Tuesday, April 10, 2007
The Forward Goes Hunting for Israel's Critics in Cali
In a retro nod to HUAC a recent article in the Forward trashes California universities as being purportedly being hotbeds of "anti-Israeli" activity. This kind of stuff is par for the course at Frontpage and various other right wing crusaders against anti-Bush thought on college campuses, but I will give credit to the author for labeling the offending activity on the campuses of the Golden State "anti-Israeli"; a much more accurate description of the kind of stuff that goes on at Berkley and SF State than the old "anti-semitism" canard.
But its the opening of the article that really crystallizes how remote from reality and politically destructive the Israel can do no wrong school of thought has become.
I'm generally opposed to those on the campus left who think disrupting or shouting down right-wing speakers is a smart tactic, but I can't really blame Arab students (or anyone with sliver of humanitarian concern) for getting upset at hearing Pipes calling for the will of a whole nation to be "crushed". If an Islamic fundamentalist gave speech at UCLA calling for the will of America to be crushed so that it will leave the Middle East alone, I can imagine there would be some pissed off students yelling and shouting too; I doubt the Forward or Frontpage would be rushing to defend academic freedom then. The fact that the Forward acts like this statement is some minor point of intellectual discourse that would only upset hard core Islamic fundamentalists or anti-Semites is indicative how badly the Forward, at one point the voice of Jewish-American Socialism committed to a secular, democratic and humanist worldview has degenerated into an apologist for the Israeli and US hard-right.
But its the opening of the article that really crystallizes how remote from reality and politically destructive the Israel can do no wrong school of thought has become.
"The lecture topic was “The Threat to Israel’s Existence.” The speaker was Daniel Pipes, a Middle East analyst known for his hawkish pro-Israel views and sharp denunciations of Islamic extremism. The setting was the University of California, Irvine, a campus with a national reputation as a hotbed of anti-Israel rhetoric.
Students wearing Palestinian kaffiyehs clustered in the center of the auditorium.
The stage was set for confrontation.
Sure enough, 15 minutes into Pipes’s speech, just as he had built up to one of his main points — “The Palestinians must have their will crushed so that they will no longer be trying to eliminate Israel, so they will tend to their own affairs and leave Israel alone” — dozens of Muslim students interrupted him with hostile shouts, before promptly marching out of the lecture hall, chanting “anti-Israel, anti-oppression."
I'm generally opposed to those on the campus left who think disrupting or shouting down right-wing speakers is a smart tactic, but I can't really blame Arab students (or anyone with sliver of humanitarian concern) for getting upset at hearing Pipes calling for the will of a whole nation to be "crushed". If an Islamic fundamentalist gave speech at UCLA calling for the will of America to be crushed so that it will leave the Middle East alone, I can imagine there would be some pissed off students yelling and shouting too; I doubt the Forward or Frontpage would be rushing to defend academic freedom then. The fact that the Forward acts like this statement is some minor point of intellectual discourse that would only upset hard core Islamic fundamentalists or anti-Semites is indicative how badly the Forward, at one point the voice of Jewish-American Socialism committed to a secular, democratic and humanist worldview has degenerated into an apologist for the Israeli and US hard-right.
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Yuck...
I knew as soon as I said something nice about Speaker Pelosi I would find something that would make me sick.
"Yesterday, at a conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, Ms. Pelosi endorsed toughening American sanctions on Iran by stripping the executive branch of the power to waive the sanctions."
I don't think Pelosi plans to support a war with Iran, her bloodcurdling rhetoric to AIPAC aside. She is just pandering to one of the most powerful and best financed lobbies in the US. Having AIPAC be the official decider on what should be our position towards the Middle East would be like having William Kristol and John Bolton decide what the news media and political elite in France should think about the United States.
AIPAC is hard core far right Likud. They would love for us to go to war with Iran. If Pelosi decided to repeat to comments of what a left-wing Labor Party member(or god-forbid Peace Now) of the Knesset said about settlers for example, they would drop a storm on her that would make Jimmy Carter shake. Its time to stop pandering to AIPAC. They are not the exclusive representative for the Israeli people, they are neo-cons and deserve to driven from the halls of Washington along with the Weekly Standard and the Project for the New American Century. Our elected officials need to stop letting them dictate our policy toward the region. Palestine is the number one reason the Arab world is upset with the US. Whoever the next President is will need to actively engage the Israeli/Palestinian conflict and play neutral mediator like President Eisenhower and Carter did; not sub-contract out out our foreign policy to the Israeli far right.
Labels: AIPAC, Israel, Palestine, Pelosi
