Each Spring, University of California, Irvine is host to the largest campus-based anti-Jewish racist campaign in the United States. This well organized, coordinated, and funded series of anti-Jewish and anti-Israel events is vigorously defended and enabled by the University—without condemnation. The frenzy of hate and pro-Jihad sentiment runs so high, it overflows into full scale intimidation, harassment and even assault. The U.S. Civil Rights Commission has an ongoing investigation of the school to ascertain if Jewish students civil rights are being violated. UC Irvine has the ignoble distinction of being number one in the following dubious categories:
Yes I could go on and on.
On May 3, Chancellor Michael Drake and 3,400 students, faculty, staff and alumni attended a lecture by former President Jimmy Carter, who discussed his new book, Palestine Peace Not Apartheid. It was an impassioned anti-Israel propaganda speech which was applauded by the entire governing administration of the school. [Click here for podcast] And why did Jimmy pick UCI? He spoke at two campuses in California, Berkeley and Irvine. As the pictures on the UCI website show, they were only too happy to give a platform for his political speech telling students to not vote for politicians that are in the pockets of the Jews. Since he also said that no one in congress will discuss the Palestinians’ plight because of pressure from AIPAC, we can deduce that Carter believes the entire Congress is controlled by the Jews.
The latest manifestation of the UC Intifada was this week’s Holocaust Memorial Week. They actually had one speaker that is known for anti-Israel speeches, Heddi Epstein, deliver a perfectly fine account of her experiences as a German Holocaust survivor saved by the Kindertransports. She never mentioned Israel.
But the next two days of speakers saw Israel and Jews falsely accused and maligned. Among them were a so-called Islamic leader, Imam Musa, who subscribes to anti-Jewish and anti-American conspiracy theories and professes Islamic superiority, and Ward Churchill, the notorious Coloradan fake, posing as an academic.
Reut Cohen, an aspiring journalist with a great future, has captured footage and interviews with these folks on her blog reutrcohen.blogspot.com.
Reut yesterday was harassed by a woman from the MSU who kept pushing her camera and lens cap into the field of view of Reut’s own video recording. I have witnessed the repeated use of cameras to intimidate and harass Jewish students at UCI, Long Beach State, and Fullerton State. Members of the group, usually women, come up close to the faces of the students and photograph and record them. For many students this is very intimidating.
We recently started another investigation of the campus through the lay-persons in the Jewish community. The Hillel Task Force on Antisemitism and Racism at UCI was formed at the start of this year to conduct a through local investigation of the campus climate. There has been some resistance to the investigation by national Jewish institutions that feel that that kind of work is their purview—we have countered that we know the people affected firsthand, have ready access to the witnesses, and their work has not shown any demonstrable affect.
Next week we are preparing for an onslaught of hate during the program “Israel: Apartheid Resurrected” – a program geared to inflame the passions Muslims against Jews and Americans, insult the Jewish community with Neturei Karta, and propose that Zionism and Israel’s security measures are equivalent to Nazism and Apartheid.
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Mufti, you can come to my house and stay over. CK is here. We can all go to the Hate Fest at UCI together and then you can get a feel for it all….
Tom, that argument has been made on behalf of the Arab world for decades. Actually, the US has respected Arab sensitivities, has given money and respect, has continued to be a very good customer, has sold some serious equipment to these countries, etc.
If anything, I think I could make a very strong argument that we have financed our enemies of today in this way. Iran would be nothing without oil. Saudi Arabia would be less than nothing without oil and their Wahabbism would not be seeding Sunni terror throughout the world directly or indirectly.
At the end of the day, the US has been fairly practical over in the Middle East AND has done so while also following its own core beliefs and ideology in supporting Israel (which, despite all the noise by people who don’t give a hoot about brutal dictatorships but feel comfortable focusing on Israel’s flaws and perceived flaws, remains a Western liberal democracy with a free media and strong independent judiciary).
Of course, I guess the battle to keep supporting Israel will only become more challenging as academia and certain politicians focus on a convenient…scapegoat.
Muffti, cut it out. You’ve been corrupted by your own system. What happens at UCI isn’t some free exchange of ideas or scholarship. On the contrary, it is the abuse of such freedoms and facilitates hate and not discourse. There is no discourse to be had there which is why when that girl, Reut Cohen, tries to film an interview with an anti-Israel speaker, a member of the Muslim Students Association stands in her face with a camera in what can only be termed as attempted intimidation. These on-campus events are not a badge of honor but a badge of shame.
By the way, can you explain to me why we’re focusing on Israel at UCI and not on Saudi Arabia, Sudan, or terrorism in Sri Lanka? Thanks.
a) Leave Paraguay alone!
b) Of course peopel went to see Jimmy Carter. People usually go to see controversial figures. Even Rabbi Yonah went to see Jimmy Carter. Why should we be surprised that a guy who has attracted a lot of controversy gets a lot of people out?
c) Most of all, why should we be suprised that these things happen on campuses? Campuses are one of the last bastions of nearly unrestricted free speech. Faculty’s ability to work without fear of getting fired after a short 6 year stint (known as ‘tenure’) is designed around this principle.
This is a good thing, all in all. Places where ridiculously insane and surprisingly sane ideas can get floated, picked up by students, dropped later in favour of someting even more off the wall are few nad far between in a culture mired in culture wars and lame whining about every idiot on the radio or television who makes an off coloured remarks or points out that we are actually not winning in Iraq and probably won’t.
