Pro-Palestinian Anti-Semitism at Vassar

Posted on May 8, 2014 by Petra Marquardt Bigman

In brandeiscenter.com blogs  LINK

Vassar College, which describes itself as “a highly selective, residential, coeducational liberal arts college,” has recently attracted a lot of attention because of the energetic activism of so-called “pro-Palestinian” groups like Vassar’s Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) who were apparently supportedby dozens of faculty members.  As I noted in a related post a few weeks ago, the anti-Zionist – and sometimes also anti-Semitic – website Mondoweiss seemed to view the activism at Vassar as a kind of bellwether indicating victory in the “BDS war on campus.” By now, Mondoweiss has published another similarly triumphant report on a Vassar event with the movement’s “rock stars” Ali Abunimah and Max Blumenthal; according to an announcement on Facebook, the event was co-sponsored by Jewish Studies and the departments of English, Political Science, Religion, Geography, and Sociology.

Before addressing subsequent developments, it is useful to recall that the first Mondoweiss report included the acknowledgement that “SJP students can be obnoxious,” though it also suggested that they should be compared to “abolitionists during slavery” who were “dedicated to a principle worth living and dying for.” However, if this comparison is at all justified, it is arguably in the sense that the goal of “pro-Palestinian” activism is the abolition of the world’s only Jewish state – and it is hardly surprising that the pursuit of this goal indeed often results in undeniably “obnoxious,” i.e. anti-Semitic, conduct.  Please CLICK HERE to keep reading

What Is Going on at Vassar College?

Jonathan Marks | @marksjo105.08.2014 - 4:45 PM  Commentary on line LINK

Vassar has recently distinguished itself in at least two ways. First, it is one of a tiny group of colleges whose faculty supported the American Studies Association’s boycott of Israel in substantial numbers. Thirty-nine faculty members signed a letter that sang the praises of the boycott-Israel movement. Second, as I have written here before, Vassar was the venue for an open forum at which two professors were vilified for leading a trip to Israel and at which Jewish students who spoke up were heckled. William Jacobson has provided extensive coverage of the situation at Vassar and was there to speak earlier this week.

In a blog entry describing reactions to Jacobson’s speech, Jewish studies professor Rebecca Lesses draws attention to a series of posts by Vassar’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine, the most shocking of which includes this language: “Of course, mainstream media hasbarats have been around for decades, as have ‘hasbaratchiks,’ fifth-columns in foreign governments who subvert national policies to serve Israel.” The author of the linked article, Greg Felton, also wrote a book entitled The Host and the Parasite: How Israel’s Fifth Column Consumed America. Lesses observes that theOccidental Quarterly, on which the SJP draws, is an anti-Semitic magazine. While I hesitate to take the word of the Southern Poverty Law Center, which she cites, for it, a look through the Occidental Quarterly, which includes an article about libertarianism as a creed advanced by Jewish intellectuals to advance Jewish “group evolutionary interests,” tends to support the charge.  Please CLICK HERE to keep reading

ASA Boycott – Not Defending the Undefendable

from divestthis.com May 7, 2014

I’ve said my piece (really more than my piece) regarding the academic boycott voted in by the American Studies Association last year.  But now that we’re closing in on the six month mark since a boycott against the Jewish state was made policy by an (admittedly marginal) academic group, it’s worth taking a step back to see what the consequences have been for Israel vs. the ASA.

As far as Israeli academics are concerned, I’m not aware of a single American Studies professor from a single university taking a single step to target an Israeli academic or institution in compliance with the boycott policy.  Perhaps someone can provide us an instance of the boycott actually being enacted, but as far as I can tell the leadership of the ASA has proven itself willing to put its organization, its members and the entire discipline of American Studies at risk for the sake of a policy they do not have the guts to actually implement.

Supporters of the ASA boycott point out that the action was primarily symbolic – a means to demonstrate that the organization (claiming to represent the ideals of academic inquiry and discourse) had become so sickened by Israeli policy that they were willing to use the blunt instrument of a boycott to express their disapproval.  But for this symbolism to hold, it must be demonstrated that the boycott actually represents some kind of consensus within the field, especially for a vote passed by a “majority” of just 16% of the organization’s members.  

NOTE: Several paragraphs later....

