Israel Matzav

Five groups promoting the Red-Green alliance

I first wrote about the Red-Green alliance - the alliance between the Left and radical Islam - here. Now, Lisa Graas publishes an exhaustively researched piece that profiles the five groups that are the biggest promoters of the alliance. This one surprised me:

#2 – American Library Association

Librarians? You betcha. The American Library Association (ALA) is the “oldest and largest library association in the world” with 61,043 members in America and abroad. The ALA is anti-Israel, opposes the Patriot Act and actively works against anti-terrorism measures. ALA has chapters in all fifty states and the District of Columbia…and you can be relatively certain that your own local library or librarian holds affiliation.

The ACLU letter, signed by the ALA, rejects the idea that there is reason to suspect an Islamic element in terror attacks.

[T]he Committee should rely on facts and scientifically rigorous analysis, not biased opinions or unsupported theories positing a discernable “radicalization” process that are belied by available evidence.

Though the claim is that “rigorous analysis” is important in determining if a terror threat exists, the ALA vigorously stands in the way of any attempt to conduct such analysis through America’s libraries.

Following ALA policy, more than 225 libraries across the United States have chosen to defy the mandates of Section 215 [of the Patriot Act]. For instance, the Santa Cruz, California library has chosen to shred all records of its patrons’ book use on a daily basis. Anne M. Turner, Director of that city’s library system, explained, “The basic strategy now is to keep as little historical information as possible.”

While refusing to acknowledge any threat from within the Muslim community, ALA has falsely accused Israel of destruction of “Palestinian” libraries, and even reserves the right to make such false accusations despite proof that they are false. In the view of the ALA, then, Islamists are above scrutiny while Israel may be blamed even for good intentions.

ALA receives dues from libraries, librarians, students and others nationwide, and funding from a long list of leftist organizations. Notably, ALA spent $1.7 million on a legal battle to ensure that libraries have a First Amendment right to allow children to view pornography. If you are providing support for your local library, you may want to check to see if they are supporting ALA. Your money could be used by this organization to undermine America’s efforts to prevent terrorism.

This hit home because my late mother was an ALA member, and saw which way the organization was heading. When I googled my mother's name with the ALA, I found two local publications of the Boston chapter, one announcing her initial employment by the Boston Public Library, and the second announcing her transfer to a different branch.

My mother was a big supporter of local libraries and was forever advocating for our local suburb to build a good public library - which they did long after my brother and I could have benefited from it. But for the last 25 years or so of her career, she was employed at a local community college, where she was constantly spending money from her own pocket to buy books that gave a more balanced view on Israel to counteract her radical Leftist boss who was constantly buying pro-'Palestinian' books using the library's budget.

I've mentioned before on this blog that both my parents were (and my father still is) knee0jerk Democratic voters. But the ALA is obviously much more radical since my parents were Democrats but were (and my father still is) strongly pro-Israel. I guess Mom's boss was much more in line with the librarians' thinking.

/sigh

Read the whole thing. (Yes, the rest of it is just as exhaustively researched).

Labels: American Library Association, Lisa Graas, radical Islam, radical Left, Red-Green alliance

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 2:17 AM