The following piece concerning the recent censorship at Goucher College is by a sophomore at the school who does not wish to reveal her name because of family and professional concerns.
I believe we can learn a lot from viewing the campus as a microcosm of Israel’s actions towards the Palestinians. At my college, Goucher, a small liberal arts school on the outskirts of Baltimore, a recent event on human rights featuring Josh Ruebner, Rabbi Brian Walt, and Palestinian professor Zahi Khamis, was not allowed to be advertised or held in a public space simply because it concerned the Palestinian people.
What other class presentation has not been allowed to proceed as directed by the students here at Goucher? Could one imagine a “pro-Israel” event being held in a classroom with only word-of-mouth advertising simply because President Sanford Ungar deemed it not “balanced” enough?
Hillel is the largest organization on the Goucher campus. As an international organization, it has a large amount of funding, enough to give students significant scholarships for worthy activities. I know of no no college Arab organization with similar funding. This means that although there is a large minority of Jewish students on campus, a few students from this minority are able to gather enough influence to make sure that a certain event is not open to the public.
Who benefits from such a decision? Certainly not the few Arab and Muslim students at the school, or the lone Palestinian professor. These people represent the real minority. Yet, in every interaction I have observed or taken part in with them, the Arab/Muslim students have been extremely respectful and willing to listen to opposing views, including those that go against their own basic liberties.
Yet, students on campus find it “inappropriate” when Zahi Khamis, the Palestinian Arabic professor at Goucher discusses his own experiences in occupied Palestine. Indeed, some students are actively trying to get him kicked off of campus. It has even been suggested to an ardent Zionist student (by other Zionist students) that he stop talking with Professor Khamis! Why would this be suggested unless the Zionist students have something to fear from what he is saying? Once again, it is like the behavior of the Jewish Israelis towards the Palestinians, albeit at a much gentler level; anything the Palestinians say is regarded as, to put it as a young pro-Israel protester said, “the laughing-stock of the world.”
Another similarity between the politics of campus life and those of Israel/Palestine is that blatant fabrications are used by both Zionist populations to support their cause. When a small group put together a memorial for the victims of the Gaza massacre this past spring, other students claimed there was a sign denying the Nazi holocaust. While it is my belief that only a traumatized person would see such a thing when it clearly was not on the campus, this changed the subject, during our first campus dialogue, to that of Jewish trauma. Jewish Israelis engage in the same behavior on a regular basis, even going so far as to use the Nazi holocaust as an excuse for their behavior in the U.N.!
While the overwhelming funding, silencing of the victims’ viewpoints, and subject changing to Jewish feelings are disturbing in a campus environment, students do not have to deal with conditions Palestinians must contend with: the checkpoints, water shortages, and periodic outbursts of violence by one of the most powerful militaries in the world. Thus, the only way I know to deal with these issues is by consistently redirecting the subject to the suffering of the Palestinian people and their right to self-determination. Perhaps by pointing out to an open-eared audience the similarities between the actions of students and that of their Israeli counterparts, we can drive home the point that if they were in the ethical right, such techniques would not have to be resorted to.
YES, we must weep for those poor IDF soldiers inside that massive tank–that undernourished teenage Palestinian kid with the skinny arms has a stone in his hand–look, he’s threatening us–load a heavy duty USA gift into the breech. Ready, aim, fire!
Here’s the scoop, local USA college or Israel:
link to stateofnature.org
As has been in the case in the past, American colleges will be the leading edge of the curve when it comes to social and political reform. No torrent of Zionist influence-peddling is going to destroy that — maybe delay it, but that’s all.
And the leadership of progressive Jewish professors and people like Brian Walt will be crucial in making this possible.
It’s evidence of the degree to which this subject is warped when a rabbi is silenced because Jews declare themselves offended by his views.
Like I keep saying: the biggest threat any Jewish American has to face in the modern world, are Zionists.
Just as I am consistently redirecting the subject to the suffering of the American people and their our right to self-determination
I agree. The Palestinians would be better off if Americans set things straight at home.
There will be no American right to self-determination until there is a major grassroots effort to enact campaign finance reform; till then, plutocracy will rule
our elected and also therefore appointed representatives. How can you hit the average American on the head with the baseball bat of truth? What will it take?
The combo of a third war with Iran and a double dip depression caused by
the same old Wall Street cycles?
Witty actually made this comment on another thread but the comparison to Professor Khamis struck me as relevant here, so I figured I’d do him a favor and post the snippet here as well. I’m sure he won’t mind.
And here is his original post — because, you know, it’s all about context, people!
You might want to mention Max Planck?
link to books.google.com
the money quote:
that old, Right makes might thingy — Israel lost that appreciation when it got so militarily powerful that it did not have to worry about pissing off the rest of the ethical world.
