Bigotry under the umbrella of a great university
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February 1, 2012
The University of Pennsylvania is a great school and I loved it there. I studied with superb professors, learned from excellent classmates, and grew from the many outstanding opportunities presented to me at Penn.
But now, instead of standing up to hatred and bigotry, the university risks sacrificing its intellectual honesty and academic integrity.
On Feb. 3-5, a university-recognized group called PennBDS will sponsor the 2012 National Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Conference on the Penn campus. BDS is a movement that specifically targets Israel and aims to undermine the legitimacy of the Jewish state through false accusations and dishonest scholarship masquerading as human rights advocacy.
PennBDS and the entire BDS movement claim to be interested in promoting “the growing global campaign to boycott, divest from, and sanction the State of Israel until it complies with its obligations under international and human rights law.” That’s what it says on the PennBDS website.
However, if they are concerned with violations of international and human rights law, it is notable that they focus none of their attention on known human rights violators and oppressive governments such as those that exist in North Korea, China, Sudan, Iran, or any others.
If PennBDS is specifically focused on the oppression of Arabs, then it is curious that they are not decrying the governments of Syria, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Yemen, or others.
And if PennBDS is particularly disturbed only by the oppression of Palestinian Arabs, then one wonders why they are not protesting the governments of Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Syria, or others in which the Palestinians have suffered extreme discrimination, violence, and forced expulsions.
In Gaza, under the authority of Hamas, political freedom, religious freedom, and freedom of association are severely curtailed, women’s rights are limited, human rights activists are targeted, and homosexuality is a criminal offense.
Upon any serious consideration, it becomes clear that BDS actually has no problem with oppression, no problem with oppression of Arabs, and no problem with the oppression of Palestinian Arabs. BDS actually has a problem only with Israel and it can only be deduced that their problem is truly with Jews.
Many of the scheduled speakers frequently disseminate misinformation and false narratives about Israel and Jews. Keynote speaker Ali Abunimah has intentionally understated Hamas violence and disseminated false quotations in order to make Israeli leaders appear cruel. Anna Baltzer has made numerous false claims about Israel including publishing on her blog for months a false story accusing Israeli soldiers of shooting Palestinian children in front of their mother. Max Blumenthal falsely reported on his blog that Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu said the Sept. 11 attacks were “very good.” At a lecture at UC Bakersfield, Susan Abulhawa declared that Israel does not allow Christians to live there. Not only is this utterly false, but in the face of the persecution Christians are suffering in the Arab and Moslem world today, this claim is practically obscene. These are just a few examples of the sham scholarship of this “conference.”
Hateful anti-Semitic remarks made by many of the speakers are also numerous. At the same UC Bakersfield lecture, one attendee recounts that Abulhawa claimed “Israeli soldiers sadistically torment and kill innocent Palestinians, including children and babies.” Adding to the demonic image, she claimed that Israeli soldiers also target household pets, and “tie up the legs of horses to torture them.” This is little more than an update of the classic anti-Semitic blood libel hurled at Jews for millennia.
PennBDS is a university-recognized student group. In an e-mail to FrontPageMagazine.com, Office of Student Affairs Executive Director Karu Kozuma wrote, “As a student organization, Penn BDS receive [sic] a number of privileges to use at their discretion as resources are available. These include staff consultation and advising, administrative support, and free use of available common campus spaces.”
This means that the money I donate as an alumna goes to lighting, heating, security, and other amenities for this hate group. Furthermore, Kozuma explained that since PennBDS had only recently become a recognized student organization, it was not eligible to receive student activities funds for three months. Presumably after three months, PennBDS will receive funding from the university.
Amy Gutmann, Penn’s president, has issued a statement announcing the university is not sponsoring the conference and does not support sanctions or boycotts against Israel. But this does not go far enough. The university administration should condemn the conference and the entire BDS movement.
This is an opportunity for the University of Pennsylvania to stand for academic integrity and intellectual honesty, and against hatred and bigotry. This is an opportunity for Penn to be the first prestigious organization with the moral courage to declare forcefully that the BDS movement is nothing but a racist effort to smear Israel and Jews, to defy the tyranny of political correctness, and to state clearly that the emperor has no clothes. Imagine the power of that kind of honesty and the goodwill that would flow from it.
Comments
Woody
February 01, 2012
I love how Ms. Catz, not an academic, is attempting to champion intellectual honesty and academic integrity by trying to shut down a totally non-violent event of people gathering to debate. Surely there are meetings of opponents over the neutron star cooling theory gathering on the same campuses in the US? Letting a bunch of one side gather for their own event isn’t such a crime. If one of the sides has data that is problematic, then it is for the academic community to debate and publish those disputes. This is intellectual honesty.
When it comes to Israel, however, Ms. Catz not only doesn’t deploy any citations or actual references, but her logic is spurious even by casual standards: She moves from “Hamas is bad” to “... it becomes clear that BDS actually has no problem with oppression… BDS actually has a problem only with Israel and it can only be deduced that their problem is truly with Jews.” Usually without providing ANY evidence at all prior to it, the signifier “it becomes clear” is just code for “go with me on this one”.
There is a valid historical and political debate that many people, including Arabs and Jews as well as residents of Israel like myself, are engaging in. No matter what your view is on neutron star cooling theory or on what Israel stands for, please don’t invoke intellectual honesty and academic integrity as cover for pushing your political agenda. Americans, especially the young, aren’t that stupid.
Champagne
February 01, 2012
“Max Blumenthal falsely reported on his blog that Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu said the Sept. 11 attacks were “‘very good.’”