But probably the most telling example of how desperately the boycotters don’t want to engage in the conversation they claim to crave was this week’s appearance by Jacobson at Vassar College, a school where 39 professors attacked the college’s President’s when she joined over two-hundred other college and university presidents to condemn the ASA’s action (correctly) as an attack on academic freedom.

Please CLICK HERE to read the whole article

Calling out the anti Israel anti-semitic Vassar College Professors

NOTE:!! William Jacobson will appear at VASSAR COLLEGE tomorrow, Monday May 5, 2014. He had offered to debate any or all of the 39 VASSAR Professors who signed a letter to the VASSAR COLLEGE newspaper, the MISCELLANY NEWS who were dismayed with the VASSAR PRESIDENT when she opposed the ASA Boycott. 

NOT ONE of the professors would come forward to accept the challenge. Not one! Meanwhile these professors continue to sponsor JEW HATING anti-Israel speakers on a near daily basis. 

If you are anywhere near VASSAR COLLEGE on Monday please go and show your support. 

BDS movement employing guerrilla tactics

San Diego Jewish World By Alex Joffe posted 4.30.14

NOTE: BDS is "winning" because this is all students hear day in and day out. And this is all one hears growing up in Europe, Latin and South America. The long game appears to be one of spreading anti-Semitic, anti-Israel propaganda. Integrity and truth don't factor into the equation.

Alex Joffe

NEW YORK — April saw the focus of BDS activities pivot back to academia. It is no coincidence that Passover and Easter were celebrated in April; indeed, the timing of BDS resolutions in student government settings has long centered around holidays when attention, presumably wanes.

Analysis: A series of BDS proposals were presented to student governments at North American universities in April. These were accompanied by various demonstrations and guerilla theatrics. At Cornell University a BDS resolution was presented to the student assembly by the local branch of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP). The resolution was presented at the last minute as ‘new business’ and as not listed on the original assembly agenda but only later on a revised version. This provided less than 48 hours notice to the Cornell community that a BDS resolution was to be debated. The timing of the resolution was designed to both avoid public notice and minimize the involvement of Jewish students, since the initial debate was scheduled only days before Passover. Had the resolution not been noticed, and a debate not held, it would have passed and been subject to a formal vote a week later, in the middle of Passover. A debate was held at the initial meeting, however, and the proposal was tabled indefinitely by a large margin.

The SJP, however, claimed that the defeat was undemocratic and called for a protest at the student union the following week. The call appeared to threaten a takeover of university premises of the sort that occurred recently at the University of Michigan. A small number of protestors appeared and at the regular student assembly meeting, the session was suspended and SJP supporters were given two hours to vent against Israel and the student government process. The incident typifies the BDS strategy of secrecy and ambush, designed to circumvent public scrutiny of BDS proposals and to minimize the involvement of Jewish student by scheduling debates in conflict with the Jewish religious calendar. This latter strategy was also telegraphed by the SJP’s called for a ‘National Day of Action’ on behalf of BDS proposals during Passover.

The Cornell incident also illustrates the growing tactic of declaring BDS defeats as anti-democratic, and to threaten protests and takeovers of facilities. At other institutions, BDS resolutions were usually defeated when opponents had sufficient time to organize. At San Diego State University a BDS resolution was soundly defeated after five and a half hours of debate. A similar resolution was also defeated at the University of California at Santa Barbara. A resolution was narrowly approved, however, at the University of California at Riverside in a closed vote. At Riverside, a campus with a long record of anti-Israel and antisemitic activity, a pro-BDS resolution was adopted last year, then overturned, and has now been reinstated. A BDS proposal at the University of New Mexico was defeated. A BDS proposal is also making its way through the student government at the University of Washington.  Please CLICK HERE to keep reading

Jewish students to university administrators: time to stop hiding

By Tammi Rossman-Benjamin/JNS.org

As soon as an African American student at San Jose State University who was racially harassed and bullied by his dormitory roommates came forward, university, county, and state officials began an investigation. Within days, prosecutors labeled it a hate crime, battery charges were filed against three of the roommates, and the university had suspended them. Within weeks, California State Assembly Speaker John Perez announced the creation of a Select Committee on Campus Climate, and its first task was to look into this incident and find a way to prevent others like it.

When a white male threw a beer at Trinity College sophomore Juan Hernandez and yelled, “Get off our campus,” Trinity launched an investigation and charges were brought against the perpetrator. When anti-gay remarks were written on message boards that hang on dorm-room doors, Elizabethtown College began an investigation, engaged the FBI, and disciplinary action was taken.

Compare that to the situation for Jewish students. Over the last several years, Jewish students on campuses across the country have been physically, emotionally, and intellectually harassed, intimidated, threatened, and bullied, not only by their fellow students but also by some of their professors.   Please CLICK HERE to keep reading

RELATED!  CLICK HERE

RELATED!  Winnipeg shul drops speaker who allowed campus ‘apartheid’ week Read more: http://www.jta.org/2014/05/02/default/winnipeg-shul-drops-speaker-who-allowed-campus-apartheid-week#ixzz30aZGV7Vi

No takers on my debate challenge to Vassar pro-boycott faculty, but I’m still going

Posted by William A. Jacobson    Tuesday, April 29, 2014 at 3:29pm

The Case for Israel and Academic Freedom still will be made.

You may recall My debate challenge to Vassar pro-boycott faculty who signed an Open Letter defending the American Studies Association academic boycott of Israel:

Any or all of the 39 Vassar faculty members are welcome to debate me. All I insist on is equal time cumulatively. If none of the 39 Vassar faculty agree to debate, I will give a lecture on why the academic boycott of Israel should be opposed.

The organizers of the debate, the recently renamed Vassar Conservative Libertarian Union (VCLU), informed me a short while ago that none of the 39 Vassar faculty who signed the Open Letter had accepted my debate challenge by the deadline of last night.

Accordingly, I will go to Vassar and give a lecture on The Case for Israel and Academic Freedom, focusing on rebutting the support for the academic boycott of Israel expressed in the Vassar faculty Open Letter.

Here is the revised event poster provided to me by VCLU:

NOTE: Where is the academic integrity of the Vassar Faculty? Is there no one who is smart enough to debate? Or do they just hide behind Professor Shreier's snarky curriculum? There is much more to this... 

Statement by Scholars for Peace in the Middle East (SPME) Regarding Vassar College’s Recent Controversy Involving Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and the International Studies (IS) Travel Class to Israel

from SPME, Scholars for Peace in the Middle East

Boycott Calls Against Israel

Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP): Targeting Israel-Related Activities 07.04.14 Editorial Note, SJP, with chapters on numerous campus, has evolved an effective technique to target Israeli-oriented activities.  Among the tool of choice in the SJP arsenal are heckling, disturbances, protest and others.  According to critics, the tactics are designed to create an atmosphere of fear and intimidation in order to dissuade students from attending such events. The statement of Scholars for Peace in the Middle East  (SPME) describes one such occurrence - at Vassar College.   Members of SJP are highly motivated and easy to mobilize - a characteristic that contrasts with the more low-key supporters of Israel.  College authorities have had a hard time controlling this phenomenon because of adherence to the rules of academic freedom that strives to give both sides of the debate a voice. Unfortunately, SJP intends on propagating only one "narrative," making it virtually impossible to conduct a rational and civilized campus debate.  The real aim of the SJP is to project an image of Israel as an apartheid state deserving to be targeted by BDS.  The "moral clarity" necessary for sustaining the BDS movement cannot tolerate alternative views.   April 1, 2014 PHILADELPHIA, PA—Scholars for Peace in the Middle East (SPME), a grass roots organization of over 30,000 academic members, expresses its great concern with recent events at Vassar College, growing out of a student and faculty response to the “International Studies 110” class (IS) which traveled over Spring break to Israel. The IS trip was taught and led by Vassar professor of Earth Science and Geography, Jill Schneiderman, and associate professor of Greek and Roman Studies, Rachel Friedman. Its educational purpose was to look “at issues of water rights and access to the Jordan River, as well as disparities in water distribution in Palestine and Israel.” Locations visited by students in the class included sites throughout Israeli and Palestinian Authority controlled territories and a Palestinian refugee camp in Bethlehem. Professor Schneiderman’s teaching objective was inclusive. “I was motivated to propose and teach such a course because from my perspective as an earth scientist,” she wrote in a blog, “I understand how daily and future access to clean water in ample supply is one of the key issues about which people in the region fight. It is also a problem on which Arabs, Jews, Jordanians, Palestinians, and Israelis have worked together with integrity and compassion.” For 25 years IS trips had been offered without dispute. Only this year did the issue of the propriety of visiting a specific country—in this case, Israel—become a topic of discussion and condemnation—led by Vassar’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP). SJP is very clear in its opposition to the Jewish state, and they regularly vilify Israel, Zionism, and supporters of Israel; SJP previously constructed a mock security wall on Vassar’s campus. SPME is very concerned that through SJP’s response to the IS course—and the subsequent the meeting held by Vassar’s Committee on Inclusion and Excellence on March 3rd to discuss guidelines for activism at the school in the context of the trip—SJP has created a climate of fear and intimidation that has enveloped the Vassar campus, particularly for Jewish students and faculty, and others who might support Israel. On February 6th, nine members of SJP appeared at the classroom for the IS course and formed a human barricade to impede students from entering the classroom. An SJP leaflet distributed to students described Israel as sponsoring apartheid and asserted that “the indigenous people of Palestine” did not want students going on the trip. Professors Friedman and Schneiderman have noted that the demonstration by SJP was inappropriate because it took place at the classroom itself, misguided because it misrepresented both the purpose and substance of the course, and threatening and intimidating to students enrolled in the class because of the physical presence of the demonstrators and the ululating and heckling that accompanied the protest. When the class did finally begin, protestors continued to shout and students inside the classroom told the professor that they “felt unsafe,” “bullied,” and “harassed.” SPME believes protestors do not have the right to “occupy” classroom spaces and to physically insert themselves between students and faculty in teaching situations at any time. SPME is also troubled by the fact that the SJP’s interference with the conduct and teaching of the course was met, not with sanctions from the administration, but in fact with another opportunity to further denigrate Israel and Israelis in a school-wide public panel held on March 3 by Vassar’s Committee on Inclusion and Excellence to discuss guidelines for activism at the school. In fact, that meeting was arranged primarily because SJP members had complained to the administration. SPME is also concerned that this March 3rd meeting, called an “Open Forum on the Ethics of Student Activism and Protest at Vassar,” which some 200 people attended, was arranged by the administration solely for the purpose of giving SJP members and their supporters on campus additional opportunities to demonize and attempt to delegitimize Israel—in the context of the IS trip—and to repeat misinformation and slanders, rather than to seriously examine the events that took place. The few pro-Israel speakers at the meeting were heckled with finger snapping and made to feel unwelcomed in the discussion, leading Professor Schneiderman to feel that “last night was knocked off-center by a belligerent academic community dedicated to vilifying anyone who dares set foot in Israel,” as she expressed in a blog posting.  KEEP READING! VERY IMPORTANT Also, please see this related article by CLICKING HERE

Another Horrible Vassar College Student Site

Shit White People Say at Vassar College

NOTE: Amazingly Anti Semitic

CLICK HERE TO READ

Its a spinoff from this awful twitter feed:

https://twitter.com/search?q=shitliberalzionistssay&src=typd

Interview with Vassar Professor Joshua Schreier

NOTE: Somehow this guy is in charge of Middle East Studies? Scroll down in the paper (LINK) to read the interview. Thoughts? Mine are not nice, so I'll refrain from sharing for the moment. 

CLICK HERE FOR THE VASSAR CHRONICLE ARTICLE


Other hair raising Vassar Chronicle Links are here:

HERE


HERE

Jewish NYU students targeted by pro-Palestine activists

A pro-Palestinian NYU group targeted Jewish classmates with threatening “eviction” notices that were slid under dorm-room doors in the dead of night, students said Thursday.

“If you do not vacate the premise by midnight on 25 April, 2014 we reserve the right to destroy all remaining belongings. We cannot be held responsible for property or persons remaining inside the premises,” read the notices, which were delivered by members of the Students for Justice in Palestine.

NYU sophomore Hunter Goet, whose room got one of the threatening notices overnight Wednesday, said, “A lot of people felt transgressed upon because they felt threatened by it.”

“They felt like their housing was being threatened. It was a massive source of panic.”

The activist student group targeted Palladium Hall on East 14th Street because it is widely believed to house the most Jewish residents — and even has a special elevator that works without pressing buttons on the Sabbath, reported the Times of Israel. 

CLICK TO KEEP READING

Northeastern Univ allows probationary reinstatement of anti-Israel group

Posted by William A. Jacobson    Tuesday, April 22, 2014 at 9:20pm

Students for Justice in Palestine reinstated on probation for the fall semester, after agreeing to modify its conduct

In early March, Northeastern University temporarily suspended Students for Justice in Palestine after SJP did a “dorm storming” in which it slid anti-Israeli mock eviction notices under 600 dorm room doors in the middle of the night.   SJP already was on probation, and the dorm storming resulted in temporary suspension.

SJP then launched a protest march at which students chanted anti-Israel slogans, including Long Live the Intifada (the bloody Palestinian attacks that killed thousands).  CLICK TO KEEP READING

FIghting BDS Slideshow

Slideshow Fighting BDS

Israel's Biggest Threat On Campus

by Gary Rosenblatt
Jewish Week
March 19, 2004

http://www.thejewishweek.com/top/editcolcontent.php3

It took a long time for the American Jewish community to focus on the Israel-Palestinian battles that have been playing out at universities around the country the last three years. But now that a number of communal organizations are working to bolster advocacy for Israel by helping students counteract pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel demonstrations, rallies and petitions, the most serious threat to the Zionist cause is coming from another corner of the campus: the faculty.

There is no question that the impact of a respected professor teaching a history or political science course and framing the Mideast conflict in ways hostile to Israel is far more lasting, and insidious, than students holding an "End the Occupation" protest on the Quad. Students come and go, but professors remain, shaping the views of their charges year after year. And the sad truth is that a disproportionate number of university faculty members, including Jews, are more sympathetic to the Palestinian cause and often hostile to Israel.

There are numerous reports of professors questioning the legitimacy of the State of Israel, in class, and students feeling too intimidated to challenge them, for fear of ridicule or reduced grades. Academic freedom goes a long way, particularly on traditionally liberal college campuses, where Israel has gone from David to Goliath since the Six-Day War of 1967. The Jewish state is commonly perceived as a brutal occupier of the Palestinian people and stumbling block to Palestinian freedom and statehood. Too few students have the knowledge, or courage, to offer a counter view.

Ed Beck, president of the Susquehanna Institute in Harrisburg, Pa., notes that a history professor at Ohio State University proclaims that the State of Israel is based on "historical mythology." A professor at Vassar turned down a request to join a pro-Israel organization, saying he would not support any group that promotes a "low-grade war of genocide against the Palestinian people." And both of these men are Jews. 

In an effort to address the increasing number of anti-Israel incidents and teachings on college campuses, Beck helped found a group in June 2002 called Scholars for Peace in the Middle East. The organization claims 600 members, from a wide range of academic disciplines and from some 200 universities across the U.S. and in other countries. The goal, Beck says, is to "educate, network and empower" faculty members to be "knowledgeable mentors and authoritative resources" for colleagues, students and others on campus. Click to Keep Reading

Vassar’s miseducation

Israel-bashing is a new major on campus

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Sunday, April 13, 2014, 4:10 AM

Parents who shell out $61,140 a year to send their children to exclusive Vassar College have a right to expect an open and civil setting for learning.

That’s not what the faculty or President Catharine Hill have been offering this year. A rabidly anti-Israel group, Students for Justice in Palestine, has spread hatred and intimidation of students and faculty who support the Jewish state.

While respecting their right to voice their opinions, Hill must lay down the law: Just as members of SJP are free to viciously attack Israel, the rights of others must not be infringed. She has not done so, only issuing weak can’t-we-all-get-along statements, including one on Friday.

This has not been a good year at Vassar. It began when, in January, Hill rejected on behalf of her college a push by a group of academics called the American Studies Association to boycott Israeli universities.

She was absolutely right to refuse to participate in a devious and dishonest campaign to delegitimize the Jewish state, where academic freedom and other basic rights of inquiry are protected.

But her disavowal unleashed furies that Hill has failed to staunchly resist.

On Feb. 6, a handful of hoodlums from SJP blockaded an official Vassar course for students who were preparing to take a college-sponsored trip to Israel — harassing them as they entered the classroom, urging them to drop the class and the trip and making disruptive noises.

Hill should have quickly and sternly condemned the interference. Offenders should have faced discipline for violating the campus code of conduct. Didn’t happen.

On March 1, 39 professors, including the director of Jewish studies, signed a letter attacking Hill for opposing the boycott of Israel. Ironically, the letter said: “We want on our campuses, including here at Vassar, to have open, honest and principled discussion about the situation in Palestine/Israel, without the labeling, targeting and harassing of faculty, students, administrators and staff who disagree.”

That perfectly describes the abusive tactics of the Israel-bashers at Vassar, which have only escalated over time.

At a March 3 campus forum discussing the value of the Israel trip, things got worse. In a room filled with a few hundred people, the Israel-bashers shouted at, bullied and denigrated Jews and Israel supporters.

So bad, so out of bounds, was the behavior directed at Israel supporters that even boycott supporters admitted it was wrong, with one writing in the student newspaper that the forum came “ together in a way that many agreed was unhelpful or intimidating.” But as the fight has gone back and forth in the pages of the paper, Hill has failed to stand strongly for academic freedom and civil debate.

The nonsense has even picked up a nasty racial edge. Some of the anti-Israel activists are students of color and criticism of them is being portrayed as racially motivated. Good grief.

The two professors who led the trip to Israel, and who had their class picketed, wrote in the student paper last week that they and their students asked the dean “for a facilitated discussion between them and SJP members. Despite our repeated requests for such an intervention, none transpired.”

Hill’s three-page letter to the Vassar community on Friday has lots of nice words but — yet again — failed to forcefully condemn those who would shout and intimidate rather than answer civil speech with civil speech.

Clearly, academic freedom and respectful debate exists in Israel. The question is: Does it exist at Vassar?

LINK TO THE DAILY NEWS

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/vassar-miseducation-article-1.1754020#ixzz2ym50vlKc

Anti-Israel “Climate of fear” at Vassar

Posted by William A. Jacobson    Saturday, April 12, 2014 at 1:34pm

NOTE: The negative spotlight keeps shining on Vassar. Why? Because this stuff is happening at Vassar and so far precious little seems to be coming from the administration. 

Our post, Anti-Israel academic boycott turns ugly at Vassar, exhaustively detailed the fury directed by Vassar Students for Justice in Palestine at two Vassar  professors teaching a class that involved travel to Israel and the West Bank. 

That fury erupted in an Open Forum organized by the Vassar administration at which those professors together with Jewish students were heckled, jeered and belittled in such a frenzy that it shocked even Philip Weiss of Mondoweiss website, who himself is anti-Israel and was present at the event.

The accuracy of our reporting was confirmed by the two professors involved, as detailed in The Anti-Israel Cultural Revolution at Vassar.

Now the two professors have written a lengthy column in the Vassar student newspaper detailing their experience.  They specifically address how this incident fits into the perceived climate of fear at Vasssar.  Here is an excerpt (emphasis added):  KEEP READING CLICK HERE

Jonathan Kay: The BDS movement against Israel has accomplished less than nothing

Jonathan Kay | April 4, 2013 | Last Updated: Apr 4 6:41 PM ET
More from Jonathan Kay | @jonkay

NOTE: Another keeper. Extremely well written and succinct. 

The student union at York University in Toronto has voted, by a margin of 18-2, to endorse the “Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions” (BDS) movement against Israel — a gesture that follows on BDS votes by several other Canadian university student unions. The result is entirely symbolic: The student union has no power to compel the university (or any other entity) to boycott Israel — and York, properly, has no plans to do so. Nevertheless, the decision by York’s Federation of Students has succeeded in bringing the whole issue of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions back into the news, if only for a day or two.

And so, before York’s student-federation activists go back to debating issues that actually affect the lives of the students they purport to represent, let’s indulge them by asking the question: What exactly is the state of the anti-Israel BDS movement?

As it happens, there is a web page that exhaustively tracks BDS achievements. It contains such triumphal entries as “Andreas Oberg, Swedish guitarist, cancels gig in Tel Aviv, heeding BDS activists’ appeals,” and “Ten talented young harpists bow out of the International Harp Contest.” But for the most part, the entries consist of gestures similar to the York student-federation vote, which is to say: rhetorical attacks from activist groups, unions and academic organizations with no power to influence trade policy.  Keep Reading Here

TAKE ACTION AGAINST THE SJP NEXT WEEK! READ AND SHARE!

APRIL 16^th - Students for Justice in Palestine | National Day of Action

1)      BACKGROUND: Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) is a student led, campus based organization that is pro-Boycott, Divest, and Sanction (BDS) against Israel. They have more than 80+ local chapters in the United States and are growing. They are behind recent efforts to push universities to divest from Israel this past month (Loyola Marymount, University of Michigan).  On April 16th, SJP is calling for a day of national action on campuses, focused around supporting academic boycotts of Israel and university divestment from Israel. TheSJP notice is also posted below for your reference.

 

This is the first time we have seen a BDS national day of action that is campus focused. Additionally, this past month we have already seenSJP coordinating their BDS efforts in a more sophisticated way than in years past (coordinated campaigns involving multiple chapters that are sharing resolution language, materials etc.).

 

While the BDS movement has organized national days of action in the past without much acclaim or success, we recommend communities be aware of April 16th as a precautionary measure.

2)      ACTION TO TAKE:

·         Alert local Hillel Directors and relevant campus partners to be prepared in the event there are public activities or disturbances and possible inquires from the campus media or the community. 

·         If there is a SJP Chapter on campus, we expect that you will likely face a divestment effort at some point as part of their concerted effort to introduce resolutions on as many campuses as possible.

·         In the event there aren’t any SJP led activities on your campus come April 16th, it is still a good idea to familiarize yourself with divestment activities happening on campuses generally.

·         As always, IAN is available to consult and can provide supplemental materials that can help with your efforts. Below are resources for your review.

 

 

Resources

The Chicago Federation’s – Playbook Tackling the Delegitimization  of Israel on Campus. (Click here to download.)

- IAN's Campus Guide (Click here to download.)

- IAN's "Israel is Not an Apartheid State" fact sheet and talking points (Click here to download.)

-"Rutgers University and a Strategic Approach to Israel Apartheid Week" and "Countering Delegitimization in Philadelphia: A Campus-Community Model" - both from IAN FACTs 2. (Click here to download.)

- The ADL's Handbook for Responding to Anti-Israel Campaigns on College & University Campuses (Click here to download.)

- The David Project’s White Paper: A burning Campus? Rethinking Israel Advocacy at America’s Universities and Colleges (Click to download.)

- The Israel on Campus Coalition's "The Thriving Campus" guide to effective Israel advocacy (Click here to download.)

SJP LINKS:

SJP National Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Students_for_Justice_in_Palestine

SJP National: http://sjpnational.org/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/262604747254265/

Oppose BDS at Cornell University

NOTE: EXCELLENT Petition. Click to follow and add your name. 

We, the undersigned, are members of the Cornell University community who support peace, diversity, justice, and human rights, and strongly oppose the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (“BDS”) Movement.

We want to express our deep concern over Resolution 72 “Resolution Urging Cornell University to Divest from Companies Profiting from Israeli Occupation and Human Rights Violations” that is being discussed by the Student Assembly on Thursday, April 10, 2014.  This resolution is inaccurate and intentionally inflammatory in title and:  CLICK TO KEEP READING

A Paid Operative Behind Campus Divestment

the TIMES OF ISRAEL BLOGS APRIL 9, 2014 by Max Samarov

NOTE: BIG NEWS! Great exposure of the BDS movement. Clip this aricle for your notebooks. This one's going to come in handy. 

The anti-Israel movement on campus would like you to think that divestment is a form of pure, grassroots student activism. But recent developments at Loyola University of Chicago have shown that divestment promoters are deceiving the public regarding the true nature of their campaigns

On Tuesday, April 1st, Students for Justice in Palestine presented the Loyola student government with an anti-Israel divestment resolution. But what they neglected to mention was that they didn’t write the legislation themselves. It turned out that the real author was Dalit Baum, a major leader in the global Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel. Baum is not a student or faculty member of Loyola or any North American university. She is a paid operative working to co-opt student governments into following the BDS Movement’s malicious, anti-Israel agenda. And if she is writing resolutions for one school, it is likely that she is writing them for others as well.

Many in the pro-Israel community suspected that professional BDS activists were behind anti-Israel campaigns on college campuses. Divestment initiatives are often orchestrated at a level that most students would not be able to achieve on their own. And now we have definitive proof that this is not purely grassroots, student-led activism, but rather an industry in which paid operatives play a crucial role. It should be noted that Dalit Baum, the operative in question, actively promotes the “right of return,” which, in the words of President Barack Obama, would, “extinguish Israel as a Jewish state”. This is something that all campus organizations absolutely must be made aware of before they make a decision on whether or not to support anti-Israel divestment campaigns. KEEP READING

Read more: A Paid Operative Behind Campus Divestment | Max Samarov | Ops & Blogs | The Times of Israel http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/campus-anti-israel-campaigns-orchestrated-by-professional-operatives-not-just-students/#ixzz2yLR6JduQ
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