Professor William Jacobson Speaks About The Academic Boycott (video)

This informative video is six months old but if you haven't seen it and want an expert's view of the BDS movement, particularly the academic boycott in the United States, it's a must listen-to (I say "listen-to" because since the professor is in effect a "talking head' speaking from a lectern you don't need to be glued to the screen to appreciate its insights).

For background on the lecture, and the footage which Professor Jacobson refers to at the beginning of his talk (regarding student BDSers on campus), see here

A Californian Call: "We urge all members of UAW 2865 to join us ... in categorically rejecting proposals to support BDS & academic & cultural boycotts of Israel"

"We ask everyone to make their voices heard by voting NO in the statewide vote December 4."

 UAW, the trade union chapter 2865 representing mainly graduate workers, including teaching assistants at University of California campuses will vote today (4 December) on a major BDS motion.

The case against BDS has been powerfully, and hopefully persuasively, stated by a number of people affiliated to the UAW:

'As members and officers of UAW 2865—current and former; Jewish and non-Jewish—we write to oppose the Joint Council’s decision to endorse the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel. Furthermore, we strongly oppose the proposal calling for divestment and an academic boycott.

The BDS movement is not progressive; it is unjust. It rejects the international consensus position on peace and pushes the most strident demands of the rejectionist camp. It collectively punishes Israelis and Palestinians, and stymies efforts to reach across divides, engage in dialogue, and build mutual trust.  Moreover, it rejects basic academic values by opposing cooperation and the free exchange of ideas within the academy. Finally, it manipulates and selectively presents facts to delegitimize Israel, and, in essence, calls for the end of the Jewish State. Support for BDS is unworthy of our union.

Our union leadership has also violated the union’s fundamental principles of democracy, transparency, and solidarity in its efforts to promote BDS. It has announced a membership vote, but stacked the deck in favor of BDS. Our leadership has publicized numerous pro-BDS documents and events, spending thousands of dollars in the process. It has refused to send even a single paragraph representing an anti-BDS viewpoint to its mailing list. Moreover, by promoting an academic boycott against Israel, our leadership stigmatizes and isolates those of us who are Israeli, who do research on Israel, or who have Israeli collaborators. We are saddened that our union leadership would injure its own members to pursue a political goal unrelated to the union’s core mission.

We are proud of the UAW International and the University of California (UC) for taking principled stands against BDS, and urge them to continue rejecting calls for divestment from Israel. The president of the UAW International expressed our sentiments by signing a letter declaring that, “[r]ather than divestment from Israel, we believe that investment of time, energy and material aid is the best means to alleviate the ongoing suffering of Palestinians and Israelis.” The UC also expressed our sentiments by issuing a statement that “isolation of Israel among all of the countries of the world greatly disturbs us and is of grave concern to members of the Jewish community."

We urge all members of UAW 2865 to join us—as well as the leadership of the nine UC campuses, the president of the UC system, over 250 university presidents, the Association of American Universities, the Association of Public and Land Grant Universities, the American Council on Education and the American Association of University Professors—in categorically rejecting proposals to support BDS and academic and cultural boycotts of Israel.

We ask everyone to make their voices heard by voting NO in the statewide vote December 4.'

Read more including footnotes and the names of signatories, here/

(Manfred Gerstenfeld has a not impertinent article  here)

 For far left ratbaggery that lies behind this motion and others of its kind see the video of a discussion that took place on the issue on 12 November on one of the University of California campuses.

Here's a taste:

'Lara Kiswani (executive director of the Arab Resource Organizing Center in the Bay Area) :

