Posted on 05/13/2005 10:59:41 AM PDT by white trash redneck
As students bought lunch and coffee at London's School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) campus, the Islamic call to prayer, "Allahu Akbar," blasted repeatedly through several speakers situated around the student union.
"If you want to work for Islam, you must give your heart, if you want to get to heaven, do what the prophet said, peace be upon him," bellowed a melody.
SOAS, scene to a growing number of anti-Semitic incidents in recent months, has issued a threat to one of its Jewish students to cease his protests against anti-Semitism at the university. Gavin Gross, an American, has been leading a campaign against the deterioration of conditions for Jewish students at SOAS, which is part of the University of London.
He recently received a letter from the school's director, Colin Bundy, threatening him with "an investigation under the disciplinary code."
Gross received the letter shortly after the Board of Deputies, the elected leadership of the British Jewish community, sent a dossier based on evidence Gross submitted documenting attacks on Jewish students at SOAS and threatening to take legal action if steps were not taken to address the problem.
The letter to Gross said his "conduct appears to contravene SOAS's disciplinary code of practice, warranting investigations as potential misconduct under the code."
In recent months, SOAS has witnessed an escalation of anti-Jewish activity, in both severity and frequency. At the beginning of this year, the Islamic Society screened a video which compared Judaism with Satanism. A recent article in the SOAS student union magazine, The Spirit, advocated suicide terrorism against Israeli civilians, and was entitled: "when only violence will do."
Earlier this year, the student union convened an "emergency session" in order to appoint London Mayor Ken Livingstone as "honorary president" of the union, following Livingstone's refusal to issue an apology after comparing a Jewish journalist with a Nazi concentration-camp guard.
Speaking to The Jerusalem Post, Gross painted a bleak picture of Jewish student life at SOAS. "The school has been in existence for 89 years with no honorary president," said Gross. "Within 72 hours of being embroiled in a fight with the Jewish community, the union called an emergency meeting to create an honorary president post and elect Ken Livingstone to it. I proposed Nelson Mandela as president. For about an hour, I was subject to repeated attacks against Israel. I was told that Israel is an apartheid state, a terrorist state. People at the meeting said there was a Zionist Mossad conspiracy to damage the mayor.
"There was an article in the union paper, which was not even written by a student, but by an Egyptian lawyer, that said that all Israeli civilians, including children, are legitimate targets for murder, because they and their parents chose to live in a colonial state. It was pure hatred. What it was doing in a student union magazine, I have no idea. This is part of the pattern of behavior at our campus."
Gross said SOAS's administration has utterly failed to protect Jewish students from anti-Semitic attacks. "The school has walked away from its responsibilities."
Speaking to the Post, Jon Benjamin, of the Board of Deputies, confirmed that the board was extremely worried about SOAS, and that legal action was being considered.
"There are very serious issues at SOAS," said Benjamin. "We have made known to Professor Bundy our concern at events, which we have verified independently, that have gone on at SOAS." SOAS's administration was, according to Benjamin, "getting away from the fact that there are serious issues that call into question the student union's ability to deal with Jewish students. The school should intervene with the union.
"We asked for his response, and some kind of assurance that the status quo will not simply be left where it is. All I've heard so far is that he has acknowledged receipt of it [the dossier] and said that he's investigating."
Bundy refused to comment about his letter to Gross. Referring to the board's documentation of anti-Semitism at SOAS, he said: "my response to the dossier, which will be full, will not be shared with the media at this stage."
Like this?
Saudi Arabia - Conversion by a Muslim to another religion is punishable by death. Bibles are illegal. Churches are illegal.
Yemen - Bans proselytizing by non-Muslims and forbids conversions. The Government does not allow the building of new non-Muslim places of worship.
Kuwait - Registration and licensing of religious groups. Members of religions not sanctioned in the Koran may not build places of worship. Prohibits organized religious education for religions other than Islam.
Egypt - Islam is the official state religion and primary source of legislation. Accordingly, religious practices that conflict with Islamic law are prohibited. Muslims may face legal problems if they convert to another faith. Requires non-Muslims to obtain what is now a presidential decree to build a place of worship.
Algeria - The law prohibits public assembly for purposes of practicing a faith other than Islam. Non-Islamic proselytizing is illegal, and the Government restricts the importation of non-Islamic literature for distribution.
Jordan - Has the death penalty for any Muslim selling land to a Jew.
Sudan - Conversion by a Muslim to another religion is punishable by death.
ping
My sister is an alumnus of SOAS - I'll check with her as to what's going on and report back here.
Regards, Ivan
You're absolutely correct in suggesting that a lot of the students are not from the United Kingdom. SOAS likes to attract foreign students to bolster its revenues.
Regards, Ivan
Can you imagine if a Jewish or Christian group had compared Islam to Satanism? They'd all be expelled immediately.
The Left's love affair with Islam continues.
How sick is that?! Warned to STOP protesting Anti-Semitism?! Have they forgotten WWII??
I think that's a matter of interpretation and opinion.
And I doubt the people issuing the threats here are Anglo-Saxon
The threats are coming from SOAS school officials, so, yes, I do think the people issuing them are Anglo-Saxon.
Why do you raise the question of their ancestry?
Irrelevant. The muslims control the horizontal and the vertical now.
Well Europe is going down if they don't see the light. I wonder if that will happen.
Why does them being school officials necesarily make them Anglo-Saxon?
And in this case, not just a reasonable guess - a correct guess.
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