Immediately after Hampshire College announced they had divested from the Israeli occupation, there was another story that Professor Alan Dershowitz had made threatening phone calls to students who had worked to pass the divestment. This seemed like an odd story - how would Dershowitz get student's private phone numbers? And while he might be expected to create a media circus out of this, would he really try to harass and intimidate students?
Ends up that he would. Below is a written description of the events of the morning of Thursday, February 12, the morning of the divestment announcement. This was written by Brian Van Slyke and it also mentions another Hampshire student, Matan Cohen. Cohen is an Israeli activist who has done amazing work to protest the separation wall in the West Bank. I know of Cohen because he was shot in the face by the Israeli military at a nonviolent protest in the village of Bil'in. Sounds like Dershowitz is familiar with him as well.
Brian Van Slyke:
It was Thursday morning and we had just broken to the press. Already we were terrified, mind you we were about to take on one of the world's most powerful political machines. What's more is that we were a little unprepared, as a local newspaper was coming out with the story a day early and so we had to go all out sooner than we expected (lest the media pick up on the story for a full day without our voices out there).
I woke up a little later than I had planned on. I knew we were about to get flooded with phone calls from the media and I didn't want them to wake me up and not be ready for their questions. Already people were running around the house, pacing with nervousness, on the phone with the media and arguing in Hebrew, or in the bathroom about to lose their breakfast.
Soon, everyone left but Matan and I. I came out of my room after responding to some e-mails from reporters and Matan came up to me:
"Brian, I just got off the phone with Alan Dershowitz."
I was still a little tired, and I didn't quite get it. "Wait, who?"
"Alan Dershowitz"
This woke me up. "What did he say?"
Matan smiled, "He said: I should have known you were involved. Then he went on to say he's going to organize a boycott of me and of the college."
"Oh." We knew we might be hearing from Dershowitz, but certainly not only after an hour or so of being out to the press. That was a little intimidating. "How did he get your number?" I asked. Matan didn't know.
About 20 minutes later I got a call from Andrew, another SJPer. "Listen, Brian, I just got a call from Alan Dershowitz. He's threatening to organize an international divestment campaign of Hampshire."
"What does that even mean?" I asked. Andrew didn't know.
A little bit later, I got a phone call. I thought it was my first reporter. I grabbed the cell phone, started pacing, and answered.
"Hello, Brian?"
"Yes."
"Hi, this is Professor Alan Dershowitz. I'm calling to find out if Hampshire College divested from Israel."
My heart sank. I was not ready for this. I stumbled: "I don't know, you should read our press release. Which I also think says we divested from the Israeli occupation, not Israel."
"I have read your press release. And I'm asking you."
"Okay, well look, I don't think I'm going to talk to you about this."
"Wh-"
"Listen, I'm not going to talk to you. Sorry, bye." Click. I hung up the phone. I called up the stairs to Matan:
"Matan... I think I just did something bad. I think I just hung up on Alan Dershowitz."
"Good," Matan replied.
I heard a better one. Hours after the press release Alan Dershowitz burst into the home of the College President and asked which of his children he wanted to save. In the end he killed the entire family and raped the Dean.
I don't blame these kids for being scared. Dershowitz has done serious damage to people a lot more powerful than them. Clearly Dersh's power is the power to get rich endowers to stop endowing. And since we no longer have a mainstream media in North America willing to take on the scandal of this form of blackmail, he can be almost certain of getting away with it again and again.
This falls below even what I thought Dershowitz would do. What a scumbag.
Poor babies.
I'm pea green with envy. What do I need to do in order to be awakened by a call from Professor Dershowitz? Knife my ex-wife and some poor soul who happens by with her lost reading glasses? Murder my trust fund baby/wife using insulin? ….and, of course, have millions of dollars available to spend on my legal defense. Come on Dersh, wake my day!
I want to know how to organize a boycott of Matan. Am I supposed to avoid looking at him in the dining commons?
