I read with amazement the Guest Column by Penn BDS Conference organizers, “BDS Explained”

I could barely believe my eyes. It is bad enough that Penn has allowed itself to be associated with this hateful genocidal organization, but for you to give room for their “explanation” and then dignify this outpouring of misinformation and anti-Semitism to the level of guest column without any kind of balancing opinion? Is this fair and balanced journalism? Is this the Daily Pennsylvanian I was reading daily since I came here in 1974?

The “explanation” itself presents a fuzzy “anti-Israel” cloak that barely conceals the Hamas and Hizballah daggers. It will deceive only those who, knowing nothing of the history, cannot tell lies from truth, or who, so blinded by animus against Israel and Jews, are willing to be deceived.

The agenda of this group is totally negative and aimed at the only Jewish state on the planet, scheming to inflict damage on it as an alleged violator of human rights. No mention of most of the Arab world, or any of the many countries where human rights are trampled on daily.

If the organizers truly cared about Human Rights, perhaps they should consider targeting the primary perpetrators of abuse, and not the only country in the Middle East that is free and democratic by numerous metrics. Israeli Arabs enjoy better civil rights than Arabs in most Arab countries, while by contrast Palestinians are treated as second-class citizens in many Arab countries to this day. If this group really wanted to improve the lot of Palestinians, they should target Lebanon, Syria, and the Hamas gang currently ruling Gaza.

The purpose of BDS as presented seems similar to what was apparently stated in their version of “Mein Kampf” (I am referring to Omar Barghouti’s book titled “Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions”) and base my understanding of it on the article in the Harvard Crimson.

Notably, true to Crimson’s standards the referenced piece by Mr. Don is written in a way that does not slander any of Penn’s esteemed faculty. By contrast, your Guests from BDS are allowed to introduce our esteemed colleague Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz as a “notorious Israel apologist.” And this passed your editorial review under the guise of an “Explanation”?

The aim of the hateful and discriminatory BDS rhetoric is to delegitimize Israel in preparation for the ultimate goal of its destruction. A relevant precedent for such a movement is the groups organized by the Nazis in the 1930’s to boycott, divest and sanction Jews and their businesses. Sadly, now as then, there are Jews among the posse in the assault on their own people. The macabre sight of the likes of Stella Kübler, (arguably Hannah Arendt) and the Capos in the extermination camps is about to be replayed here at Penn.

The students organizing this event and their sponsors will tarnish Penn for generations to come. Penn’s moral backbone has allowed it thus far to balance the sanctity of free speech against the need to prohibit hateful speech. That backbone will break that day. From then on Penn has made an exception: Unproductive, hateful speech is allowed – as long as it singles out Jews and Israel.

Shame on you DP. Shame on you Penn. Shame on you.

Ruben Gur is a professor in the Departments of Psychiatry, Radiology & Neurology. He is also the director, Brain Behavior Laboratory and the Center for Neuroimaging in Psychiatry.

The Daily Pennsylvanian :: Ruben Gur | BDS is ‘hateful’, ‘discriminatory’.

Prof. Barry Brown, Acting President

Suffolk University

Dear Prof. Brown:

I saw Gilad Sharon on C-Span’s BookTV.  It had been taped at Suffolk University’s Ford Hill Forum on October 27, 2011 and aired on November 5th and 6th.  He was there to discuss the new book, Sharon: The Life of a Leader by His Son.  In my forty year career in higher education (a brief biography appears in Who’s Who in America and Who’s Who in the World), I have never seen such an ugly spectacle.  Mr. Sharon was the recipient of vicious verbal abuse.  He was mocked and shouted at by Suffolk students, a sight made more poignant by his lack of facility in English.  On stage with him was Wendy Ballinger, but her lack of knowledge of Hebrew prevented her from assisting Mr. Sharon in either understanding or responding to the lengthy speeches made from the floor during the Question and Answer Session.  There were one or two outbursts from hostile students even before the hectoring in the so-called Q and A session began.

At its conclusion, Jennifer Bonardi, the Executive Director of the Forum, went so far as to thank the members of the entire audience for their contributions!  It appears that to her shouting at a guest that they hate both him and his father is of value.  The audience cheered this and similar harangues.

Suffolk’s reputation is for having students who are academically incapable of gaining entrance to any of the excellent institutions of higher learning in Boston or Cambridge, but they should also be known as crude, rude people who are not being tutored by Suffolk faculty and staff in the practice of civil, rational discourse.  Academic interchange is apparently not genuinely prized at your institution.

Since this was filmed by C-Span for BookTV, people throughout the U.S.A.–and, indeed, the world–will be able to view this spectacle for themselves.  This video will, as they say now, “go viral.”

