Posted on 01/25/2005 6:21:18 PM PST by wagglebee
Pressure appears to be mounting for Israel's ambassador to America to pull out of a Columbia University conference on the Middle East conflict.
Some members of the Jewish community have urged Israel's top diplomat in the country not to attend the conference, as a way for his country to express dissatisfaction over the university's response to complaints from students against anti-Israel members of the university's faculty.
A spokesman for the Israeli Embassy, David Siegel, told The New York Sun yesterday the Israeli ambassador, Daniel Ayalon, has received "several inquiries from the Jewish community" regarding the envoy's participation in the conference, which is scheduled for Thursday.
(Excerpt) Read more at nysun.com ...
Columbia's agenda is clear. Nothing productive is going to come out of this anti-Israel, anti-American blame fest.
"anti-Israel members of the university's faculty" can remain employed there. But not one more penny of federal money (via any means) should go there, or to Berkeley, or any other Jew-hating, Jew-baiting institution of alleged higher learning as long as they are employed there.
One of Israel's great difficulties has been in the area of public relations. If the Ambassador can speak at least maybe someone there will hear the Israeli's point of view.
Not after the MSM are done with it. Let me give you an example:
HATE-FILLED LEFTIST: "When do you Zionist Nazis plan to stop killing Palestinian babies?"
ISRAELI AMBASSADOR: "I refuse to dignify that blood libel with a response!"
NEW YORK TIMES HEADLINE: "ISRAELI AMBASSADOR: 'NO PLANS TO STOP KILLING PALESTINIAN BABIES'"
Sadly, I doubt that anyone at Columbia (or most other American universities) would allow the Ambassador to speak without interrupting or disrupting the conference.
Israeli Ambassador sells out Zionists and Academic Freedom at Columbia
As you may be aware, there is an effort at Columbia to ensure that students will not be harassed for Zionist views and that the Middle East and Asian Languages and Cultures Department (MEALAC) and other departments will have professors who do not hold uniformly anti-Israel and anti-American views.
Several brave students have risked their academic careers by going public after the university ignored their claims of bias and harassment. The university responded first by saying that there were no claims, then by calling this a matter of Free Speech protected by the First Amendment, and finally by setting up a biased faculty panel to bury the issue.
This was so obscene that the liberal magazine, The New Republic, ran a story on the matter condemning Columbia and demand that they take the matter seriously.
http://www.tnr.com/doc.mhtml%3Fi%3D20050124%26s%3Dnotebook012405twp
Now the university is responding with an event, purportedly promoting peace, which will be used as political cover. In return for speaking at a one-day conference, where Israel will surely be condemned, Ambassador Ayalon is selling out those students who want to change Columbia, and other universities. In so doing, he is ensuring that anti-Zionism will be the political orthodoxy at Columbia and around the country.
Please contact the Israeli embassy to prevent this travesty.
academic@israelemb.org
education@israelemb.org
academic@newyork.mfa.gov.il
For more information on this issue, please see the attached story from the New York Sun.
You can also see the latest on the controversy at Columbia by going to
Columbians for Academic Freedom, http://www.columbiaacademicfreedom.org/
and
Campus Watch Survey of Columbia http://www.campus-watch.org/survey.php/id/16
Sincerely,
Ron Lewenberg
Founding President (1999-2001)
Columbia College Conservative Club
http://www.Columbia.edu/cu/conservative
For those willing to write, another ping to post 8
Israel's ambassador to America has canceled his appearance at tomorrow's Columbia University conference on conflict in the Middle East because of his concerns about the treatment of Jewish students at the university, the embassy announced yesterday.
Hours later, George Mitchell, a former Senate majority leader and chief organizer of the conference, said in a written statement that the gathering at Columbia would be postponed. He did not specifically cite the Israeli envoy's sudden withdrawal.
"Several government officials - Israeli, Palestinian and American - who had agreed to participate have informed me that they will be unable to attend because they must remain in or travel to the Middle East this week," Mr. Mitchell, who is a fellow at Columbia's Center for International Conflict Resolution, said. "As a result, I decided that the conference should be postponed and advised university officials."
Mr. Mitchell, who helped develop a failed peace plan for the Middle East known as the "Mitchell Report," said the conference would be postponed until September.
The Israeli ambassador, Daniel Ayalon, had agreed weeks ago to participate in the one-day conference, as part of a panel discussion on prospects for Middle East negotiations. A source at the Israeli Embassy said the ambassador has notified Columbia that Mr. Ayalon is pulling out of the event "in view of complaints by Jewish students of intimidation by faculty members."
Though the postponement of the conference will probably diminish the impact of the ambassador's gesture, the decision not to attend the session marks an embarrassing development for Columbia officials, who have made repeated assurances to students, alumni, and Jewish leaders that the university takes seriously the student allegations. While Columbia's president, Lee Bollinger, has said the university does not tolerate the intimidation of students and intends to investigate the complaints, the ambassador's pullout reflects the extent to which some American Jewish leaders remain dissatisfied with Columbia's reaction.