Israel has been very good at finding new Western host partners; now it is looking to the East, anticipating the future as it milks the present.
O/T:
Shocking story:
Argentina – Proof that Israel is no refuge from anti-Semitism – Tony Greenstein.
A must-read!
You know, the more I find out about the history of South America that isn’t taught in US schools, the more I understand how practical their perspective on world affairs really is.
And yet Israel was a socialist nation!
Anyone else reminded of Witty? The so-called liberal’s behavior on the Friedman thread is the perfect metaphor to compliment this and bring the point home.
chaos4700 – i appreciate your efforts, but it seems you are nothing more then a reaction to witty… you might want to reconsider how important you’d like to make witty especially in so far as how you go about defining yourself…
Of course. Witty plays in our small rebellious pond as the lone dissenter while he ignores that the ocean is his; in short, he plays lone rebel here while being in substance
a bootlicker for the boss.
You can be sure Witty and his kids will not pay the price for what he advocates.
The price is to be paid by your kids.
Oh yeah – a socialist nation built on Imperial colonialism…lol Gimme a break, it is just like it is here, socialist for the few.
thanks for sharing that… more then meets the eye… better keep that buried!!!
RE: “Argentina – Proof that Israel is no refuge from anti-Semitism” – Greenstein
A MARGINALLY RELATED ARTICE: “Citing Insecurity and Politics, Jews Leave Venezuela in Droves’ – Forward.com, 11/16/09
By Jasmina Kelemen (JTA) – (excerpt) Esther Benchimol de Roffe arrived in Venezuela as a young bride, leaving northern Morocco more than 50 years ago to meet her groom in a prosperous foreign land. Her husband built a successful business, and Benchimol raised a family and earned international renown singing the ancient Sephardic hymns she had learned as a child in Alcazarquivir.
“It was a rich country, there were a lot of opportunities,” reminisces Benchimol, now 74. “We had many friends and there was a real sense of brotherhood. There was never any racism against us.”
Her tone changes, however, when she considers the futures of her grandchildren and whether she would advise them to stay in Venezuela.
“I wouldn’t stay here,” Benchimol said. “I’m speaking as a grandmother.”
It’s not anti-Semitism that causes her to fear daily for the safety of her grandchildren but “la inseguridad” – insecurity. It’s the general term Venezuelans use now to describe an unrelenting crime wave that cuts across the country’s economically and ideologically polarized society. The issue consistently tops surveys here as Venezuelans’ biggest concern.
Venezuelan Jews say that as citizens of a state in which many have lost faith in the police and judicial system, they fear random violence far more than anti-Semitic attacks. They consistently cite crime as their main source of anxiety…
ENTIRE ARTICE – link to forward.com
There go Zionist talking points nos. 4 and 5: “Israel is a a safe haven for all Jews”; “Jews all over the world are safer as a result of Israel’s existence.”
Should be entitled: “Israeli leaders acquiesced in the torturing of Argentine Jews.”
thanks gmeyers.
Persons prone to motion sickness should avoid the Jewish Virtual Library history of Jews in Argentina — back and forth, back and forth….
Articles referenced in Tony Greenstein’s blog managed to bash Catholics in the process of bashing Jews. So I went to JVL looking to see how it was that Iran is blamed for bombing in Argentina, even though trials have been obviously rigged — bought and paid for “justice.”
I was interested in how Iran would fare because, well, because I’m fascinated by the Iran-Israel relationship, and because, in a twist on Greenstein’s thesis, that Israel abandoned Argentine Jews in favor of selling weapons to the junta, it is very much the case that Israel was extremely friendly with Iran as long as Israel could raid Iran’s treasury by selling Iran weaponry– weapons that frequently were rigged to fail or were of inferior quality.
Shortly after the end of the Iraq war on Iran in 1988, Iran extracted Israel’s hand from Iran’s cookie jar. In 1992, Ephraim Sneh, whose task as deputy defense minister was to find ways to get other nations to finance Israel’s militarization, lit upon the thesis that “Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons; this is a threat to Israel!!!!”
Sneh sold his Wolfowitzian proposal to Knesset, AIPAC came on board the propaganda barge, and the result is the anti-Iranian demonization campaign that has gone on for at least 17 years, that has caused American companies to be forced to walk away from beneficial trade relations and contracts with Iran at the behest of Israel/AIPAC.
You’ll forgive me, Ms. Greenstein, if I’m less concerned that Israel abandons its own in favor of supplying weapons.
I’m more concerned about Israel raiding and raping the US taxpayers — those whom you claim have reduced Israel to its satrap — and I’m more concerned that Israel has so thoroughly internalized some sick right to behave maliciously that it will not stop its attack on Iran until the entire region is in flames.
