It's come to this: 'Jewish' university slammed for anti-Israel bias by Fox
Mr. Justice Brandeis has just taken another turn over in his grave. The 'Jewish' university that bears his name has just been
slammed for anti-Israel bias by Fox News, and justifiably so.
Boston's Brandeis University may have been founded by American Jews, but
it has become a hothouse of anti-Israel sentiment, according to Fox
News.
The TV news channel was referring to thousands of
electronic messages from Brandeis faculty that were obtained and
published by conservative students.
The messages, which were
distributed to academics on a closed mailing list known as a ListServ,
"reveal a long-standing and vehement anti-Israel bias and anger at Fox
News and a human rights advocate who renounced her Muslim faith,"
according to Fox.
The messages, Fox continues, "were hyperbolic
in their condemnation of Israel, regarding the recent fighting in Gaza
and prior conflicts with the Palestinians." They also include
"accusations that Israel has committed war crimes and 'holocaustic
ethnic cleansing' against Palestinians," Fox says.
...
Fox comments that the "one-sided view of the Middle East is not new
at the school, founded in 1948, the same year Israel was established,
with funding from the American Jewish community."
The ListServ in
question, titled “Concerned,” was started by faculty members in 2002
“out of concern about possible war with Iraq.” It has more than 90
subscribers and is used to correspond about current news, Israel, Jewish
people, America and world affairs in general.The messages also
include attacks on Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a human rights activist who survived
genital mutilation as a child in Somalia, renounced her Muslim faith
and now crusades against radical Islam, Fox writes. Ali was slated to
receive an honorary doctorate at Brandeis in April before the ceremony
was canceled amid campus protests.
Fox quotes a message from
Brandeis Professor of English Mary Baine Campbell, who apparently
described Ali as “an ignorant, ultra-right-wing extremist, abusively,
shockingly vocal in her hatred for Muslim culture and Muslims, a
purveyor of the dangerous and imaginary concept, born of European
distaste for the influx of immigrants from its former colonies… To call
her a ‘woman’s rights activist’ is like calling Squeaky Fromm an
environmentalist.’”
Brandeis president Frederick Lawrence
commented: “While we maintain our staunch support of freedom of
expression and academic inquiry, some remarks by an extremely small
cohort of Brandeis faculty members are abhorrent. Such statements, which
include anti-Semitic epithets, personal attacks, denigration of the
Catholic faith and the use of crude and vulgar terms in discussions
about Israel, do not represent the Brandeis community,” he wrote. “I
condemn these statements under no uncertain terms.”
Ah, but will Lawrence bring them up on disciplinary charges? Is there anyone to whom he could bring them up if he wanted to? Just yesterday, the University of Illinois voted to
deny a faculty position to someone who expressed similar sentiments. Is there any hope of this 'Jewish university' doing the same?
Read the whole thing. Shabbat Shalom everyone.
Labels: anti-Israel obsession, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Brandeis University, Fox News, liberal academia, Louis Brandeis
What Ayaan Hirsi Ali would have said if Brandeis hadn't given in to the thought police
It's a pity that Brandeis University didn't live up to its seal of truth this week. As I reported earlier, they decided to
withdraw an honorary degree from Ayaan Hirsi Ali due to her criticism of Islam. The Wall Street Journal has
published the speech that Ms. Hirsi Ali planned to give. It's quite powerful (Hat Tip:
Memeorandum).
You deserve better memories than 9/11 and
the Boston Marathon bombing. And you are not the only ones. In Syria, at
least 120,000 people have been killed, not simply in battle, but in
wholesale massacres, in a civil war that is increasingly waged across a
sectarian divide.
Violence is escalating in Iraq, in Lebanon, in Libya,
in Egypt. And far more than was the case when you were born, organized
violence in the world today is disproportionately concentrated in the
Muslim world.
Another striking feature
of the countries I have just named, and of the Middle East generally, is
that violence against women is also increasing. In Saudi Arabia, there
has been a noticeable rise in the practice of female genital mutilation.
