Tammiphobia: Why is the harassment of Tammi Rossman-Benjamin allowed to continue on the UC campuses?

“You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life." Winston Churchill

Winston Churchill’s words are of likely of little comfort to Tammi Rossman-Benjamin, a UC Santa Cruz lecturer and fearless advocate for the rights of Jewish students on campus. Her outspoken advocacy has won her acclaim throughout the Jewish community- she was on the short list of finalists in a nationwide Jewish Community Hero contest. Its also made her enemies.

From the Fousesquak blog:  In this open letter to Chancellor Blumenthal  Tammi Rossman-Benjamin describes the level of harassment and intimidation she has faced for daring to speak her mind   

She writes;

“In exercising my 1st amendment rights, a campaign of harassment, defamation and intimidation has been waged against me by CJP students. They certainly have the right to disagree with me, to ask for clarification, to voice dissent.  However their chosen response is deeply disturbing and alarming. Rather than disagree with me in a way that fosters understanding or asks for clarification, I am being harassed, intimidated and defamed in ways that are causing me to fear for my physical safety”       

The most current attack on Rossman-Benjamin stems from a talk she gave last summer, far away from the UC campuses.

Rossman-Benjamin writes:

....As you know, last summer I spoke out against campus anti-Semitism at a synagogue near Boston, in order to alert members of the local Jewish community to the problem of intimidation and harassment that some Jewish students face on college campuses today.  In my speech, I did not state, nor imply, that all Muslims or members of MSA and SJP are terrorists, or associate with terrorists. I spoke to raise awareness about a situation that exists in some instances on some campuses.  My intention was not to make a blanket statement or blanket accusations.  Yet my statements are being distorted by the Committee for Justice in Palestine to demonize me, I believe in retaliation for my speaking out against campus anti-Semitism in general, and initiating a Title VI complaint in particular.

 The pattern of harassment began with an email from UC Berkeley activist Tom Pessah , urging students to formally report this off campus talk to a UC campus climate survey on intolerance.

From: Tom Pessah
Date: February 17, 2013, 4:48:22 PM PST
Subject: [cal_sjp] report islamophobic incitement against SJP and MSA

A video has surfaced http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnSlbOhZgGI, showing UC Santa Cruz Hebrew lecturer Tammi Rossman Benjamin making extremely offensive comments about the Muslim Students Association and Students for Justice in Palestine groups at an off-campus event in June 2012. Benjamin singles these student activists out from all others, saying, “These are not your ordinary student groups like College Republicans or Young Democrats. These are students who come with a serious agenda, who have ties to terrorist organizations”.

If you are a UC student we encourage you to fill in this form for reporting incidents of intolerance on campus:
https://ucsystems.ethicspointvp.com/custom/ucs_ccc/default.asp

A petition was started, along with a poster campaign.  The harassment culminated in a resolution at UC Berkeley condemning  Tammi Rossman-Benjamin.  Some speculated the cowardly move to introduce the resolution at Berkeley rather than her home campus of UC Santa Cruz  was made to eliminate potential opposition and to deliberately silence the voices of her supporters at Santa Cruz.

At no point has anyone addressed the actual content of  Rossman-Benjamin's statements, instead focusing their efforts on ad hominem attacks.

The historic ties of such groups as the Muslim brotherhood to the Muslim Students Association have been well documented   An article by Noreen S. Ahmed-Ullah, Sam Roe and Laurie Cohen, from a 2004 Chicago Tribune documents the history of the Muslim brotherhood in America, including  the establishment of the  Muslim Students Association (MSA), incorporated in 1963, by members of the Muslim Brotherhood at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Over the years, at Berkeley and elsewhere there have been close ties between various extremist groups and the Students for Justice in Palestine.  There is appreciable cross-pollination between SJP and extremist anti-Israel groups, including Al Awda and the International Solidarity Movement (ISM). Over the course of years,  SJP has hosted members of  Al Awda and the International Solidarity Movement and has promoted, participated and co-sponsored their activities.

