Hatred only 8 miles by car from UCI at the Islamic Center of Irvine

Hat Tip: LGF

I hadn't heard much about the Islamic Center of Irvine, located at 2 Truman in Irvine, CA. Then I read this, published in the magazine Frontpage in an article by Joe Kaufman:

On June 5th, the Los Angeles chapter of CAIR sponsored a community town hall meeting at the Islamic Center of Irvine (ICOI), a mosque that propagates venomously anti-Semitic and anti-Israel rhetoric. In a Khutbah (sermon) given at the ICOI last month, entitled ‘The Abuse of a Religion to sustain a Racist State,’ the ICOI’s Director of Religious Affairs, Sadullah Khan, stated, “Jews who came [to Israel] brought with them a Westernarrogance…” In the sermon, which is found on the ICOI website, Khan liberally quoted alleged neo-Nazi William Baker and described Zionism as “racist,” “diabolical” and “sinister.”

Participating at the CAIR event was CAIR-LA Executive Director Hussam Ayloush. Ayloush’s appearance at ICOI makes sense, as he, himself, has been known to exhibit an extreme hatred towards the state of Israel. According to Dr. Daniel Pipes, whom Ayloush has likened to “a KKK person,” he (Ayloush) has repeatedly used the term “Zionazi,” when discussing Israelis. He has referred to Zionism as “a political ideology whose tentacles are rooted in racism,” and he has stated that the violent Intifada (Uprising) that was twice perpetrated by the Palestinians against the Israelis “really indicates standing up against injustice.”

Ayloush has complained of the United States’ treatment of the terrorist group Hamas, who recently had members voted into power in the “Palestinian territories.” During a Khutbah speech he gave at the Islamic Institute of Orange County (IIOC), last May, entitled “Don’t Be Pessimistic,” Ayloush stated: “Compare your situation to the situation of our brothers and sisters in Palestine… They were starved, they were pressured and threatened with embargo, if they don’t have democratic elections. And then, when they have the democratic elections, because we don’t like the results, now they are being starved again, embargoed and punished.”

Oh, and here's the best part: Guess who was the main guest at this community hall event?

Steven Tidwell of the FBI

Sadullah Khan: The Abuse of a Religion to sustain a Racist State

Note: I added this for reference on 10/16/2006 at 3:45 PM PST

Summary: Imam Sadullah Khan...

• Quotes Will Baker, a neo-Nazi
  
• Considers one of three Big Lies to be "Zionism is essential to Judaism"
  
• Thinks "Zionism is a nationalistic movement with a sense of racial superiority serving the interest of a specific group, exploiting religious sentiments, distorting history and vulgarizing interpretation of destruction as its sinister components"
  
• Paints Zionists as "opportunists"
  
• States "Jews who came [to Israel] brought with them a Western arrogance"
  
• Considers (assumedly) any country "hipocritical" if it refuses to assist the Palestinian Authority because the majority party (HAMAS) refuses to recognize Israel, renounce violence, and abide by prior agreements.
  

And I haven't even looked to see if his quotations are both accurate and in context!

Link to the original khutbah

My analysis of the Frontpage Magazine article that discusses this khutbah

ICOI Khutbah 197 - May 17,2006
The Abuse of a Religion to sustain a Racist State - Page 1
Author: Sadullah Khan (616 views) Rating: No Votes So Far
إِنَّا أَنزَلْنَا التَّوْرَاةَ فِيهَا هُدًى وَنُورٌ يَحْكُمُ بِهَا النَّبِيُّونَ الَّذِينَ أَسْلَمُواْ لِلَّذِينَ هَادُواْ وَالرَّبَّانِيُّونَ وَالأَحْبَارُ بِمَا اسْتُحْفِظُواْ مِن ً
كِتَابِ اللّهِ وَكَانُواْ عَلَيْهِ شُهَدَاء فَلاَ تَخْشَوُاْ النَّاسَ وَاخْشَوْنِ وَلاَ تَشْتَرُواْ بِآيَاتِي ثَمَنًا قَلِيلاً