In Egypt, 99% of women report being sexually harassed and up to 80
sexual assaults occur in a single day.
Especially
troubling is the way the status of women as second-class citizens is
being cemented in legislation. In Iraq, a law is being proposed that
lowers to 9 the legal age at which a girl can be forced into marriage.
That same law would give a husband the right to deny his wife permission
to leave the house.
Sadly, the list
could go on. I hope I speak for many when I say that this is not the
world that my generation meant to bequeath yours. When you were born,
the West was jubilant, having defeated Soviet communism. An
international coalition had forced Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait. The next mission for American armed forces would
be famine relief in my homeland of Somalia. There was no Department of
Homeland Security, and few Americans talked about terrorism.
Two
decades ago, not even the bleakest pessimist would have anticipated all
that has gone wrong in the part of world where I grew up. After so many
victories for feminism in the West, no one would have predicted that
women's basic human rights would actually be reduced in so many
countries as the 20th century gave way to the 21st.
Today, however, I am going to predict a
better future, because I believe that the pendulum has swung almost as
far as it possibly can in the wrong direction.
When
I see millions of women in Afghanistan defying threats from the Taliban
and lining up to vote; when I see women in Saudi Arabia defying an
absurd ban on female driving; and when I see Tunisian women celebrating
the conviction of a group of policemen for a heinous gang rape, I feel
more optimistic than I did a few years ago. The misnamed Arab Spring has
been a revolution full of disappointments. But I believe it has created
an opportunity for traditional forms of authority—including patriarchal
authority—to be challenged, and even for the religious justifications
for the oppression of women to be questioned.
Yet for that opportunity to be fulfilled, we in the West must provide
the right kind of encouragement. Just as the city of Boston was once the
cradle of a new ideal of liberty, we need to return to our roots by
becoming once again a beacon of free thought and civility for the 21st
century. When there is injustice, we need to speak out, not simply with
condemnation, but with concrete actions.
It's a pity that Brandeis betrayed its seal and gave in to the thought police.
Read the whole thing.
Labels: Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Brandeis University, CAIR, Hamas, Islamophobia, Louis Brandeis, Muslim Brotherhood, political correctness
Ayaan Hirsi Ali too hot for Brandeis
Mr. Justice Brandeis must be rolling over in his grave again. The thought police at Brandeis have decided that women's rights and anti-Islam activist Ayaan Hirsi Ali is
not worthy of an honorary degree she was scheduled to receive at the school's commencement exercises next month.
April 8, 2014
Following
a discussion today between President Frederick Lawrence and Ayaan Hirsi
Ali, Ms. Hirsi Ali’s name has been withdrawn as an honorary degree
recipient at this year's commencement. She is a compelling public figure
and advocate for women’s rights, and we respect and appreciate her work
to protect and defend the rights of women and girls throughout the
world. That said, we cannot overlook certain of her past statements that
are inconsistent with Brandeis University's core values. For all
concerned, we regret that we were not aware of these statements earlier.
Commencement is about celebrating and honoring our extraordinary
students and their accomplishments, and we are committed to providing an
atmosphere that allows our community's focus to be squarely on our
students. In the spirit of free expression that has defined Brandeis
University throughout its history, Ms. Hirsi Ali is welcome to join us
on campus in the future to engage in a dialogue about these important
issues.
The Times of Israel
explains the references.
Ali, a member of the Dutch Parliament from
2003 to 2006, has been quoted as making comments critical of Islam. That
includes a 2007 interview with Reason Magazine in which she said of the
religion, “Once it’s defeated, it can mutate into something peaceful.
It’s very difficult to even talk about peace now. They’re not interested
in peace. I think that we are at war with Islam. And there’s no middle
ground in wars.”
Brandeis, outside Boston in Waltham, Mass., said it was not aware of Ali’s statements earlier.
...
Ali was raised in a strict Muslim family, but
after surviving a civil war, genital mutilation, beatings and an
arranged marriage, she renounced the faith in her 30s. She declined to
comment this week to The Associated Press.
