David Mandel of Jewish Voice for Peace is kinda sorta maybe against anti-Semitism

This is not the support or solidarity that Jewish people want or need.  Thank Jewish Voice for Peace's David Mandel for this  "All Lives Matter" statement  with the violence directed at the Jewish people a mere afterthought :

The National Lawyers Guild notes with alarm the re-emergence of virulent and violent antisemitism, a core element of historical and currently resurgent white supremacy in the United States and around the world. Adherents of this phenomenon have aimed their toxic attacks at a wide variety of scapegoats – Muslims, refugees, Latinx, indigenous people, immigrants, Blacks, Arabs, LGBTQ-identified people and women, among others, and the left in general – all in an effort to install and bolster regimes that promote nationalism, racism and sexism to suppress democracy, worker rights and movements to save our planet. Moreover, the current U.S. regime and its growing coterie of look-alikes worldwide are fast establishing a pattern of tolerating and giving succor to the various phenomena that spring from white supremacist ideology.

The Guild further notes that in the wake of the hate-inspired killing of worshipers at a Pittsburgh synagogue, there has been an increase in the volume of Trumpian, Charlottesville-style “both sides-ism,” citing “antisemitism of the right and the left”—the latter involving a false conflation of support for Palestine with anti-Jewish hatred. The Guild vehemently condemns this effort, which has fueled ongoing legislative and other initiatives to redefine antisemitism as including criticism of Israeli policies and unconstitutional attempts to suppress and even criminalize boycotts aimed at demanding Palestinian rights. At the same time, Israel’s government and some of its backers have welcomed support for Netanyahu from ultra-right groups in the United States and abroad, dangerously ignoring their deeply rooted antisemitism while aligning with their virulent Islamophobia.

Antisemitism and all forms of racism must be confronted and defeated whatever their source, and with full understanding of their sordid histories, but it is crucial to recognize that these phenomena today are overwhelmingly a function of dangerous fascist and white supremacist movements.

The Guild claim that antisemitism is a function of  "overwhelmingly  fascist and white supremacist movements" is wrong.  Anti-Semitism is the sordid middle ground where the far left and the far right find common cause. Denying that does not make it go away.

There was some good news from the California Democratic Paty's  2018 Fall Executive Board Meeting held this week in Long Beach.  Mandel's attempt to introduce a similar resolution was shot down by the party leadership.

David Mandel's recolution at CADEM  fails

Lamis Deek spreads a modern day blood libel

Lamis Deek of the National Lawyers Guild has no trouble spreading a modern day blood libel.

Deek, an attorney, has forwarded a completely unsubstantiated article that claims:

A Palestinian child from Beit Furik town in Nablus survived certain death on Wednesday after Jewish settlers kidnapped and tortured him inside their settlement.

Local sources told reporters that eight-year-old Bashar Ghazal was found in the illegal Itamar settlement, handcuffed and injured as a result of his exposure to severe torture at the hands of extremist settlers.

The sources added that the Israeli occupation army handed over the boy to the Palestinian Authority liaison office on Wednesday night, confirming that the settlers brutally tortured the child and burned his skin with molten plastic.

No, Lamis Deek did not attempt to fact check before forwarding this modern day blood libel.

The truth, via the Times of Israel 

The Israeli military handed over to Palestinian police an apparently mentally challenged Palestinian child who walked up to the fence of a Jewish settlement in the northern West Bank on Wednesday, the army said.

The 8-year-old child was spotted walking in an area adjacent to the Itamar settlement, near Nablus, on Wednesday morning. IDF troops were called out to investigate.

When the soldiers started speaking with the boy, who apparently had a mental disability, they noticed that his body was covered in “signs of harsh physical abuse,” an army spokesperson said.

The child told them that he was being abused at home,” the spokesperson said.

According to the Palestinian Authority mouthpiece Safa, the signs of abuse included burns from molten plastic being poured on him.

Bashar Abd al-, 8, who, the IDF said, told soldiers he was abused at home after he was picked up by the army as he walked outside a Jewish settlement in the northern West Bank on June 15, 2017. (Safa)

The army dismissed reports in Palestinian media that the boy was kidnapped and beaten by settlers at Itamar. The spokesperson noted that at no point did the boy enter the settlement nor did settlers approach him.

The child was identified by Palestinian media as Bashar Abd al-Ghazal of the nearby village of Beit Furik.

According to Safa, al-Ghazal’s father died on Wednesday. The news site did not elaborate.

The IDF spokesperson said the soldiers gave the child “water, food and grape juice” before handing him over to PA security services.