“Asked tonight what the attack meant for relations between the United States and Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, the former prime minister, replied, ‘‘It’s very good.’’ Then he edited himself: ‘‘Well, not very good, but it will generate immediate sympathy.’’—http://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/12/us/day-terror-israelis-spilled-blood-seen-bond-that-draws-2-nations-closer.html
dave
February 01, 2012
LOL! you fabricated a non fabricated quote. That’s pretty desperate.
Asked tonight what the attack meant for relations between the United States and Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, the former prime minister, replied, ‘‘It’s very good.’’ Then he edited himself: ‘‘Well, not very good, but it will generate immediate sympathy.’’ He predicted that the attack would ‘‘strengthen the bond between our two peoples, because we’ve experienced terror over so many decades, but the United States has now experienced a massive hemorrhaging of terror.’’
Source:
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/12/us/day-terror-israelis-spilled-blood-seen-bond-that-draws-2-nations-closer.html
OMG
February 01, 2012
Re: “This means that the money I donate as an alumna goes to lighting, heating, security, and other amenities for this hate group.”
also having attended penn, i wrote to the penn fund that they would not be receiving money from me anymore because penn is hosting BDS. simple enough.
Sarit Catz
February 01, 2012
Max Blumenthal did write on his Oct. 5. 2011 blog post, in the headline, “Top Republicans to welcome Netanyahu, who called 9-11 attacks ‘very good,’ said anti-US terror helps Israel” and, in the body of the post,“Netanyahu restated his belief that 9-11 was, as he said, ‘very good.’”
In fact, Netanyahu was asked by a reporter what the 9-11 attacks could mean for U.S.-Israel relations and he said it could be “very good.” Netanyahu was not referring to the attacks themselves, but the fact that an understanding of the impact of terrorism could strengthen the bond between the two nations. This is yet another instance of Blumenthal twisting the truth and another reason why he is not qualified to speak at a prestigious university.
Blumenthal post:
http://maxblumenthal.com/2011/05/republicans-to-welcome-netanyahu-who-called-9-11-attacks-very-good-said-israel-benefits-from-anti-us-terror/
NY Times article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/12/us/day-terror-israelis-spilled-blood-seen-bond-that-draws-2-nations-closer.html
Yossi
February 01, 2012
Great article Sarit. Penn should not have hosted this conference.
Reuven Kaplin
February 01, 2012
My my, the mondosheiss trolls are out in force today.
In any case, anyone with half a brain knows that Mr. Blumenthal is a proven liar and quote fabricator that they dont even bother discussing it anymore. Liberal journalist Adam Serwer of Mother Jones proved it last month:
http://theatlantic.com/international/archive/2011/12/did-israel-train-american-interrogators-in-torture-updated/249630/
http://motherjones.com/mojo/2011/12/blumenthal-greenberg-israel-occupy-crackdowns
Not only that, but Adam Serwer, one of the most prominent contemporary liberal African-American journalists, also stated that he believes that Max Blumenthal is a racist - he stated that his paternalistic racism was the kind that says that not to make African American’s managers, “because people won’t respect him because he’s black.”
The proof is right here: https://twitter.com/#!/AdamSerwer/status/144864492289925121
http://www.jackandjillpolitics.com/2008/05/sidney-blumenthal-was-there/
As if that was not enough, Blumenthal enlisted the help of Mark Ames to attack and smear the African American Adam Serwer - yes the same Mark Ames that once wrote an article under the pseudonym Johnny Chen, titled “N$GGERS, where did they come from and what are they doing here?”
http://biggovernment.com/jpollak/2011/08/30/meet-mark-ames-the-exile-who-created-the-false-koch-brothers-conspiracy-theory/
It is perhaps these blemishes on Mr. Blumenthals record that forced him to work for his current employer, AlAkhbar newspaper, a pro hizballah rag whose chairman of the board, Mr. Amin, is on record as saying he supports the ethnic cleansing of all Jews from the Middle East to Europe, “because they would be more comfortable in a capitalistic environment.” (see last paragraph here: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/29/world/middleeast/29beirut.html)
Max has also appeared ranting against zionism on the official government propaganda station of the Iranian government, Press TV.
In light of these uncomfortable facts, should Mr Blumenthal be welcome on the campus of UPenn?
andrei
February 01, 2012
There is no UC Bakersfield as the article states.
Anyone who has ever done any serious research on the BDS movement would see many segments with it are very concerned with dictatorships in the Middle East. Many influential members of the BDS movement are very involved in human rights issues outside of Israel-Palestine. these issues. BDS is a non-violent movement focused on debate and discussion.
Regardless of your opinion on BDS, this is just a really poorly written and researched written statement.
As a Jew whose parents came from the USSR, I welcome debate in our community about Israel. We here in the US question our governments actions but somehow when applied to Israel all debate is muffled. It’s shameful.
BDS is such a far more civilized movement compared to what I saw as a student at UC Irvine between the MSU and Anteaters for Israel.
Kate McGill
February 02, 2012
As the above says, this is just a really poorly written and researched written statement. Its all about policing people from discussing Israel. God forbid Americans used their free speech.
Bob Wolff
February 03, 2012
Miss Catz obviously does not know what Israeli troops do or do not do. Susan Abulhawa does. The fact remains that Isreal should not be in the so-called “occupied territorie” and remains there in violation of over 70 UN resolutions and mandates. Make no mistake about it, Israel’s illegal actions are part of US “policy” funded and supported by the US. It is not Jews that do these things. The United States does. Genocide is not a part of any religion although many imposters support it.
I suggest that Miss Catz go see for herself what is really going on in the occupied territories for herself. It is disgusting when you see it first hand.
MitchJames
February 03, 2012
Bob Wolff,
If you think Israel is carrying out “genocide”, then you have less right to comment on the Israel-Palestine situation than Miss Catz does.