Posted on 01/06/2005 4:53:19 PM PST by SJackson
A new specter is haunting the far-left fever swamps that fester in certain corners of Israeli universities. Israel Academia Monitor, like its American cousin Campus Watch, has begun recording the more outrageous words of academic extremists.
The US website has long been controversial for publishing some of the loopier statements of faculty members who pose as Middle East "experts". Campus Watch has outraged members of the academic left-wing, who denounce it for its "McCarthyism". Now, the Israeli Academia Monitor has aroused similar outrage and denunciations.
Of course, critics of the Israeli academic Left have been attacked for some time. David Newman, professor of political geography at Ben-Gurion University, complained in The Times Higher Education Supplement in April about right-wing McCarthyists attempting to suppress academic "diversity". This, from a man whose department does not include one non-leftist.
Free speech is indeed what the hysteria is all about. The attacks on both the Monitor and Campus Watch come from people who insist on the right to endorse terrorist attacks against Jews, demand the annihilation of Israel and use their podiums to impose their extremist political agenda on their hapless students. All of this, they claim, is within the rubric of free speech and academic freedom. But then they try to silence those people who criticize them.
Those being documented by the website watchdogs complain that it is an attempt to deny them free speech. Poppycock! These websites are just collections of direct citations published by the extremists in question. True, the Monitor expresses the desire for donors to the universities to review the material and make their views heard regarding the political misbehavior of faculty members. But what is wrong with donors also having the freedom of expression?
No one is denying academic freedom to the extremists, even though there are serious questions as to whether their words always fall within the bounds of what should be legitimately protected, especially in a time of war against annihilation by Arab fascism. Oswald Mosley was not granted an academic lectureship as a celebration of free speech when Winston Churchill was prime minister during the Second World War. And I doubt there are any European countries in which an open Holocaust denier could hold a university post. So, academic freedom does seem to have its boundaries. However, this is not even on the agenda in Israel. Despite laws against open endorsement of terrorist violence and racism, no leftist has ever been indicted under such legislation. Many of the left-wing extremists on Israeli campuses have embarrassing academic records, consisting of little more than political propaganda misrepresented as scholarly research. Yet, they stay in the system thanks to the political solidarity of other academic leftists.
Let us be clear. Israeli campus extremists have never had their free speech curtailed. But there is a difference between affirming their rights to academic freedom and insisting that others have to foot the bill for their politicizing. Israeli universities are all, with one exception, state financed, with foreign donors covering what the taxpayer does not. Both parties have the right to demand accountability and resist being coerced into financing sedition and radicalism.
Those university departments that wish to function as leftist propaganda machines are free to secede and operate independently, without taxpayer support
If you'd like to be on or off this middle east/political ping list, please FR mail me.
<< A new specter is haunting the far-left fever swamps that fester in certain corners of Israeli universities. Israel Academia Monitor, like its American cousin Campus Watch, has begun recording the more outrageous words of academic extremists. >>
Now for a 'Court Watch' to begin recording the even-more outrageous and deadly-dangerous words of the asinine extremists who comprise Israel's supreme court bench!
It's like chanting the group mantra "racism" when an Affirmative Action hire gets caught with their hands in the cookie jar.
Liberals couldn't function without being told what to say to themselves and others. They're that stupid.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.