'.... Moving forward, so the student movement today and since the 90s has been focused a lot around BDS. Now we talk about Boycott, Divest, Sanctions having started in 2005, but you know BDS started way before that actually. And at the heart of BDS, and why I say BDS, and I know this panel is about labor, but 8:25 BDS is about isolating Zionism, BDS is about isolating Israel economically, politically and culturally and that's a labor issue. And so the only way we can actually do that is by working hand-in-hand with labor, by making sure that the driving forces of the economy are able to disrupt that very system that we're trying to bring down. And that is why labor is so key to it, and that is why BDS also centralizes labor as an aspect of that piece of work. And so in 2000, 8:55 we saw BDS kind of sprouting up at different campuses, I mean SJP [Students for Justice in Palestine, run by American Muslims for Palestine, a Hamas-aligned group],  sprouting up at different campuses, and BDS was central to that, and we saw a lot of students also being the main driving force of that movement. But one of the things that was sort of different than it is today, and I'm hoping this conversation will lend itself to this also moving forward, about how 9:17 SJP's and the BDS work on campuses also dismantle the barrier between the university -- the academy -- and the community, because SJPs and BDS were brought from the community onto the campus, and SJP also brought BDS and isolating Zionism into the community. There was really a they were working hand-in-hand in terms of ways of thinking through strategies about how we can isolate Israel all over the world, right? And so here in the Bay Area we saw that happen. I was part of that work, in terms of how we, you know, we locked down Wheeler Hall, it was like, several dozen people that did that but the majority of them weren't actually students, right? So they were students that were involved in that. I was a student at Davis and I came to Berkeley to lock it down, there was solidarity across campuses. 10:02 The idea was to tell students, was to tell professors, to tell academics, to not engage with Zionism or Israeli institutions because doing that is the way we can isolate Israel culturally and economically and the reason for that being is, I don't have to tell you guys this, but you know, graduate students are the ones who do all the work, graduate students are the ones that actually do the work that professors get credit for most often, and the ones who do the work most academic institutions profit off of, right? 10:30 So, if graduate students and undergrad students, even, were to just disrupt that system whether it be by not, you know, participating in an event, whether it's Israeli academics, you know, I take, I think BDS shouldn't just be limited to the points that have been brought out internationally, I think you should boycott any Zionist institution, academic, organization, whether it be from 1967 occupied Palestine or 1948 occupied Palestine because BDS really should be about shifting the cultural framework and shifting how we see Israel and isolating it and making it feel unwelcome anywhere and everywhere, and the only way we can do that is by making it clear that we are not only disengaging ourselves as workers as activists from institutions or organizations or individuals that profit off of occupation in 1967 Palestine. 11:34 The way we do that is we make it clear that the real issue, the heart of the issue is an anti-colonial struggle, we're resisting colonialism in Palestine and colonialism entails all of occupied Palestine from Haifa to Jerusalem to Ramallah, right? So moving forward in terms of how we brought this type of framework into the Block the Boat work which is what we were talking about, I'll try not to talk to long, but, to the Block the Boat work, , when, you know the recent assault on Rasmea [Odeh - see my previous post - D.A.] created an outrage in our community as the Arab/Palestinian community specifically, you know, we saw images we haven't seen, really widely surfacing as widely as they were on social media and even on main stream media, there was a shift of public perception 12:25 as a result and we experienced the assault on Palestine since 1948 or prior, but what we saw during this smear was pretty gruesome and disgusting and really forced us to action and wanting us to really put an end to what we were seeing on the daily basis, in Gaza and also in the West Bank. So we came together and we mobilized various protests in the streets, we had mass mobilizations and that was one way to show the world that the Bay Area is outraged. It's also one way for us as Arabs and Palestinians to bring out our communities to work in solidarity with other communities and to, you know, feel empowered by our numbers and our people power. But that's not enough, right? 12:50 We wanted to feel like we were hurting Israel economically, we wanted to feel like we were actually making a dent in the system and get some tangible results. So we remember in 2010, Palestinians and our allies and activists here in the Bay Area Blocked the Boat, the Zim Ship, in Oakland because of the (couldn't make out the word) incident. We wanted to replicate that action. That was the very first time in history that an Israeli ship was blocked in the United States and Oakland, and the Bay Area made that happen.'

"BDS Activism Has Shifted Back To The Churches"

 

It might not be raw and ferociously in-yer-face like this recent blatant example of "Christian" antisemitism on Facebook , but it reeks of antisemitism nonetheless: the attitude of elements within the Presbyterian Church (USA) which has narrowly adopted a resolution instructing the Presbyterian Foundation and Board of Pensions of the PCUSA to “divest from Caterpillar, Inc, Hewlett-Packard, and Motorola Solutions.”

We learn of this antisemitism within the PCUSA from NGO Monitor, which has prepared a comprehensive report on the subject that can be accessed here and which includes examples of Facebook activity; summary here.

1. The Israel Palestine Mission Network (IPMN) of the Presbyterian Church (USA) (PCUSA) is a main advocate within the church on behalf of the boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign (BDS), whose goal is to delegitimize the State of Israel leading to that country’s dissolution. The Presbyterian Peace Fellowship is also an advocate for BDS. 

2. This report produces clear evidence of a strong undercurrent of overt anti-Jewish bigotry within the IPMN as expressed on the group’s Facebook page. 

3. Numerous postings uploaded to this site by IPMN members over a period of two years demonstrate an ongoing pattern of expressions of antisemitism, including:

a. a “Zionist controlled America [has a] desperate lust” for war with Iran

b. “Jewish interests” are “corrupting” the US government, and the media is “owned” and “operated” by these same “Jewish interests.”

c. the “Christian Holy Land” is “occupied” by the “zionist (sic) instigator”

d. Racial theories of Jewish origins claiming Ashkenazi Jews are not racially “Semitic,” are actually “Khazars,” and therefore should not be in the Middle East.

e. Israeli Jews should be ethnically cleansed: “Helen Thomas was right, ‘Go back to Russia, Germany…’ Just leave.”

f. “IRAN! Thank God for them! The only Zionist-free land left on earth.”