From 2004

SJP ISM ties

To today

SJP ISM ties

A screen shot taken today of the resources page of SJP ( http://calsjp.org/?page_id=5 ) links directly to the International Solidarity Movement.

The relationship between the International Solidarity movement and SJP is not one-sided.  Local ISM members have been heavily promoting SJP's  Dam concert on their website as well.

The International Solidarity Movement is not a peace group. From the ADL's backgrounder

 Though ISM claims to promote only nonviolent means of resistance, it voices support for others who engage in armed resistance against Israel. The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs has even warned that its activity "at times" is "under the auspices of Palestinian terrorist organizations."

Paul Larudee  who recently advocated that "armed struggle must not be discouraged, but rather made as effective as possible" is the reputed head of the  Northern California International Solidarity Movement. Paul has been photographed with Hamas leaders in Gaza, and has been hosted multiple times on campus, sponsored by the SJP.

Paul Larudee  has worked closely with Deppen Webber, who once infamously tweeted "My New Years resolution is to destroy the Zionist state"

To Students for Justice in Palestine, to Tom Pessah , Rebecca Pierce and their friends:  Just as not all criticism of Israel is anti-Semitic, not all criticism of your group's tactics are "Islamophobic".  If you want to be taken seriously as a force for peace in the community, you will stop aiding and abetting extremists , stop hosting them, stop co-sponsoring events with them.  Tammi Rossman-Benjamin's words should have forced you to take a long sober look at those you've associated with over the years. Sadly, you were too distracted by your own self-righteous indignation and delusions of eternal victimization to even notice.

Iran blames the Jews for Sandy hill Massacre

More unfathomably evil  antisemitism from press TV Iranian Press TV: (No, I don't link to hate sites)

Their headline screams out " Israeli death squads involved in Sandy Hook bloodbath: Intelligence analyst"

Days later, the Sandy Hook Massacre, the iconic slaughter of twenty small children, is now looking like a terrorist attack, not a “murder suicide.” Was “lone gunman” Adam Lanza a “patsy,” the same word Lee Harvey Oswald used to describe himself before being “silenced” in November 1963?

Today, Michael Harris, former Republican candidate for governor of Arizona and GOP campaign finance chairman, in an internationally televised news broadcast, cited “Israeli revenge” in, what he called, “the terrorist attack in Connecticut.”

Harris cited Israeli “rage” against the US and against President Barack Obama. By “Israel,” we mean “Netanyahu.”

The mission was to teach America a lesson, knowing that “America would take the punishment, keep “quiet,” and let a ‘fall guy’ take the blame.”

A “fall guy” is another word for “patsy.”

Harris, citing the flood of inconsistencies in the “cover story,” pointed out the following, “The facts are now becoming obvious. This is another case where Israel has chosen violence and terrorism where their bullying in Washington has failed. Israel believes the US “threw them under the bus,” particularly after the recent Gaza war, allowing Israel to be humiliated in the United Nations. Their response was to stage a terror attack, targeting America in the most hideous and brutal way possible, in fact, an Israeli “signature attack,” one that butchers children, one reminiscent of the attacks that killed so many children in Gaza? 

Who is this Mike Harris, described by Iranian Press TV as an "intelligence analyst"?  Its important to note that the  Mike Harris from Arizona has no relationship, ideologically or familial, to the beloved co-founder of San Francisco Voice for Israel, Dr. Mike Harris    Arizona's Mike Harris is a former typewriter salesman,  businessman and  a substitute teacher.  (not an "intelligence analyst" ) who ran for Arizona Governor in 2006, mustering 6% of the vote.  From New Times,  a local blog - Michael Harris has been quoted as saying:

"Let's first of all clear up some misconceptions.  We are not a nation of immigrants. I am the seventh generation born in this country. I did not emigrate from anywhere. This young man is the eighth generation born in this country. We did not emigrate from anywhere. We built this country."

Sounds a bit like a white supremacist to me....

