A friend sent this critique of the student boycott of Israel and Edinburgh University - well worth reading.
A Scottish professor responds to campus boycott. The Edinburgh Student's Association made a motion to boycott all things Israeli since they claim Israel is under an apartheid regime. Dr. Denis Maceoin (a non-Jew) is an expert in Middle Eastern affairs. Here is his letter to those students.
Dr. Denis MacEoin, a senior editor of the Middle East Quarterly, addresses The Committee of the Edinburgh University Student Association.
Received by e-mail from the author, Dr. Denis MacEoin, a senior editor of the Middle East Quarterly,
TO: The Committee Edinburgh University Student Association.
May I be permitted to say a few words to members of the EUSA? I am an Edinburgh graduate (MA 1975) who studied Persian, Arabic and Islamic History in Buccleuch Place under William Montgomery Watt and Laurence Elwell Sutton, two of Britain's great Middle East experts in their day.
I later went on to do a PhD at Cambridge and to teach Arabic and Islamic Studies at Newcastle University. Naturally, I am the author of several books and hundreds of articles in this field. I say all that to show that I am well informed in Middle Eastern affairs and that, for that reason, I am shocked and disheartened by the EUSA motion and vote.
I am shocked for a simple reason: there is not and has never been a system of apartheid in Israel. That is not my opinion, that is fact that can be tested against reality by any Edinburgh student, should he or she choose to visit Israel to see for themselves. Let me spell this out, since I have the impression that those members of EUSA who voted for this motion are absolutely clueless in matters concerning Israel, and that they are, in all likelihood, the victims of extremely biased propaganda coming from the anti-Israel lobby.
Being anti-Israel is not in itself objectionable. But I'm not talking about ordinary criticism of Israel. I'm speaking of a hatred that permits itself no boundaries in the lies and myths it pours out. Thus, Israel is repeatedly referred to as a "Nazi" state. In what sense is this true, even as a metaphor? Where are the Israeli concentration camps? The einzatsgruppen? The SS? The Nuremberg Laws? The Final Solution? None of these things nor anything remotely resembling them exists in Israel, precisely because the Jews, more than anyone on earth, understand what Nazism stood for.
It is claimed that there has been an Israeli Holocaust in Gaza (or elsewhere). Where? When? No honest historian would treat that claim with anything but the contempt it deserves. But calling Jews Nazis and saying they have committed a Holocaust is as basic a way to subvert historical fact as anything I can think of.
Likewise apartheid. For apartheid to exist, there would have to be a situation that closely resembled how things were in South Africa under the apartheid regime. Unfortunately for those who believe this, a weekend in any part of Israel would be enough to show how ridiculous the claim is. That a body of university students actually fell for this and voted on it is a sad comment on the state of modern education.
The most obvious focus for apartheid would be the country's 20% Arab population. Under Israeli law, Arab Israelis have exactly the same rights as Jews or anyone else; Muslims have the same rights as Jews or Christians; Baha'is, severely persecuted in Iran, flourish in Israel, where they have their world center; Ahmadi Muslims, severely persecuted in Pakistan and elsewhere, are kept safe by Israel; the holy places of all religions are protected under a specific Israeli law. Arabs form 20% of the university population (an exact echo of their percentage in the general population).
In Iran, the Bahai's (the largest religious minority) are forbidden to study in any university or to run their own universities: why aren't your members boycotting Iran? Arabs in Israel can go anywhere they want, unlike blacks in apartheid South Africa. They use public transport, they eat in restaurants, they go to swimming pools, they use libraries, they go to cinemas alongside Jews - something no blacks were able to do in South Africa.
Israeli hospitals not only treat Jews and Arabs, they also treat Palestinians from Gaza or the West Bank. On the same wards, in the same operating theatres.
In Israel, women have the same rights as men: there is no gender apartheid….*
It seems bizarre to me that LGBT groups call for a boycott of Israel and say nothing about countries like Iran, where gay men are hanged or stoned to death. That illustrates a mindset that beggars belief.
….*
University is supposed to be about learning to use your brain, to think rationally, to examine evidence, to reach conclusions based on solid evidence, to compare sources, to weigh up one view against one or more others. If the best Edinburgh can now produce are students who have no idea how to do any of these things, then the future is bleak.
I do not object to well-documented criticism of Israel. I do object when supposedly intelligent people single the Jewish state out above states that are horrific in their treatment of their populations. We are going through the biggest upheaval in the Middle East since the 7th and 8th centuries, and it's clear that Arabs and Iranians are rebelling against terrifying regimes that fight back by killing their own citizens.
Israeli citizens, Jews and Arabs alike, do not rebel (though they are free to protest). Yet Edinburgh students mount no demonstrations and call for no boycotts against Libya, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and Iran. They prefer to make false accusations against one of the world's freest countries, the only country in the Middle East that has taken in Darfur refugees, ….*, the only country in the Middle East that protects the Bahai's.... Need I go on?
