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Oppose Terrorism Supporters’ Conference at Ohio State University
Congress.org ^ | 10/26/03 | netWMD

Posted on 10/25/2003 9:34:23 PM PDT by stevejackson

Please read text below and TAKE ACTION:

This November 7th - 9th, OSU will permit a conference to be held by the Palestinian Solidarity Movement (PSM), the American student arm of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM).

PSM/ISM claims to be a peace activist organization in support of the Palestinian people, but it has a record of voicing hate-speech, intimidating Jewish students, supporting and enabling terrorism and, in one instance, of destroying property.

The Columbus PSM website states, “As a solidarity movement, it is not our place to dictate the strategies or tactics adopted by the Palestinian people in their struggle for liberation.” [1] This, of course, is PSM-speak for “We support Palestinian terrorism.” Ohio Governor Taft has publicly stated that he “deplores” the Columbus PSM rhetoric, noting that their website “condones terrorism and should be opposed by civilized people everywhere.” [2]

The PSM originally intended to hold this same conference at Rutgers University, but was kicked off because the college administration and New Jersey Governor found PSM’s beliefs to be repellent. This is why PSM decided to move their conference to OSU. [3]

PSM’s New Jersey website states, “We unconditionally support Palestinians' human right to resist occupation and oppression by any means necessary,” and calls for the destruction of ALL of Israel: “We are opposed to the existence of the apartheid colonial settler state of Israel...” [4] The ISM’s main website calls homicide bombings “noble” and also advocates Palestinian struggle “by any means necessary.” [5]

PSM members have recently confirmed their desire destroy Israel. In a protest on October 10, they chanted, "Palestine will be free from sea to sea," according to New Jersey’s Star-Ledger. [6] If one looks on a map of the Holy Land, one can see this obviously refers to all of Israel.

According to Campus Watch, PSM/ISM activists rioted at Montreal’s Concordia University, smashing windows with rocks – by their own admission. [7] This riot was independently confirmed, with photographs, by Aish HaTorah’s newspaper. [8]

In a sworn affidavit, independently confirmed by the New York Post and Cleveland Plain Dealer, an eyewitness saw and heard PSM members chanting, “Kill the Jews!” at their 2002 conference at the University of Michigan (UM). [9, 10, 11] Former professor of the University of South Florida, Sami al Arian, was invited to speak at the PSM conference at UM. ABC news stated that Mr. Al Arian was arrested last February on charges of being a leader in the American branch of the terrorist group, Islamic Jihad. [12]

UK’s Guardian newspaper documented ISM members meeting with terrorists only 3 days before they killed 3 and injured dozens in Israel. [13] The Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported that ISM members have harbored known terrorists. [14] In addition, there is a report, with photographs, showing ISM members trying to prevent Israeli soldiers from seizing terrorist bomb-making materials and rockets – all being prepared for use against Israeli civilians. [15]

ISM/PSM’s beliefs are not the issue as free speech should be protected. But is incitement to violence free speech? Is support for terrorist organizations free speech? Is it responsible for OSU to use Ohio taxpayer money to grant a forum to a group directly and indirectly allied with terrorists?

References

[1] “Guiding Principles,” Third National Student Conference on the Palestine Solidarity Movement, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, September 2003, http://www.palestineconference.com/gp.htm.

[2] Ohio Governor Bob Taft, Letter to constituent, Office of the governor, Columbus, OH, September 26, 2003, http://netwmd.com/anti-ism/responses/taft.html.

[3] Marilyn H. Karfeld, “Countering the message: Pro-Israel education on OSU campus aims to rebut Palestinian conference,” Cleveland Jewish News, Cleveland, Ohio, October 3, 2003, http://www.clevelandjewishnews.com/articles/2003/10/02/news/local/bcover1003.txt.

[4] “Our Mission,” New Jersey Solidarity, New Brunswick, NJ, September 2003, http://www.njsolidarity.org/home.html.

[5] Huwaida Arraf and Adam Shapiro, “Why Nonviolent Resistance is Important for the Palestinian Intifada: A Response to Ramzy Baroud,” International Solidarity Movement, Ann Arbor, MI, 2002, http://www.freepalestinecampaign.org/artadam.htm.