Press TV continues with their interview of typewriter saleman and international "intelligence analyst" Harris :

During his interview today, Mike Harris explained his rationale for looking to Israel as responsible for Sandy Hook, saying “This is exactly what Israel did in Norway; the political party that voted sanctions against Israel was retaliated against by a “lone gunman” who killed 77 children. This is what Israel always does, they go after the children. It is what they do in Gaza every day. It is what was done in Norway. It is what happened at Sandy Hook. Nobody buys the “lone gunman” story anymore, not with the Gabby Giffords’ shooting, not with the Aurora “Batman” shooting, certainly not with Breveik, and certainly not in Connecticut.”

 As days have passed, key issues involving the Sandy Hook terror attack have been cited as “debunking” the “lone gunman” cover story.  This is an example of what Press TV presents as  "debunking": the official narrative

"Is it reasonable for a geeky 20-year-old to carry two pistols and hundreds of rounds of ammunition while wearing a bulletproof vest and a mask? "

Anti-Semitism and extremist rhetoric from Iran

Anti-Semitism and extremist rhetoric from Iran, via the Israeli MFA

Destroying Israel:
"President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told them there was no place for the Jewish state in a future Middle East…. 'You want a new Middle East? We do too, but in the new Middle East ... there will be no trace of the American presence and the Zionists,'….
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad - Quds Day Address, 17 August 2012;
Reuters, Published: 17 August 2012

"The Israeli regime is a tool in the hands of Zionists to control the Middle-East and the entire world, Ahmadinejad stated. The Iranian president further stated that the International Quds Day is the day of unity among all human beings to remove the Zionist black stain from the human society."
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad - Quds Day Address, 17 August 2012;
Fars News Agency, Iran; Published: 17 August 2012

"President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ... said the very existence of the Zionist regime is an insult to the humankind and an affront to all world nations….The Iranian President further described the World Quds Day as an occasion for the unity of all human communities to wipe out this scarlet letter, meaning the Zionist regime, from the forehead of humanity."
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad - Quds Day Address, 17 August 2012;
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency; Published: 17 August 2012

"Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei…. noted that liberating Palestine from the grip of Israel and its allies is a religious duty for all Muslims across the world."
Ayatollah Sayyid Khamenei - Statement made during a meeting with hundreds of veterans from the Iraq-Iran war, 15 August;
Fars News Agency, Iran; Published: 16 August 2012

"General Amir Ali Hajizadeh ….said if the Zionist hooligans embark on practicing their verbal threats, they will provide the best opportunity for the destruction of Israel because then the forged regime will be wiped out of the map and thrown into the trash bin of history for ever."
Commander of the Aero-Space Forces of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps Bridadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh - Interview with IRNA;
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency; Published 18 August 2012

"He [Ahmadinejad] added: 'Anyone who loves freedom and justice must strive for the annihilation of the Zionist regime in order to pave the way for world justice and freedom.'"
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad - Speech to ambassadors from Islamic countries ahead of Quds Day, published on Ahmadinejad's website on 2 August 2012;
Jerusalem Post; Published: 2 August 2012

"Zionists understand only the language of force, Ayatollah Khatami reiterated. He further noted that the Zionist regime will meet destruction through unity in the Islamic world."
Tehran's Provisional Friday Prayers Leader Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami - Address to a large congregation of worshippers on Tehran University campus, 17 August 2012;
Fars News Agency, Iran; Published: 17 August 2012

"Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami underlined the importance of this year's International Quds Day (August 17, last Friday of the Ramadan) rallies, and said that 'The nations of the region, which have toppled dictators, also have the power to annihilate the Zionist regime (Israel).'"
Tehran's Provisional Friday Prayers Leader Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami;
Iran Daily Brief; Published: 14 August 2012

"Khomeini's successor, Ayatollah Khamenei, said on Wednesday that the liberation of Palestine was top on the Islamic world agenda and predicted that 'the fake Zionist regime would soon fade away from geography and every inch of the occupied territories be returned to Palestinians.'
Ayatollah Sayyid Khamenei -15 August;
DPA and the Associated Press, Haaretz; Published: 17 August 2012

