Wednesday, May 14, 2008

From Other Sites on the Line: 14 May 08



















Day 3 of Hate-Fest Week at UCI

Latest onsite report from Gary Fouse
http://garyfouse.blogspot.com/


On Tuesday, the Muslim Student Union continued their anti-Israel week at UC-Irvine. At 12 noon, they opened their program with Jim Lafferty, a lawyer from LA. Lafferty is with the LA chapter of the National Lawyers Guild, a liberal legal activist group. He is also associated with Answer, an anti-war group and KPFK Radio, a far-left radio station in Los Angeles.

Mr. Lafferty’s theme was, as expected, an indictment of Israel, "an illegal occupier of the Palestinian people’s land". According to Mr. Lafferty, Israel is a racist, genocidal state (sound familiar?)

According to Lafferty, Israel was created by the Western powers at the end of World War 2. It was decided to create this state in the Middle East because the West wanted to have a friendly, Western-oriented state there to act as a bulwark in the West’s efforts to obtain Middle East oil. (I guess Mr. Lafferty never considered the fact that we have been buying that oil all this time from countries like Saudi Arabia.)

He also cautioned the crowd not to believe that the election of Barack Obama would change US policy since Obama “had recently met with American Jewish leaders and assured them of his continuing support for Israel”.

Not content to bash Israel, Mr. Lafferty also launched into a simultaneous attack on the “imperialistic” US. Throughout his talk, he alternated between references to "racist genocidal" Israel and the "imperialistic" US. Score another one for the MSU in bringing anti-American speakers to campus. (Hopefully, people have noticed a pattern by now.)

He also took a shot at the Jewish students at UCI (“our Jewish brothers and sisters”), who had set up posters warning of a "Hate Speech zone” prior to hearing what he had to say-even though he proceeded to fulfill the prediction. He also ominously stated that he had just been informed by "student leaders" that there was not a level playing field for groups expressing their views in this area. He implied that his organization (the National Lawyers Guild) might "do something to make sure everyone had a level playing field", whatever that means. (Maybe his group will file a lawsuit demanding that Jewish students be expelled from UCI.)

After his talk, a Jewish student asked him how Israel could be genocidal when the Palestinian population has actually increased over the decades. In his answer, Mr. Lafferty "clarified" that by saying he was referring to “genocidal policies” (whatever that means).

When asked his opinion of a 2-state solution, he opined that it was all up to the Palestinians. He said that usually the ideal solution is for all parties to live together in harmony, but it was all up to the Palestinians. I took that to mean that whether Jews could remain in the region or live in harmony was all up to the Palestinians. I guess if the Palestinians decide to expel the Jews-or worse, that’s their choice, according to Mr. Lafferty.

Since Lafferty ran out of things to say in 30 minutes, and only a couple of people had questions, Lafferty was followed by an impromptu appearance by Craig and Cindy Corrie, parents of Rachel Corrie, an American activist, who was killed when she sat down in front of an Israeli bulldozer as it tried to tear down a house. They were scheduled to make a longer appearance later that evening, but came to the microphone to say a few words. They seem like decent people and did not engage in any harsh rhetoric against Israel or the US. They are, of course, sympathetic to the Palestinian cause and seem interested in peace in the region. It is hard to criticize people in their position. Everyone processes their grief in different ways, and this seems to be the way they are processing theirs. I think they are mistaken in their sympathies and being exploited, but I re-emphasize that, unlike someone like Cindy Sheehan, they don’t seem to have turned against their own country.

A few other observations:

Before the program began, I watched a Jewish fellow wearing a yarmulke having a polite debate with 4 or 5 Muslim students. I found that encouraging.

Less encouraging is the wall that the Muslims have put up as a display. Among other things, there is a quotation by H. Rap Brown, former Black Panther from the 1960s. He is now a converted Muslim. (I forget his Muslim name.) There is, of course, no mention that he is now in prison for the murder of a police officer just a few years back. Then there is a drawing of Ariel Sharon made in the old style of Julius Streicher’s Der Stuermer in the Nazi era, hooked nose, big lips and all. It must be said that these young MSU folks are not very sophisticated in their PR.

That evening, I attended David Horowitz’s lecture on campus. His speech had been shifted to an out of the way location away from the Student Center. The room had no microphone, and when Horowitz attempted to draw a map of Israel on the whiteboard, he discovered that of the 20 or so markers, none had any ink.

