The following letter speaks for itself. It is from the President of Tel Aviv University and is posted on a new site that monitors "anti-Israel" expression on campuses within Israel. There is a campaign, evidently, to expel a Palestinian student at Tel Aviv who has supported the BDS campaign. The president's calm response should serve as a model to the rest of Israeli society, and to American schools plagued by outside harassment. Imagine if UC Santa Barbara had told Abe Foxman just to go away?
OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT
May 3, 2009
Dear Governors and Friends,
I am writing to you to clarify the University’s standing on the recent debateregarding Omar Barghouti, a Tel Aviv University master’s student of philosophy.
Mr. Barghouti is leading an international campaign to boycott Israeli universities,
despite being a student at one of those universities.
A university campus should be a place that encourages and tolerates free speech,no matter how offensive the expressed opinions may be to the majority of
students and faculty at that institution, or indeed to the public at large.
Our university has adopted a similar policy also in previous occasions.
Moreover, if legal issues are involved, a university does not have the authority to
prosecute individuals. Rather, such a matter should be pursued by the State
through legal channels.
In response, therefore, to the petition calling for the expulsion of Mr. Barghouti
that will be submitted to us in the near future, the University cannot and will not
expel this student based on his political views or actions. He will be assessed only
on the basis of his academic achievements and excellence.
I thank you for your time, and look forward to seeing many of you in May at the
annual Board of Governors meeting.
Yours faithfully,Prof. Zvi Galil
OMG! You've discovered that Israel protects free speech. What an epiphany. The next time this kind of thing is allowed in an Arab country, let us know. I won't be holding my breath.
I note the implicit assumption that Israel is under no obligation to be any better than the worst randomly picked countries that come to mind.
It is irrelevant whether it occurs in an Arab country or not. It is relevant that it occurs in Israel because we Americans are tired of the growing threat to our security and well-being that our involuntary subsidization of your campaign of ethnic cleansing and colonization poses to us, and a little civilizing in Israel might contribute to ending it. Kudos to Professor Galil for having the courage to do the right thing.
As always, the forces of Islamic fascism will attempt to use the very freedoms afforded them to enslave society. Their acolytes, such as the founders of this site, will assist them whenever possible.
The Arab countries suck in terms of free speech, and I never read anyone in the MSM or on this USA samizdat blog say otherwise. So, what's your point? My point is that we rubber-stamp Israeli policy that flies in the face of USA values, and spend USA tax dollars and lives in behalf Israel, right or wrong–and that our Fourth Estate and our congress are whores of Israel at the American common man's expense. What do you think of the fact that average Americans have to go to Israeli web news web sites to learn what their own government is doing at their expense whenever Israel is involved? I won't be holding my breath for an honest answer.
Everywhere except AIPAC-ADL controlled USA.
RE: "taxed2death" MY COMMENT: Does that mean you are commenting from the 'beyond'? Heaven or Hell? Broadband or dial-up?
Fascism. It does not mean what you think it means. Look it up in a dictionary. If you are feeling really adventurous, you could look up 'acolyte', too.
Don't hold your breath. Please. But that has nothing to do with honesty. No American lives are being expended for Israel. As for the news, you must go to other countries papers to find out what is actually happeniong.
Rowan wins. "I note the implicit assumption that Israel is under no obligation to be any better than the worst randomly picked countries that come to mind." Perfect summary of the Zionist trolls knee-jerk reactions to the crimes of their pariah State.
Don't confuse your life with the life of a young redneck in the US Army or Marines. You know, those guys you wouldn't let your daughter near? You can include the cops who answer to your 9-11 call from your gated community in neoNazi USAland.
When's the last time you read in the MSM that our proxy governments in arab lands are despicable tyrannies?
"The only democracy in the MIddle East."
The university president has no back-bone. This student should not only be kicked out of the university, but be tried for treason by the state. Last year, I should note, a Hebrew University president offered the same "vote of confidence" to an Arab student. This student was caught planning to build a bomb from chemicals he'd stolen from the University campus.
I should note that if Omar Barghouti is studying for a masters in Philosophy then he is an Israeli citizen, not a Palestinian. Also Arabs in the PA do not have a country. Their "nation" of refugees are spread out among Lebanese, Egypt and Jordan. They are a problematic group of people everywhere.
Let it be noted that Rachel is comparing the dissent of Omar Barhouti with a plan by another student to build a bomb to kill people. For Zionists of Rachel's caliber, criticizing Israel is just as bad as planning to blow people up. Should I be tried for treason when I (an American citizen) say that my country is waging illegal wars for the benefit of the corporate elite? Ridiculous. Being complicit in your nations criminal actions doesn't make you a noble citizen. Omar Barghouti isn't a traitor. Israeli citizens who are willing to speak the truth about apartheid against the Palestinians are the true patriots. Those of you who apologize and defend war crimes are the traitors. Also, can you please give us a reference to the incident regarding the student who was planning to build a bomb.
They are only a "problematic group of people" if you are a Zionist who believes that Jewish exceptionalism gives you more of a right to land than its native inhabitants. Whether you think the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza own their land or not is totally irrelevant. The highest judicial body in the world, the ICJ, says that the West Bank and Gaza (+ East Jerusalem) are Palestinian land. The areas that Israel controls in the West Bank (the settlements) are referred to by the ICJ as 'Occupied Palestinian Territories'. The only reason they don't have a state yet is because Israel still believes it can steal more land.
Actually, the better watchgog group that exposes and outs Israeli extremist anti-Israel "academics is here: http://www.isracampus.org.il
MIMICKING G.W. BUSH: "We don't support despicable tyrannies!" SERIOUS ANSWER: Assuming that you are referring to the MSM in this country, perhaps a dozen years ago in the "Christian Science Monitor".