4. The site is administered by five IPMN leaders. Members include senior staff of the PCUSA, theologians, clergy, laity, and non-Presbyterian anti-Israel non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

5. At no point did any of these site administrators or any of the PCUSA staff take any overt action such as speaking out against the blatant antisemitism, rebuking members for their intolerant statements, or removing them from the site’s membership.

6. At no point did any of the members from non-Presbyterian NGOs speak out against this antisemitism, including members of the fringe group Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP).

7. This overt antisemitism is the backdrop to the IPMN’s advocacy campaign within the PCUSA for divestment and boycotts against Israel, culminating in votes at the June 2014 PCUSA’s General Assembly in support of divestment and other anti-Israel resolutions.

8. In 2013 both IPMN and JVP were recipients of the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship’s “top award” the “Peaceseeker Award.”

9. The bigotry expressed by IPMN members and tolerated by IPMN leaders and PCUSA staff is a moral failing of the church. Serious steps must be taken by the church to remedy this situation, including an apology to the Jewish community, for the church to be able to claim any moral standing on the Middle East.

 Observes the Board of Directors of the organisation Scholars for Peace in the Middles East (SPME). 

 'With the end of the academic year BDS activism has shifted back to the churches.
The language and tone of the [Presbyterian]resolution and the accompanying debate ... were strongly shaped by traditional Protestant supersessionism. The antisemitic basis of church-based BDS has become difficult to disguise and will shape coming debates over church-based divestment....

 ...In 2004 and 2005, as divestment resolutions in the guise of socially responsible investment were being debated within the PC-USA General Assembly, a controversy emerged when staff members organized a meeting of Presbyterian leaders with Hezbollah members in Lebanon.

 Engagement with the Muslim world, and especially with Palestinian Christians, has long been a PC-USA focus....The Kairos document is a Palestinian Christian implicit attack on the concepts of Jewish national identity and sovereignty in Israel and an explicit assault on Christian Zionism. It also describes “the occupation” as a sin, legitimizes violence as “resistance,” and calls for a South African style BDS campaign against Israel. It has gained enormous traction within left-leaning Protestant denominations including the Anglican and Methodist churches. The 2014 vote came after a protracted period of debate that was shaped by lobbying on both sides of the issue....  The pro-BDS/pro-one state group ‘Jewish Voices for Peace’ apparently also played an important role. Though tiny, the group gave PC-USA cover to claim Jewish support for the divestment resolution. The role of the PC-USA’s Middle East Issues Committee, Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy, National Middle Eastern Presbyterian Caucus, and Israel/Palestine Mission Network in pushing BDS cannot be understated....

 The 2014 debate was also shaped by the Israel/Palestine Mission Network’s Zionism Unsettled document. The “congregational study guide” is distributed widely by PC-USA. Among other things the document promotes the ideas that Jews were well treated in Arab countries and that hostility is the result of Zionism, and that Israel, supported by the US, oppresses and brutalizes Palestinians. It also relies on strongly anti-Zionist sources and contains numerous misrepresentations of history. Opposition to the document has come not only from Jewish but Presbyterian sources....'

The Board continues, in the course of a cogent analysis which also goes on to mention certain other current  BDS initiatives in America:

'PC-USA’s Advocacy Committee for Racial Ethnic Concerns [ACREC], however, took the matter further and noted: For many worshipers today, the word “Israel” has taken on political and military connotations and the original scriptural meanings are almost lost. Just as PC(USA) adopted inclusive and expansive language for racial and gender justice, ACREC believes it is important and timely to be intentional and well-informed with language that has taken on political meanings beyond the walls of church and worship....

 Largely unnoticed in the controversy surrounding the PC-USA’s divestment vote was another resolution that called for the organization to undertake research toward “a recommendation about whether the General Assembly should continue to call for a two-state solution in Israel Palestine, or take a neutral stance that seeks not to determine for Israelis and Palestinians what the right “solution” should be.” Such a recommendation, to be debated at the 2016 General Assembly, would likely result in the PC-USA following the lead of Palestinian Christians in calling for a one state solution. In addition, another resolution was adopted that condemned Israel for human rights violations and pervasive racism. After the vote church leaders again took pains to publicly stress that the resolution did not mean the church backed the BDS movement and that Jews should not be offended by the move....

 [U]nlike historic “peace churches” such as the Quakers, which have long been on the left politically and strongly anti-Israel, but which lack well-developed theology, PC-USA appears to be reemphasizing traditional Protestant supersessionist attitudes and rhetoric. The elevation of the Palestinian Christian narrative of its own suffering and Israeli’s evil, the pains taken to distinguish modern Israel from Old and New Testament Israel, and efforts to expunge the term ‘Israel’ from both, meld traditional and modern antisemitism. The support given the church by David Duke and others also show again that the far left and the far right in America are converging on the issue of opposing Israel....'