Verily, it is We who bestowed from on high the Torah, wherein there was guidance and light. On `its strength did the prophets, who had surrendered themselves unto God, deliver judgment unto those who followed the Jewish faith; and so did the [early] men of God and the rabbis, inasmuch as some of God's writ had been entrusted to their care; and they [all] bore witness to its truth. Therefore, [O children of Israel,] hold not people in awe, but stand in awe of Me; and do not barter away My messages for a trifling gain.. [Qur’an 5:44]

The Nakbah / Catastrophe Remembered
This week (15th May), Palestinians commemorate their forced displacement and dispossession resulting from the establishment of the state of Israel (1948) and people of conscience all over the world recall the mass deportation of a million Palestinians from their cities and villages, massacres of civilians, and the razing to the ground of hundreds of Palestinian villages. More than 60 percent of the total Palestinian population was expelled. More than 530 Palestinian villages were depopulated and completely destroyed. To date, Israel has prevented the return of approximately six million Palestinian refugees, who have either been expelled or displaced. Approximately 250,000 internally displaced Palestinian second-class citizens of Israel are prevented from returning to their homes and villages. The land is still occupied and the atrocities continue leading to the deaths of many innocent people

Three Major Lies
i. This is a war between Islam and Judaism, since Islam is against Judaism
ii. Zionism is essential to Judaism
iii. Palestine was a land without people

1) Muslim-Jewish Relationship through History
Since the holy Prophet Muhammad's coming into contact with members of the Jewish faith in Madinah, tolerance, kindness and co operation were the principles that permeated his attitude and approach towards them. Together with followers of the Christian faith, Jews are honorably considered as "People of the Book"; with whom we share a special heritage through the Prophets we jointly hold dear. Numerous verses in the holy Qur'an emphasize the Muslim duty of dealing with People of the Book with the highest degree of respect and etiquette [Q 2:62; 3:64; 4:113 115; 5:5; 29:46].

In his book, More in Common than you Think: Bridge between Islam and Christianity, Dr. William Baker elaborates on the fact that Muslims view the Torah and the New Testament as inspired revelations of God and that Islam neither targeted the Jews nor Judaism. He says: "It is a fact of history that when the Jews were being persecuted in Europe during the Middle Ages, they found peace, harmony, and acceptance among the Muslim people in Spain. In fact, this was the era of Jewish history that they themselves refer to as 'the golden age'. In the famous treatise by Rabbi Minken, he says of this era: 'It was Muslim Spain, the only land the Jews knew in nearly a thousand years of the dispersion, which made the genius of the Jewish physician Moses Maimonides possible. After the fall of Spain, the Jews followed the Muslims to Morocco and Egypt where Maimonides became the personal physician of the great Muslim leader Salahudin, who sent him to King Richard in order to treat the king'. During the Ottoman period and their great empire, Jews and Muslims lived and prospered together".

Whenever there has been hostility, it was due to breaking of agreements, treachery or in recent decades; the illegitimate occupation of Palestine by a Zionist Imperialist force under the guise of religion.

2) Political Zionism
In trying to understand the diabolical nature of political Zionism, we need to remove the myth that Zionism is an essential component of Judaism. Judaism has been a religion for over 3,000 years. Zionism is an organized European political movement that arose in the late 19th century, founded by two men: Theodore Herzl and Chaim Weizman, who were both of Jewish background but self professed atheists.

Zionism evolved into a militant political movement consisting of Jews who wish to establish a homeland for all Jews in Palestine. (Argentina and Uganda were also considered initially.) Zionism was officially launched by Theodore Herzl at a convention held at Basle, Switzerland in 1897.

Zionism, the originally secular, racist and mostly non believing movement, resorted to inventing a religious cause, a Jewish crusade in order to succeed in its colonial endeavor of establishing a national home for the Jewish people. Without this tactic the scattered Jewish communities around the world would not have heeded the call for uniting behind it. A pack of lies had to be fabricated and children brought up on them. Thus, Palestine, the heart of the Muslim world, has become their promised land, a God given gift to His "chosen people", who would kill, rape and rob in His name.