I suggest that Ballenger should not be utilized on stage in the future since she is either not committed to, or capable of, effectively controlling unruly students.  Ms. Bonardi should be fired for her incapacity or unwillingness to implement the purported goals of the Ford Hill Forum (“Listen, learn, and engage”) that she runs.  At best, one could be charitable and accuse her merely of bias or idiocy.

Sincerely,

Stephen Karetzky

The Occupy Oakland protests that degenerated into violent mob action on Wednesday night and early Thursday morning were entirely predictable. The vandalism, the graffiti, and the spasm of violence that resulted in an attack on police who were trying to roust at least 200 demonstrators who had occupied an abandoned building was the result of incitement by the so-called “peaceful” protestors who are now condemning the violence as if they had nothing to do with it.

The worst of the rioting occurred late on Wednesday evening as about 200 protestors occupied the abandoned Traveler’s Aid building, claiming it in the name of the people. Police feared that the protestors would set the building on fire so they formed up a few blocks away and began to move toward the protest. Hearing of the impending police action, protestors barricaded the street and then faced off with authorities. They “smashed windows, threw rocks, ignited a 15-foot-high bonfire of garbage and covered downtown storefronts with graffiti,” according to the New York Times.

via Occupy Oakland’s Mayhem and Destruction | FrontPage Magazine.

Editor’s Note: The following statement signed by dozens of faculty from the University of Pennsylvania was printed in the Daily Pennsylvanian.

Dozens of Penn professors express their support for the Occupy Wall Street protests· October 11, 2011, 11:57 pmShare This 10 More coverageTopics: Occupy PhiladelphiaAs faculty members at the University of Pennsylvania, we wish to express our solidarity with the Occupy Wall Street movement now underway in our city and elsewhere.

via The Daily Pennsylvanian :: Your Voice | Occupy Wall Street solidarity statement.

Israel Law Center hotline to monitor campus anti-Semitism

By JOANNA PARASZCZUK

10/16/2011 17:25

Hotline could provide evidence for legal action against colleges deemed to have failed to protect Jewish students, Law Center attorneys say.

The Israel Law Center (Shurat Hadin) is set to launch a hotline on Monday, to help Jewish college students who are victims of anti-Semitism on their campuses.

According to attorney Kenneth A. Leitner, the Law Center’s director of American affairs, students will be able to call the hotline to report incidents of anti-Semitism and anti-Israel acts on US college campuses, and the Law Center will use the data to take legal action against colleges believed to be breaching Jewish students’ legal rights, he added.

via Israel Law Center hotline t… JPost – Jewish World – Jewish News.

Last spring, UCSB’s Associated Students Finance Board denied a funding request made by the College Republicans to host David Horowitz​, president of the Freedom Center. This denial was the product of viewpoint discrimination and is illegal due to Supreme Court rulings on the First Amendment that prohibit political discrimination in the distribution of student funds. The denial was rescinded, but due to an uproar from the campus Left, the amount allocated was decreased — which is also unconstitutional. Award amounts cannot be dictated by political considerations either. After pressure was brought to bear over this wrong-doing, the university ultimately over-ruled Associated Students’ funding malfeasance.

via Free Speech Victory at UC Santa Barbara | FrontPage Magazine.

One of the more peculiar twists in the caliphate’s tale is that a sizable amount of the funding for Islamic propaganda aimed at Americans comes from Muslim-owned defense contractors.

Sabtech Industries recently made the news when it lost its security clearance after some suspicious donations to Muslim charities cost its president, Rahim Sabadia, his security clearance. Sabtech’s work on upgrading the Navy’s AEGIS system on warships put it at the nerve center of one of the most important defense technologies in the United States.

The real question, though, is not how Rahim Sabadia lost his security clearance, but how he got it in the first place.

via The Defense Contractors of Islam | FrontPage Magazine.

Facing Down Anti-Semitism on Campus

Posted by Herbert London

At long last an attempt is bring made to curtail blatant anti-Semitic commentary on American campuses. The Israel Law Center warns that colleges and universities “may be liable for massive damage” if they fail to prevent anti-Semitism. The center sent hundreds of letters to university presidents drawing a line in the sand. This Israel civil rights center is carrying out this campaign in response to an alarming number of incidents against Jewish and Israeli students at U.S. universities.

A center’s lawyer, Nitsana Darshan-Leitner said, “Anti-Israel rallies and events frequently exceed legitimate criticism of Israel and cross the line into blatant anti-Semitism, resulting in hateful attacks against Jews.” A student at Rutgers, to cite one example, said he was called “a racist Zionist pig” in a Facebook posting. That comment was made when the student questioned a Student Assembly decision to donate money to the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund, a nonprofit organization with ties to the Holy Land Foundation, a foundation that has funded Hamas.

via Facing Down Anti-Semitism on Campus.