More than 85 of about 350 faculty members at
Brandeis signed a letter asking for Ali to be booted off the list of
honorary degree recipients. And an online petition created Monday by
students at the school of 5,800 had gathered thousands of signatures
from inside and outside the university as of Tuesday afternoon.
“This is a real slap in the face to Muslim
students,” said senior Sarah Fahmy, a member of the Muslim Student
Association who created the petition said before the university withdrew
the honor.
“But it’s not just the Muslim community that
is upset but students and faculty of all religious beliefs,” she said.
“A university that prides itself on social justice and equality should
not hold up someone who is an outright Islamophobic.”
Thomas Doherty, chairman of American studies,
refused to sign the faculty letter. He said it would have been great for
the university to honor “such a courageous fighter for human freedom
and women’s rights, who has put her life at risk for those values.”
Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Council on
American-Islamic Relations, the nation’s largest Muslim advocacy group,
said, “It is unconscionable that such a prestigious university would
honor someone with such openly hateful views.”
The organization sent a letter to university President Frederick Lawrence on Tuesday requesting that it drop plans to honor Ali.
The 'Council on
American-Islamic Relations' (CAIR) is the
American branch of the Hamas terror organization. The 'Muslim Students Association' (MSA) is a
U.S. branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, which is
the original ideological and Islamist foundation for Hamas.
On Tuesday, I received an email telling me about a massive 'denial of service' attack on Robert Spencer's Jihad Watch.
Who will stand up to this academic terror? Not Brandeis, that's for sure. Shame on them.
Labels: Brandeis University, CAIR, Hamas, Islamophobia, Louis Brandeis, Muslim Brotherhood, political correctness
For once, Mr. Justice Brandeis should be pleased
For a
change, Mr. Justice Brandeis can be proud of the actions taken by the university that bears his name with respect to Israel. Brandeis has followed
Penn State Harrisburg and become the second American university to
suspend institutional support for the American Studies Association after the latter decided to boycott Israel.
"It is a with deep regret that we in the American Studies Program at
Brandeis University have decided to discontinue our institutional
affiliation with the American Studies Association," a message on the
university's American Studies program said.
The program views the ASA vote to affirm the academic boycott of
Israel "as a politicization of the discipline and a rebuke to the kind
of open inquiry that a scholarly association should foster."
"We
remain committed to the discipline of American Studies but we can no
longer support an organization that has rejected two of the core
principles of American culture - freedom of association and expression,"
the Brandeis statement continued.
...
The leadership of the much larger and more influential American
Association of University Professors wrote an open letter earlier this
month saying it was disappointed by the ASA decision and that it
rejected boycotts.
The Native American and Indigenous Studies
Association (NAISA) also decided to join the academic boycott against
Israel earlier this week.
Ohio State English Prof. Chadwick Allen,
president of the association and coordinator of American Indian studies
at the university, wrote on the association’s website that the move
followed a “member- generated” petition asking that the group “formally
support the boycott of Israeli academic and cultural Institutions that
was initiated by the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural
Boycott of Israel.”
The Association for Asian American Studies adopted the boycott in April.
But at least two universities have come out against the ASA boycott. Have the BDS'ers finally overstepped enough that people are noticing?
Labels: academic boycott, BDS, Brandeis University, liberal academia, Louis Brandeis
Brandeis University finally acknowledges reality, suspends partnership with al-Quds University
Mr. Justice Brandeis can finally stop rolling over in his grave. Brandeis University has finally suspended its
partnership with the 'Palestinian' al-Quds University. Although the relationship will be 'reevaluated' in the future, maybe Brandeis will finally recognize that
these are the real 'Palestinians.'
The decision was made in light of recent events at the university,
which has campuses in Jerusalem, Abu-Dis and Al-Bireh, including a
November 5 Nazi-style demonstration at the main campus.