"I don't think any other act by any other actor could have the same impact as what the ambassador has chosen to do," Martin Kramer, a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and a research associate at the Dayan Center of Tel Aviv University, said. "I hope the alarm bells are ringing loud enough."
A source inside the embassy said Mr. Ayalon notified Columbia that he would not be participating in the conference after he "consulted with Jewish leaders."
"Academic freedom is a central pillar of Israeli democracy, and we welcome pluralistic debate," the embassy source said, reading from a statement prepared for The New York Sun. "However, every effort must be made to ensure academic freedom is not held hostage to intimidation. We eagerly await the completion of the university's investigation into this matter and trust it will address these concerns."
The campus controversy over the treatment of Jewish students erupted in October when reports of the student complaints became public. About a dozen students have accused some faculty members in the Department of Middle East and Asian Languages and Cultures of silencing students who expressed opinions in the classroom sympathetic to Israel and using their role as teachers to advance an anti-Israel agenda.
Columbia's chief reaction to the complaints has been to establish a committee of five faculty members to hear testimony from students and recommend whether to take disciplinary action against any faculty member. The committee says it will complete its work before the scheduled spring break, which begins March 14.
Some Jewish leaders, such as the national director of the Anti-Defamation League, Abraham Foxman, have accused Columbia of taking too long to address the students' concerns. Some critics also question whether the members of the committee will give students a fair hearing, as a number of them have worked closely with the accused faculty members and have shared their strong criticism of Israel.
Mr. Bollinger was set to deliver the opening remarks to the conference, which was scheduled to take place at Columbia's Low Library, where the administration has its headquarters. Others who were expected to attend included an assistant secretary of state, William Burns; the Egyptian ambassador to America, Nabil Fahmy, and a Columbia professor, Rashid Khalidi, who occupies the Edward Said chair of modern Arab studies and literature.
Mr. Burns is in the Middle East this week, speaking with Israeli and Palestinian officials. Mr. Ayalon has no plans to leave America this week, according to the embassy.
A Jewish student at Columbia who plans to testify before the Bollinger committee, Bari Weiss, said yesterday in an e-mail message to the Sun that she had hoped Ambassador Ayalon would attend the Mitchell conference and taken a stand "against the neglect of the Administration to provide a safe and free academic environment."
"However," Ms. Weiss wrote, "I understand the strong statement he is making. ... He is making it very clear that he does not want to be in the presence of a University Administration that has allowed this to go on for so long."
No date in September was set for the conference.
It would seem that if there aren't going to be any Israelis at the event to blame everything on, then nobody else wants to go either!
Somehow I doubt that they would host a conference debating between a member of the Transfer and the two-State schools of Jewish thought. Perhaps one of the Zionist groups should, if only to show how radical the left truly is and demand the financial backing of the MEI, Office of the University Chaplain, Student Services, and Student Senate. Anything less from them would be bias.
--------------------------------------- ONE STATE OR TWO?
ALTERNATIVE PROPOSALS FOR MIDDLE EAST PEACE
A panel discussion with
Dr. Ilan Pappe, Haifa University
Dr. Rashid Khalidi, Columbia University
Dr. Joseph Massad, Columbia University
Dr. Mark Cohen.Princeton Univeristy
MONDAY, JANUARY 31st, 800 p.m.
COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL
JEROME GREENE HALL, 435 W. 116th STREET
ROOM 104
Is the two-state solution still the best hope for Palestinians and Israelis, or is time to begin working toward a one-state option? Come hear four eminent scholars discuss and debate both sides of the issue.
Sponsored By Qanun, Middle East Institute, SIPA Human Rights Program, Office of the University Chaplain, Student Services, Student Senate
Brilliant move by Israel, in my opinion.
Columbia is trying to convert the examination of the anti-Israel bias of the MEALAC (Middle East Languages and Cultures) department into an academic discussion of the right of professors to teach according to their beliefs, subject only to the requirement that they not abuse the free-speech rights of their students.
This action by Israel refocusses the discussion on the bias of the department as a whole, and the consequences to the pro-Israel diplomatic community of Columbia's loss of credibility.
It also makes Columbia look cheap and political in its efforts to change the subject. As much as I love Columbia, I am glad that Israel played it like a violin.
I do think you're wrong about Columbia being a Jew-hating, Jew-baiting institution. As far as I am aware, there never has been a Jew at Columbia who was assaulted for wearing a yarmulke (as has been the case at Berkeley), or for participating in Jewish religious or cultural activities (as has been the case at Berkeley). I believe that Columbia has more than one kosher dining hall at present. Moreover, thanks to Robert Kraft, an alumnus who owns the New England Patriots, the school has a beautiful new multi-story Jewish center right off campus.
If you had a role in convincing the ambassador not to attend, I commend you. Good job!
Priceless response.
I think it would be great to find a sponsor for such a conference. Do you still have contacts there? There probably are groups that would endow it.
I do have contacts at Columbia.
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.