Alan? Could you clarify?
SOG (bill), you should go straight round there and blow their heads off with your Uzi. no more pussyfooting!
*RE: "SOG (bill), you should go straight round there and blow their heads off with your Uzi. no more pussyfooting!"
MY CONTRIBUTION: Perhaps Richard and his big Israeli weapon can ride shotgun! (LOL – This is meant in jest. I abhor violence. Obviously Rowan was being sarcastic.)
I am so happy to see all the recent articles about the Students for Justice in Palestine at Hampshire College. I am the president of Sooners for Peace in Palestine at the University of Oklahoma and it is so inspiring to see that student movements can be so successful. Keep it up SJP!
Our SJP group has been doing high visibility protests but most the Op-Eds in the student paper seem to support the Gaza slaughter. Not only that, the online comments seems to keep breaking down and only posting about a third of the comments. A majority of these comments support justice for Palestinians. Those supporting Palestinians seem more articualte and well-informed (my opinion) and the pro-Zionist posts are often largely ad hominem as well as full of misinformation. Those in support of Israel seem to be from Hasbara talking points with at least one a verbatim post of a comment that appeared here at Mondoweiss.
They are getting desperate. Let's keep up the pressure. BS and spin only goes so far (yet berel, Thom & Suzanne keep slinging it like monkeys flinging poo).
Where's my popcorn…this is promising to be fun!
I don't know if this story is pure bull, or Dershowitz is playing with their minds. Either way, pretty funny.
I specialise in follow-up and eventual disproof of Jewish propaganda at Niqnaq – here's a sample:
seized iranian ship not carrying arms
February 14, 2009 by niqnaq
Iranian ship carried munitions supplies
AP via JPost, Feb 13 2009
A ship suspected of carrying arms from Iran to Gaza had no weaponry aboard but carried material for making munitions, Cyprus said Friday. Cypriot authorities began unloading the cargo Friday. The government said it breached a UN ban on Iranian arms exports. Defense Minister Costas Papacostas said more than 90 containers loaded with “raw material that could be used in the manufacture of munitions” would be stored at a naval base. The Cypriot-flagged Monchegorsk has anchored off the port of Limassol since it arrived Jan 29 under suspicion from US officials of ferrying weapons from Iran to Hamas in Gaza. The US military said it found artillery shells and other arms aboard the ship after stopping it last month in the Red Sea. But it could not legally detain the ship, which continued on to Cyprus. On Wednesday, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman denied reports that the ship was carrying Iranian weapons destined for the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. Spokesman Hassan Qashqavi said that Cypriot authorities had inquired about the ship’s cargo but accusations that weapons were on board were baseless.
In the unlikely event of there being any hebrew-speakers here who appreciate the utility of what I do at Niqnaq, they can repay my efforts, by adding english translations (in the comments) to the many Israeli rock videos I also post there (and which I genuinely like, and want to understand, hence my sporadic attempts to learn hebrew).
Weiss: "how would Dershowitz get student's private phone numbers?"
Van Slyke couldn't be that hard to find since he was was expecting a slew of calls that day from the media. Maybe he just put his phone number on the press release as the contact person. The Hampshire College public information office no doubt had his number. Perhaps Dershowitz just called information. Also, there are friends of Israel on many campuses who keep tabs on anti-Israel activity. Dershowitz could have just called one at Hampshire College and asked him to look up Van Slyke's number from their master anti-Israel list. The Anti-Defamation League probably had names. Mossad keeps tabs too.
Not really worth it. A little lesson in markets assholes. The Hampshire college endowment isn't big enough to effect anything. And even if it were all it does is drive down a stock price to the point where somebody else will step in .
But what is interesting is that a college where it seems like liberalism reigns the lucky lads from Hamas are the big heros and what was the phrase in German, "The Jews are our misfortune"
Dershowitz is now stalking college students, so he's clearly lost it. It's not hard to picture him turning up at Hampshire College dorms with a large axe and a wild stare in eyes, battering down the doors. “Heeeeeere’s Dershie!” Hopefully he'll end up frozen in a snow bank, clinging to his Star of David medallion.