3) A LAND WITHOUT PEOPLE FOR A PEOPLE WITHOUT LAND
About 700,000 Palestinians fled or were expelled from their land after the creation of Israel in 1948 and the ensuing Arab-Israeli war. An additional 200,000 Palestinians underwent a similar fate during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. Israel has stopped transferring import duties it collects on behalf of the Palestinains worth $55 mllion a month.The UN estimates that there are more than six million Palestinian refugees in the world today, four million of which are registered with the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), with a third of that number living in refugee camps.

With the help of irregular militias, the Irgun (Menachim Begin) and the Lehi, the Haganah forces succeeded in establishing the Jewish state of Israel in May 1948.

The minority of Palestinians who stayed on their land when Israel was created are now described as Israeli-Arabs.

Moshe Dayan’s statement that: About 700,000 Palestinians fled or were expelled from their land after the creation of Israel in 1948 and the ensuing Arab-Israeli war. An additional 200,000 Palestinians underwent a similar fate during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. Israel has stopped transferring import duties it collects on behalf of the Palestinains worth $55 mllion a month.The UN estimates that there are more than six million Palestinian refugees in the world today, four million of which are registered with the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), with a third of that number living in refugee camps.[Moshe Dayan, Ha’aretz, 4 April 1969]

Father of Zionism, Theodor Herzl, wrote in 1895: We must expropriate gently the private property on the estates assigned to us… We shall try to spirit the penniless population across the border by procuring employment for it in the transit countries. While denying it any employment in our own country… The property owners will come over to our side. Both the process of expropriation and the removal of the poor must be carried out discreetly and circumspectly… Let the owners of immovable property believe that they are cheating us, selling us something far more than they are worth… But we are not going to sell them any thing back.

Dr. Israel Shahak, chairman of the Israeli League of Human and Civil Rights, stated: "It is my considered opinion that the State of Israel is a racist state in the full meaning of this term. In this state people are discriminated against in the most permanent and legal way and in the most important areas of life only because of their origin. This racist discrimination began in Zionism and is carried out today mainly in cooperation with the institution of the Zionist movement. I do not wish to debate any justification for the racist policy. The most important fact is that it exists. Therefore the first step consists in admitting the truth: The State of Israel is a racist state, and its racism is a necessary consequence of the racism of the Zionist Movement. Facts are facts. After this we can debate, if we wish to do so, why such a racism is 'forbidden' against the Jews and becomes a good deed when it is carried out by the Jews". (The Racist Nature of Zionism and of the Zionist State, article published in Pi Ha'aton, Hebrew University of Jerusalem on November 5, 1975)

Note the official statements of the Central Rabbinical Congress of the United States of America and Canada, which states, among other things: “Consistently, since its inception, our sages and rabbis condemned the Zionist heresy. To this day Torah true Jewry has remained loyal to the heavenly decree of exile… It is only logical that during the Israeli State’s 52 years of existence, its most passionate and consistent opponents have been traditional Torah Jews. Therefore, the ongoing suffering and trail of death unleashed upon Jews and non-Jews by the Israeli state are not the work of the faithful remnant of Torah Jews who have always denounced the state’s very existence.”[Check Jewish websites ….Zochrot (Remembering) ; (Not In My Name), (Tikkun), and (Gush Shalom) (Jews Not Zionists), and (Neturei Karta).]

Tutu and Mandela on Apartheid suffered by Palestinians

• Speaking at a conference called Ending the Oppression in Boston, Archbishop Desmond Tutu told delegates Jewish people had been at the forefront of the struggle against apartheid in South Africa. He asked: "Have our Jewish sisters and brothers forgotten their humiliation? Have they forgotten the collective punishment, the home demolitions, in their own history so soon?"


