'Freedom of speech,' Chicago style
In Sunday's JPost, Sderot Media Center representative Jacob Shrybman recounts the story of his recent speaking engagement at Chicago's DePaul University.Several anti-Israel posters draped the entrance to the building in which I began my presentation to a small audience of around 20. Then the room began filling with people not merely against Israel's political policies and action but in clear support of the Hamas terrorist organization.I am less surprised by the fact that this happened than I am by Shrybman's surprise. I would have thought that someone would have warned him before his trip that American students today are more pro-Hamas than the 'Palestinians.' I would have thought that someone would have warned him that Chicago is Obama country (and may have more Muslims than any American city other than Detroit) and that DePaul in particular is a university that nearly gave tenure to the Holocaust-denying Jew Norman Finkelstein, who has gone on Lebanese television to declare his love for Hezbullah.
When I invited a question-and-answer session following my presentation, the very right of free speech which I offered the audience - now numbering more than 100 - was denied me. One audience member verbally attacked me, declared his support for the firing of rockets into Israel and ended his anti-Semitic rant with a question irrelevant to anything in my presentation. I pointed out that the questioner was not simply criticizing Israel but was clearly expressing his support for Hamas.
Before I could finish answering, I was interrupted and silenced by the Hamas supporters. Then a student rose up in the front of the room and called me a "dirty whore" in Arabic. He then grabbed his crotch and screamed, "Here's your Kassam!" - in Arabic.
I wasn't able to utter a word, so the event was shut down. After I'd collected my belongings, the local police - teamed with university security - escorted me to my car. The combination of unceasing anti-Semitic chants, personal harassment and solidarity with a terrorist organization hijacked the event.
Unfortunately, today's American college campuses are hostile to Jews generally and to supporters of Israel in particular. People who are sent to speak on behalf of pro-Israel causes on American college campuses need to be prepared for the worst.
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 9:21 PM
2 Comments:
And that DePaul (Law) is home to the CAIR trainer M. Cherif Bassiouni -- almost certainly the single biggest legal jihadist threat against Israel (& also pushing to get US into ICC, therefore dangerous for us too)...in the name of "human rights," of course
When I grew up, universities were beacons of liberal thought and intellectual growth in the true sense of the word.
Today, they exist to indoctrinate young minds with totalitarian philosophies and to teach them to hate America, the West and Israel.
There's no longer any meaningful free inquiry on American campuses today and Jacob Shrybman encountered the full malevolent atmosphere of closed minds, anti-semitism and a resistance to learning the truth that exists on them.
Am I shocked? No. Any one in America who is conservative, pro-life or pro-Israel needs to be prepared to cope with the fact he or she will not be welcomed to speak. It happened at Boston U a few months back to distinguished ex Boston Herald columnist Don Feder.
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