Maybe you'll end up there also. Clutching your swastika armband.
You too Ed, Same snow bank.
Here's one paranoid dude!
"and asked him to look up Van Slyke's number from their master anti-Israel list. The Anti-Defamation League probably had names. Mossad keeps tabs too."
Posted by: Duscany | February 14, 2009 at 12:42 AM
By the way, we know your name, adress, significant others, bank account info, debts, where you work, etc…. If you ever become more than an annoying little pipsqueak antisemite, we will ruin you. Get under the covers and stay there.
How many others on this blog, like Rowan, Martin, Eva, and Kelly are as loony toons as Duscany?
Not really worth it. A little lesson in markets assholes. The Hampshire college endowment isn't big enough to effect anything. And even if it were all it does is drive down a stock price to the point where somebody else will step in.
That's hardly the point. Even divestment by an institution with a much larger endowment would have a negligible effect on the markets. Hampshire's decision is important because of its symbolic value, potentially acting as a catalyst for broader collective action. Since the analogy to Selma has been made, Rosa Parks refusal to accept racism in the South would have been completely ineffectual had it not spurred others on to commit similar acts.
What I find interesting is that of all the countries in the world. All of them. Israel is the ONE country that Hampshire college deems worthy of destruction. And make no mistake. That's what this statement means. Why is that. I'll give you one example. The United States has killed way more Moslems than Israel has while sustaining proportional casualties that are dwarfed by Israel's.
Why not divest from the United States. Why not from England. Why not from India. And in fact why not from Saudi Arabia. It can be one reason and one reason only. Anti-semitism. Same has always. No matter how much you discount it and couch your motives in niceties.
Sword, it is impossible to incorporate a condemnation of all global wrongs into an effective grass roots campaign. You are in effect arguing that the Hampshire movement declare that, as Larry Summers succinctly put it, that the world's a shitty place, shrug their shoulders, and move on. I support divestment, but it is not the only cause I support with my time and money. And I agree with your identification of Saudi Arabia as an issue deserving attention.
I specialise in follow-up and eventual disproof of Jewish propaganda at Niqnaq"
Translation: "I'm an unemployed insomniac with a lot of time on my hands and a lot of hate in my heart. Why can't I get no respect?"
@ SOG–the guy who likes to call concerned citizens "assholes."
Why pick on poor little Israel, eternally defending itself against world anti-semitism?
All political action groups focus on their respective pet peeves. The Israel Lobby is an example, as is the world-wide zionist organization, with its respective branches in western countries, along with zionist fellow-travelers in top regime slots in those countries. If an American
student wants to zero in on the bankrupt USA's enabling Israel to continue its zio-fascist plundering and destructive lebensraum policy solely to benefit Israel hegemony over the nations in its region with the single most significant world commodity, oil, that targeting of Israeli said Israeli policy is merely targeting the most important wrong, considered from a combined USA strategic and humanitarian POV.
Here's the problem:
Israel is now heavily funded by our taxes (over $1 trillion spent so far per a study published in the Christian Science Monitor) and protected by a US hegemony that prevents the International community from forcing Israel to comply with human rights and International law (Israel is in violations of 65 UN Security Council Resolutions and over 200 UN General Assembly Resolution and shielded from many others by use of 35 US Vetoes).
For what? Shouldn't the stimulus package have included dropping our heavily disproportionate foreign aid to Israel? And why do we
guarantee oil to Israel no matter our own energy situation?
From a geo-political world view, combined with a world humanitarian view, and an energy access view, a good argument may be made that it is more in the
best interests of the USA to have a special relationship with Iran than with Israel.