Delegitimization of Israel's existence:
"Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told an annual anti-Israel protest in Tehran on Friday that the Jewish state was a "cancerous tumour" that will soon be excised….'The Zionist regime and the Zionists are a cancerous tumour,' he said. 'The nations of the region will soon finish off the usurper Zionists in the Palestinian land.... A new Middle East will definitely be formed. With the grace of God and help of the nations, in the new Middle East there will be no trace of the Americans and Zionists,' he said."
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad - Quds Day Address, 17 August 2012;
AFP; Published: 17 August 2012

"Supreme Leader of Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei, said on Sunday that noble Quds and Palestine are the main issues of the world of Islam….Elsewhere in his address, the Ayatollah referred to ignorance of Muslim nations and governments for years and rule of the hegemonic powers over their fate as well as creation of the cancerous tumor of Zionism in heart of Muslim world….Zionism is a danger for entire humanity…."
Ayatollah Sayyid Khamenei - Address to officials and others, including ambassadors of Muslim states in Tehran, 19 August 2012;
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency; Published: 19 August 2012

"'The very existence of the Zionist regime is an insult to humankind and an affront to all world nations," the news agency's English-language report on the speech quoted him as saying. "Confronting Zionists will also pave the way for saving the whole humankind from exploitation, depravity and misery.'"
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad - Quds Day Address; 17 August 2012;
New York Times, Published: 17 August 2012

Antisemitism:
"Ahmadinejad said that a "horrible Zionist current" had been managing world affairs for "about 400 years." Repeating traditional anti-Semitic slurs, the Iranian president accused "Zionists" of controlling the world's media and financial systems…. 'Quds Day is not merely a strategic solution for the Palestinian problem, as it is to be viewed as a key for solving the world problems,' he said.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad - Speech to Ambassadors from Islamic countries ahead of Quds Day, published on Ahmadinejad's website on 2 August 2012;
Jerusalem Post; Published: 2 August 2012

He [Ahmadinejad] said Zionists, who think solely of power, wealth and dominance over others, have been inflicting very heavy damage and suffering on the whole humanity for over two thousand years especially during the past four centuries. Saying that the two world wars were designed by Zionists and carried out by the US to retain dominance on other countries, the president further noted that Zionists have been administrating affairs in the US since the very beginning of its establishment."
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad - Quds Day Address, 17 August 2012;
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency; Published: 17 August 2012


Israel and Iran: Relative sizes

Hotel owner must pay damages for discriminating against Jewish fundraiser

"If my (family finds) out there's a Jewish event here, they're going to pull money from me immediately."

Friends of the IDF had scheduled a pool party and fundraiser in the Shangri-la hotel in Santa Monica. Owner Tehmina Adaya ordered that signs and banners promoting the event be removed, and allegedly yelled, "Get these [expletive] Jews out of my pool," as she ordered a halt to the fundraiser.

A jury decided that the hotel decided that the hotel and Adaya violated California's Unruh Civil Rights Act, which bars hotels and other business from discriminating on the basis of sex, race, color or religion, and awarded the Friends of the IDF awarding $1.2 million statutory damages. An amount for punitive damages will be determined Thursday.

Yeah. its all about the "occupation".

UPDATE
From Verdict Search California
Vol. 11 Issue 37  Sept 24 2012
The jury unanimously found that the hotel and Adaya had violated California state law. It also decided
that almost every one of the 18 individual plaintiffs was negligently inflicted with emotional distress and that most had been intentionally inflicted with emotional distress. Thus, the jury ordered Adaya and Indus Investments to pay $1.25 million in damages and statutory penalties, with each individual plaintiff awarded differing amounts, including some individual plaintiffs who were awarded sums adding up to more than $100,000. The jury also found that Adaya and the hotel had acted with malice, oppression or fraud. Subsequently, the jury awarded punitive damages of $440,000.  Therefore, the total
recovery would be $1.69 million.

More hate from the organizers of the Global march to Jerusalem

The colossal failure of the March 30 Global March to Jerusalem hasn’t stopped the propaganda or the plotting.

