LA Jews threaten to boycott Ben Gurion University
On Friday, the despicable Neve Gordon published an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times in which he called Israel an apartheid state and called on the 'international community' to boycott the Jewish state. Gordon is a professor at Ben Gurion University in Be'er Sheva, which means that his salary is paid by - you guessed it - the State of Israel.Many Los Angeles Jews were furious about Gordon's article and have threatened to withhold donations to Ben Gurion University.
In the wake of the publication of the article, Israel's Consul-General in Los Angeles, Yaakov (Yaki) Dayan sent a letter to the president of Ben-Gurion University, Prof. Rivka Carmi, in which he said that such statements may be detrimental to the university.It's long past time for Israeli universities to fire the likes of Neve Gordon - who holed up with Yasser Arafat when he was besieged in the Mukhata in Ramallah in 2002. This guy is the head of the political science department at Ben Gurion. How can we complain about Columbia hiring the likes of Rashid Khalidi and Mary Robinson when we have the likes of Neve Gordon on our academic faculties? How can we use our tax money to pay for professors who call for boycotts of our country?
"Since the article was published I've been contacted by people who care for Israel; some of them are benefactors of Ben-Gurion University," Dayan wrote. "They were unanimous in threatening to withhold their donations to your institution. My attempt to explain that one bad apple would affect hundreds of researchers turned out to be futile."
"I believe that the definitive answer to anti-Zionist lecturers like Gordon is to set up a center for Zionist studies, which unfortunately does not exist in Israeli academia," he continued. "This center would help dispel the lies disseminated by Gordon in the name of your university."
UPDATE 2:47 PM
Could it be that Ben Gurion has finally had it with Gordon, or are we going to be told that he was 'misquoted' or that his words were 'taken out of context'?
University President Dr. Rivka Carmi on Sunday expressed shock at the lecturer's comments, saying that the university would like to shake itself of Gordon's statements and adding the university may no longer be interested in his services.I'd love to see him fired, but it would be a flying pigs moment if it ever happens, and I can think of at least three other universities in Israel that would hire him in a New York minute.
...
In a statement issued Sunday, Carmi said, "We are shocked by Dr. Neve Gordon's irresponsible statements, which are morally deserving of full condemnation. We vehemently shake ourselves of the destructive views [advocated by Gordon], who makes cynical use of freedom of expression in Israel and Ben-Gurion University."
"Ben-Gurion is a Zionist establishment," Carmi went on, "which fulfills the vision of David Gen-Gurion on a daily basis… Statements such as this, which level blunt and inciting criticism at the state of Israel, hurt the excellent work that is being carried out at Ben-Gurion University and all universities in Israel."
"Academics who feel this way about their country," she remarked, "are welcome to search for a personal and professional home elsewhere."
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 12:10 PM
6 Comments:
"We have met the enemy and he is us! - Pogo
Good on LA Jews in this cirumstance, for doing the right thing.
methinks, Gordon is preparing a lecturing job in a leftie-islam sponsored University and this was his entry ticket. We should check his affiliation with the Soros, Finkelstein, Chomsky and other criminals.
I commented on this article at the LAT site and pointed out the lack of sincerety of the author. Instead of putting her children at risk resulting from a successful boycott, a much more sincere and believable and concrete protest would be for the author to hand their possessions in Israel over to a Palestinian. As usual, words come way too easy to people of this ideology and meaningful deeds are totally abscent.
Steve Plaut has documented for years how Israeli universities have given tenure, prestige and respectability to anti-Israel propagandists masquerading as scholars. Carl is correct it will be a flying pigs moment before Israeli academia ever purges itself of homegrown Jewish anti-Semites like Neve Gordon. Your destroyers will come from within and Ben Gurion University President Rivka Carmi is being disingenuous in her shock. There are entire Israeli university departments without a single Zionist in them and this state of affairs isn't going to be turned around any time soon.
Hopenchange=same
"A bad apple"- If only he was the only one. Unfortunately there are a few more bad ones in that University.
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