The imbalance is perceptible, and it sheds no credit on anyone who voted for this boycott. I ask you to show some common sense. Get information from the Israeli embassy. Ask for some speakers. Listen to more than one side. Do not make your minds up until you have given a fair hearing to both parties. You have a duty to your students, and that is to protect them from one-sided argument.
They are not at university to be propagandized. And they are certainly not there to be tricked into anti-Semitism by punishing one country among all the countries of the world, which happens to be the only Jewish state. If there had been a single Jewish state in the 1930's (which, sadly, there was not), don't you think Adolf Hitler would have decided to boycott it?
Your generation has a duty to ensure that the perennial racism of anti-Semitism never sets down roots among you. Today, however, there are clear signs that it has done so and is putting down more. You have a chance to avert a very great evil, simply by using reason and a sense of fair play. Please tell me that this makes sense. I have given you some of the evidence. It's up to you to find out more.
Yours sincerely,
Denis MacEoin
*[The article has been slightly shortened for reader of this blog. If you wish to see the original, here is the link: http://israelseen.com/2011/07/27/denis-maceoin-open-letter-to-the-edinburgh-university-student-association-on-boycotting-israel/]
--
Sunday, September 18, 2011
consistent prejudice
I suppose it is not news, but a reminder might still be in place:
Opinion
ZOA Details Obama's Hostility to Israel
From Morton Klein, ZOA Nat. Pres.
Is President Obama hostile to Jews and Israel? Let˙s look at the evidence.
Last week, the Obama Administration issued talking points for the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, where it referred to those struck by terrorism˛whether in New York or Nairobi, Bali or Belfast, Mumbai or Manila, or Lahore or London. Conspicuously absent was the name of Tel Aviv,
Jerusalem or Sderot, which have been hit by terrorists, not once, but numerous times.
As a single instance, this omission might be unremarkable. In fact, however, omitting mention of Israel fits a pattern. When running for President,
then-Senator Obama referred in his July 2008 Berlin speech to the need to˛dismantle the [terrorist] networks that have struck in Madrid and Amman; in London and Bali; in Washington and New York.
Again, no Israel.
It seems hard to believe that these omissions could be anything other than intentional. After all, Israel has been a primary target of terrorists
throughout the past decade. Almost 2,000 Israelis have been murdered by terrorists in this period and over 10,000 maimed or disfigured. In per
capita terms, far more Israelis have been murdered by terrorists than Americans were murdered in 9/11.
Obama also omits Israel in other contexts. Thus, when Haiti was struck by a calamitous earthquake in January 2010, Israel˙s relief efforts were exceptional, only matched by those of the United States, and were singled out for praise by former President Clinton. However, in praising these
relief efforts, Obama omitted any mention of Israel, saying only that help continues to flow in, not just from the United States but from Brazil, Mexico, Canada, France, Colombia, and the Dominican Republic, among others.
While Obama has more or less consistently failed to hold accountable or penalize the PA for incitement to violence against Israel, he has been
emphatic and repetitive attacking Jewish housing projects in eastern Jerusalem as an obstacle to peace. His Administration has used the terms condemn,
an insult and an affront when expressing disagreement with Israel on this issue, terms never used about other allies.
That Obama blames Israel, not the Palestinians, for the absence of peace is obvious. In a January 2010 interview, despite Israel˙s acceptance
in-principle of a Palestinian state, readiness to negotiate and instituting an unprecedented 10-month Jewish construction freeze in Judea and Samaria,
Obama said Israel had made no bold gestures.
In a March 2011 meeting with Jewish leaders (attended by Mort Klein), Obama contended that Israel’s [Palestinian] partner is sincere in wanting a peaceful settlement, while asking his Jewish interlocutors to speak to your Israeli friends and relatives and search your souls to determine how badly do you really want peace, and Israelis think this peace process is overrated.
Note also the contrast between his holiday messages to Jews and to Muslims. In his Rosh Hashanah message last year, Obama only once referred to Jews, not once to Judaism, promoted a Palestinian state, and never mentioned the extraordinary contributions of Jews to the U.S.
In contrast, in his August 2010 Ramadan Message, Obama referred to Muslims six times and to Islam twice, stated that American Muslims have made
extraordinary contributions to our country, and praised Islam˙s role in advancing justice, progress, tolerance, and the dignity of all human beings a faith known for great diversity and racial equality
Here, Obama, made no reference to what Muslims must do to achieve peace with Israel.
There are many other indicators of Obama evincing discomfort around Jewish matters. When, in May 2010, Obama signed the Daniel Pearl Press Freedom Act, he did not mention that Daniel Pearl, the Wall Street Journal reporter, was beheaded by Islamist terrorists because he was a Jew and that he was forced to state in the video recorded of his gruesome murder that he was an American Jew.
Instead, Obama merely referred to Pearl˙s loss.
And let˙s not forget Obama˙s June 2009 Cairo speech, in which he compared the circumstances of Palestinians under Israeli rule to Jews under the Nazis and blacks under Apartheid.
Nor his September 2009 UN speech, in which Obama couple[d] unwavering commitment to Israel with Israel respecting the legitimate claims and rights of the Palestinians.
These incidents, some important, some less so, have assumed a troubling pattern. They suggest that President Obama has a distaste or even hostility towards Jews and Israel.
But should we be surprised? He spent twenty years absorbing the anti-Israel sermons of Pastor Jeremiah Wright, whom Obama has called a great man, his friend and Mentor.
Opinion
ZOA Details Obama's Hostility to Israel
From Morton Klein, ZOA Nat. Pres.
Is President Obama hostile to Jews and Israel? Let˙s look at the evidence.
Last week, the Obama Administration issued talking points for the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, where it referred to those struck by terrorism˛whether in New York or Nairobi, Bali or Belfast, Mumbai or Manila, or Lahore or London. Conspicuously absent was the name of Tel Aviv,
Jerusalem or Sderot, which have been hit by terrorists, not once, but numerous times.
As a single instance, this omission might be unremarkable. In fact, however, omitting mention of Israel fits a pattern. When running for President,
then-Senator Obama referred in his July 2008 Berlin speech to the need to˛dismantle the [terrorist] networks that have struck in Madrid and Amman; in London and Bali; in Washington and New York.
Again, no Israel.
It seems hard to believe that these omissions could be anything other than intentional. After all, Israel has been a primary target of terrorists
throughout the past decade. Almost 2,000 Israelis have been murdered by terrorists in this period and over 10,000 maimed or disfigured. In per
capita terms, far more Israelis have been murdered by terrorists than Americans were murdered in 9/11.
Obama also omits Israel in other contexts. Thus, when Haiti was struck by a calamitous earthquake in January 2010, Israel˙s relief efforts were exceptional, only matched by those of the United States, and were singled out for praise by former President Clinton. However, in praising these
relief efforts, Obama omitted any mention of Israel, saying only that help continues to flow in, not just from the United States but from Brazil, Mexico, Canada, France, Colombia, and the Dominican Republic, among others.
While Obama has more or less consistently failed to hold accountable or penalize the PA for incitement to violence against Israel, he has been
emphatic and repetitive attacking Jewish housing projects in eastern Jerusalem as an obstacle to peace. His Administration has used the terms condemn,
an insult and an affront when expressing disagreement with Israel on this issue, terms never used about other allies.
That Obama blames Israel, not the Palestinians, for the absence of peace is obvious. In a January 2010 interview, despite Israel˙s acceptance
in-principle of a Palestinian state, readiness to negotiate and instituting an unprecedented 10-month Jewish construction freeze in Judea and Samaria,
Obama said Israel had made no bold gestures.
In a March 2011 meeting with Jewish leaders (attended by Mort Klein), Obama contended that Israel’s [Palestinian] partner is sincere in wanting a peaceful settlement, while asking his Jewish interlocutors to speak to your Israeli friends and relatives and search your souls to determine how badly do you really want peace, and Israelis think this peace process is overrated.
Note also the contrast between his holiday messages to Jews and to Muslims. In his Rosh Hashanah message last year, Obama only once referred to Jews, not once to Judaism, promoted a Palestinian state, and never mentioned the extraordinary contributions of Jews to the U.S.
In contrast, in his August 2010 Ramadan Message, Obama referred to Muslims six times and to Islam twice, stated that American Muslims have made
extraordinary contributions to our country, and praised Islam˙s role in advancing justice, progress, tolerance, and the dignity of all human beings a faith known for great diversity and racial equality
Here, Obama, made no reference to what Muslims must do to achieve peace with Israel.
There are many other indicators of Obama evincing discomfort around Jewish matters. When, in May 2010, Obama signed the Daniel Pearl Press Freedom Act, he did not mention that Daniel Pearl, the Wall Street Journal reporter, was beheaded by Islamist terrorists because he was a Jew and that he was forced to state in the video recorded of his gruesome murder that he was an American Jew.
Instead, Obama merely referred to Pearl˙s loss.
And let˙s not forget Obama˙s June 2009 Cairo speech, in which he compared the circumstances of Palestinians under Israeli rule to Jews under the Nazis and blacks under Apartheid.
Nor his September 2009 UN speech, in which Obama couple[d] unwavering commitment to Israel with Israel respecting the legitimate claims and rights of the Palestinians.
These incidents, some important, some less so, have assumed a troubling pattern. They suggest that President Obama has a distaste or even hostility towards Jews and Israel.
But should we be surprised? He spent twenty years absorbing the anti-Israel sermons of Pastor Jeremiah Wright, whom Obama has called a great man, his friend and Mentor.
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
anti-left on truth, facts etc.
Very worthwhile anti-left explanation
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2011/09/05/bill_whittle_on_far-lefts_view_of_truth.html
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2011/09/05/bill_whittle_on_far-lefts_view_of_truth.html
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