A more balanced handling of USA foreign policy in the Middle East would negate the current world view of the USA as THE Giant HYPOCRITE, not to mention influence the Arab despot governments to aid their own people by eliminating the standard deflection
of righteous citizens in their own countries by scape coating Israel–a practice mirroring what tyrannical nobility did in the western middle ages.
Here, here, Citizen. Another beneficial aspect of such a revised foreign policy is that it would dilute Russian influence, not to mention
take the appealing feet out of Al Quaida.
"I specialise in follow-up and eventual disproof of Jewish propaganda at Niqnaq." Translation: "I'm an unemployed insomniac with a lot of time on my hands and a lot of hate in my heart. Why can't I get no respect?" Posted by: Suzanne | February 14, 2009 at 08:45 AM
– I plead guilty to insomnia.
Israel is a lightning rod and the first line of defense against Islamic fundamentalism. And in fact is the primary target. But lets take the subsidy issue for example. Aid to Israel only picked up after the Camp[ David accords. Has it did with Egypt. What has it cost us to maintain a presence in Saudi Arabia all those years. Iraq, South Korea. Nato. And I'm not impressed by UN Security Council anything. The UN is a failed experiment that is in the thrall of the third world. And aid to Israel is spent in the United States. All I'm saying is that this is hypocrisy run amuck.
'Why not divest from the United States. Why not from England.' — Sword of Gidget
Why not, indeed? Foreigners probably have sold all the U.S. shares they wanted to, taking the market down about 50 percent in the process. But the ultimate divestment will be dumping the U.S. dollar as an international reserve currency. When that happens, the financially wrecked U.S. will have to close down its worldwide empire and beat a hasty retreat from meddling in the Middle East. Pulling the plug on the ossified Egyptian dictatorship, the kleptocratic Saudi royalty, and the sadistic Israeli apartheid state will be a great day for pauperized Americans, as they finally and properly turn inward to look after their own affairs for a change.
By the way, post no. 1 above, signed with my name, is not mine.
Where's my popcorn…this is promising to be fun!
I don't know if this story is pure bull, or Dershowitz is playing with their minds. Either way, pretty funny.>>>
Messing with young people's minds is entertainment for you, Suzanne? That says a lot about you.
"The militant Zionists are our misfortune."
Ever since the occupation of Iraq I have been calling for sanctions, a boycott and the freezing of assets of the US by the rest of the world. With the US trying to sell several trillion dollars worth of Treasuries to give to the finance industry as a bailout, it looks like the financial crisis will finally end up forcing the markets to do what the rest of the world could not do morally or politically. When foreigners no longer finance US debt, then disinvestment in Israel will become inevitable, as will the reduction in economic and military aid to the Israeli killing machine.
Dershowitz is a maniacal bully.
Where is the mainstream media on this?
I know, I know, in the pocket of the Israel Lobby.
However, eventually the truth will out. I do MY part by emailing links like this to my friends, and they to their friends, etc. etc.
Mountain goat –your manipulative guilt trip doesn't fly, hon. Sympathy for jihadist elements says A LOT about you. That's who is really playing with these kids' minds. And you support it.
What a disgrace.
Jihadist elements are playing with these kids' minds?
I think Zionist elements are playing with your mind, hon.
The barbarians are getting nervous. Dr. Dershowitz calling students, however traumatic for them, is amusing. The students are in my prayers.
To return to my point, Suzanne, I think this illustrates that we have a perfect right to regard AP, and Reuters, as hostile media entities – look how they walk the original story (now proved false) slowly backwards, taking little baby steps, paraphrasing and misleading:
Iranian ship carried munitions supplies – AP, Feb 13 2009 – A ship suspected of carrying arms from Iran to Gaza had no weaponry aboard but carried material for making munitions, Cyprus said Friday. Defense Minister Costas Papacostas said more than 90 containers loaded with “raw material that could be used in the manufacture of munitions”.
Had no munitions, only had gun powder, empty catridges, lead bullet points, presses, and scales. All needed for making munitions.