RE: “…a few students from this minority are able to gather enough influence to make sure that a certain event is not open to the public…” – Goucher student
SEE: “The Trial of Israel’s Campus Critics”, by David Theo Goldberg and Saree Makdisi, SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2009 TIKKUN MAGAZINE
(excerpt) …It is an extraordinary fact that no fewer than thirty-three distinct organizations-including AIPAC, the Zionist Organization of America, the American Jewish Congress, and the Jewish National Fund-are gathered together today as members or affiliates of the Israel on Campus Coalition. The coalition is an overwhelmingly powerful presence on American college campuses for which there is simply no equivalent on the Palestinian or Arab side. Its self-proclaimed mission is not merely to monitor our colleges and universities. That, after all, is the commitment of Campus Watch, which was started by pro-Israel activists in 2002. It is, rather (and in its own words), to generate “a pro-active, pro-Israel agenda on campus.” There is, accordingly, disproportionate and unbalanced intervention on campuses across the country by a coalition of well-funded organizations, who have no time for — and even less interest in — the niceties of intellectual exchange and academic process. Insinuation, accusation, and defamation have become the weapons of first resort to respond to argument and criticism directed at Israeli policies. As far as these outside pressure groups (and their campus representatives) are concerned, the intellectual and academic price that the scholarly community pays as a result of this kind of intervention amounts to little more than collateral damage…
ENTIRE EXCELLENT ARTICLE – link to tikkun.org
Exellent article indeed!
Question for anonymous at Gaucher. I understand 35% of your classmates are Jewish. How many do you think would oppose President Ungar’s censorship of this event? My guess is that the support for his action is coming mostly from off campus with maybe a few diehard Zionist students.
Uh oh. Great ready for a fresh onslaught of IDF-funded hasbara (i.e., funded by American taxpayers, that is).
link to haaretz.com
Save this link!
Repeat and Rinse. Repeat and rinse. All over the web.
“Hillel is the largest organization on the Goucher campus. As an international organization, it has a large amount of funding, enough to give students significant scholarships for worthy activities.”
I go to a college an hour’s drive north from Goucher and belong to Hillel. The only funding we get is from the Student Senate. We get no funding from the greater Hillel organization.
…and so what’s your point? That you don’t go to Groucher College?
No. My point is that the “funding” the writer was talking about does not exist.
You know what Michael, do you think people do not exist that know the funding structure? Hillel is served by The Associated, what was their take in 2009?
“That growth has come primarily from two sources: our Endowment Program which encompasses both our endowment funds and an extensive Philanthropic Fund and Supporting Foundation program; and from a new Resource Development program that targets strategic needs in the community and raises additional resources from individuals, funds and foundations. Combined, these two resources account for almost 19 percent or $8.37 million of the $43.6 million raised this year.
Additional dollars are provided to THE ASSOCIATED through our Funds and Foundations program in which donors put aside charitable dollars until they are ready to make gifts. In 2008, participants in our Funds and Foundations program recommended more than $37.6 million in grants to charity.”
THE ASSOCIATED
Where do the dollars go?
Local
Baltimore Board of Rabbis
50,000
Baltimore Hebrew Institute (BHI) at Towson University
792,000
Baltimore Jewish Council
882,143
Center for Community Engagement and Leadership
1,122,710
Center for Jewish Education
1,362,667
CHAI: Comprehensive Housing Assistance, Inc.
398,612
CHAI Senior Housing
188,252
CHANA: Counseling, Helpline and Aid Network for Abused Women
469,376
Community Fund for Israel Experiences
118,156
Council on Jewish Day School Education
2,100,000
Darrell D. Friedman Institute for Professional Development
334,102
Day School Match Initiative
1,000,000
Edward A. Myerberg Senior Center
110,000
Facilities-related Expenses
1,441,428
Hebrew Burial and Social Services Society
1,500
Hebrew Free Loan Association
22,538
Hillel of Greater Baltimore
1,552,351
Hillel-University of Maryland College Park
140,007
Jewish Cemetery Association
7,000
Jewish Community Center of Greater Baltimore
3,108,218
Jewish Community Services
6,039,697
Jewish Community Services Financial Assistance
800,000
Jewish Education Enhancement Projects
110,509
Jewish Federation of Howard County
353,000
Jewish Legal Services
3,952
Jewish Museum of Maryland
269,510
Learning Differences Initiative
200,000
Levindale Northwest Senior Shuttle
47,000
Local Agency Marketing
36,000
Maryland/Israel Development Center
181,670
Meals on Wheels
120,000
Operation Housewarming
50,000
Overnight Jewish Campership Initiative
100,000
Pearlstone Conference and Retreat Center
190,957
PJ Library
125,000
Program of Incentives for Jewish Educators
142,645
Scholarship Fund for New Immigrants
20,000
Senior Friendly Neighborhoods
421,000
Total Local Allocations
$24,412,000
I am well aware of the Associated. I’m Associated, are you? or so the saying goes. But as a former VP of a Hillel chapter at a college of VP, I’m telling you, that the only sources of funding are from the Student Senate, and a little from parents. Occasionally we get funding from an organization for funding other events. We don’t get funding from the Associated.