Read the entire article here
See also here

In an eminently worthy editorial the National Review online points out, inter alia:

'The world’s organized hostility to Israel would be kind of funny if it didn’t have such serious consequences, or potential consequences. There are some 200 nations in the world. Many of them are very bad actors: dictatorships, terror states. And it is tiny, democratic Israel that is the focus of the world’s hostility.

The latest is that the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) — not to be confused with the Presbyterian Church in America — has voted to divest from Israel. Thus does a major American church join the worldwide BDS movement. (“BDS” stands for “boycott, divestment, and sanctions” — against one country, Israel.)

If Israel did not exist, the United Nations might not have much to do. Last year the General Assembly adopted 25 resolutions against particular countries. Twenty-one of those resolutions were against Israel; the other four were against Syria, Iran, North Korea, and Burma. Not since the apartheid regime in South Africa has a country been so stigmatized by the world. And foes of Israel, of course, promote the lie that Israel is an “apartheid state.”

Consider a few steps in the effort to delegitimize Israel. Stephen Hawking, one of the most famous scientists in the world, joined the academic boycott of that country. He has been happy, however, to go to Iran and China....

One consequence of anti-Israel boycotts is that they harm Arabs. They do so by perpetuating two myths, related. The first is that the Arab–Israeli conflict is Israel’s fault, instead of the fault of people who refuse to coexist. The second is that the Arabs’ lamentable condition is Israel’s fault, instead of the fault of people who refuse to reform, liberalize, or democratize....

Mainly, the boycotts serve the delegitimization of Israel, and the dehumanization of Israelis. They call into question Israel’s right to exist. They make Israel a pariah state. They soften Israel up for . . .

Well, Iran and other enemies of Israel have pledged to wipe Israel off the face of the earth. It is true that Israel is backed by U.S. military might. It is further true that it has military might of its own: nuclear weapons. But its survival is no sure thing. These boycotts and other protests are not “freebies” — rebukes of a nation that is going to be fine no matter what. They are not mere acts of political correctness. They undermine a country whose very existence is threatened every day. The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has now joined a nasty and growing mob.'

Read the rest here 
Rabbi John Rosove has an excellent indictment of the Presbyterians' action here

Meanwhile, our old mate the Vicar of Virginia Water has something noteworthy to add:

(For the article by David Fischler linked to there, see here)

The Apathy & The Ennui: An academic anti-Israel move thwarted

"It is time that Zionists are asked to finally account for their support to the illegal occupation of Palestine since 1967.  This resolution rightly targets only Israel given the humongous influence that Jewish scholars have in the decision making process of Academia in general."

So opined American academic Alessio Lerro regarding the US Modern Language Association's proposed move against Israel.

This is it:

   Resolution 2014

    Whereas Israel has denied academics of Palestinian ethnicity entry into the West Bank;

 Whereas these restrictions violate international conventions on an occupying power’s obligation to protect the right to education;

Whereas the United States Department of State acknowledges on its Web site that Israel restricts the movements of American citizens of Palestinian descent;

 Whereas the denials have disrupted instruction, research, and planning at Palestinian universities;

Whereas the denials have restricted the academic freedom of scholars and teachers who are United States citizens;

 Be it resolved that the MLA urge the United States Department of State to contest Israel’s denials of entry to the West Bank by United States academics who have been invited to teach, confer, or do research at Palestinian universities.

Needless to say, Lerro's leaked remarks have been widely seen and condemned as antisemitic, as have the leaked remarks of certain other academic BDSers.

As reported here:

'Last January, the organization became the subject of major controversy after the group’s Delegate Assembly considered a resolution condemning Israel and calling on the U.S. State Department to “contest Israel’s denials of entry to the West Bank by U.S. academics who have been invited to teach, confer, or do research at Palestinian universities.”

The resolution did not, however, call for an academic boycott of Israel, a move which has been pushed by some activists and endorsed by the American Studies Association last December.

Supporters of the resolution said it would bring needed attention to alleged abuses of academic freedom by the Israeli government. Opponents argued the resolution was singling out Israel while ignoring far more severe abuses in other countries.

The resolution passed the Delegate Assembly 60 to 53, but to be officially approved it had to be endorsed by at least 10 percent of the MLA’s membership in a vote.

In the vote among the MLA’s entire membership, which ended Sunday, the anti-Israel crowd triumphed 1,560 to 1,063. However, at least 2,390 “yes” votes were needed to reach the 10 percent threshold. Nearly 90 percent of the MLA’s member decided this debate was one worth sitting out....'

More here

On A US Campus, BDS Meets Quenelle?