The National Lawyers Guild. What went wrong in 67 years?

Early this year, the National Lawyers Guild joined extremist group Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP)  in opposing a California State Senate resolution condemning anti-Semitism on campus.  It was the latest ignoble gesture from an organization that has clearly forgotten its roots.

 

On May 14, 1948, eleven minutes after Israel's proclamation of independence, U.S. President Harry Truman signed an executive order granting de-facto recognition to the Jewish State. In an article published in the National Lawyers Guild Law Review shortly afterward,(8 Law. Guild Rev 441 1948) Phillip Baum writes urging full recognition of Israel, stating that governments with far less stability have been regularly given full recognition. 

He concludes that the conditions necessary  to recognize (either de facto or de jure) a nation state have been fulfilled, by considering both international law, as well as US precedent:

 

1. The existence of a government factually independent of any other state
2. The existence of a government competent to make its authority effective by securing the habitual obedience of the bulk of the population
3. The existence of a government willing to discharge its international obligations
4. The existence of a clearly defined territory

Baum concludes “The Israeli Government has established itself as a living organism… It is entitled to sit at the council of nations as a full fledged member. Its right to do so has been fully recognized by 15 countries”

 

Less than seven months later, President Truman extended full de-jure recognition to Israel.

 

Baum’s essay is interesting  as an example of just how far off course the National lawyers Guild has strayed in the last 67 years- emerging from early advocacy of the Jewish state to complete denial of Israel's right to exist. Current Guild claims that the Palestinians are the indigenous victims of colonialist Europeans are completely negated by the early Guild writings that fails to mention even the existence of a "Palestinian" people.

Baum's criteria in the Guild law review  provides an interesting and yet unmet framework for the recognition of a future Palestinian state. Could  there possibly be anyone on either side of this issue that believes that Hamas or Fatah constitute an effective authority willing to meet their international obligations?

Lamis Deek of the National Lawyer's Guild shows her true colors

In one day, over 28,000 people have watched New York City Councilman David Greenfield on youtube, calling out protesters for what he described as "Naked blind Anti-Semitism" after a resolution  recognizing the Holocaust was repeatedly disrupted.

No, an apology is not forthcoming from the protesters and their enablers.

From Lamis Deek, a self described  "human rights attorney" and National Lawyers Guild Activist.

Lamis Deek is for "dignified freedom". But not for the Jews, apparently.

This so-called "human rights" attorney just called a New York City Councilman a "liar" and a "pig' because he expressed his dismay that  a  NYC Council's resolution on the Holocaust was disrupted. She evoked the classic  "dual loyalty" slander that is exclusively directed towards Jews. And she called him "racist" for standing up for political dissidents, Jehovah's witnesses, and gays who perished at Auschwitz .

Again, Lamis Deek has proven that  'When the debate is lost, slander becomes the tool of the loser.'

The National Lawyers Guild, GUPS, and SFSU: Red Herring. Its whats for Lunch.

h/t Gary at Fousesquawk

Red Herring.  Its what's for Lunch.

Once again, the National Lawyers Guild proves that their commitment to advancing an ideology bypasses their commitment to constitutional law, justice or peace.

On Nov. 7, an event sponsored by the General Opinion of Palestinian Students at San Francisco State University featured signage stating "Our heroes have always killed colonizers", which was roundly condemned by university administrators, and advocacy groups.

In an open letter than never once mentions the controversial phrase, the National Lawyers Guild has come out with a statement declaring this as  "controversial political speech  rather than hate speech", and therefore safeguarded by protections under the first amendment. The statement, undersigned by NLGSF President R. Michael Flynn   and Rachel Lederman NLGSF President-Elect   neglects some appreciable aspects of first amendment law.  Speech that involves incitement, false statements of fact and threats is generally not protected by the first amendment.

But as importantly,  the NLG letter is a red herring.

A Red Herring is a fallacy in which an irrelevant topic is presented in order to divert attention from the original issue. The basic idea is to "win" an argument by leading attention away from the argument and to another topic. This sort of "reasoning" has the following form:
Topic A is under discussion.
Topic B is introduced under the guise of being relevant to topic A (when topic B is actually not relevant to topic A).
Topic A is abandoned.
This sort of "reasoning" is fallacious because merely changing the topic of discussion hardly counts as an argument against a claim.

At no point did San Francisco State University President Les Wong speak of anything that could be construed as limiting the "academic freedom" or the " right"  of the General Union of Palestinian students to make complete fools of themselves not only on their home campus, but in the marketplace of ideas. Rather, he stated:

* As president, I was deeply disturbed by incendiary language that marred an annual commemoration of a cultural mural on campus.
* I am dismayed by the glorification of violence that this message conveys.
* The university is a place where dialogue, debate and the marketplace of ideas are cherished.