I was mislead. I thought there were nuclear weapons, tamks, helocopters and aircraft cariers in there.
That may very well happen, but let me tell you one thing. The United States has been a force for good in this world. Live in a world with the Chinese on top. Nobody is going to like that one.
even if there were any statements out there saying that (except yours, which doesn't count for much), you still have to show the damn thing was going to Gaza, when its original destination was Latakia, in Syria:
Two US warships escort Iranian ship carrying arms for Hamas out through Suez Canal – DEBKAfile, Jan 23 2009 – DEBKAfile’s military sources report that a US Navy Coast Guard team this week boarded an Iranian arms ship flying a Cypriot flag in the Red Sea and found weapons in its hold. This was the first time a US warship had ever intercepted an Iranian vessel in international water. The incident activated the MoU the former US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice signed with Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni a week ago, on actions to halt the flow of Iranian arms to Hamas as part of the Gaza ceasefire. The Iranian ship’s captain showed the US boarding team documents recording the Syrian port of Latakia as its cargo’s destination. DEBKAfile reports that both US and Israeli intelligence are certain the arms were bound for Hamas…
Either Rowan is missing half his brain cells or he's used to dealing with people who lost all theirs from crystal meth.
Weapons– or weapons material=same difference. Duh! (Jesus, I can't believe we even have to point that out!)
As for Destination Syria…lol! THAT doesn't sound off alarms, right?
Semantics might work ok in coffee house debates…not so much in the real world. If you could fix that little flaw, people might take you more seriously, Row-Row. haha!
(Jesus, I can't believe we even have to point that out!)
haha! to you too, Suzanne – all this time, you had me thinking you were Jewish!
SOG is stealing Jim Haygood's real identity again. His favorite real identities to steal are Jim Haygood's and Charlie Keating's. His theft is back a lot in the last couple of day. Eva quickly saw that and pointed it out in once instance. BTW, SOG has also stolen Eva's real identity in the past, as I pointed out a few weeks ago. All the regulars can spot SOG's mendacious real ID theft easily. This note is for the blog passer-byes and irregulars.
To point out the difference, this comment attributed to Jim Haygood is by the imposter, SOG, real name Bill Pearlman:
"I heard a better one. Hours after the press release Alan Dershowitz burst into the home of the College President and asked which of his children he wanted to save. In the end he killed the entire family and raped the Dean."
And this one on this same thread, is by the real Jim Haygood:
"'Why not divest from the United States. Why not from England.' — Sword of Gidget
Why not, indeed? Foreigners probably have sold all the U.S. shares they wanted to, taking the market down about 50 percent in the process. But the ultimate divestment will be dumping the U.S. dollar as an international reserve currency. When that happens, the financially wrecked U.S. will have to close down its worldwide empire and beat a hasty retreat from meddling in the Middle East. Pulling the plug on the ossified Egyptian dictatorship, the kleptocratic Saudi royalty, and the sadistic Israeli apartheid state will be a great day for pauperized Americans, as they finally and properly turn inward to look after their own affairs for a change.
By the way, post no. 1 above, signed with my name, is not mine."
"I know of Cohen because he was shot in the face by the Israeli military at a nonviolent protest"
Except the actual report showed that it was a violent protest wherein left wing anarchists were throwing stones at security forces. At an earlier demonstration, a soldier lost an eye from such an attack. No known apology ever came from Cohen.
Also for the passer-byes on this blog and newcomers: SOG=Sword Of Gideon/Sword Of Gideonthepoint.
Further, Phil has stated on this blog a policy of banning those who use words like "cunt" or "Pollack bitch."
He feels such words prevent, rather than enhance serious discussion of issues he raises in his posts.
@ Chris Berel
Please gives us a reference for the actual report. Also, who made the report? An IDF spokesman?
left wing anarchists? you mean, 'anarchists against the wall':
link to awalls.org
/>
Alice, Weiss provided the link.