Yeah, sorry to have to keep beating a dead horse but, as you said… YOU DO NOT GO TO GROUCHER COLLEGE. If you’re little org isn’t getting subsidized, then I dare say you’re going to a college that’s simply too obscure.
Okay, my brother goes to Goucher. My grandma went there too. I don’t know how they get funding, but I know how the chapter at my college does. My school isn’t that obscure. It’s small like Goucher, except we have an engineering department. And how do you know how the Goucher Hillel gets its funding? Just because the Associated supports Hillel, it doesn’t mean that local chapters get any of it. The Student Senate is still the only major and constant source of funding we ever get at my school.
Yes, you are the “Goucher” expert Michael, I notice how you wait long periods to respond, think I would not see you’re posts? You are also the mandate expert…lol Just like you are sometimes a student, and at other times telling me how it was “back in the day” (60′s and 70′s) with how we Jews treated blacks – sounds like blacksploitation to me, anyhow make up your mind about who you are…
The fact of the matter is that Hillel pours money into activities at Goucher, and there are dozens of ancillary support mechanisms. My recommendation is that you do not try to prove your point, because you will make a fool out of yourself (just like you did about the Mandate period, and our relationship to black people).
“I notice how you wait long periods to respond, think I would not see you’re posts?”
> Wow. You know, we have lives and responsibilities. It’s almost finals week!
I’m not a Goucher student, but I have eaten at their cafeteria (much better than my school’s) several times and walked past the lounge where Hillel meets. And also, I’m a former VP of a Hillel chapter less than an hour from Goucher.
So what if Hillel pours money into activities at Goucher? Technically, at my chapter, it is the school that gives Hillel money to use for school activities.
“telling me how it was “back in the day” (60’s and 70’s) with how we Jews treated blacks – sounds like blacksploitation to me, anyhow make up your mind about who you are…”
Are you talking about the civil rights movement? How is that exploitation?
“just like you did about the Mandate period, and our relationship to black people”
What the hell are you talking about? Are you talking about the neighborhood playground I helped construct? When did I talk about the Mandate period?
Well then, your whole argument was for naught. Thanks for playing!
I get really tired of the horse shit from you Michael.
I dare say we haven’t heard the end of it from him, but still. Kudos on bringing facts back into the equation, by the way, VR.
Yeah Chaos4700, he really pissed me off with his bullshit about the Mandate Period…
I don’t think it’s a far cry for me to say that I sympathize with you.
Tired? I barely comment here.
No, you’re right Micheal, comment all you like.
This does not include:
The Center for Funds & Foundations
Planned Giving
Corporate Partnerships (Ageon, McCormick, M&T Bank, Wachovia, T. Rowe Price, Alex Cooper, Commercial Settlement Services, Rainbow Printing, Reznick Group, Schaefer Construction Management, etc.)
Stock Transfer Provided by:
Merrill Lynch
Morgan Stanley
Smith Barney – County
UBS Financial Services
M&T Securities
Smith Barney – City
E-Trade
Charles Schwab
Ordering Of Gift Cards, E-Cards
Ashkelon Partnership, Odessa, Israel Bonds…
70.6% Annual Campaign ($30.8 mil)
n 5.4% Resource Development ($2.346 mil)
n 13.8% Endowment Income ($ 6.024 mil)
n 1.4% United Way ($ 610,000)
n 4.2% Program Fees ($1.835 mil)
n 4.6% Other ($2.033 mil)
2009 REPORT TO THE COMMUNITY
Don’t forget the Make An Impact For Young Adults
MAKE AN IMPACT
“Here at Goucher, Hillel strives to engage everyone. Come and discover the dynamic and vibrant Jewish community where students learn, celebrate, and grow. Goucher Hillel is dedicated to providing our students with meaningful Jewish experiences by developing personal relationships and facilitating diverse options for Jewish campus life. We offer a wide range of programming, including community service activities, alternative spring breaks, Israel trips and Israel awareness activities, social events, educational programs, speakers and panels, as well as opportunities for student leadership training.
Student-run programs of Goucher Hillel are an integral part of campus life and serve undergraduates as well as community members. Take some time to look through our website and discover more about what our organization has to offer. Like Abraham and Sarah’s tent, our doors are always open if you would like to drop by and say hello. We are located in the Weinberg Jewish Student Center in Stimson Hall.”
Just think of it, all of this for a relative pittance! And you thought what Jesus did with some loaves a fish was big deal…
GOUCHER COLLEGE HILLEL
Good for you, VR.
where is vlad the impaler???