However, incitement to violence is not protected speech. The litmus test remains: Was the language of the sign mean to intimidate?

Given the reputation of GUPS on campus, their past history and their current rhetoric, many believe it was.

From the Simon Weisenthal Center

Simon Wiesenthal Center officials today warned San Francisco State University of a potential threat to its Jewish students after the Amcha Initiative uncovered a picture on Tumblr allegedly posted by the President of the University-sanctioned General Union of Palestine Students (GUPS) in which he is shown holding a knife with the caption saying, “I seriously can not get over how much I love this blade. It is the sharpest thing I own and cuts through everything like butter and just holding it makes me want to stab an Israeli soldier….” The Tumblr post has since been removed. See larger image of Tumblr page here).

Copies of the picture were forwarded to SFSU President Leslie Wong by Amcha and the Wiesenthal Center, and in a phone conversation earlier today with Wong’s office, Center officials warned that such avowedly violent statements, especially when linked with another recent GUPS campus event where participants used a stencil saying, “My heroes have always killed colonizers,” pose a potentially significant threat to the university’s Jewish students.

“It is outrageous and unacceptable that the leader of a University-funded group would invoke a message of death and violence,” said a Wiesenthal Center official.

Indeed it is.

From the Tumblr account of Mohammad Hammad, president of SFSU GUPS

To R. Michael Flynn  and Rachel Lederman of the National lawyers Guild, in San Francisco:   Is Mohammed Hammad, president of GUPS stated desire to stab an Israeli soldier protected free speech or is it a threat? Is this legitimate discourse, or is this incitement to violence?  Is this speech protected as academic freedom or does it represent a clear and present danger to others?

To R. Michael Flynn  and Rachel Lederman , a final question: If this form of racist rhetoric was directed towards any nationality but Israelis, would you still publicly advocate for it?

San Diego State University Professor Ghassan Zakaria eliminates truth in his classroom

Just as the authorities dismiss the claims of Jewish students of hostile campus climate...

From ABC News, Channel 10 in San Diego

A map distributed in a language class at San Diego State University labeled Israel as Palestine, leading to an outcry from the local Jewish community.

 Sources told Team 10 the map was handed out by a professor on the second day of class in an Arabic language course. Sources said students were upset and unsure how to protest the erroneous map because they feared speaking out publicly could have a negative impact on their grades. 

One student talked with Team 10, on the condition of anonymity."I don't really believe it was the right place for dialogue," the student said. "It is a language class, it's not a class about conflict." 

Students gave the map to the non-profit, pro-Israel San Diego group, "Stand With Us."The group sent a newsletter to its members and urged the community to contact the department's chairman and Arabic program director. The group also posted the map to its Facebook page. The electronic newsletter states the map "not only fails to label 'Israel' as a legitimate country," but that "it falsely portrays the entire territory of Israel as 'Palestine....'"

 The department chair said the professor used Palestine in place of Israel on the labels to "reflect the view of Arab-speakers in the region." Team 10 contacted SDSU late Tuesday morning with questions about the handout, and on Tuesday afternoon the school issued this statement:

 "While SDSU encourages scholarly debate and discussion of varying opinions, presenting inaccurate information to students in not acceptable. SDSU's Provost has conferred with the department chair, who spoke with the faculty member. This inaccurate portrayal will not reoccur."

As of today, the map  has been altered and redistributed, with Israel scrawled by hand

From Channel 10

Sources said the new map students received Wednesday was only a slight improvement. They said it marginally showcased Israel's true and legitimate existence in the region.

Sources also added that their ideal solution would have been to distribute a real and accurate map of the Middle East rather than adding the obviously handwritten word "Israel" to an incorrect map of the region.

As of late Wednesday evening, the professor had not issued an apology to the Jewish community.

Will  the new Palestine Solidarity Legal Support advocacy project advocate for Ghassan Zakaria's right  to spread lies and misinformation in the name of academic freedom?

Perhaps.

The stated goals of the initiative sponsored by the Center for Constitutional Rights, in collaboration with the National Lawyers Guild mentions nothing about ensuring truth or accuracy, as they seek to

* Track incidents of repression of Palestinian rights activism
* Provide legal advice, referrals or representation
* Undertake advocacy to support activism
* Provide activists with legal and advocacy resources

We should fear for  all students in today's 'truth optional' academic environment