@SOG
Israel is a lightning rod because it is the front line advancing fundamentalist zionism, an ethnocentric fascist state. And in fact is the primary aggressor enabled by the world's superpower. Aid to Israel and to Egypt (to play nice with Israel against the wishes of most of its citizens) takes up the bulk of ALL foreign aid to other countries, including the total of aid to whole continents. Israel has no oil. In fact, we guarantee oil to Israel in case its supply, e.g., through Egypt) gets cut off. Saudi Arabia has a despicable government. But it has lots of oil, which no nation can do without. That's the rational for our presence in Saudi Arabia all those years. South Korea is a defense against nuclear and insular North Korea. The UN validated the state of Israel in the first place, but now that the UN is trying to live up to its mandate by helping Palestine too, the zionists disparage it. If the UN is viewed as a failed experiment, than what is Israel? The third world is called that for a good reason. Enough said there. And aid to Israel is spent in the United States–on bribing US congressmen to stick to the AIPAC agenda, and also on more weapons, for which, Israel alone among the countries gets to compete directly with US weapon manufacturers (25%, and with recycled US tax dollars). All I'm saying is that this is hypocrisy run amuck.
Re: "Except the actual report showed that it was a violent protest wherein left wing anarchists were throwing stones at security forces. At an earlier demonstration, a soldier lost an eye from such an attack. No known apology ever came from Cohen."–Chris Berel
My original question was, who made the report, the IDF?
Turns out it was the Israeli police. LOL. Should we give them the benefit of the doubt? Would we if the event happened during the Civil Rights era in the
USA, or the apartheid era in S Africa?
Let's look beyond Chris Berel's hasbara funneling:
The article says an army commander (IDF, Israeli police report, what's the difference?) said that he didn't want the situation to turn violent, and he tried to calm things down, saying not to shoot. But a Border Police is also heard saying 'shoot everyone one of them with a rubber bullet.' When the Israeli protester was shot, he said he was standing with three people, within around a 20 meter range from the Israeli Border Police force. He also said he and his fellow protesters told the Israeli Border Police "Don't shoot, we are not threatening you and we are not endangering you, but they opened fire, and also directed it to the head, violating all of their rules of engagement.
The protester, Cohen, also said, "…there is no connection between violence of soldiers against Right-wing demonstrators in Amona and Left-wing demonstrator. In our demonstrations, they shoot live bullets in order to kill. In Right-wing demonstrations, no gas or shock grenades have ever been thrown. This is violence which is many times larger. The feeling is our blood is cheap. But violence which takes place when the life of a police officer is not under threat should be condemned, it doesn't matter from which side it occurs."
The report also states that three soldiers and Border Police officers were injured by rocks thrown at them. One police officer was taken to hospital. Remember, this report was a police report. What do you think the Chicago police reports stated during the turmoil over the
protests in Grant Park in the late 1960's? How about Alabama or Mississipi PD reports during, say 1963 or '64? How about Nazi police
reports?
Again, the report: ACCORDING TO POLICE, two disturbances of the peace took place on Friday in the Ramallah area, as part of protests against the construction of the security fence. Hundreds of Palestinians, Left-wing activists, and foreigners took part in the disturbances, whom entered a closed military zone. Demonstrators threw rocks at security forces, who responded with crowd dispersal means.
And again, without any support for saying so, ACCORDING TO POLICE, A few months ago, a soldier lost his left eye in similar protests after a rock was thrown at him by demonstrators.
Well, we know one thing for sure, this leftist protester has a bad eye due to de facto rules of engagement, as distinguished from the paper rules. M L King et al would know this, but not Chris Berel, who's lived in a protective USA goy cocoon his whole life. At least, when he was not living in Israel.
Alice, did your parents teach you how to lie or did you go to school to learn?
But of course, for the supporters of Islamic Fascism, anything that disparges Jews must be gospel. You certainly recall the Sophie's Choice episode your lying sack of shit friends spread?