Another Night Of Hatred And Terrorism Endorsement at Case Western

I posted earlier about my recent protest against an on-campus fundraiser for the Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund. I believe that in it I hit the most substantive points about why I object to the organization and fundraising efforts on their behelf. So I won’t speak about it in any more detail here.

What I will say is that I was quite troubled to discover that there is, this upcoming weekend, a second event that is raising money for the PCRF, called Liber18. As with last time, the Middle Eastern Cultural Association and the University Programs Board, the latter being the best funded student group on campus, are involved. This is troubling, particularly in light of a pledge I got from a UPB member to demand a refund for the last event and a pledge to not ever sponsor such events in the future. But what makes it worse is the additional sponsors. This is the inaugural event of Students For Justice In Palestine. As for where they go wrong, Wendy Webb wrote a great piece on the subject back in 2002. And, as she says it far more articulately and masterfully than I could hope to, I would suggest you read her article, rather than rely on me to crassly paraphrase it. Also on the list of co-sponsors: Case Democrats, the Hallinan Project for Peace and Social Justice, and the school’s own Office of Multicultural Affairs.

Support from the Dhimmicrats falls short of surprising, and isn’t anywhere close to as alarming or revealing as the other two groups. The Hallinan Project is run by Alice Bach, a tenured professor, known across campus for her incredible anti-semitism and her hatred of all things Israel, its destruction excluded. She has used this position to spread exactly that message, sponsoring two major anti-Israel talks in the past 14 months. And she tends to silence any opposition, so that no honest and critical voice can be heard, most likely because her arguments can’t stand up in the face of facts and reason. Now, this isn’t surprising, but it ought to tell you exactly what the event stands for, and the kind of people who support it.

The fact that an office of the school has attached itself to this is both surprising and alarming. It leaves me wondering if my tuition money might better be spent elsewhere, if the school sees it as reasonable to help fund decidedly hateful activity that will only cultivate the newly emerging culture of anti-semitism on campus. I knew that Jews were a tiny minority here, but I didn’t think that meant we’d be treated as second class citizens. It would seem that I was wrong, as proven beyond a reasonable doubt by OMA’s role in Liber18.

Now that we’re clear on who is putting on this event, it seems only fit to look at the details of the event. To attract roaming students, they have struck deals with a local food business, allowing them to offer free food. That is a good marketing ploy, but not what proves the biased nature of the event. Performing there is the group the N.O.M.A.D.S., who believe that “Zionism won’t yield” (Moot) and believe that they’ve seen “colonization one too many times” (Pollution). Their lyrics speak for themselves, and they don’t speak very highly of them either. They will be joined by the Philistines, who believe that the Palestinians are “living under occupation” and feel that call for the freeing of Palestinian terrorists in Israeli jails with songs like Free the P. Last among those performing is Zeinab Shaath Schwen, who I honestly cannot claim to be familiar with. But if the first two acts are any indicator of Zeinab’s work, I think the hatred of Israel and the Jewish people will be the dominant theme there too.

Of course, the biggest part of the event, and by far the most vile and pernicious element of it, are the invited speakers. There are two confirmed speakers, Anna Baltzer and Alison Weir, as well as rumors that there will be a third speaker, Noura Erakat.

Let us start with Anna. She runs her own site, whose main function seems to be the promotion of her book Witness in Palestine: A Jewish American Woman in the Occupied Territories. She makes frequent criticism of the conditions to which the Palestinians are subject, and uses it as a platform to attack Israel, forgetting the treatment of Jews in Arab nations and the arrival of the Intifada that forced such conditions upon the land. And of course, she’s a card carrying member of the International Solidarity Movement, which has praised suicide bombers as noble. Clearly, she is out of touch with reality, and a bigot trying to stay in an underserved lime light.

Next up is Alison Weir. She runs the website If Americans Knew. It would like readers to believe that it provides information that is “complete, accurate, and undistorted by conscious or unconscious bias….” But this is clearly not the case. The Anti-Defamation League lists it as an anti-Israel organization. And the substance of case was quickly and effortlessly torn apart by CAMERA. So she isn’t trustworthy, and she isn’t the balanced moderate she claims to be. Her purpose is quite clear, as is her affinity for bullshit.

Last, we arrive at Noura Erakat, who may or may not be coming to speak. She is the spokeswoman for the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation. Their choice of name is plenty revealing, and leaves one less inclined to take the group seriously. But, when they go so far as to compare the situation there with apartheid South Africa, there can be no doubt as to their insanity. The organization is twisted, and represented a warped point of view that is held only by those with no knowledge of history or theology, and no grasp of reality. And, as the spokeswoman for this group, she is merely an amplified embodiment of that.

Naturally, I and many others are greatly sickened by this program. And as such, I am in the process of working to put together a counter-event that presents a more favorable, more honest picture of Israel and the Middle East. It is too rare these days to see Israel portrayed positively on college campuses in the West, and I intend to help begin changing that. Look for more details in an upcoming post.

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