the University of California, Santa Cruz, and the ACHMA Initiative seems to be taking the lead and "Dusty" at Pro-Israel Bay Bloggers put up a website devoted entirely to SFSU and its ongoing reputation for hostilities toward the Jewish State of Israel. The Elder of Ziyon has also showed considerable interest and linked to one of my posts at the Times of Israel with the exceedingly sad title, "Canned Palestinian Children Meat."
Furthermore, it must be noted that when the students of GUPS stand on the quad at Malcolm X Plaza and chant "Intifada! Intifada! Long live the Intifada!" they are quite literally calling for the murder of Jewish people.
What does SFSU President Wong think that "Intifada" means?
This material is largely a rehash, of course, but the issue hangs in there - as we see from this recent piece by columnist Cinammon Stillwell, published in the Independent Journal Review entitled, "Why Is A San Francisco University Secretly Partnering With An Arab College That Promotes Jihad?"
It is precisely because so many at San Francisco State University honestly believe that Arabs have good reason to seek the murder of Jews that Wong has little problem with student cries for Intifada.
In the mean time, I would recommend that Jewish students take up a martial art, perhaps Krav Maga.
Michael Lumish is a blogger at the Israel Thrives blog as well as a regular contributor/blogger at Times of Israel and Jews Down Under.
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