Without me going into detail, he opened his presentation by stating unequivocally that UCI was absolutely the worst campus in the country when it came to anti-Semitic activity and the administration’s failure to confront it. Two deans were in the audience, Sally Peterson and Edgar Dormitorio, both of whom are antagonistic toward the concerns of UCI’s Jewish students. During the question and answer session, I pointed out to Horowitz that 99% of the students at UCI have nothing to do with the ugliness, but that we had 2 problems: the MSU and the administration, which was “in the tank for the MSU” and was hiding under their desks, either out of fear, apathy or just not caring about their Jewish students. I implored Horowitz to keep the public spotlight on UCI because the public needs to know what is going on our campuses. Horowitz urged me to keep him informed of what is going on. (I will.)

There are two more days to report on. That is if I don’t get fired today. These academic types have no sense of humor, you know.

A note from Radarsite: This is the latest in a continuing series of reports from the frontlines of one of America's most leftist universities by our insider friend and UCI faculty member Gary Fouse.
Interesting readers:
ISP: American Federation Of Teachers
Entry Page Time: 16th May 2008 09:26:07
Location: Arlington, Virginia, United States
Entry Page:
[“Day 3 of Hate-fest Week at UCI”]

12 comments:

  1. "...to make sure everyone had a level playing field..."

    When a leftist organization says this, what they really mean is only they are allowed to speak, anyone else with a differing opinion is banned.

    "...a Jewish student asked him how Israel could be genocidal when the Palestinian population has actually increased over the decades."

    Wow, a brilliant question, never thought of that.

    "Then there is a drawing of Ariel Sharon made in the old style of Julius Streicher’s Der Stuermer in the Nazi era, hooked nose, big lips and all. It must be said that these young MSU folks are not very sophisticated in their PR."

    Not to mention stereotyping that they love to scream about.

    "The room had no microphone, and when Horowitz attempted to draw a map of Israel on the whiteboard, he discovered that of the 20 or so markers, none had any ink."

    This is the aforementioned 'level playing field' they were talking about.

    Thanks for posting this, keep it coming.

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  2. Hate fest at UCI-Day 3
    (My previous post should have read-day 2)

    Today, the Muslim Student Union continued their "Palestinian Holocaust" Week at UCI. Today's featured speaker at noon was Anna Balzer, a young Jewish-American activist, who has traveled often to Israel and the Palestinian-occupied territories. She is a Palestinian sympathizer, and is associated with the International Women's Peace Service.

    I should state that Ms Balzer does not come across as a "bomb thrower" (no pun intended.) Her presentation argued that Palestinians are being treated unjustly by Israel in the name of maintaining a Jewish state. She did not blast the United States, unlike many of the other MSU speakers. She is opposed to Israel as a "Jewish state".

    It was what she didn't say that I would criticize. Nowhere in her talk did she mention the suicide bombings that led to the creation of the wall. Nowhere did she mention the rocket attacks that are lobbed regularly from Gaza into Israel. In describing the poor conditions under which Palestinians are living in Gaza, she neglected to mention that they are under the control of Palestinians, not Israelis, specifically, Hamas.

    In the question and answer session, a Jewish student asked her about the suicide bombings. In her response, Balzer described them as horrific and conceded that human rights abuses are being conducted by both sides. She then added that the Palestinian violence has to be considered in context; in other words, one could hardly expect the Palestinians to act non-violently in the face of their suffering. She also advocated deinvestment and boycotting Israeli products.

    Balzer was preceded to the microphone by Dennis Lopez of the Student Worker Alliance, a radical group that condemns everything the US does. He described (among other things) the Iraqi War as being driven by a desire for US corporations to enrich themselves with Iraqi oil (even though the US has not taken Iraqi oil from Iraq). Though speaking in a calm and rational manner, the occasional buzz words came out: imperialistic US, imperialistic powers, capitalist US-you get the picture.

    Finally, there was a brief spiel by Israeli (anti-Zionist) professor, Ilan Pappe, who previewed his speech later this evening by encouraging his audience to visit Israel to learn about the situation, inform others about the injustices committed by Israel and to protest. (Pappe is detested by many in Israel because of his anti-Israel activism.)

    Today's speakers, at least during the noon hour, were subdued. I noted that Craig and Cindy Corrie were in the audience. I sincerely hope they stay around for tomorrow's appearance by the vicious, racist, anti-Semite, Amir Abdel Malik Ali. It might be an eye-opener.

    gary fouse
    fousesquawk

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  3. Thank you again Gary. Good work.
    "Nowhere in her talk did she mention the suicide bombings that led to the creation of the wall. Nowhere did she mention the rocket attacks that are lobbed regularly from Gaza into Israel. In describing the poor conditions under which Palestinians are living in Gaza, she neglected to mention that they are under the control of Palestinians, not Israelis, specifically, Hamas"
    SOS This says it all. The same old lies, the same old moral equivalents arguments. Just forgetting to mention the suicide bombers -- Give me a break!

