Comments on: ‘New Republic’ attacks ADL for ‘inquisition’ against California professor who likened Gaza to Warsaw ghetto

By: Todd

Todd — Mon, 04 May 2009 04:09:24 +0000

Is it still acceptable to call someone a fascist?

By: JES49

JES49 — Sun, 03 May 2009 08:22:22 +0000

Groc, you appear to have missed my point. Amona was an illegal Jewish settlement in the West Bank that was evacuated by Israeli security forces. The photo is of that evacuation; the horse is indeed ridden by an Israeli mounted police officer;but the people being arrested are all Israeli Jews!

By: JES49

JES49 — Sun, 03 May 2009 08:17:24 +0000

Genocide isn't merely the physical annihilation of a people – it's also the cultural, social, economic etc. Sorry Stevie. Genocide is not defined, under the United Nations Convention for the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide quite explicitly as: "any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such: killing members of the group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life, calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; [and] forcibly transferring children of the group to another group." There's nothing in that definition about destruction of "cultural, social, economic" aspects. And certainly no substantiation for charges of genocide in the present case where Israel has killed fewer that 5,000 Palestinians (most of them combatants) over nearly a decade.

By: mondo

mondo — Sat, 02 May 2009 22:19:42 +0000

That is not their intent. There are quotes available all over the net that prove otherwise. Every ISraeli PM has made speeches saying that all Palestinians need to be wiped out. It amazes me how many times I have seen Israel condemn other countries for quotes they supposedly gave, i.e. "wipe Israel off the map", when the truth is that Israel has made those exact quotes many times over the decades..

By: mondo

mondo — Sat, 02 May 2009 22:16:14 +0000

That is ridiculous. There are 4.5 million Palestinians that have been displaced, and many tens of thousands that have been killed. And not only in Palestine, but in Iraq and Lebanon as well. Grumpy Old Man, you are out of touch.

By: George Washington

George Washington — Sat, 02 May 2009 16:33:06 +0000

George Washington on Israel "A passionate attachment of one nation for another produces a variety of evils. Sympathy for the favorite nation, facilitating the illusion of an imaginary common interest in cases where no real common interest exists, and infusing into one the enmities of the other, betrays the former into a participation in the quarrels and wars of the latter without adequate inducement or justification." ~George Washington Farewell Address "The nation which indulges toward another habitual hatred or habitual fondness is in some degree a slave. It is a slave to its animosity or to its affection, either of which is sufficient to lead it astray from its duty and its interests." ~ George Washington "Peace, commerce and honest friendship with all nations; entangling alliances with none." ~ Thomas Jefferson

By: Thom

Thom — Fri, 01 May 2009 20:17:16 +0000

There is a masked man holding a knife in the room with you, you know he intends to cut you with it. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? a) Good b) Bad c) Not enough information Answer is "C". Is the man a crazed killer in your bedroom, or is he a surgeon in an operating room? Context is all important. Same with these pictures. The professor is making a cock and bull analogy. "Nazis carried guns, the Allied forces carried guns, therefore the Allied forces were the moral equivalents of the Nazis". Or if you prefer a more extreme example of the professor's "logic": "The Nazis wore underwear, you wear underwear, therefore you are just like the Nazis". If the professor knows that his analogy is bull, then he is a liar, if he thinks it is a legitimate comparison, then he is an idiot. Either way he shouldn't be teaching. Quite apart from the anti-Semitism implied if he knows his analogy is bull. That said, if he has tenure he shouldn't be fired for this. Academic freedom includes the freedom to make moronic statements. Of course, if you are going to piss people off, make sure you don't have any skeletons that can get you in trouble once people start scrutinizing you (see Ward Churchill and Blair Hornstein, both of whom got nailed for plagiarism after doing unrelated things that pissed people off).

By: DICKERSON3870

DICKERSON3870 — Fri, 01 May 2009 19:27:41 +0000

HAARETZ: "American Jewish professor probed after comparing Israel to Nazis" - By Cnaan Liphshiz and News Agencies, 04/30/09 (EXCERPT) "A Jewish professor from California who is under review for disseminating material that equates Israelis to Nazis has petitioned other scholars to protest a probe of his actions, an Israel advocacy group has told Haaretz. The University of California, Santa Barbara, is investigating allegations of improper conduct and anti-Semitism against Sociology professor William I. Robinson for sending an e-mail to 80 of his students in January that contained photos of Jews killed by the Nazis and similar photos of Palestinians killed in the recent Israeli offensive in Gaza. "The bylaws of the school forbid using classrooms for as platforms for dogmas that have nothing whatsoever to do with the material being studied," StandWithUs founder Roz Rothstein from Los Angeles said while on a visit to Israel. The founder of the group whose members filed the complaint against Robinson, the U.S.-based Israel advocacy student group StandWithUs, told Haaretz that the e-mail used the terms "concentration camp" and "genocide" when referring to Gaza. The complaint against Robinson was filed by two students. Lia Yaiger, one of the pair, is a graduate of StandWithUs' Emerson Fellowship program, which trains students in campuses in "response techniques" to anti-Israel efforts on campus...." ENTIRE ARTICLE - " target="_blank">" target="_blank">http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1082136.html

By: JES49

JES49 — Fri, 01 May 2009 16:53:48 +0000

And I think highly of you to Stevie!!!!

By: JES49

JES49 — Fri, 01 May 2009 16:52:37 +0000

First of all, I don't think that the boy was throwing a rock at a tank. He was throwing a rock at police officers. This is quite evident from the photo. Secondly, I don't know if the IDF soldiers were justified in "scaring the boy witless". I do think, however, that the key difference is that chances are that the Jewish boy did not survive, while the Palestinian kid was probably sent home to his parents the same day. As far as portraying the similarities, well chocholate and shit are both brown, but you wouldn't want to eat shit.