So can we quit whining so much about UC Irvine?
It’s more a matter of a rather cold-blooded policy calculation having been made to curry favor with Beijing, notwithstanding the ‘loyal ally’ argument, historical ties with ROC, etc., invoked during the debate. Even US policy can turn on a dime.
One can envision the argument being made that US policy has ignored Arab sensitivities and interests for too long, inflaming tensions which are bad for the US and bad for Israel. Therefore, while Israel might raise a hue and cry about it, US policy needs to reflect the proverbial correlation of forces in the region; the result of detente with the Arabs will be less violence and extremism, fewer fluctuations in the price of oil, resources saved with the abatement of the war on terror, etc. Pretty much a Carter-style argument, really.
That’s an interesting comparison.
Then again, is the Arab world China? I don’t think it is or has the potential of getting even close to China in terms of potential. At least not in the near term and that’s what we’re discussing here.
Israel would be smart to take a substantial budget and dedicate it to developing technologies that can weaken the dependence of economies on oil. Let’s face it, without oil the Arab world will become about as boring as, uh, Paraguay.
I can see US support for Israel going the way of our unshakeable former alliance with Taiwan. That may be the best analogy. The Taiwanese had their lobby and cadre of Washington pols, too.
Ephraim, we are not making a non-distinction, it is being made for us. When Carter speaks about AIPAC or “Jewish groups” being vocal or controlling Congress, he’s not differentiating between Jews and Zionists or American Jews and Israelis. The meaning, and he has said it outright in at least one interview that I’ve heard, is that Jewish groups are the issue because of their influence.
The same goes for Walt & Mearsheimer. One way or another, the case they make ends up speaking about Jewish groups and Jews in general. This is not accidental. The line is being blurred on purpose and even in cases where it’s not, for the layperson who doesn’t need to make distinctions there is a simple message here: Jews are alien, Jews are ethically or morally bad, and Jews work against the interests of their country. I wish I could say that there’s another outcome but when the American non-Jewish window salesman comes to my home and upon finding out that I’m Jewish immediately wants to tell me how Israel needs to close up shop, he isn’t making a distinction between anything.
Former Goy Zionist, who exactly would you have the Jews attack or kill? Have you ever seen the rabid behavior of the speakers at UCI? I mean, just because they have a following and then are buttressed by people like Carter, do you expect us to stand around and shout ugly slogans? And do you suppose there aren’t enough people shouting “never again?” Cuz usually we hear the opposite complaint.
It’s only a matter ot time, Middle, it’s true, and perhaps that time’s already here. You can bet that, as the fallout for failures (real or perceived) in Iraq, the war on terror, etc. unfolds over the next few years, plenty (mostly, I suspect, on the left) will want to placate Arab and Islamist opinion, and advocate that America distance itself from Israel. This will make the intra-State Dep’t, debates between Arabists and pro-Israeli types seem quaint by comparison.
Carter’s imprimatur is powerful. He’s making once-outre arguments quite acceptable.
This happens because Jews are the wimpiest people in the world! That is why Hilter killed so many of you. This conference is run by Islamofacist Nazis calling for the genocide of the Jewish people and the destruction of Israel. And what do you people do? Hide under your covers and act like cowards.
Why don’t you think non-Jews like myself don’t care about Israel and the Jews anymore? If you Jews don’t care about there own people how can you expect others to?
Rabbi Meir Kahane and Mr. Rubin would be needed now more than ever. Maybe it’s good that there not around to see what spinless cowards American Jews have become.
When someone calls for your destruction you fight back with a vengence! Start a riot and spread the message “Never Again” will the Jews sent to the gas chambers. The Holocaust proved that being nice will you get nowhere but killed.
Intermarriage and self-hatred has damged the Jewish people in the U.S. beyond repair.
It’s sad but true.
“Pack your bags” because Hilter won. American Judaism has been killed and there’s nothing more to say.
And here I thought the the conflation of Jewishness with Israeli was just something white supremacists, the media, and the misinformed subscribed to. Yet, y’all seem to be making the same non-distinction I find myself arguing against with well-meaning but but deluded activists.
*sigh*
As Jews – and I don’t mean as Zionists, as pro-Israelis or anything else, I mean as Jewish people – we should be very concerned. What is happening right now, before our eyes, is a situation where it has become perfectly acceptable in mainstream political and academic circles to tarnish Jews with horrendous accusations that, to put it mildly, are severe. Carter is a former President of the US from a party that gets 75-80% of the Jewish vote. He is well liked as a do-gooder even if disrespected for his tenure as President. For him to stand before a crowd of 3400 on a university campus, speaking as the sage who has survived DC and knows it well, and to openly speak about Jewish control of Congress is simply shocking. It means that we are a short while away from having this scurrilous bullshit become mainstream.
Dear TM and Jon.
I was at the Carter talk. I cannot say I counted but the center holds 5700 and it was full except for the section closed for the event behind the speakers platform.
What can you do in Minnesota?
Good question. Publicize it. Write to the companies and people listed on the ucislam.wordpress.com website.
Thanks!
Rabbi Yonah,
can’t yall do anything about this? UCI is a state school. doesn’t it come down to the state of California allowing anti-Semitism and pro-terrorist rhetoric, not to mention physical intimidation on their campus? is there anything i can do from minnesota?
As always, a troubling report from a fucked-up campus. I find it amazing that 3400 people attended Carter’s talk. Are you sure you didn’t mean 340?