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Palestine
Media Watch
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| Fighting pro-Israel intimidation tactics | ||
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PMWATCH -- October 8, 2002 --
The American Jewish Committee took an ad in the New York Times
yesterday, October 7, 2002, in which it decried what it calls "intimidation on campuses" against Jewish supporters
of Israel. The ad was signed by hundreds of university presidents.
Below is a press release from the AJC.
Anyone who has been involved in the arduous, and sometimes dangerous task of
promoting Palestinian rights here in the United States, could not have reacted
other than be struck by the utter Chutzpah of this petition.
Indeed, the level of intimidation perpetrated BY pro-Israel* groups AGAINST ANYONE
who dares to speak up for Palestinian rights is at least one order of magnitude
more intense than anything that has been directed against these groups.
Pro-Israel groups have routinely engaged in the following:
(1) Boycotting newspapers, flooding them with phone calls and
letters, hurtling epithets and accusations such as "Nazi" and "anti-
Semitic" at them, with the express intent to bend them to their will
no matter what. Any paper that dares to show the human face of
Palestinian suffering, or dares to show Israel engaging in any dirty
act, is automatically branded anti-Semite and an intense
intimidation campaign to choke off information about Palestinian
suffering is undertaken. The result is a timid, self-censoring
media that threads extremely carefully whenever it covers the Middle
East conflict.
For more, see:
(2) Intensely organizing against Congressmen who have stood for
Palestinian rights; pro-Israel groups have for decades mobilized to
muzzle the faintest voice of dissent in Congress, doing all that is
possible to oust anyone who does not toe the usual line - the latest
such efforts were the campaigns against Earl Hilliard of Alabama and
Cynthia McKinney in Georgia. The result is an astonishingly cowed
Congress where true debate about US Mideast policy is virulally non-
existent.
For more, see:
(3) Threatening and planning violence against Palestinians and
Muslims, such as the arrest on December, 2001, of JDL Chiarman Irv
Rubin for plotting to bomb a mosque.
For more, see:
In reaction to the 1985 murder of Alex Odeh, director of the
American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, Irv Rubin said "[he]
got what he deserved." See:
http://www.jdl.org/information/faq.shtml
(4) Firing editors and teachers who dare to speak up for Palestinian
rights.
For more see:
Another similar example is denying writer and comedian Ray Hanania
the stage because Jackie Mason, an active supporter of Israel,
objected to having the Palestinian open for his act. To justify and
explain Mason's decision, Jyll Rosenfeld, Mason's manager, said:
"It's not exactly like he's just an Arab-American. This guy's a
Palestinian."
(5) Establishing university watch dog groups to black list and
intimidate professors who dare to speak up for Palestinian rights or
criticize Israeli policies, complete with profiles, dossiers, and a
forum for students to tell on their professors.
Those who qualify for a spot on the blacklist are "American
scholars… [who] reject the views of most Americans and the enduring
policies of the U.S. government about the Middle East" -- i.e.,
people who deviate in their opinions and views from the majority and disagreeing with the US government.
For more, see: http://www.campus-watch.org/
(6) Engaging in intensive spamming and identity theft campaigns to
obstruct cyber communication between pro-Palestinians. Pro-
Palestinian activists are seeing hundreds and sometimes thousands of
emails sent on their behalf to fellow activists, thus creating
jammed mailboxes, hundreds of bouncing emails, and a lot of
headaches. The desired effect is clear: to make communication
between supporters of Palestinian rights as painful as possible.
For more, see:
These are only a few example illustrating the attitude of pro-
Israeli groups: they feel that ANYTHING justifies their cause, that
in the pursuit of supporting Israel no matter what, EVERYTHING is
Kohser, that NOTHING is unfair or immoral.
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!
Enough victimizing others and then turning around and accusing the
very victims of being the aggressors.
If you have been victim, or know of someone who has been victim, of
attacks by pro-Israeli groups against supporters of Palestinian
rights, please drop us a note. We are compiling as extensive
a body of public evidence as possible to go along with a petition
that we will pass along to academicians and others to call for an
end to all intimidation tactics by pro-Israel groups aimed
at stiffling debate and killing free speech on the conflict.
It's time to fight back. It's time to mobilize. The consequences
of stiffled debate about the Middle East are all out there for us to
see and lament over. Look at where we are today: on the
brink of war. Would we be here today if the media were free and
open and was able to report the facts, as such, untamed? Would we
be here today if Congress were not beaten into total submission,
taking its cues about what to say from pro-Israel lobby groups?
Please send your note to by filling the interface below and hitting
"send".
Palestine Media Watch
(610) 993 - 0608
NOTE: * By "pro-Israel groups" we mean here groups that unconditionally
support the policies of the Israeli government, and especially
those of the right wing Likud party. Needless to say, we do not
equate being pro-Israeli with being pro-official Israel. Nor
do we suggest that being pro-Palestinian means that one is anti-
Israel.
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http://www.ajc.org/InTheMedia/PressReleases.asp?did=655 College Presidents Across the U.S. Decry Intimidation on Campuses October 4, 2002 - NEW YORK -- Hundreds of college and university presidents across the country are signing on to a statement decrying intimidation on campuses. The statement was initiated by several current and former college presidents, in the wake of a series of incidents on campuses last spring in which Jewish students were targeted. Other incidents have continued to occur in the beginning of the fall semester. The original letter distributed to presidents came from James O. Freedman, former president of Dartmouth College; H. Patrick Swygert, president of Howard University; Stephen Joel Trachtenberg, president of George Washington University; Frank H.T. Rhodes, president emeritus of Cornell University; Theodore M. Hesburgh, president emeritus of the University of Notre Dame; and, Jehuda Reinharz, president of Brandeis University. The American Jewish Committee, this country's pioneer human relations organization, which shares the concerns of the more than 300 university and college presidents who have signed the statement to date, is facilitating distribution of the letter. The full list of presidents who signed will be released on Monday, October 7. The text of the college and university presidents' statement on intimidation-free campuses follows: "In the current period of worldwide political turmoil that threatens to damage one of our country's greatest treasures – colleges and universities – we commit ourselves to academic integrity in two ways. We will maintain academic standards in the classroom and we will sustain an intimidation-free campus. These two concepts are at the core of our profession. "Our classrooms will be open to all students, and classroom discussions must be based on sound ideas. Our campus debates will be conducted without threats, taunts, or intimidation. We will take appropriate steps to insure these standards. In doing so, we uphold the best of American democratic principles. "We are concerned that recent examples of classroom and on-campus debate have crossed the line into intimidation and hatred, neither of which have any place on university campuses. "In the past few months, students who are Jewish or supporters of Israel's right to exist – Zionists – have received death threats and threats of violence. Property connected to Jewish organizations has been defaced or destroyed. Posters and websites displaying libelous information or images have been widely circulated, creating an atmosphere of intimidation. "These practices and others, directed against any person, group or cause, will not be tolerated on campuses. All instances will be investigated and acted upon so that the campus will remain devoted to ideas based on rational consideration. "We call on the American public and all members of the academic community to join us." ### |