The Rafat and Zoreen Ansari Institute for Global Engagement with Religion, at the University of Notre Dame, says it is "dedicated to studying, learning from, and collaborating with religious communities worldwide for the common good. "
This week, it sponsored - along with the University of Notre Dame’s Liu Institute for Asia and Asian Studies, Program in Arabic and Middle Eastern Studies, and Department of Classics as co-sponsors - a discussion purported to be about "Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Voices on Arab-Israeli Normalization."
Every single panelist, as well as the moderator, is extremely anti-Israel.
The moderator, Charles W. Powell, started off with a non-sequitur of quoting a few anti-Israel articles from what he called an "independent news" website IMEMC. That site will write, in its "news" stories, about "fanatic illegal Israeli colonists," which gives you an idea as to its objectivity.
The speakers were:
Laila El Haddad, a BDS supporter who says that Israel is a terrorist state.
Rev. Mitri Raheb, who says that Ashkenazic Jews are Khazars and Jews have no historic connection to Israel.
Rabbi Brant Rosen, the go-to anti-Zionist Jew who compares Israel to Nazis and to Pharaoh.
Hatem Bazian, co-founder of Students for Justice in Palestine who has spread classically antisemitic memes on social media.
These people all got together to discuss if Israel having agreements with Arab states is a good thing or not.
What do you think they would say?
How on Earth can you have a panel session on a topic like normalization between Israel and the Arab world without having a single Jew, Christian or Muslim who supports it? How can a university even promote something like this, pretending that it will shed light on a topic when every single panelist wants to see the Jewish state destroyed and replaced with yet another illiberal Arab dictatorship?
This makes Notre Dame look like a propaganda outlet, not a university that actually examines ideas and facts. Choosing such a one-sided panel on an issue that actually obviously promotes peace in the Middle East is especially egregious.
The entire webcast is here: