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news report
 Thursday December 19, 2002 14:30 by Alan M. Dershowitz - a professor of law at Harvard
 If a visitor from a far away galaxy were to land at an American or Canadian university and peruse some of the petitions that were circulating around the campus, he would probably come away with the conclusion that the Earth is a peaceful and fair planet with only one villainous nation determined to destroy the peace and to violate human rights. That nation would not be Iraq, Libya,Ethiopia, Russia,China,North Korea or Iran. It would be Israel. There are currently petitions circulating on most North American university campuses that would seek to have universities terminate all investments in companies that do business in or with Israel. There are also petitions asking individual faculty members to boycott scientists and scholars who happen to be Israeli Jews, regardless of their personal views on the Arab-Israeli conflict. There have been efforts, some successful, to prevent Israeli speakers from appearing on college campuses, as recently occurred at Concordia University. The intergalactic visitor would wonder what this pariah nation, Israel, must have done to deserve this unique form of economic capital punishment. If he then went to the library and began to read books and articles about this planet, he would discover that Israel was a vibrant democracy, with freedom of speech, press and religion, that was surrounded by a group of tyrannical and undemocratic regimes, many of which are actively seeking its destruction. He would learn that in Egypt, homosexuals are routinely imprisoned and threatened with execution; that in Jordan suspected terrorists and other opponents of the government are tortured, and that if individualized torture does not work, their relatives are called in and threatened with torture as well; that in Saudi Arabia, women who engage in sex outside of marriage are beheaded; that in Iraq, political opponents are routinely murdered en masse and no dissent is permitted; that in Iran members of religious minorities, such as Baha'is and Jews, are imprisoned and sometimes executed; that in all of these surrounding nations, anti-Semitic material is frequently broadcast on state-sponsored television and radio programs; in Saudi Arabia apartheid is practised against non-Muslims, with signs indicating that Muslims must go to certain areas and non-Muslims to others; that China has occupied Tibet for half a century; that in several African countries women are stoned to death for violating sexual mores; that slavery still exists in some parts of the world; and that genocide has been committed by a number of countries in recent memory. Our curious visitor would wonder why there are no petitions circulating with regard to these human rights violators. Our visitor would be perplexed to hear the excuses made by university professors and students for why they are prepared to delegitimate Israel while remaining silent about the far worse abuses committed by other countries. It is not surprising, therefore, that as responsible and cautious a writer as Andrew Sullivan, formerly editor of The New Republic and now a writer for The New York Times Magazine, has concluded that "fanatical anti-Semitism, as bad or even worse than Hitler's, is now a cultural norm across much of the Middle East and beyond. It's the acrid glue that unites Saddam, Arafat, al-Qaeda, Hezbollah, Iran and the Saudis. They all hate the Jews and want to see them destroyed." Our intergalactic traveller, after learning all of these facts, would wonder what kind of a planet he had landed on. Do we have everything backwards? Do we know the difference between right and wrong? Do our universities teach the truth? These are questions that need asking, lest we become the kind of world the visitor would have experienced had he arrived in Europe during the late 1930s and early 1940s.
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Comments (16 of 16)
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16Robert Fisk:
Let us forget, for a moment, that Fox News's Jerusalem bureau chief is Uri Dan, a friend of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and the author of the preface of the new edition of Sharon's autobiography, which includes a revolting account of the Sabra and Chatila massacre of 1,700 Palestinian civilians and Sharon's innocence in this slaughter.
Then Ted Koppel, one of America's leading news anchormen, announced that it may be a journalist's duty not to reveal events until the military want them revealed in a new war against Iraq.
Can we go any further in journalistic cowardice? Oh yes, we can. ABC television announced, a little while ago, that it knew all about the killing of four al-Qa'ida members by an unmanned "Predator" plane in Yemen but delayed broadcasting the news for four days "at the request of the Pentagon." So now at least we know for whom ABC works.
The Pentagon said that the murdered men – and let's not lose sight of the "murdered" bit, though that's not the word ABC used – were between "two to 20" of the top ranks of al-Qa'ida. Really? So were they numbers two, three, four and five in al-Qa'ida? Or numbers 17,18,19 and 20? Who cares? The press are onside. Don't ask who is resisting forthcoming US censorship of the Iraq war. Ask who is first to climb aboard the bandwagon.
In Canada, the situation is even worse. Canwest, owned by Israel Asper, owns over 130 newspapers in Canada, including 14 city dailies and one of the country's largest papers, the National Post. His "journalists" have attacked colleagues who have deviated from Mr Asper's pro-Israel editorials. As Index on Censorship reported, Bill Marsden, an investigative reporter for the Montreal Gazette has been monitoring Canwest's interference with its own papers. "They do not want any criticism of Israel," he wrote. "We do not run in our newspaper op-ed pieces that express criticism of Israel and what it is doing in the Middle East..."
But now, "Izzy" Asper has written a gutless and repulsive editorial in the Post in which he attacks his own journalists, falsely accusing reporters of "lazy, sloppy or stupid" journalism and being "biased or anti-Semitic". These vile slanders are familiar to any reporter trying to do his work on the ground in the Middle East. They are made even more revolting by inaccuracies.
Mr Asper, for example, claims that my colleague Phil Reeves compared the Israeli killings in Jenin earlier this year – which included a goodly few war crimes (the crushing to death of a man in a wheelchair, for example) – to the "killing fields of Pol Pot". Now Mr Reeves has never mentioned Pol Pot. But Mr Asper wrongly claims that he did.
It gets worse. Mr Asper, whose "lazy, sloppy or stupid" allegations against journalists in reality apply to himself, states – in the address to an Israel Bonds Gala Dinner in Montreal, which formed the basis of his preposterous article – that "in 1917, Britain and the League of Nations declared, with world approval, that a Jewish state would be established in Palestine". Now hold on a moment. The Balfour Declaration of 1917 did not say that a Jewish state would be established. It said that the British government would "view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people." The British refused to use the words "Jewish state".
This may not matter much to lazy writers like Mr Aspen. But when it comes to the League of Nations being involved, we really are into mythology. The League of Nations was created after the First World War – had it existed in 1917, it might have stopped the whole war – and Mr Asper is simply wrong (or, as he might have put it, "lazy, sloppy or stupid") to suggest it existed in 1917.
At no point, of course, does Mr Asper tell us about Israeli occupation or the building of Jewish settlements, for Jews and Jews only, upon Arab land. He talks about "alleged Palestinian refugees" – about as wrongheaded a remark as you can get – and then claims that the corrupt and foolish Yasser Arafat is "one of the world's cruel and most vicious terrorists for the past 30 years". He concluded his speech to Israel's supporters in Montreal with the dangerous request that "you, the public, must take action against the media wrongdoers".
Wrongdoers? Is this far from President Bush's "evildoers"? What in the hell is going on here?
I will tell you. Journalists are being attacked for telling the truth, for trying to tell it how it is. American journalists especially. I urge them to read a remarkable new book published by the New York University Press and edited by John Collins and Ross Glover. It's called Collateral Language and is, in its own words, intended to expose "the tyranny of political rhetoric". Its chapter titles – "Anthrax", "Cowardice", "Evil", "Freedom", Fundamentalism", "Justice", "Terrorism", Vital Interests" and – my favourite – "The War on..." (fill in the missing country) tell it all.
Meanwhile, rest assured, the journalists are getting onside, to tell you the story the government wants you to hear.
Israel receives billions of dollars of funding from the US government, is populated by emigrants from Europe and the US, positions itself as a European country that happens to be in Africa (UEFA caup, Eurovision song contest, etc, etc), and loudly proclaims its status as a liberal democracy.
If those are the groups you want to join, then there are standards you have to meet. Like not shooting stone-throwing children. Like not imposing week-long curfews. Like not firing rockets into areas populated by civilians.
So which is Israel? Is it just another repressive state - in which case the petitions should stop, but so should the funding, the participation in Eurpoean cultural events, and did I mention the funding? Or is it a liberal democracy, in which case the petitions and campaigns must continue, because liberal democracies don't get to treat people the way Israel treats the Palestinians? Time to make up your mind.
US Students act against Israel
by Paul O'Donnell Fri, Sep 13 2002, 10:40am
What about Irish students bodies. Can they follow suit?
National Student Organization Calls for Divestment from Israel
On Sunday, August, 4, 2002, the United States Student Association (USSA), a national organization representing students across the United States, unexpectedly passed a number of strong resolutions on Palestine and the Middle East. Although most of the students hadn’t been expecting to act on the Palestinian issue and the initial policy platform did not contain anything on the conflict, by the end of the conference four very strong resolutions were created calling for divestment from Israel and announcing solidarity with the Palestinian people. Despite some Zionist opposition, all passed overwhelmingly and in some cases unanimously.
Among those who achieved this result were determined groups of students from UCLA, the University of Wisconsin, a small but extremely active local Boulder group all of whom wrote and actively pushed for the resolutions; and If Americans Knew, whose founder, Alison Weir, brought a large amount of written material on the Palestinian issue and, working with Boulder activist Abbas, gave a two-hour workshop on the Palestinian issue.
USSA Policy Platform Resolutions
1.
-USSA condemns and is appalled by the Israeli government's policies toward, and treatment of the Palestinian people. USSA calls for divestment from the state of Israel until full withdrawal from Palestinian territories.
-USSA Expressly abhors the denial of education due to the occupation of Palestinians.
-USSA supports nonviolent resistance movements that promote coalition building between Palestinians and Israeli's who are actively working towards an end to the occupation of Palestinian territories.
-USSA supports a fully sovereign Palestinian State and the Palestinian right to self-determination.
-USSA supports human rights for Palestinian people according to international law and USSA calls for peace, security, and prosperity of all people in the region.
Motion passes Vote: 55-7-4abstain
2.
-USSA strongly opposes the stereotypical and derogatory portrayal of people of Middle Easter and South Asian descent that continue to perpetuate and reinforce negative images (i.e. terrorism), and terminology (i.e. Islamists, barbarians, Axes of "Evil", Camel Jockey, Monsters) of people of Middle Eastern and South Asian Descent, subjecting them to discrimination, vilification, and alienation.
Passes Unanimously
3. USSA strongly opposes a pre-emptive attack and/or military operation in Iraq. Attacking Iraq will cause substantial loss of innocent civilian lives as resulted from the Gulf War.
Passed
Administrative Resolution
1. Whereas: USSA is in solidarity with the Palestinian people and their struggle to attain freedom and self-determination.
Whereas: USSA strives to education students about issues that are directly related to higher education.
Whereas: USSA urges the socially responsible use of public funding in all higher education institutions.
Be it resolved: That the Board of Directors and USSA staff work in coalition with the organizations that advocate and strive towards the struggle of the Palestinian people for sovereignty and liberation.
Be it further resolved: That the board of Directors and the USSA staff create a fact sheet on the growing national student movement on divestment from the state of Israel.
I also remember that in addition to the largest studnet body of the USA supporting a boycott against Israel, that over 500 members of the international Israeli academy supported them.
You were I believe approached to support their petition calling for a peaceful resolution to the present conflict, but you declined to join the largest to date list of Israeli academics and Israeli students.
I also further note that you have three times in the last months spoken in support of Sharon and called for his re-election this forthcoming January 2003.
I thus presume to think you are pro-Sharon and pro-war against not only the Palestinian people but all those of your own Israeli and jewish people who are calling for peace.
None of those on that list I have spoken to deny that human rights and social conditions in the adjoining arab nations in the Levant are lacking and a cuase for concern, but we do not believe that WAR especially the WAR presently being prosecuted by the Israeli state with assistance and tacit direction from Washington will end those conditions.
I reported on this newswire the words of a SOS racism campaigner (A French based anti-racism group) who had toured Jorday earlier this year, the result was a Reclaim the Streets event on May 23rd in front of Sharon´s office.
It thus seems to me that the ordinary people of Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt and Syria support peace and also those of Israel.
My comrades in RTS ISrael are now under arrest.
An illegal arrest. Perhaps you could write to highlight that issue, I recall you have won many highprofile and difficult cases in the past, so thus would not pretend to argue with your crossposr which incidently breaks the guidlelines of ireland.indymedia.org
Prof. Dr, Derchowtiz
Shalom = Saleem.
I am no lawyer but I drank toasts in hebrew for Hanakah.
and I ate cake for Eid.
If I can do so in Barcelona then surely you can in Harvard.
& how is the glove? does it fit now?
I really liked your depiction in the Simpsons.
they got you off to a tea.
Just answer this question:Ireland's National Student Organization Calls for Divestment from Israel.Will it call for divesment from the other countries mentioned in the article?
trott around this site and some one write an article. is the suggestion.
There comes a point when an article's dishonesty and support of racist doctrines makes it racist in and of itself.You should hide it like you hide Holocaust revisionism.
Thank you
I think peer review is doing a more than adequate job of responding to the article. And just like its wrong for defenders of Israel to see anti-semitism in every attack on Israel's policies, it would be wrong for us to see racism in every defence of Israel.
Prof Dr. D
the author of the above piece also became the first academic in the West to argue
in TIME magazine for torture.
that´s right he said torture of Al Qaeda suspects could be justified.
why do you ONLY delegitimate Israel while remaining silent about the far worse abuses committed by other countries.That's the question the Dr. from Harvard asks.
Can you answer the question or not?
[And please tel me what is racist in his article]
I answered the question above
they have been circulating for time.
maybe he hasn´t signed any of them.
Anti-semitism is a big problem and is evil.
but it means anti jewish and anti arab.
both arab and jew are semitic peoples.
all bad things the academic list as being bad are bad and are fought by the good.
the academic himself is on record as arguing for torture.
so he is a cheat.
he is a cheat for his famous work in protecting the rich against justice.
he is a cheat in twisting arguments of his own students.
and he is a liar.
and he serves his the cause of Judaism badly by such lying and cheating.
Judaism teaches fraternal love.
Judaism can not be a used an excuse for the behaviour of the Isreali state.
Those who want to use the words of Torah and those of Moses to justify "an eye for an eye" and "tooth for tooth" are counting badly.
The Palestinian people have lost more "eyes" and more "teeth".
The academic is rightly outside of his fellow religionist circle.
The academic is a cheat and liar and traitor to Judaism.
Shalom ve gedullah ve gevurah olahim
Amen.
does not = Saleem inch´Allah
but it is not it´s opposite.
This academic is only famous for being a cheat and liar.
can you please remove the original Alan M. Dershowitz post. It's available *widely*. This link to a google search shows at least 10 hits. This "newswire" article is not a "passionate, accurate and radical" piece of news, it's reproduced SPAM being sent out to indymedias in an attempt to destroy them.
http://www.google.com/search?q=If+a+visitor+from+a+far+away+galaxy+were+to+land+at+an+American+or+Canadian+university+and+peruse+some+of+the+petitions+that+were+circulating+around+the+campus%2C+he+would+probably+come+away+with+the+conclusion+
The rule is that _crossposted_ articles will be deleted, not just widely available articles. If some guy goes to a bunch of different indymedias and posts the same article on each one, it'll be deleted. If a bunch of different people inependently post the same article to a bunch of indymedias, it'll stay up. Its annoying sometimes, but crossposts are easy to identify, while 'widely available' is very open to interpretation...
Some of us who have already landed might ask why Prof. Dershowitz assumes that all the persons who read this “interpretation” of the situation in the region are complete idiots with absolutely no knowledge of the history of the Middle East conflict. His statement that the Zionists have offered to withdraw from occupied land in exchange for peace is untrue, on the contrary they continue to build illegal “settlements” and ethnically cleanse the local Palestinian population. The Israeli record on human rights is appalling e.g. torture, detention without trial, exile and of course, war crimes that the Nazis would be proud of e.g. Deir Yassin, Tantura, Qana and Sabra Shatila and these are only a few examples. On the RTE news tonight, I saw the father of an eleven year old Palestinian girl holding the body of his daughter who was shot by the “army” of Mr. Dershowitz’s “vibrant democracy”. His “vibrant democracy” displays some of the characteristics of the Nazi regime; two examples would be the acquisition of terrority by force and ethnic cleansing. Of course there are other states in the region who have appalling human rights records as well but to support the right of the Palestinian people to statehood is not in any way an endorsement of other regimes in the area. Incidentally some of these states are “friends” and “allies” of his government. Prof. Dershowitz also neglected (in his list of countries who violate human rights) to include his own country, he may not remember Vietnam, Chile, El Salvador, and East Timor.
BTW, I (on this occasion) agree with Ray’s view, the post SHOULD NOT be deleted.
Talk about distorting the real facts of the situation. This article is purely and heavily biased in its representation of Jewish rights and jewish doctrines.
Please Mr. Doroshowitz, quite distorting facts and provide a more balanced article.