I trust that many of my readers will remember
Dr. Denis MacEoin. In an open letter to alumni of Yeshiva University's Cardozo law school (received by email), Dr. MacEoin has blasted the school's choice to give an award to Jimmy Carter.
Dear Cardozo Alumni,
I am writing as someone concerned by the news that a journal of the Cardozo Law School is about to honour former president Jimmy Carter. I am not a lawyer (though I do have some expertise in Islamic law), but I have been an academic (in Persian, Arabic and Islamic Studies) and I have for a great many years been a vocal supporter of the state of Israel, a defender of most of its policies, and a strict opponent of the fictions and lies that follow Israel and Israelis everywhere. As you will know, and as every student at Yeshiva University must know, the most common charge against Israel is that it is an ‘apartheid state’. I have written about this at some length in a recently published book, written in reply to an anti-Israel activist who makes precisely that accusation.
Many of those who call for the end of Israel, most notably the international Boycott Divestment Sanctions movement, use the apartheid trope as justification for their egregious behaviour. Knowing, as I do, that the charge is completely without foundation and that there is not a trace of apartheid in Israel, I work to dispel the illusion that Israel is somehow like South Africa. As lawyers, you no doubt understand the differences between apartheid South African legislation and Israeli laws.
Someone who has done a lot to convince the general public that Israel deserves the apartheid slur is former USA president Jimmy Carter, who in 2007 published a book entitled Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid. Carter does not say that Israel as such is an apartheid state, but argues that Israel imposes apartheid on Palestinians living in the West Bank. His book is replete with errors, is sloppy in argument, and is indefensible in terms of his understanding the legal arguments he dabbles in. He has never agreed to debate its arguments with anyone, including recognized experts on this subject. It is a book of poor quality, however sincere Carter’s motives may have been in writing it. CAMERA, Abraham Foxman and others have shown Carter’s book to be devoid of fact or rational argument, yet it remains a vital part of virulently anti-Semitic attacks on Israel and its citizens.
It seems indefensible to me that a law school journal of Yeshiva University (or any university, come to that) would want to honour someone who has wrought so much harm for Jews and Israelis, including Arab Israelis. No doubt the former president has done many things that deserve honour in his quest for peace and justice. But his outright defamation of a democratic and law-based state does not sit well with his other achievements, and certainly does not accord with the values of the Cardozo Law School, as I understand them, from the school’s Innocence Project to action taken on behalf of Holocaust victims. The accusation of apartheid against a country that is determinedly opposed to segregation and legalized discrimination is an inversion of justice. To honour a man in part responsible for the mainstreaming of that atrocious libel can only besmirch the name of an eminent school, cast shame on faculty and alumni alike, and endorse the use of falsehood in the political arena worldwide.
I call on you all to email Dean Diller and President Joel in an attempt to persuade the administration to cancel Carter’s visit. Perhaps Cardozo can honour someone else, someone like the Nobel Prize nominee, Malala Youssafzai, whose courage and determination stand heads above a man so consumed by hatred that he dishonours the values of honesty and sincerity he first brought to the presidency all those years ago.
Best wishes to you all,
Dr. Denis MacEoin
Indeed.
Your request that the administration of Cardozo and Yeshiva cancel the event necessitates that the administration impede upon a choice, indeed, an act of speech, by students who have acted independently in making their decision to honor the former president.
ReplyDeleteWhile not everyone may agree with the decision of the Journal of Conflict Resolution to honor Carter, I think it is indefensible to suggest that a higher education institution stifle the speech of its students merely because they are not agreeable.
If you disagree with that most basic premise of freedom of speech, where do you draw the line? Can a university or law school censor all speech or efforts by its students?
Shane Wax,
ReplyDeleteThe last time I checked Yeshiva is still a private institution, and therefore it's barring Carter would not constitute state action (which is what the US constitution bans).
If they were honoring David Duke or Baruch Lanner, would you also say that the students have an absolute right to decide because of their free speech?
And that's without even getting into the fact that, as I noted in a previous post, that Cardozo's dean is apparently quite happy that Jimmy the Dhimmi is coming to campus.
I guess I'm wondering whether Shane Wax will go stand with Pamela Geller, as she fulfills her invitation to speak at the Great Neck Synagogue on April 14. This is a Jewish woman invited to speak at a Jewish synagogue, with a Human Rights Commission (govt sponsored entity) member (Habeeb Ahmed) agitating against the synagogue to get them to cancel the speech. And then Shane Wax could advocate and appear to insist that Atlas be allowed to speak everywhere she is invited... since he thinks the full range of views should be voiced and all.
ReplyDelete