The latest thriller from the Global March website:

The Global March to Jerusalem joins the voices of concern in Jerusalem, Palestine and, indeed, the world over, about the latest as well as consequent threats to the al-Aqsa Masjid and the Dome of the Rock, as well as the Haram Sharif in Jerusalem and the policy of “Judaisation” that the Zionist leadership is pursuing with the explicit intent of removing Muslim, Christian, Arab and all other traces of non-Jewish history, culture, religion, archaeology and demography from the city of Jerusalem and all other areas under Zionist control

.

It continues (I'm paraphrasing):

Blah Blah Blah Zionists... Blah Blah Blah fanatical Zionists... Blah Blah Blah Zionist government...Blah Blah Blah Zionist-controlled Municipality...Blah Blah Blah Zionist extremists...

And launches itself into full anti-Semitic hate

These latest actions are part of the coordinated policy called “Judaisation” by the Zionist authorities. It includes the burning and defacing of Christian churches, the expulsion of Christian and Muslim Palestinians from the city of Jerusalem and from their homes throughout Palestine, the demolition of Palestinian homes, the confiscation of property, the denial of building permits, and many other forms of deliberate ethnic cleansing. This policy of Judaisation is in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention (1949) on the rights of peoples living under occupation as well as dozens of resolutions of the United Nations censuring the Zionist state.

This is the part that stopped me in my tracks:

In addition, historic Palestinian archaeological treasures dating back up to two thousand years have been demolished and covered with new structures for the purpose of effacing most of the history of Palestine, which is predominantly Muslim and Christian Arab in culture and religion. The latest examples of this malicious policy are the ongoing construction of a Jewish “Museum of Tolerance” on the religious and historic Ma’manillah cemetery, which dates back to the 7th century and where the companions of the Prophet Mohammad and thousands of the righteous, officials, scholars, notables and Jerusalemite families have been buried, as well as the destruction of palaces from the Umayyad period near al-Aqsa in the Old City.

Oh, yes. This "religious and historic" Ma’manillah cemetery they mention? It was converted into a business center nearly 70 years ago, under the supervisor of the Supreme Muslim Council. A 4 story hotel, bank and factory were to be built on the land. The remains buried in the cemetery were transferred to a spot near the tomb of al Sayid al Kurashi. Its' "religious and historic" value didn't seem to be of interest to the Grand Mufti, who sold the property to the highest bidder.

From the Palestine Post Nov. 22 1945 (h/t Elder of Ziyon)

"A member of the Supreme Muslim Council stated that the use of Moslem cemeteries in the public interest had many precedents both in Palestine and elsewhere. He quoted the case of the bab el Shira (Herrod's gate) cemetery which formerly stretched down St. Stephens gate and Jaffa cemetery which was converted into a commercial center and Queen Farida Square in Cairo which not long ago was a cemetery."

August 17 has been designated a "Hate on Israel day", with a "Stop the Judiasation of Jerusalem" theme by the usual suspects. Demonstrations are planned in NYC, Washington DC Boston, La, and elsewhere. There's plenty of time to plan a response.

"Peace" groups call for protest of Jewish Community celebration

They call themselves a "peace" group. Bay Area Women in Black just issued an alert calling for a protest of San Francisco's Jewish Community Celebration. And why would any group object to a gathering of community non-profits, crafts and music?


Mr. Binder Clips said it best. Or maybe worse.
"Its the Jews, Stupid"
(photo from our friend, Zombie)

Women in Black's announcement follows:
IMPORTANT! Sun, Jun 10, 12-1:30 pm, SF: Yearly silent vigil to protest “Jewish Community Celebration” at “Israel in the Gardens.” SFPD-designated “Free speech zone” on South side of Mission St. in front of Yerba Buena Gardens.
Contact bayareawomeninblack@yahoo.com

============================================================

I shouldn't be surprised. After all, this is the group that sponsored Gilad "Burning synagogues can be a rational act" Atzmon for his first Bay area appearance. This is a group that routinely stands by the worse anti-Semites in the area, smiling cheerfully while their allies chant "Itbah Al-yahud" - Slaughter the Jews. This is a group that called the police because they felt "threatened" by a young rabbi and small children singing songs of peace.

Women in Black will be joined by their partners in slime "Jewish voice for Peace". And no doubt their allies from Al Awada and the ISM will show up too.

