Last month, Cornell celebrated a successful bid for a NYC-based tech campus. The win is a big boost for Cornell’s standing and opportunities for undergraduates. Since the announcement, though, I’ve been waiting for thing to “get political.” Frankly, I’m surprised it took so long….
As part of their successful bid, Cornell will be collaborating with Technion, the oldest and most prestigious technical university in Israel. Now, the Cornell chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine is on their case:
“More than any other university in Israel, the Technion, which is involved in the research and development of military and arms technology, is directly implicated in war crimes. Its joint programs with the Israeli military and its cooperative research programs with two of Israel’s major weapons corporations, Elbit and Rafael, renders Technion a full participant in the actions carried out by the Israeli military. Those actions include targeting civilians, as in the 2006 invasion of Lebanon and the 2008-2009 Cast Lead operation against Gaza, and physically contributing to Israel’s discriminatory practices in the West Bank with the construction of the separation wall that cuts sharply into the occupied West Bank and disrupts the lives of Palestinians in countless ways. The Cornell administration cannot plead ignorance of these facts. We refuse to collaborate with this.”
As the Cornell Review reports, this is bound to be a touchy issue in the coming months.
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Fine. The Palestinians and their supporters can leave.
Free country.
“Dear students, your admission to Cornell is hereby revoked, and here is your reimbursed money for courses you have not yet taken.
The Dean regrets this decision and hopes you will take a flying leap at yourselves and miss”
But, alas, I’m not in a position to send that email.
Cry me a river…….. Hope Cornell will stand against the PC liberal tide.
Oh, and just for the record – collaboration is a choice, unlike being used as a human shield or brainwashing tactics that indoctrinate and coerce.
The refusal for Palestinian collaboration with the new endeavor leaves lots of opportunities, vacancies for others. Who want to be on the cutting edge of hi-tech. Yeah.
I fully support the Students for Justice in Palestine” in their refusal to collaborate on this issue. Btw, will this mean there will be more walk-in and late enrollee slots available?
Because this is a college, I suggest a teach-in. Here’s a copy of the Hamas Covenant of 1988.
http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/hamas.asp
Ask them if they’ve read it, and if they agree with it, especially all the choice bits.
” … the construction of the separation wall that … disrupts the lives of Palestinians in countless ways.”
I just happen to have a B.S. to English dictionary at hand.
This can be loosely translated as ” … the construction of the separation wall that disrupts Palestinian homicide bombers from killing Israeli citizens in countless explosions.”
It’s impossible to satisfy people who need to feel victimized.
The muslims said, “We refuse to collaborate with this.”
A good idea is a good idea.
Get lost!
Never seen in the same room at the same time: a muslim and the truth.
The Presbyterian church is one of the most anti-Israel groups in the country, should they get lost too? http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2012/02/09/encounter-with-pcusa/
“Those actions include targeting civilians….” There are ‘civilians’ in the Arab-occupied areas of Judea and Samaria? Really? Every last one of them is prepared to kill Jews, and, in blatant disregard for the Geneva Convention, they refuse to be honorable and wear a uniform. When you send children to kill, of course killer children must be killed. Muslims are so cowardly, they refuse to meet Israel openly on the battlefield then play the victim with talk like this. Cornell, show tem the door!
Perhaps there’s a filagree and fancy tile school in the Middle East capable of producing the same caliber of scientists as Technion but I doubt it.
Clarice, you anticipated me, but I go farther than you did. I contend that the entire Muslim world could not offer Cornell the scientific benefit that the Technion does. The comparison is not even close.
Instead of sneering, let’s recall that the West is not immune to the kind of self-limiting behavior in which Islamic civilization has trapped itself.
You are both correct. But the Saudi’s and their minions will give Cornell barrels [like how oil prices are measured] of money [which, incidently, is really OUR money] with strings attached. And you can bet the strings will conceal chains. So, Cornell, drop your trousers and grab your ankles, the high hard one is on the way.
‘renders Technion a full participant in the actions carried out by the Israeli military.”
Why not half participant or quarter participant?
Anyhow, good for Technion.
Wm Jacabson,
Did you notice how every post got a 1 negative rating, at least as of 10.45am, 02/09/12. Every one,
muslim troll,
I don’t appreciate the “muslim troll” line. Many if not most of the people pushing the BDS and anti-Israel line on campuses are secular left-wing anti-Israel types, and not all Muslims are anti-Israel on campuses. You distract from the point by making it a religious matter.
WJ, By hypertexting “Students for Justice in Palestine” in her posting, the author of the LI piece brought religion into the matter, not I.
The block quote from the Students for Justice in Palestine contains such loaded terms as “[Israeli] war crimes,” “[Israeli] actions [which] include targeting civilians,” “the 2006 invasion of Lebanon and the 2008-2009 Cast Lead operation against Gaza,” “physically contributing to Israel’s discriminatory practices in the West Bank,” “the occupied West Bank,”[which] disrupts the lives of Palestinians in countless ways.”
All of these unjustified terms are intended to solicit sympathy for Muslims, the occupants of Gaza and the West Bank. It is indeed an Israel-Muslim thing, with the left (religious or secular) very much assisting the anti-Israel/pro-Muslim side of things.
Yeah, I wondered how Cornell got away with this when I first watched the announcement. Frankly I was thrilled because I am sick to death of the bash Israel crowd.
But here is another angle which bothered me and no one has commented on it. When you watch the original announcement (which includes Mayor Bloomberg, along with representatives of Cornell and Israel) there is a great deal of emphasis on how this will help *New York City*. That *New York City* will become even more a center of business, innovation, and so on.
Why should we want to help New York City? What with its oppressive gun laws, taxes, social and cultural leftism, and Lord have mercy its flaming twit of a mayor? Why couldn’t they have done this in some other part of New York State? I would ask “why New York State at all?” but of course where else would Cornell do something like this. Oh wait – Israel?
-Cornell grad and writer for the Review