Of course, BDS supporter hijacks ALS ice bucket challenge to bash Israel

Of course, BDS supporter hijacks ALS ice bucket challenge to bash Israel

I know readers probably are skeptical when I constantly tell you how pathological the hatred of Israel is among many Boycott, Divest and Sanctions (BDS) supporters on campus.

I am not exaggerating. At all.

Israel hatred consumes their lives such that everything is politicized and used as an excuse to attack Israel. Even ordinary foodstuffs like hummus, coffee or couscous, are turned into political weapons.

It’s all about their politics — they feel no compunction about dominating student government and trying to turn assembly and senate meetings into tools in the war against Israel, and to dominate campus discussion to the exclusion of all other issues.

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They proudly proclaim that even when they lose a divestment vote, they won because they forced student government to spend hours or days talking about how bad Israel supposedly is.

The outcome doesn't matter, what matters is you brought the entire world to its knees. #UCLAdivest

— TSJP (@TSJPalestine) February 26, 2014

One of the most egregious examples was the student senate President — yes, President — at Ohio University, Megan Marzec, who used the ALS ice bucket challenge to bash Israel.

Marzec posted a video at Vimeo (since taken down, but preserved by others on YouTube) in which she poured a bucket of red liquid on her head as she gave a speech accusing Israel of genocide and other supposed crimes against humanity.

Truth Revolt reported:

University student body president Megan Marzec took the “ALS Ice Bucket Challenge” to a new level, dumping a bucket of blood on herself in support of alleged Palestinian suffering at the hands of the Israeli state.

In the video, she intoned, “As student senate president, I’m sending a message of student concern about the genocide in Gaza and the occupation of Palestine by the Israeli state,” prior to endorsing the anti-Semitic Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign against Israel which only singles out the Jewish state.

“I’m urging you and OU (Ohio University) to divest and cut all ties to academic and other Israeli institutions and businesses.”

“This bucket of blood symbolizes the thousands of displaced and murdered Palestinians- atrocities which OU is directly complacent in through cultural and economic ties with the Israeli state,” she explained.

Make no mistake, this was a BDS move, as Marzec made clear in the closing credits:

The student Senate tried to distance itself from this outrageous distortion and abuse of ALS fundraising:

On behalf of the student senate, we humbly apologize for the video President Megan Marzec posted.

— OU Student Senate (@OUSenate) September 3, 2014

This putrid stunt was particularly appalling considering that Israel is a leader in ALS research, with its scientists developing revolutionary stem cell treatments:

As the Ice Bucket Challenge raises millions for research into amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), an Israeli treatment to ease symptoms and slow the progression of ALS and other incurable neuromuscular diseases is going into Phase 2 clinical trials in three major US medical centers.

Petah Tikva-based BrainStorm Cell Therapeutics’ NurOwn platform is based on a technique developed by Profs. Daniel Offen and Eldad Melamed at Tel Aviv University for growing and enhancing stem cells harvested from patients’ own bone marrow. The enhanced cells secrete elevated levels of nerve-growth factors that protect existing motor neurons, promote motor neuron growth and reestablish nerve-muscle interaction.

Last June, the publicly traded BrainStorm raised $10.5 million in private investments, and in July it was notified of the allowance of its US patent application.

Two initial trials conducted at Jerusalem’s Hadassah University Medical Center led by stem-cell transplant pioneer Dr. Dimitrios Karussis, head of Hadassah’s Multiple Sclerosis Center, showed promising preliminary results in 24 patients.

Note specifically that key research is being conducted by researchers at Tel Aviv University, which is subject to the academic boycott passed by the American Studies Association and others.

Is there any better example of how Israel builds and BDS destroys that hijacking the ALS ice bucket challenge by the BDS movement?

Fortunately, students at OU are not remaining silent, as further reported by Truth Revolt:

Max Peltz, a student representative of the Alpha Epsilon Pi (AEPi) chapter at Ohio University took a strong and passionate stand against the bigotry of Student Union president Megyn Marzec, who hijacked the “ALS Ice Bucket Challenge” and dumped fake blood on herself in an effort to demonize Israel.

Peltz highlighted the factual inaccuracies in Marzec’s arguments and explained the evils that Israel encounters on a daily basis before calling on Marzec to remove the “embarrassing” video from the internet during a student senate meeting on Wednesday afternoon. In her video, Marzec called for the anti-Semitic Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel and falsely alleged that Israel was guilty of committing genocide.

He concluded by requesting that Marzec resign.

I’ve said it before. I’m so proud of the pro-Israel students — Jewish and non-Jewish — who stand up to BDS on campus.

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