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BDS Tag

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 17, 2014 4 Comments
As mentioned last night, and as expected, there was a protest by student groups seeking divestment from companies doing business in Israel in reaction to last week's 15-8-1 decision of the Cornell Student Assembly to table indefinitely the proposed divestment resolution. About 75 protestors attended the Student Assembly meeting. I heard one of them refer to hundreds, but it was not that many, and many drifted out after a while. Here's a video of the pro-divestment students walking from their gathering area to Willard Straight Hall, where the Assembly meets. You can see there just weren't that many, certainly not hundreds. A disappointing turnout considering the priority the anti-Israel groups place on the protest. The Assembly then voted to suspend the rules and its session, in what appeared to be a preplanned maneuver, according to multiple people who were in the room at the start. I arrived later, because I had class. Effectively, the Assembly went out of session, and then let the anti-Israel students spend almost two hours giving speeches, in what the protesters termed an alternative assembly. There also were other unrelated topics, such as free bus passes, that consumed some of the protest discussion. Here's the Alternative Agenda: Cornell Alternative Assembly Agenda 4-17-2014 The only interesting part was that David Skorton, President of Cornell, previously was scheduled to appear before the Assembly, and kept that appointment. So the President was present during part of this alternative assembly, but not because of the protest. There were some minor theatrics as protestors vented a little, but nothing major. Skorton gave a short speech about improving the process, and left:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 15, 2014 14 Comments
Max Blumenthal is experiencing what goes around coming around. Having blamed various critics of radical Islam as well as international Zionism for the 2011 mass murder in Norway, unfairly, Blumenthal now is in focus because the Overland Park shooter was a big fan of Blumenthal's Jewish money and Israel Lobby conspiracy theories.  The shooter was a Neo-Nazi and KKK leader for whom Jewish control of the media and international money was a core belief motivating hatred of Jews.  That's a shared space for anti-Zionists of multiple political ideologies and religions. Specifically, the shooter focused on Blumenthal's theory that Jewish campaign donors were trying to buy the 2012 U.S. presidential election for Bibi Netanyahu, as expressed by Blumenthal in a lengthy article and a Russia Today television interview, to which the shooter linked.  It's ugly stuff, but the type of ugly stuff for which Blumenthal has become known. I've been less harsh on Blumenthal than others, The Overland Park murders, anti-Zionist conspiracy theories, and the blame game:
Assuming Cross [aka Glenn Miller] linked to Blumenthal’s conspiracy theories about the 2012 election, would that mean Blumenthal is responsible for the Overland Park shooting? Absolutely not. Is the intersection between neo-Nazi and anti-Zionist conspiracy theories worthy of examination? Absolutely. We have seen in Europe in particular how anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism go hand-in-hand, often based on conspiracy theories about Jewish and Israeli influence. [image omitted] Those types of consipiracy theories regarding the alleged manipulations of Jewish money and interests are as old as hate itself. That is a fair subject of discussion. I wonder if the mainstream media will go there, as it did in the Norway shooting.
Others are more direct in drawing the connection between the shooter's adoration of Blumenthal's anti-Zionist conspiracy theories and the shooting, in part perhaps because Blumenthal tried to lay blame on some of  them for the Norway shooting (Pipes, Geller):

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 13, 2014 8 Comments
We have featured Tulane University student Chloé Simone Valdary before. We highlighted a great video Valdary produced for a pro-Israel event to be held at Tulane. For that effort, Valdary was attacked by the usual suspects like Max Blumenthal, as being an Israel Lobby paid stooge. As Lori Lowenthal Marcus reports, the event Valdaray promoted took place with great success in late March, attended by over 400 pro-Israel students. But there has been a more sinister angle to the attacks on Valdary, as we highlighted in out post about The ugly, repugnant attack on a pro-Israel black American student, including a series of nasty racialized tweets by Richard Silverstein, like this one: https://twitter.com/richards1052/status/437086594546536448 Is race behind the attacks on Valdary? Yes, says an op-ed column in The NY Post by Anthony Hardy Williams, the Democratic whip in the Pennsylvania state Senate, whose father worked with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and broke the color barrier at Penn State, The racism of the Israel-bashers:

Posted by 0387erp on April 10, 2014 4 Comments
Despite the torrential downpour that unleashed itself over downtown Manhattan Monday evening, nearly 100 students and members of the general public gathered at New York University for an inspiring event that brought together business experts, disruptive artists, media revolutionaries, journalists and jazz musicians. Innovation Israel, a project spearheaded by TorchPAC at NYU and the Stern Political Economy Exchange (SPEX), proved to be a tremendous opportunity for those in attendance unfamiliar with Israel to experience the incredible spirit and passion of a tiny country in the Middle East, but was also a chance for pro-Israel activists to engage in conversation face-to-face about the challenges facing the pro-Israel community today. The Innovation Israel showcase was one of the more visible efforts of NYU’s Pro-Israel community this year, but readily visible relationship building and showcasing of Israeli innovation is only one small, small part of the important work being done to defend Israel on US campuses. Far too often in recent times, extreme voices have made a presence for themselves in the intellectual (or often, pseudo-intellectual) arena; earlier this year, NYU faced strongly anti-semitic activities from NYU professor Lisa Duggan culminating in the form of an Anti-Israel Conference. Much has been written, most notably by Forbes Contributing Editor of Investigations Richard Behar, that more than adequately elucidates the troubling event and hijacking of the American Studies Association by Duggan and her extreme colleagues in painstaking detail. Notable Israel detractors Max Blumenthal and Ali Abunimah also spoke at NYU earlier this year, at an event brimming with hatred and rife with factual inaccuracy, including repulsive allusions to the Holocaust.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 08, 2014 27 Comments
In a move reminiscent of the exploitation of the Yom Kippur Jewish holiday in 1973 to launch an attack on Israel, Cornell Students for Justice in Palestine has launched a last minute, sneak Divestment Resolution which is to come up for initial discussion on less than 48 hours notice this Thursday afternoon, April 10, at 4:30 p.m. The notice was just posted on the Cornell Assembly website, although I heard rumors earlier today it might be coming. Cornell Assembly Divestment Proposed April 8 The full Resolution linked on the Assembly website is embedded at the bottom of this post. Here's the operative part:
(22) Be it resolved, that Cornell University will further examine its assets for investments in companies that a) provide military support for, or weaponry to, the occupation of Palestinian territory or b) facilitate the building or maintenance of the illegal separation wall or the demolition of Palestinian homes, or c) facilitate the building, maintenance or economic development of illegal Israeli settlements on occupied Palestinian territory, (23) Be it further resolved, that Cornell University will make information about all of its assets public, pertaining especially to its investments, (24) And be it finally resolved, that Cornell University will end its complicity with the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories and divest its holdings from the aforementioned companies and any other companies that profit directly from Israeli military occupation in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Moreover, Cornell University will not make further investments in companies that materially support or profit from Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory.
Passover starts Monday night, April 14, and many Jewish students at Cornell leave on Thursday to head home for the holidays. If the Resolution is not tabled on Thursday, the Resolution will come to a formal vote on the following Thursday, April 17, in the middle of Passover, just a day after Jewish students return to campus after Passover Seders. By so scheduling the Resolution, SJP and its supporters in the Student Assembly have sought to put Jewish students and campus groups at a disadvantage, literally forcing them to choose between celebrating the Jewish People's Exodus from slavery in Egypt or organizing to fight the Divestment Resolution.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 07, 2014 16 Comments
Opposing the anti-Israel Boycott Divest and Sanction movement is serious business, so it's natural that we tend to be serious about it. But I also think we need to be happy in the fight as well. Contrary to boycott mythology, Israel is thriving economically, with investment and new trade deals being announced almost daily. Israel is a sea of happiness in a region filled with horrors inflicted by Arabs upon Arabs. The anger of the BDS movement doesn't need to be replicated by us -- at least not to the exclusion of humor and happiness.  (Happy Tel Aviv - Yafo here) It's one of the reasons I start my lectures opposing the academic boycott at colleges with statistics showing how Israel has a higher favorability rating in the U.S. than kittens. It always gets a laugh, but a laugh which keeps things in perspective. There is a template for being happy warriors against BDS, the Sussex (England) Friends of Israel (SFI).  We previously featured SFI's video of the Brighton Israeli Apartheid Week March that attracted only a few people, #BDSfail – 8 people show up for Sussex “Israeli Apartheid Week” march. The SFI brings mockery and good humor to the humorless Israel haters, with miraculous results:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 07, 2014 10 Comments
We previously covered the UCLA anti-Israel divestment resolution, which was voted down 7-7 by the student council after an intense and contentious all-night session. One of the co-sponsors and a strong supporter of the resolution was Community Service Commissioner Omar Arce, as reported by The Daily Bruin (emphasis added):
Facilities Commissioner Armen Hadjimanoukian of the Bruins United slate, Community Service Commissioner Omar Arce, an independent councilmember, and General Representative Lizzy Naameh of the LET’S ACT! slate sponsored the resolution.... In a second straw vote later in the meeting, no councilmembers changed their vote. Student Wellness Commissioner Savannah Badalich, Naameh, External Vice President Maryssa Hall, Cultural Affairs Commissioner Jessica Trumble and Arce still said they would support the resolution.
Arce not only sponsored the resolution, he also endorsed a letter claiming "Islamophobic commentary" in opposition to the divestment resolution necessitated a "Diversity Requirement." The Daily Bruin reports that Arce has been arrested on charges of false imprisonment related to alleged sexual batteries:
An undergraduate student council member was arrested by university police Wednesday on a charge of false imprisonment. On Wednesday, a female student reported a series of sexual batteries between October and March. The report led to 21-year-old Omar Arce’s arrest, according to a police report released Thursday afternoon. UCPD arrested Arce, the Undergraduate Students Association Council Community service commissioner and a fourth-year international development studies student, at 10:47 a.m. Wednesday and transported him to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department in West Hollywood. Arce was booked about 11:30 a.m. on $50,000 bail. He is currently being held at the Men’s Central Jail in downtown Los Angeles.
The local Fox affiliate further reports on the arrest:
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