Its about the Jews, Stupid.

Let there be no doubt in your mind. A protest of day schools, women's groups, summer camps and religious institutions- the wide umbrella of the local Jewish community will be at Yerba Buena Gardens on Sunday June 10- is nothing less than anti-Semitism. Harrassing and intimidating the young families paticipating in joyous communal celebration is anti-Semitism.

Its about the Jews, Stupid.


UPDATE:

Dancing. Singing Art. Music. The releasing of doves in a prayer for peace. This is what the Women in Black were protesting.

Harassment of Jewish students on UC campuses demands your attention

An open letter to UC President Mark Yudof, authored by Tammi Rossman-Benjamin and Leila Beckwith of the AMCHA Initiative

Dear President Yudof:

Last week, two shameful events occurred on University of California campuses that made Jewish students feel targeted, intimidated, harassed, and unsafe. We charge the UC administration with failing in their basic responsibilities: to protect Jewish students from a hostile environment and to ensure their rights to freedom of speech.

On February 27 at UC Davis, Jewish student groups sponsored the presentation of talks by two Israelis, one Jewish the other Druze. The speakers were repeatedly interrupted by hecklers, whose intent was clearly to disrupt the proceedings. Not only did a heckler hurl outrageous accusations against one of the speakers, calling him a "rapist" and "child molester," but the heckler brazenly stated: “I will stand here and heckle you until you leave…My only purpose is that this event is shut down.” The heckler also told audience members that he was paid $50 by "Muslim students" to disrupt the event.

Twenty-four hours before the Jewish students' event, members of the UCD Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) sent a communication to SJP supporters outlining a two-pronged strategy for shutting down the event: they would pack the room with pro-Palestinian students who would leave en masse in the middle of the event, and some students would remain to continuously heckle the Israeli speakers. Both parts of the strategy were carried out at the event, as you can see HERE, and the event ultimately had to be curtailed because of the disruption.

Besides illegally conspiring to disrupt a lawful meeting and thereby suppress the freedom of speech of the Jewish students and their speakers, members of the SJP and their supporters created a physically and emotionally hostile environment for the Jewish students. According to one eyewitness:
"As fear of physical altercations mounted, several "911" calls were made. The campus police appeared but refused to remove, reprimand or otherwise take any action against the disrupters. The police stated they were given "orders" not to take action against the disrupters, but instead, to close down the program if it got out of hand."

Shockingly, and in stark contrast to your repeated assertions that the University is committed to protecting the rights of free speech and ensuring the safety of all students, the campus police did nothing, and even refused to take the names of disrupters. In addition, at least two high-level UC Davis administrators were present at the event, and they, too, refused to respond to these egregious violations of University policy and state law, which left Jewish students feeling unsafe and violated.

A few days later, on February 29, SJP students at UC San Diego brought to the Associated Students Council for the third consecutive year a resolution asking the University of California to engage in a secondary boycott of Israel by divesting from American firms that do business with the Israeli Defense Forces. The resolution was defeated after seven hours, but the Jewish students and faculty who supported Israel were harassed and bullied by pro-Palestinian supporters and falsely accused of racism.

Several Jewish attendees felt targeted and threatened at the meeting: A UCSD faculty member reported that it was “emotionally difficult to bear the hatred and lies.” The president of the student group, Tritons for Israel, stated that “Jewish students feel targeted, and Jewish students don’t feel as safe or comfortable on campus.” Another Jewish student said, “ I am unsafe on this campus when there is talk of divestment…and by voting ‘yes’ you are making the campus very hostile for students who go here.” The Hillel Director stated: “Many of our students clearly suffered a traumatic blow from that experience. I witnessed the verbal assault on Jewish students and the tears that followed.” At the conclusion of the meeting, one Jewish student, concerned that other Jewish students might be physically assaulted on their way home, cautioned them to avoid walking alone. (In this video, Jewish students at UCSD describe the hostility they experienced as a result of the anti-Israel divestment campaign on their campus).

