BDS: Losers and Liars

There is an interesting discussion taking place in the comments section of Divest this! (your one stop shopping for all things BDS).

Our old friend Mike asks:

 I have to say, Jon, while I very much respect the work that you are doing here and I value your insights, I cannot escape what seems to be a central contradiction.

On the one hand, you write about the BDS threat as if it is an actual threat to the Jewish people… which it is… but on the other hand you constantly inform us that BDS is failing. 

 If BDS is failing then it is not much of a threat and, therefore, why should anyone care?

Commenter Barbara nails it with her answer

What is BDS really about?
 
One might naively think its aim is to obtain a settlement between Israel and Palestinians, or perhaps even “justice for Palestinians” – whatever that might mean. The strategy is to apply pressure on an obstinate Israel to make concessions. The tactic is to use economic boycott. In actually recruiting boycotters, their success is minimal.

However, all that is a red herring, and at the same time a means to recruit unsophisticated, well-meaning, under-informed people to support their cause, and promote it.

However, the real aim of the BDS movement is to undermine popular support for the State of Israel (did the last Gallup poll say 72% of Americans hold a favorable opinion of Israel?) The strategy is to create a popular image of Israel as a cruel, evil, racist state whose creation was illegitimate and as a state, wantonly violates international law. The tactic is to use boycott efforts as a means of getting publicity to give voice for this narrative.

So while they don’t get institutions to join their cause, they do get plenty of platform for promoting their lies and distortions. Either way, those accusations cannot be left unanswered.

Why else would  various SJP's and MSA's throughout the UC system continue to put their student associations through the wringer, on a resolution that the Regents have guaranteed  will have zero effect?

Local divestment activist and UC Berkeley graduate Tom Pessah  has freely admitted the resolutions exist solely as a pressure tactic. He and his ilk have repeatedly shown their willingness to sacrifice their student governments' time and energy (for 13 years!)  for a symbolic "victory" worth no more than the paper its written on.

 
Its all about the noise level, and the student body, or the food coop, or the corner hardware store is just a means to an end.

Divest this! responds to Mike and Barbara:

 ...the war against Israel has always had multiple fronts. 

Originally, it was a traditional war in which the armies of neighboring states played the major role. But when that failed, some states (such as Egypt and Jordan) went for a grudging or de facto peace with Israel, while others moved the conflict to different fronts: unconventional warfare (i.e., terror/surrogate wars) coupled with a propaganda campaign designed to turn a conflict driven by an Muslim/Arab world refusing to accept a non-Arab/Muslim state in their midst to one perceived as the Jewish state refusing to accept a Muslim/Arab (i.e., Palestinian) state in *its* midst.

As that propaganda campaign expanded to include an attempt to characterize Israel as not just intransigent, but Apartheid and even Nazi like, the war moved to different fronts. But ultimately, it is still a war being waged by nation states (over which we have little control) which have succeeded in corrupting major institutions (like the UN), turning them into new fronts in the propaganda war. And when it comes to dealing with organizations like the UN (which represents states, not the people in those states), again there is not much we “civilians” can do (other than expose that corruption, as groups like UNWatch does so effectively).

But as the war moved to our backyards: to my home town, to Barbara’s food coop, to Will Spotts’ Presbyterian Church, that provided us an opening to actually join the battle and win. And winning has two advantages: (1) it empowers those who succeed and motivates them to fight further afield (which is why you’re reading what you’re reading now; and (2) it helps break the propagandists momentum and makes it that much harder for them to either corrupt a civic organization to their cause or have their accusations accepted at face value (since, remember, BDS has been exposed as not just a loser, but also a liar).

So that’s why I don’t see a contradiction between urging a continued fight against the BDS threat while also treating it like the loser it is. History is awash with little men and women who have been able to seize control and do huge amounts of damage because good people didn’t stop them. The fight against BDS both stops the bad guys and gives the good guys hope that they can achieve something if they just gin up the strength and resolve to join the fight.

In Summary.
BDS is full of losers and liars. Expose them. Because when we fight back we win.

The Divestment Slate at Cal Berkeley: Framing the Issues

What a difference a year makes.
For 2013, UC Berkeley perpetual grad student and anti-Israel activist Tom Pessah  presented the SJP endorsed divestment slate.  He's done this before.


Do you support the nonviolent divestment movement for Palestinian human rights?
 So do the following candidates for ASUC (Cal student government) office, all of whom are strong allies of Students for Justice in Palestine.
 Your vote WILL bring to ASUC the people who will advocate for justice in Palestine, so VOTE at http://election.asuc.org/ from TODAY, Tuesday April 9, at 9:00 AM until 11:59 PM on Thursday (April 11).
 The ASUC uses ranked-choice voting, so candidates should be be ordered in terms of preference (#1, #2, #3) to ensure your vote counts!
 PRESIDENT
 1. DeeJay Pepito, CalSERVE
 http://www.calserve.org/deejay/
 SENATE
 1. Talïah Mirmalek, #119, Independent and SJP member
 https://www.facebook.com/Taliah4Senate
 2. Naweed Mohabbat, #116, Independent
 https://www.facebook.com/Naweed4Senate
 3. Briana Mullen, #123, CalSERVE, or
 Solomon Nwoche, #137, Independent Campaign for Common Sense
 EXTERNAL AFFAIRS VICE PRESIDENT
 1. Spencer Pritchard, CalSERVE
 EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT
 1. Nolan Pack, CalSERVE
 ACADEMIC AFFAIRS VICE PRESIDENT
 1. Valerie Jameson, CalSERVE


Tom's announcement from the 2012 election follows:

Do you support UC divestment from companies that enable Israel's illegal and racist occupation?
So do the following candidates for ASUC office, all of whom are strong allies of Students for Justice in Palestine.

VOTE at http://election.asuc.org/ from Tuesday April 10 9:00 AM until 11:59 PM on Thurs. April 12
The ASUC uses ranked-choice voting, so candidates should be be ordered in terms of preference (#1, #2, #3) to ensure your vote counts.


PRESIDENT
1. Andy Albright, CalSERVE
http://www.calserve.org/andrew-albright-for-asuc-president/

SENATE
1. Sadia Saifuddin, #138 Independent
https://www.facebook.com/SadiaSaifuddin138ForASUCSenate

2. George Kadifa, #186 SJP member, Student Action
3. Isaac Kreisman #205, Students for a Democratic University (SDU)
4. Deejay Pepito #184, CalSERVE


EXTERNAL AFFAIRS VICE PRESIDENT
We are fortunate to have three candidates running for this position who support SJP's goals (a sign of the successful work we've done on campus): Isabel Sausjord (SDU), Sydney Fang (CalSERVE), and Shahryar Abassi (Student Action).
Isabel, however, is a current and active member of SJP.

EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT
Candidates from both CalSERVE   Anthony Galace and SDU  James Chang are allies.

ACADEMIC VICE PRESIDENT
Candidates from both SDU Frank Luna  and CalSERVE Naomi Wilson  are allies.

Notice the difference in the language. In 2012 , Tom wrote  "Do you support UC divestment from companies that enable Israel's illegal and racist occupation?"  This year he couches the same movement in quite different terms ,  in the language of human rights, asking instead  "Do you support the nonviolent divestment movement for Palestinian human rights?"

The BDS movement hasn't changed. Why has the  marketing-  the selling of the movement- changed?  Dispel any notion that this is a grass roots, student lead movement- its actually highly orchestrated and well funded. There are BDS boot camps. BDS conferences. And there are professional BDS activists and trainers. The Divest Now handbook for Student Divestment campaigns specifically admonishes students "to be deliberate in the language they use to frame divestment...", and warns them not to confuse people with actual history or current politics.

Tom's betting on the proposition that its easier to sell the uninitiated on "human rights" rather than on frothing at the mouth Israel hate. He might be right. We'll see soon enough.  The ASUC- the student Senate at UC Berkeley  will be examining divesting from Israel this week

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.

Between two worlds

From our friend DrMike over at Bluetruth, who we are delighted to see is blogging again.

Last week I went to see a screening of the movie Between Two Worlds at UC Berkeley.  I had missed the film when it was shown at the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival last year, and I was curious to see it (after all, not only was I briefly in the film, I had played a role in the event that the filmmakers, Alan Snitow and Deborah Kaufman,  acknowledge as the motivation ). I was also curious as to what the tenor of the discussion would be afterwards, given that another key event in the film was the rancorous debate before the Cal Student Senate over the divestment bill several years ago. 

The movie itself starts with the controversy that arose at the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival in 2009, and immediately portrays the situation inaccurately. The cause of the widespread community furor was not simply the choice of the film “Rachel”, a film about the death of Rachel Corrie, the idealistic young woman recruited by the International Solidarity Movement to go to Gaza and serve as human shields for weapons smuggling.  It was the additional invitation to Rachel’s mother Cindy to speak at the showing, and the choice by the SFJFF to partner with two organizations (Jewish Voice for Peace and American Friends Service Committee) that support the BDS movement.    The SFJFF has a history of showing films that portray Israel negatively; none had created the reaction that this program engendered.  Claiming that the outcry was simply on the basis of the film allowed Peter Stein, then the executive director of the SFJFF, to proclaim his surprise at the reaction—when in fact it was immediately obvious on publication of the SFJFF program that this was a very unusual event.

The portion of the film that dealt with the San Francisco Jewish Community Federation funding guidelines, which the filmmakers themselves outspokenly oppose, was far from even handed.  While interviewing Peter Stein, Jewish Voice for Peace spokesperson Cecilie Surasky, and others opposed to the guidelines, there was no interview of JCRC Executive Director Doug Kahn or JCF CEO Jennifer Gorovitz.   John Rothmann, formerly of KGO Radio and a prominent local author, speaker and activist, was interviewed but only one sentence of his was included in that segment.  The fact that even this film did not generate a lot of controversy when shown at the SFJFF is proof that the guidelines are NOT precluding discussion; they just provide that the Federation isn’t going to use its funds to provide legitimacy for anti-Israel groups.
  

The film then meandered through the Berkeley divestment debate, the filmmakers’ own family histories and made its way to Jerusalem and the controversy over the proposed Museum of Tolerance to be built over the site of an abandoned Muslim cemetery.  While Rabbi Hier from the SWC was at least given an opportunity to state his case, the film failed to include a key point that Rabbi Hier could not have failed to mention:  that in 1945 the Supreme Muslim Council in Jerusalem had planned a six story building on the site to house, among other offices, their own! The museum itself was to be built on the site of a municipal parking lot that had existed there for decades without any complaints from the religious authorities, and which prior to that had been the site of a hotel proposed by Haj Amin al-Husseini, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem.

Though I had not seen the film prior to that night, none of this was really surprising.  Alan Snitow had defended the SFJFF and claimed that I provoked the audience’s response to the film that day at the Castro Theater;  you can view my speech yourself and judge whether an audience at a Jewish Film Festival should have been provoked by my words. (At least in the discussion section afterwards, Snitow did allow me to point out a few of the flaws I noted in the film—and nobody jeered. )

After the film, I approached one of the other members of the audience, Tom Pessah, a perpetual UC Berkeley student who is one of the leaders of Students for Justice in Palestine and a proponent of the so-called “one state solution” which would turn Israel into the 24^th Arab nation. (Not only would this turn the Jews into a minority in an area noteworthy for its treatment of those who are different , it would-- if recent trends are any indication-- lead to Islamist rule extended from Gaza to the entire land of Israel).   I wanted to ask Pessah why he wrote an article in 972 Magazine appropriately condemning the anti-Semitism displayed by Greta Berlin, leader of the Free Gaza Movement, but tolerated the same Holocaust revisionism, blood libels and other anti-Semitic ideology from Hamas and the PA—backed with missiles in the case of Hamas.  His answer—that he wasn’t responsible for Hamas, but only for his own “civil society movement”—doesn’t really wash given that he supports the flotillas which provide PR benefits to Hamas and which Hamas is involved in organizing.   And given that his own group, SJP, still adheres to the “Zionism is racism” libel that even the UN abandoned years ago.  He even had the temerity to later post this on an anti-Israel listserve:   “Stand With Us guy comes up to me in an event this week to tell me my article against antisemitism was a "good start". A bit patronizing, but I'm glad he and his kind read it - especially the parts aligning this anti-racism to the support of BDS and the Right of Return”.

News flash, Tom.  The fact that you can at least recognize Nazi-level Jew hatred when it slaps you in the face doesn’t make you the arbiter of “anti-racism”.  BDS is racist at its core:  it  has at its core the anti-Semitic concept that among all the nations, ONLY THE JEWS do not have the right to national self-determination.  That of all nations, ONLY ISRAEL does not have the right to define who can enter its country and become a citizen.  And that anti-Israel activists can create their own “international law” – the fictional “right of return”--that applies only to Palestinians.    And if you think that Greta Berlin was an exception and that the anti-Israel movement isn’t rife with anti-Semitism, we’ve already seen plenty of evidence that she’s just the tip of the iceberg.  I think the next few months will show how the Israel-hating Jews will find themselves caught between a Jewish community that rejects them politically and their fellow Israel haters who use anti-Zionism as a front for anti-Semitism—essentially, between two worlds.

Tom Pessah presents the UC Berkeley ASUC divestment slate

From UC Berkeley's Tom Pessah:

Presenting the ASUC (UC Berkeley student Government) divestment slate.
No, no stand on decreased student services, tuition increases, huge waiting lists for labs and classes, or corruption and inefficiency in Berkeley operations.

Its all about divestment for Students for Just Us in Palestine.

So now you know, students. If you want your student government to spend their time and your money working on foreign policy , these are the folks to vote for.

Tom's announcement follows:

Do you support UC divestment from companies that enable Israel's illegal and racist occupation?
So do the following candidates for ASUC office, all of whom are strong allies of Students for Justice in Palestine.

VOTE at http://election.asuc.org/ from Tuesday April 10 9:00 AM until 11:59 PM on Thurs. April 12
The ASUC uses ranked-choice voting, so candidates should be be ordered in terms of preference (#1, #2, #3) to ensure your vote counts.


PRESIDENT
1. Andy Albright, CalSERVE
http://www.calserve.org/andrew-albright-for-asuc-president/

SENATE
1. Sadia Saifuddin, #138 Independent
https://www.facebook.com/SadiaSaifuddin138ForASUCSenate

2. George Kadifa, #186 SJP member, Student Action
3. Isaac Kreisman #205, Students for a Democratic University (SDU)
4. Deejay Pepito #184, CalSERVE


EXTERNAL AFFAIRS VICE PRESIDENT
We are fortunate to have three candidates running for this position who support SJP's goals (a sign of the successful work we've done on campus): Isabel Sausjord (SDU), Sydney Fang (CalSERVE), and Shahryar Abassi (Student Action).
Isabel, however, is a current and active member of SJP.

EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT
Candidates from both CalSERVE (Anthony Galace) and SDU (James Chang) are allies.

ACADEMIC VICE PRESIDENT
Candidates from both SDU (Frank Luna) and CalSERVE (Naomi Wilson) are allies.

*********


So Bears, now you know who to vote for if you want your student activity fees to go towards foreign policy decisions instead of student services. Vote accordingly.

UPDATE
From the Daily Cal


For the first time in his 15 years as a Berkeley City Council member, Kriss Worthington has endorsed student candidates for the ASUC elections at UC Berkeley.

Worthington, whose district includes the UC Berkeley campus and surrounding Southside neighborhoods, endorsed Andrew Albright, Sydney Fang and Anthony Galace, three CalSERVE executive slate candidates who have worked on city and campus issues such as redistricting, affordable student housing and the city’s second response ordinance over the course of the past year.

Albright is running for ASUC president, Fang is running for external affairs vice president and Galace is running for executive vice president.

Worthington did not endorse the fourth and final CalSERVE member on its executive slate, Naomi Wilson, who is running for the position of academic affairs vice president, because he said he has never worked with her regarding city relations.

“I wasn’t endorsing the party,” Worthington said. “I was endorsing three individual people who I have observed doing a lot of work in the broader community of Berkeley.”

Though this is Worthington’s first time endorsing candidates for the executive slate, fellow Councilmember Gordon Wozniak previously endorsed current external affairs vice president Joey Freeman during last year’s election term and has endorsed current ASUC senator Shahryar Abbasi for the same position this semester. Both Freeman and Abbasi are running with Student Action...

“(Shahryar) was involved on the student redistricting issue — he’s come to council meetings several times,” Wozniak said. “I’ve worked closely with Joey Freeman, and I hope Shahryar can continue some of the projects he worked on.”

The external affairs vice president — which both Abbasi and Fang are running for — is the ASUC representative to the UC Student Association and oversees the ASUC’s lobbying efforts, focusing on matters outside of the UC Berkeley campus, specifically in the city of Berkeley and the state.

Wilson said she supports her fellow candidates and Worthington’s endorsement even though she was not endorsed herself.

“You shouldn’t endorse someone solely due to political affiliation. I’m excited to work with him hopefully in the next year,” Wilson said.

Albright, a current senator, said Wilson may not have been endorsed because of the nature of the position she is running for.

“As ASUC senators in general, we have access to city politics,” he said. “Her work has not been focused on the city but (on) taking action on higher education … improving lives in and improving communities on campus.”

Students for Justice in Palestine has taken the words of Saul Alinsky to heart “True revolutionaries do not flaunt their radicalism. They cut their hair, put on suits and infiltrate the system from within.” Seeing this level of SJP and BDS infiltration in our Berkeley City Council and municipal politics is daunting.