In yet another must-read post on his Legal Insurrection blog, Professor William Jacobson draws attention to the disturbing intimidation of and discrimination against pro-Israel students that has been taking place on some American campuses:

'Soon after the defeat of anti-Israel divestment resolutions at U. Michigan and UCLA, I began to see anti-Israel advocates single out pro-Israel students who had gone on trips to Israel sponsored by pro-Israel groups, or had received advocacy training from pro-Israel groups.

These trips and advocacy training are critical because some campuses have become openly hostile to pro-Israel students as a result of “direct action” and other intimidation by relatively small but highly coordinated anti-Israel groups like Students for Justice in Palestine. Professors actively participate in demonizing pro-Israel students. [My emphasis]

So I was not completely surprised when I learned from reader emails over the past several days that there is an attempt at UCLA to disqualify any student who received pro-Israel training or trips from being on the Student Council...'

Be sure to read the entire post, with its supporting evidence and video, here

Meanwhile, boasts the so-called Students for Justice in Palestine group at the University of South Florida regarding a BDS initiative there last month:

"They collected 10,000 student signatures demanding that their university end investments and involvement with those companies. They chose human rights over profit. By collecting 10,000 student signatures, which is 25% of the entire student body at USF, they made history as the largest student petition ever in the state of Florida."

We're told here:

'In Florida, students organizing a divestment petition said they drew inspiration from the words of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. engraved on the center of the campus: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” 

They submitted a petition of more than 10,000 signatures calling on the University of South Florida Foundation to divest from companies complicit in human rights violations in Palestine.

The students’ petition listed three direct demands: transparency, ethical investment, and divestment. “We support SJP’s petition to make USF a [Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions] school,” said Gage Lacharite, president of Students for a Democratic Society.“...'

But as the above photo shows, one of the victors celebrated by seeming to give the antisemitic quenelle salute.

Sure is ethical, eh?

What other causes has Martin Luther King's quotation inspired the student body to embrace, I wonder.  The persecution of Christians, dissenters, apostates and gays in the Islamic world?  The Islamic war on women? The outrages against democracy in Iran, North Korea, China ...?

I think we should be told.

BDSers Come With A Whoop & A Faux Call (video)

At Northeastern University in the United States, BDSers whoop it up with a war cry taken from Gandhi, which has also been quoted in support of BDS by aged rocker Roger Waters as well as by other elements in the BDS movement.

Unhappily for them, it seems that the famed Indian pacifist didn't, in fact, say the words attributed to him.

Professor William Jacobson's Legal Insurrection blog has the background here.

Meanwhile, outside the Chelsea Football Stadium in London on Saturday, when Chelsea played Arsenal, BDSers campaigned against "Israeli Apartheid" and Israel's inclusion in World and European football tournaments:

The above video is by hardcore anti-Israel zealot Alex Seymour ...

The American Academic Boycott That Failed

This is a guest blog by Professor William D. Rubinstein.

He writes:

Recently, an academic body in the United States, the American Studies Association (ASA), voted to boycott Israeli universities. The vote received wide publicity, and what occurred is unusually interesting, with ramifications for the worldwide BDS campaign.

The American Studies Association is composed of university academics who study American society and culture. It is similar to many other academic bodies concerned with particular fields of interest. Normally these bodies publish a journal and hold an annual conference.

The most controversial discussion at these conferences is, usually, the menu at the conference dinner and who is going to have the chore of organising the next conference, while their respective AGMs are invariably taken up with lamenting the dire state of the body’s finances. Nearly all of these bodies are pluralistic and non-political. In contrast, the ASA is overwhelmingly composed of ultra-leftist academics, who have turned it into an extremist advocacy group.

From what I can piece together about the ASA, about one-third of its leaders appear to be unreconstructed Stalinists, still sitting shiva for Uncle Joe and the gulags, while about two-thirds are "post-colonialist" leftists who think that Israel is a colonising power.

Before proceeding, it might be worth considering the sheer hypocrisy of the American post-colonialists' stance. Every leader of the ASA – every man-jack among them – lives on land which was stolen from the local American Indian tribe.  Surely these thieves should put their money where their mouth is, and give it back, without delay.

Many of the ASA's leaders are, rather strangely, at New York University, on Manhattan Island.  The Dutch "bought" Manhattan Island from the local Indians for $24, and surely these NYU faculty members should lobby the New York City government to hand it back, in exchange for $24 (plus interest).

But we digress.

The ASA voted to boycott Israeli universities. Not those in North Korea, China, Iran, or (needless to say) China. Not those of Saudi Arabia, whose state is ruled by an ideology from the Dark Ages, or the Ukraine, or Egypt, which has had two violent coups in three years, or any of the forty Third World hellholes whose local dictators have sequestered their countries' wealth in their Swiss bank accounts.

To condemn Israel while deliberately and utterly ignoring human rights violations, often a thousand times worse, in other countries is antisemitism in the nastiest, most odious, most deplorable sense of that term, and is strong evidence of how the Far Left has now inherited the legacy of the pre-1945 Far Right.

It is also a complete non sequitur, since Israel’s universities have no control whatever on policy in the West Bank. It is as if a foreign group which doesn’t like the way Aborigines are treated in Australia's Northern Territory decided to boycott the academics in Melbourne or Sydney.

Moreover, as in all Western countries the academics at Israel’s universities consist overwhelmingly of wall-to-wall liberals and leftists, who almost certainly vote for the Israel Labor Party and parties to its left. The ASA has bizarrely targeted these people, not the West Bank religious settlers.

When the ASA passed its anti-Israel revolution, Mondoweiss, the anti-Zionist website, claimed that the vote represented a "tipping point" in the BDS movement. It was, but in a rather different sense from what the ASA hoped. In fact, significantly and unsurprisingly, the "tipping" occurred against the BDS movement, burying it under tons of rubble; the lessons to be drawn from this debacle (for them) are highly instructive.

Almost immediately, a tidal wave of non-compliance with the ASA resolution literally swept America’s universities. Over 225 university presidents have explicitly disassociated their respective institutions from the resolution, including every heavyweight, internationally-known school – Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Berkeley, Stanford, Johns Hopkins, Chicago, MIT, and dozens of similarly renowned universities.

Many of these have reputations as bastions of the left, but have drawn the line at boycotting Israel, with that boycott’s clear smell of antisemitism. Twenty universities have left the ASA as a result of the boycott resolution, and the resolution has been condemned by a range of academic and professional bodies, including the American Council on Education (with 1700 colleges as members), the Association of American Universities, and the American Association of University Professors (with 48,000 members).

Professor William Jacobson of Cornell University, who has been leading the attacks on ASA (and whose Legal Insurrection website is a key source of information) is also seeking to have the ASA’s tax exempt status removed, since boycotting Israel is in clear violation of the stated aims of the ASA. Many other examples of the total rejection of the ASA’s antisemitism could also be cited.

The utter failure of the BDS movement in the the university sphere has its recent parallel in the US Congress.  Earlier this month, the US House of Representatives voted by 410:1 to approve the US-Israel Strategic Partnership Act, which designates Israel as a "major strategic partner" and allows Israelis to travel to the US without a visa.  The lone dissenting voice came from a neo-isolationist "libertarian" Republican (Thomas Massie, of Kentucky), not from a left-wing Democrat.

In all seriousness, a resolution praising George Washington would be unlikely to pass the US House of Representatives by a 410:1 vote, and is clear evidence that the BDS gang has no traction or salience outside of the Looney Left and, of course, of Arab and Islamic sources which are mistrusted – to put it mildly – by most Americans.  What the future holds cannot be predicted, but for the present, in the USA at least, BDS is a non-starter.

More BDS Malignancy Among Academics

To quote from an op ed by BDSer David Lloyd, Distinguished Professor of English at University of Southern California, on the monstrous Electronic Intifada website:

'Something extraordinary happened on Saturday evening at the American Studies Association’s annual meeting in Washington, DC.

At a packed open meeting called by the ASA’s National Executive Council to discuss a resolution to “endorse and honor” the Palestinian call for a boycott of Israeli academic institutions, speaker after speaker rose to express strong support for the resolution.

They urged the council to vote on it without further delay or deferral....

Out of 44 speakers, whose names were submitted in writing and then drawn at random from a box, 37 spoke in favor of the boycott. They ranged from senior professors to graduate students and even undergraduate members of the association. All recalled the association’s fundamental commitment to the study and critique of racism and the US histories of imperialism and settler colonialism.

Many made the connection between Israel as a settler colony and US complicity in politically and materially supporting its colonial projects. In doing so, several remarked that they were members of the association because its commitment to anti-racist and anti-colonial scholarship made it especially hospitable to their work. For them, the connection was self-evident between anti-racist work within the United States and solidarity work with the victims of a settler colonial project that has the fullest support of the United States.

Over and over, speakers refuted the charge that endorsing the boycott is a contradiction that engages in limiting academic freedom in the name of academic freedom. They pointed out that this assertion is simply false, in the face of a campaign of misrepresentation [which] implied that the boycott targets individuals on account of their national belonging or identity.

If anything, the resolution stands to further academic freedom — in particular that of Palestinians whose access to normal scholarly life is continually infringed by occupation, blockade, collective punishment in the form of school closures, and the denial of the fundamental right to travel. No Israeli scholar would be denied the right to express or publish an opinion, attend a conference, do research, or travel wherever they wished....But the most significant thing about this event was that already it showed that engaging in the boycott, and even in discussion of the boycott, is an extension of academic freedom....'