In light of your May, 2010 statement that the University of California would not divest from Israel, the SJP resolution was a wholly symbolic gesture intended to further the well-coordinated international campaign to economically strangle the Jewish state and bring about its destruction, a campaign which the US State Department has deemed anti-Semitic. Sadly, the resolution effort revealed the utter ineffectiveness of what you had previously touted to the Jewish community as one of your “assertive” moves to address anti-Jewish bigotry.

Please understand that the student groups behind these incidents are not like other University-funded student organizations. The SJP has as its primary mission the promotion of anti-Israel boycott, divestment, and sanctions campaigns and others efforts to harm the Jewish state. SJP chapters on UC campuses are closely allied with Al-Awda: the Palestine Right to Return Coalition, an organization which advocates the elimination of the Jewish state and has ties to terrorist groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah that call for the murder of Jews world-wide. Many students in the SJP are also members of the Muslim Students Association (MSA), an organization founded by the Muslim Brotherhood, a virulently anti-Semitic Egyptian-based organization dedicated to instituting Sharia law and a Muslim empire throughout the world, in part by means of violent jihad. According to an NYPD police spokesman, "some of the most dangerous Western Al Qaeda-linked/inspired terrorists since 9/11 were radicalized and/or recruited at universities in MSAs," and more than a dozen former MSA leaders and members have been convicted of terrorist activities and plots. In addition, some pro-Palestinian UC students have expressed support for the Iranian regime, whose supreme religious leader recently called for the destruction of Israel and the annihilation of all Jews. In fact, one student who participated in the disruption of the Jewish students' event at UC Davis can be seen holding an Iranian flag in the left-hand side of a video clip of the event.

These two incidents cannot be written off as political disputes between pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel students. The culpability for the harassment and intimidation lies squarely with the students from pro-Palestinian organizations and their supporters, who have directed their unmitigated, anti-Semitic hatred of the Jewish state against Jewish students who openly identify with it.

The two incidents that took place last week are by no means isolated events. They are merely the most recent examples of the longstanding and pervasive pattern of emotional and physical harassment that has been directed specifically at Jewish students, primarily by members of Muslim and pro-Palestinian student organizations with virulently anti-Semitic agendas. To make matters worse, the SJP and MSA students and their anti-Israel campaigns have found considerable support from numerous other student organizations, as well as from UC faculty and administrators. (For example, an Israel Apartheid Week event presented by the UCSD-MSA in 2010, which was replete with speakers, exhibits and imagery that demonized and delegitimized Israel and her supporters, was endorsed by the SJP and 8 other student organizations, and sponsored by 18 academic departments and administrative units on that campus, including the Literature and Ethnic Studies Departments and the Office of Graduate Studies and Thurgood Marshall College).

We must state the obvious: Jewish students face a concerted campaign of hatred, harassment and intimidation that has been promulgated by fellow students, professors, and administrators. No other minority on campus has been subjected to such a campaign, nor would the University administration tolerate such bigoted behavior were it to be directed against any other minority. In this regard, we believe that the University of California has a clear and discriminatory double standard towards Jewish students, one which is anti-Semitic in effect if not in intent.

On several occasions we have called for transparent, well-articulated policies to guarantee the safety of Jewish students and to ensure them an environment that is neither hostile nor threatening, and on each occasion you have ignored our request. We still believe these are essential and urge you to implement such policies as soon as possible.

Now, however, we call on you and the UC Chancellors to issue a public statement that: 1) condemns the campaign of intimidation and harassment of Jewish students that violates their rights to freedom of expression; and 2) denounces the economic and academic boycott of Israel and acknowledges its hostile impact on Jewish students.

We also encourage other members and supporters of the California Jewish community -- many of them UC alumni, parents, and donors -- to add their voices to ours in urging you to issue such a statement.

The Jewish community will not remain silent while Jewish students continue to be harassed and intimidated on UC campuses, and University administrators turn a blind eye.


