Israel Matzav

Anti-Israel academics?

Fred Gottheil has a fascinating look at what sort of 'academic' signs an anti-Israel petition.

Gottheil contacted the academic signatories of an anti-Israel petition and asked them to sign a statement of concern for social justice in the Middle East.

But accepting as genuine the petitioners' stated goal of seeking social justice in the Middle East, I thought it fitting to contact the signatories of the Lloyd petition to offer them yet another opportunity to express their commitment to social justice in the region, this time by endorsing a Statement of Concern regarding human rights abuses practiced against gays and lesbians and against women in general in many of the Middle Eastern countries, including the territories controlled by the Palestinian Authority. The idea was really uncomplicated: Since they expressed a concern about social injustice in Israel, they might also be willing to express their concern about human rights abuses practiced against women, gays, and lesbians in other parts of the Middle East.

The detailed material for this Statement of Concern was gathered from sources as widespread as U.N. agencies, survey research units, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, scholarly journals, and social justice-related NGOs such as Asylum-Law and Human Rights Watch.

The Statement provided evidence of both the practice and the condoning of the practice by religious, political, and even academic authorities of honor-killing, wife-beating, and female genital mutilations. Documentation was offered for specific countries, for specific practices, and referred to specific authorities condoning the practices identified.

Unlike the Lloyd petition, the Statement concerning discrimination of women and gays and lesbians in the Middle East was not designed to petition President Obama or any other persons or organization. The four-page Statement, along with its signatories, was simply to be placed in the public domain in whatever manner was appropriate and which budget allowed.

It made no reference to the content in the Lloyd petition, however distorting that content may have been. It simply addressed the issues of human rights violations of women, gays, and lesbians in the Middle East. The expected signatories to the Statement were to be drawn only from those American academics who signed the Lloyd petition.

And the results? You probably can guess, but you'll be shocked by the extent of the results. And by where these 'academics' come from. The hypocrisy reeks.

Read the whole thing. I'd suggest that the results say something about the academics' hatred of Jews and not just their hatred of Israel, but these are American - not European - academics, and we all know that there is no anti-Semitism whatsoever in the United States.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 2:32 PM