More to read on that sorry saga here
And on the vile Mondoweiss website here

Meanwhile, an "own goal" from a committed BDSer in Britain, a person of Jewish origin (I'm told) whose frequent postings against Israel on Facebook are often breathtaking in their viciousness.

Shortly after posting this

he posted this

(For more academic malignancy see my next post)

Well, Yippee & I'll Be Darned! J Street Knocked Back At Berkeley

California dreamin'

Many who read this will have read the following in The Times of Israel, by a young former IDF soldier flabbergasted at what he's experienced as a StandWithUs shaliach in North America:

'.... I was shocked ... by the anti-Israel bigotry and hostility I encountered, especially in the greater Seattle area, Oregon, and Berkeley. I had been very liberal, a member of the leftist Zionist party, Meretz, but the anti-Semitism and hatred for Israel that I have seen in the U.S. has changed my outlook personally and politically.

This year, from January through May, I went to college campuses, high schools, and churches to tell people about the history of modern Israel, about my experience growing up in the Jewish state, and about my family. I also always spoke about my military service as an officer in an IDF COGAT unit that attends to the needs of Palestinian civilians who are not involved in the conflict and promotes Palestinian civil society. Each time I would speak and take questions for an hour or more. I have shared my personal story with over 16,000 people at many, many college campuses and high schools, including UC Berkeley, Stanford, the University of Washington, Seattle University and many others. Many of those to whom I spoke were supportive, friendly, and open to hearing about my Israel. But, sadly, far too many were not.

When I served as a soldier in the West Bank, I got used to having ugly things said to me, but nothing prepared me for the misinformation, demonization of Israel, and the gut-wrenching, anti-Israel, anti-Semitic hostility expressed by many students, professors, church members, and even some high school students right here in the Pacific Northwest.

I was further shocked by how unaware the organized Jewish community is and how little they are actually doing to counter this rising anti-Semitism, which motivated me to write this article.

This new form of bigotry against Israel has been called the “new anti-Semitism,” with “Israel” replacing “Jew” in traditional anti-Semitic imagery and canards, singling out and discriminating against the Jewish state, and denying the Jewish people alone the right to self-determination. The new anti-Semitism is packaged in the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign (BDS), which claims to champion Palestinian rights though its real goal is to erode American support for Israel, discredit Jews who support Israel, and pave the way for eliminating the Jewish state. One of BDS’ central demands is the “complete right of return” for all the descendants of the original Palestinian refugees, subtle language that means the end of Israel as the Jewish homeland because it would turn Israel into a Palestinian-Arab majority state.

It is surprising that an extremist group like BDS is ever taken seriously, but BDS advocates have found receptive audiences in some circles. Their campaigns are well organized and in many cases, well financed. They have lobbied universities, corporations, food co-ops, churches, performing artists, labor unions, and other organizations to boycott Israel and companies that do business with Israel. But even if these groups don’t agree to treat Israel as a pariah state, the BDS activists manage to spread their anti-Israel misinformation, lies and prejudice simply by forcing a debate based on their false claims about Israel....

My experiences in America have changed me. I never expected to encounter such hatred and lies. I never believed that such anti-Semitism still existed, especially in the U.S. I never knew that the battlefield was not just Gaza, the West Bank, and hostile Middle Eastern countries wanting to destroy Israel and kill our citizens and soldiers. It is also here in America, where a battle must be waged against prejudice and lies.

I implore American Jews: do more....' (Read the entire article here)

You'll note his mention of the University of California at Berkeley.  That campus, a by-word for student radicalism in the 1960s and afterwards, where this inveterate critic of Israel teaches, where this initiative occurred, and which back in April passed a BDS motion (albeit, according to this report, in a diluted form) would seem to be a campus at which J Street ("the enemy within," as argued here) would thrive.

But it's evident that the campus Jewish Student Union is deeply distrustful of J Street [see NGO's synopsis regarding J Street here], which last year invited Yehuda Shaul, founder of Breaking the Silence [BtS], to campus; he'll be speaking there next month. [See NGO Monitor's synopsis regarding BtS here]

A couple of days ago the Jewish Student Union voted (by eight votes to two, with two abstentions) to deny membership to J Street, which having been turned down in 2011, on grounds that included its invitation to campus of a co-founder of the Sheikh Jarrah Solidarity Movement [see NGO Monitor's synopsis of that body here], was making a renewed bid for inclusion.

Cheers!

Yesterday's Daily Californian reports:

'.... The bylaws of the Jewish Student Union, an umbrella organization for Jewish student groups on campus, stipulate that a member organization must not host speakers who demonize Israel, said Jewish Student Union President Daphna Torbati.

That requirement was a point of contention surrounding J Street U, which advocates a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Much of the disagreement focused on J Street U’s relationship with Breaking the Silence, an Israeli military veterans’ organization that criticizes Israel’s military operations in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem, said Elon Rov, a co-chair of J Street U.