Sincerely,

Leila Beckwith
Professor Emeritus, University of California at Los Angeles
Co-founder the AMCHA Initiative
Leila@AMCHAinitiative.org


Tammi Rossman-Benjamin
Lecturer, University of California at Santa Cruz
Co-founder the AMCHA Initiative
Tammi@AMCHAinitiative.org




Cc: University of California Chancellors
University of California Regents
UC Advisory Council on Campus Climate, Culture, and Inclusion (c/o Jesse Bernal)
California Speaker of the Assembly John A. Perez
California Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson
California State Senator Lois Wolk (Davis)
California State Assembly Member Mariko Yamada (Davis)
California State Assembly Member Jim Nielsen (Davis)
California State Senator Christine Kehoe (San Diego)
California State Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher (San Diego)

"A Jewish Boy Is Going To Represent Turkey!"

This nice young man is Can Bonomo. His family has lived in Turkey for 540 years, and now he's going to represent that nation at Eurovision this year. Oh, yeah, and he's Jewish.

Naturally, there's an element in town that objects:

Turkey’s Jews are pleased as can be that for the first time, a Jew will be representing their country at the Eurovision song contest.

But the singer, Can Bonomo, isn’t exactly trumpeting his accomplishment -- at least not the Jewish part.

“We would like to inform that Mr. Can Bonomo is bound to refuse answering all the questions about his religious beliefs, anti-Semitism and political subjects,” Bonomo’s spokesman, Ece Kahraman, wrote in a statement to JTA.

Bonomo has taken pains to tell fans that he will be participating in Eurovision as a Turk, not as a Jew.

“My family came from Spain 540 years ago,” Bonomo said in an interview on the "Aksam" news show in a video posted Jan. 11 that has gone viral. “I am Turkish and I am representing Turkey, I will go out there with the Turkish flag and represent Turkey. I am an artist, a musician. That’s all that everybody needs to know.”

Prior to his appearance on "Aksam," radical right-wing papers had accused Bonomo of being a tool of Zionists and Freemasons.

The way in which the anchor framed her question in the interview probably didn’t put him at ease.

“People might say you were chosen because Turkey wants to ingratiate itself with Israeli lobby groups,” she said. “I would like to get your comments.”


Bonomo is choosing to deal with this simply by emphasizing that he's going to Eurovision as a Turkish singer. That's probably for the best, and I can understand why a 24-year-old Turkish hipster musician doesn't want to wade deeper into the morass that is anti-Semitism and paranoia about Israel, not when he's on his way to Baku. (Yes, seriously, it's in Baku this year. A town I can never hear the name of without beginning to quote the opening lines of a poem by Zelda Knizhnik that begins (in Yiddish), "My husband's in America, a son is in Baku...")


It's worth noting, though, the ways in which anti-Israel and anti-Semitic threads are so casually drawn around a kid who's entirely apolitical, singing Turkish hipster music. This, the fact that this kid, whose family has lived in Turkey for over five hundred years has to be asked to prove that he's not a Zionist front man, this illustrates perfectly how foolish it is to imagine that anti-Zionism exists without anti-Semitism.

On a lighter note, here's Can singing "Mezcup". I have no idea what this song is about, but he's got some style. And he's just adorable.

Kill A Jew Day: Anti-Semitism on Facebook

kill a jew day
Date:
Friday, July 9, 2010
Time:
12:00am - 11:30pm
Location:
Everywhere
Description

you must kill at least one jew


Forgive me if I don't link to it. Over 100 people have reported they will attend the event, "Kill a Jew day" on Facebook . And no, don't try and convince me its all in jest. Anti-Semitism is no joke.
According to the JTA, Anti-Semitic incidents around the world more than doubled in 2009 over the previous year. The record number of incidents -- cases that show clear anti-Semitic content and intention -- included 566 incidents of vandalism of Jewish property, which constituted 49 percent of all incidents. Hundreds of incidents against Jewish people and property did not meet the criteria. Many other incidents went unreported.

Perhaps if enough people report this page it will be shut down, as a direct incitement to violence. If that happens, expect Jewish Voice for Peace to claim that the voices of the people have been muzzled by the Zionist lobby.

UPDATE: The Jewish Internet Defense Force reports that 240,000 people received notice of this story as the result of action alert they initiated , and the offending event was removed in hours.