During the
demonstration, protesters marched in black military gear with fake
automatic weapons while waving flags and offering the traditional Nazi
salute. Banners with images of Palestinian suicide bombers decorated the
campus’ main square, according to a statement from Brandeis. Several
students also portrayed dead Israeli soldiers
Following the
demonstration Lawrence called on Al-Quds President Sari Nusseibeh to
issue in Arabic and English a condemnation of the demonstration.
Nusseibeh, as you might recall, is considered a 'moderate.'
In a statement issued to Al-Quds students Sunday, Nusseibeh said that
“Jewish extremists” were using the demonstration to “capitalize on
events in ways that misrepresent the university as promoting inhumane,
anti-Semitic, fascist, and Nazi ideologies.” Without these ideologies,
he said “there would not have been the massacre of the Jewish people in
Europe; without the massacre, there would not have been the enduring
Palestinian catastrophe.”
“As occurred recently, these
opportunists are quick to describe the Palestinians as a people
undeserving of freedom and independence, and as a people who must be
kept under coercive control and occupation. They cite these events as
evidence justifying their efforts to muster broad Jewish and western
opinion to support their position. This public opinion, in turn,
sustains the occupation, the extension of settlements and the
confiscation of land, and prevents Palestinians from achieving our
freedom,” Nusseibeh wrote.
The Brandeis University statement
called Nusseibeh’s message “unacceptable and inflammatory.” It added:
“While Brandeis has an unwavering commitment to open dialogue on
difficult issues, we are also obliged to recognize intolerance when we
see it, and we cannot – and will not – turn a blind eye to intolerance.”
It only took Brandeis 15 years to notice.... Now Mr. Justice Brandeis may return to his rest.
Labels: Brandeis University, Louis Brandeis, Nazis, Palestinian anti-Semitism
A refuge or the Jewish homeland?
One of the reasons that many American Jews do not make effective advocates for Israel, argues Matthew Ackerman, is that they are still stuck in a pre-World War II concept that Israel must be presented as a refuge for persecuted Jews, and not as the Jewish homeland. Presenting Israel as the Jewish homeland, these Jews fear, would undermine their standing in the United States and raise charges of dual loyalty.
This problem was evident in the career of Louis Brandeis, the first prominent American Jewish advocate for Zionism. Already a famous lawyer when he assumed leadership of the Zionist movement in the United States in 1914 (a reputation that would bring him to the Supreme Court in 1916), he gave the movement a tremendous boost in American renown and credibility.
But Brandeis brought with him an insistence that Zionism had nothing to say for American Jews. The establishment of a Jewish state would for him be a refuge for Jews lacking the means or ability to get to a place like the United States where their rights would be assured. So it was that principally along these
lines – Zionism as a refuge for the persecuted and impoverished Jews of Europe and elsewhere and little else besides – that the Zionist case was made by
American Jews before World War II.
The Holocaust only strengthened this line of argument, making the rhetoric of security and refuge irresistible. The same kind of thinking behind Brandeis’ Zionism remained evident in the important exchange of letters between the American Jewish Committee leader Jacob Blaustein and Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion in 1950. In them, Blaustein underlined the view that Israel was a “home” for “hundreds of thousands” of Jews from “Europe, Africa, and the Middle East,” but that “home” for American Jewry was the United States, and it was there that they found “freedom” and “security,” not a continuation of “exile.”
This thinking, whether from Brandeis, Blaustein, or the many other Jews they and other American Jewish leaders have represented, seems determined by the fear that defining Israel as the Jewish homeland puts into question their standing in their country of citizenship. Effective American Jewish Israel advocacy has largely been built in the last 50 years on the avoidance of this fear. It was and is far easier to invoke the Holocaust, to claim no more than “Israel is our insurance policy,” as the protagonist in the 2010 movie “Barney’s Version” learns.
Ackerman argues that it's time for American Jews to get over it, a position with which I heartily agree.
Read the whole thing.
Labels: David Ben Gurion, Louis Brandeis, Zionism