“We are not afraid, as American Jews, to address those [difficult issues],” said Shayna Howitt, J Street U’s national communications co-chair. “We are not afraid … to host people who we might disagree with. We’re not afraid to stand up and question how we can best support Israel, because we’re committed to the safety of Israel.”

Breaking the Silence, however, has garnered serious criticism from other Jewish groups that belong to the Jewish Student Union. Torbati said she was concerned the group unfairly disparages Israeli soldiers.

Jewish Student Union members Avi Hecht and David Eliahu said Jewish students with connections to Israel would be alienated if J Street U were allowed to host Breaking the Silence under the Jewish Student Union umbrella.

“For a lot of members … the (Jewish Student Union is) the only place where they can express their love for Israel because of such an anti-Israel campus climate,” Torbati said. “A lot of people have said that they want the (Jewish Student Union) to stay a place they feel comfortable saying they love Israel.”

Hecht added that Breaking the Silence does not offer a fair picture of Israel’s military operations.

“Regardless of J Street’s intents, the effect of bringing a public event like BtS is detrimental to the image of Israel on our campus,” Eliahu said...."

Read more here

With Due Regard For Ramadan, Quaker Israel-Haters Sow Their Vile Oats

I've mentioned before that I attended a Quaker liberal arts college in the United States, and admire the historic record of the Society of Friends in the promotion of gender and racial equality as much as I regard their pacifism as naively dangerous and deplore their contemporary slide into a foolish politically left mindset that in effect gives aid and succour to the enemies of the West.

I blogged some time ago about the "Boycott Derangement Syndrome" that infects Britain's Quakers.

Alas, the Quakers have again demonstrated their capacity for malice and mischief with the American Friends Service Committee due to hold (28 July-1 August) a "Summer BDS Institute for Student Leaders" in upstate New York in which college students will be given intensive training in holding campus boycotts against Israel.  This vile initiative is supported by Jewish Voices for Peace,founded in California in 1996, which as the ADL has pointed out,

'is the largest and most influential Jewish anti-Zionist group in the United States....

In the past few years, JVP has become a leader in the American anti-Israel movement and has assumed a particularly visible role in the renewed Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel.... Although JVP focuses on boycott and divestment campaigns that specifically target Israeli settlements and the "occupation," the group notes that it supports more radical BDS campaigns that call for a complete economic, academic and cultural boycott of Israel.... 

JVP, like other prominent Jewish anti-Zionist individuals and groups, uses its Jewish identity to shield the anti-Israel movement from allegations of anti-Semitism and provide it with a greater degree of legitimacy and credibility.  JVP even recognizes its role as such, noting on its Web site that it is "inspired by Jewish tradition" and that the group's Jewish nature gives it a "particular legitimacy in voicing an alternative view of American and Israeli actions and policies" and the ability to distinguish "between real anti-Semitism and the cynical manipulation of that issue."...'

The AFSC website explains that this "fun in a summer camp-like environment" is intended for "All campus activists currently running or hoping to launch BDS campaigns on their campus" and will include: 

"Extensive campaign development coaching
 Grassroots organizing skill building
 Media & Messaging trainings
 Anti-oppression analysis workshops
 Nonviolent direct action planning
 Historical overview of Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions
 Relationship building with activists on campuses nationwide
 Strategy sessions with BDS movement leaders
 Two tracks for existing and new campaigns"

Moreover, "Meal and other accomodations will be made for those observing Ramadan." 

As noted in the Washington Free Beacon:

'An AFSC official said the number of attendees for this year is not yet finalized and said the 2013 program will focus on “call[ing] attention to what is happening in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories while supporting a just and lasting peace that benefits both Palestinians and Israelis.”....

The AFSC’s Michael Merryman-Lotze, who helped organize the summer program, objected to the argument that the BDS campaign is anti-Semitic.

“We see nothing inherently anti-Semitic in the use of these proven nonviolent tactics nor in the BDS movement as a whole,” said Merryman-Lotze. “Are BDS opponents next going to argue that these same tactics were anti-White in the Jim Crow south and apartheid era South Africa?”

Merryman-Lotze also disputed claims from critics that the campaign has been ineffective.

“Why, if BDS is ineffective and largely a failure, have the Israeli government and groups like the ADL, the Wiesenthal Center, and AIPAC invested millions of dollars in developing campaigns to counter minimally funded grassroots BDS activism?” said Merryman-Lotze. “If our efforts are ineffective, why write a story about our planned training program? The answer is that BDS is effective and successful.”...'

Read the rest here

Meanwhile, as reported here,

"Shurat HaDin's American office has been investigating whether the camp violates federal and NYS anti-boycott laws and whether a legal proceeding can be brought against the organizers and participants."

(Hat tip: reader Shirlee)