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  4. "During the question and answer session, I pointed out to Horowitz that 99% of the students at UCI have nothing to do with the ugliness, but that we had 2 problems: the MSU and the administration, which was “in the tank for the MSU” and was hiding under their desks, either out of fear, apathy or just not caring about their Jewish students."

    I'm sorry but your numbers are wrong Gary. It is almost 100% of the student body. It has to be. For the vast majority is silent on this issue. Silence = Acceptance. What would be the student body (and faculty) reaction if a member of the KKK came onto campus and spouted hate? There would be mass protests.

    As long as the students remain silent, they remain anti-Semitic. By not speaking out, they give their acceptance.

    UCI is the test for the Muslims. If they can make an atmosphere of hatred on this campus and get away with it, they will then do it on all other Universities and Colleges.

    Already Jewish students know that there is a sign up at UCI "JEWS NEED NOT APPLY! YOU ARE NOT WELCOMED OR WANTED HERE!"

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  5. "...to make sure everyone had a level playing field..."

    When a leftist organization says this, what they really mean is only they are allowed to speak, anyone else with a differing opinion is banned...Couldnt agree with this more!!..great piece Roger!

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  6. Roger, great post and expose on this university. Genocidal policies? Nice way to dodge the bullet, but just a little transparent! I'll have to try to follow this series.

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  7. Findalis,

    I would agree with you that there is student apathy among those not directly involved. My point was that these students are in no way giving a hard time to Jewish students.

    Your point is well taken, but what is worse is the apathy of the faculty and the university. They are cowards. They are the ones who are supposed to set the example for the students. In this, they fail miserably.

    Please stand by for my letter to the university newspaper.

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  8. On the final day of the Muslim Student Union's "Palestinian Holocaust Week" at UC-Irvine, the "highlight" of today's program was the speech by Amir Abdel Malik Ali, a fiery Imam from Oakland, who comes to UCI every quarter. He is an open supporter of Hamas and Hizbollah and anti-American to boot.

    Malik Ali is the classic example of the adage: "Show me a great speaker, and I will show you-a great speaker". He is a magnificent public speaker. It is what he says that is so darn objectionable. In past appearances at UCI, he has described suicide bombers, as heroes and martyrs, and railed about "Zionist Jews". Today, he took pains to state that many Jews oppose Zionism. (Thanks a lot.) Yet, his hour-long speech was all vitriol toward Israel-and toward America. Imperialistic America. He referred to President Bush as "an idiot" on numerous occasions. He referred to an unnamed African-American general (head of US forces in Africa) as an "Uncle Tom".

    Toward the end, Malik veered off course and talked about the drug epidemic that plagues black neighborhoods. He implied the old canard that the government planted crack into the black community. (As a retired DEA agent, I could have reminded him that no black crack addict gets his or her crack from any white person-only black crack dealers, but I had a more pertinent question in mind.)

    At the conclusion of his speech, I raised my hand and got the first question:

    I asked him simply-which he hated more, Israel- or America.

    His answer: "I hate imperialism."

    He went on to expound on that, but I wasn't really listening. I wanted to pin him down on my question. I followed up by asking if he loved his country, America.

    Again, he started on a long answer that started out with why a rape victim should love her rapist. I then finished by concluding that he hated America-as the student moderator cut me off in order to move on to the next questioner.

    Before the program started, I looked around to see if Cindy and Craig Corrie (whose daughter was killed in Israel trying to block an Israeli bulldozer from demolishing a house) were present since they had stayed around to watch yesterday's program-which was relatively tame. They were apparently not present. I had hoped that they would hear Malik Ali's words. It might have given them pause.

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  9. Findalis,

    I agree with everything you say about the Administration, and I will continue to blast them until they fire me. (Actually, they don't have to fire me. I am a part-timer-all they have to do is not give me any more classes, but after 10 years here, they will have to do it in the glare of the public spotlight.)

    I have also written to the Orange County Register (whether they print it or not, time will tell.) I will also be contacting another LA-based writer this week who has written on the subject as well as the Orange County Board of Human Rights.

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  10. I first saw this in the Jerusalem Post in April Fight UC Irvine campus anti-Semitism
    http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull&cid=1207238156184

    So the problem you have been having is now heard as far as Israel, and through the JPost the world.

    We are all behind you, and will do what is necessary to help you in your fight.

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  11. Thanks to everyone at Radarsite for taking an interest in UCI. I suggest you all link up with the Orange County Blog called Red County. Once there click on campus watch. There is an ongoing dialogue going on. Johnathan Constantine is a UCI student who is our most active ally. He is a write for Red County.

    This weekend, I will be writing to the ORange County Human Rights Office. They have been gathering info for quite some time, but I will give them the prespective of one teacher at UCI.

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