[6] BRIAN DONOHUE AND SALLY GOLDENBERG, “Noisy protests begin at Rutgers,” Star-Ledger, Jersey City, NJ, October 10, 2003, http://www.nj.com/search/index.ssf?/base/news-4/1065764716131070.xml?starledger?nnj.

[7] Karameh, “Resistance on Trial at Concordia University: Fighting the Criminalization of Palestinian Solidarity Organizing,” Campus Watch, Philadelphia, PA, March 15, 2003, http://www.campus-watch.org/article/id/591.

[8] Aish HaTorah staff writers, “Riot at Concordia,” Aish.com, Jerusalem, Israel, September 9, 2002, http://www.aish.com/jewishissues/jewishsociety/Riot_at_Concordia.asp.

[9] Debbie Schlussel, “FBI Abomination,” NYPOST.COM, NYP Holdings, Inc., New York, NY, September 18, 2003, http://nypost.com/postopinion/opedcolumnists/6059.htm.

[10] David Herz, sworn affidavit, notarized by Sandor Steinberg, notary in and for the Province of Quebec, practicing at the city and District of Montreal, Quebec, December 9, 2002, http://netwmd.com/anti-ism/affidavit.pdf.

[11] Stephen Ohlemacher, “Mideast conflict sets stage at OSU,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, Cleveland, Ohio, 10/12/03, http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/1065951286314010.xml.

[12] “USF professor Sami Al-Arian arrested on terror charges,” ABC Action News, Tampa, Florida, 2/20/03, http://www.abcactionnews.com/stories/2003/02/030220alarian.shtml.

[13] Jeevan Vasagar, Vikram Dodd and Conal Urquhart, “Bombers posed as peace activists,” Guardian Unlimited, Guardian Newspapers Limited, Manchester, UK, May 2, 2003, http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,947846,00.html.

[14] Matthew Gutman, “Tension rises between activists, army after third recent casualty,” Jewish Telegraphic Agency, New York, NY, April 13, 2003, http://www.jta.org/page_view_story.asp?intarticleid=12653&intcategoryid=1.

[15] Aaron Weisburd, “ISM: No compromise in defense of bomb labs!,” Internet Haganah, August 24, 2003, http://haganah.org.il/israel/archives/000880.php.


TOPICS: Announcements; Culture/Society; Israel; News/Current Events; US: Ohio; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: any; apologist; by; conference; enabler; international; ism; israel; israelis; means; money; movement; necessary; ohio; oppose; osu; palestine; palestinian; palestinians; payer; planned; psm; solidarity; state; tax; terror; terrorism; university

1 posted on 10/25/2003 9:34:24 PM PDT by stevejackson
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To: Yehuda
Here's more info on the planned hate-fest at OSU:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1008203/posts

2 posted on 10/25/2003 9:38:14 PM PDT by stevejackson
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To: stevejackson
Don't live anywhere near Ohio.
The PSM's gotta go.
3 posted on 10/25/2003 9:52:30 PM PDT by nuconvert
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To: stevejackson
My information says there will be members of a Jewish defense group present.
4 posted on 10/25/2003 10:24:52 PM PDT by tubavil
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To: tubavil
You are correct. A whole slew of counter-events are planned. Here is a link describing what's planned (click on the "Calendar" link):

http://www.buckeyesforisrael.org

5 posted on 10/25/2003 10:59:15 PM PDT by stevejackson
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Comment #6 Removed by Moderator

To: sygmalion
This has nothing to do with "liking" Palestine. This has to do with a publicly funded institution (OSU) providing a platform for a group that aids, supports, and abets terrorism. I don't want my tax dollars going to support any such groups, be it the IRA, Islamic Jihad, Jamaat Islamiya, etc.
7 posted on 10/26/2003 12:39:22 AM PDT by stevejackson
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Comment #8 Removed by Moderator

To: Yehuda
bump
9 posted on 10/26/2003 2:39:23 PM PST by Ziva
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To: stevejackson
I hope that one of the counterevents, not publicly announced of course, is a roundup sweep by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, who will arrest most attendees for treason, espionage, sedition, incitement, terrorism, hate, and various other related crimes. They then will face prosecution and a possible death sentence. And we probably don't even need the odious Patriot Act.
10 posted on 10/26/2003 8:05:50 PM PST by dufekin (Yassir Arafat? He's a terrorist ringleader extraordinaire. He's "wanted dead or alive"--and now!)
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