• MANDELA'S FIRST MEMO TO THOMAS FRIEDMAN March 28, 2000 To: Thomas L. Friedman (columnist New York Times)The Palestinian-Israeli conflict is not just an issue of military occupation and Israel is not a country that was established "normally" and happened to occupy another country in 1967. Palestinians are not struggling for a "state" but for freedom, liberation and equality, just like we were struggling for freedom in South Africa. Apartheid is a crime against humanity. Israel has deprived millions of Palestinians of their liberty and property. It has perpetuated a system of gross racial discrimination and inequality. It has systematically incarcerated and tortured thousands of Palestinians, contrary to the rules of international law. It has, in particular, waged a war against a civilian population, in particular children. The responses made by South Africa to human rights abuses emanating from the removal policies and apartheid policies respectively, shed light on what Israeli society must necessarily go through before one can speak of a just and lasting peace in the Middle East and an end to its apartheid policies.

So, Zionism is a nationalistic movement with a sense of racial superiority serving the interest of a specific group, exploiting religious sentiments, distorting history and vulgarizing interpretation of destruction as its sinister components.

Zionist Opportunists
In order to justify the cause of Israel for its perpetual occupation, Zionist opportunists have also engaged in anti-Islamic propaganda veiled in their political jargons. They tend to view everything Islamic detrimental to the security interests of Israel. In the United States, they occupy positions of importance, as they are part of various think tanks and policy institutes. American law enforcement agencies have often relied on their analysis and information when dealing with Muslims.

The Problem Persists
The number of Palestinian refugees hit five million since the creation of Israel that pushed through a mass exodus from 531 Palestinian cities and villages, according to the U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). Some 640,000 Palestinians live in 19 refugee camps in the West Bank, and 820,000 others in the Gaza Strip.

There are nearly 250 thousand Palestinians now outside their villages inside the Green Line, some of them are only a few meters away from their land and yet are not allowed into it.

Jews who came brought with them a Western arrogance that made it possible for them to see Palestine as "a land without a people for a people without a land," and hence to virtually ignore the Palestinian people and its own cultural and historical rights, the vast majority of those who came were seeking refuge from the murderous ravages of Western anti-Semitism.

Democracy or Hypocracy?
The punishment of the people has increased in recent months after elections; because though the elections were democratic, it was not the party that Israel wanted in power. So, democracy is not enough, you have to choose who the occupiers want you to choose. In the name of the Jewish people, Zionists in Palestine are continuing to commit the most heinous crimes as is evident from the present atrocities perpetrated by the oppressive Zionist army against unprotected civilians, the owners of the land.

Some say … “Be Silent” but …
- Silence is for cowards
- Silence is consent/acceptance.
- Some say ignore the facts, but then we are bound to repeat such a tragedy

Websites giving up to date info on Operation Summer Rain

Hat Tip: LGF

For those of you wanting to monitor the Israel's incursions into Gaza and the West Bank to - hopefully - find alive and in one piece (or easily healed) Corporal Gilad Shalit as well as the two Israeli civilians that have been kidnapped, plus hopefully knock out all or most of the terrorist infrastructure, I provide the following links to up-to-the-minute data. We're going to need it, as I'm sure it'll be a topic of many events and newspaper articles once the Fall quarter begins in September:

DAY ONE NEWS UPDATES

Vital Perspective

Israellycool (though some of the comments on this one seem a bit inappropriate to me)

DAY TWO AND BEYOND NEWS UPDATES

IsraellyCool continues to LiveBlog

Vital Perspective is also continuing to update

THE IMAGE TO KEEP IN MIND



Thank you, Cox and Forkum. 'nuff said.

UCLA Hillel Director: Everything's peachy-keep up here!

On June 23, 2006, the Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles published an opinion piece by Rabbi Chaim Seidler-Feller, the Director of UCLA Hillel titled "Different Tack on Campus Challenge". His op-ed begins:

Speeches about “holocaust in Israel.” Academic boycotts. Divestiture campaigns. Professors who intimidate their students. Jewish speakers whose rhetoric is anti-Israel.

These program initiatives and phenomena that have seemingly overwhelmed our universities during the past few years have certainly transformed the campus quad into a zone of controversy.

"Finally!" - I thought - recognition of the harassment that Jewish students at UCI like myself have had to deal with with on a near-weekly basis.

Then I read on:

Some activists have gone so far as to characterize this onslaught as “Anti-Semitism 101” and have pressured the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights to issue guidelines for confronting the scourge of campus anti-Semitism.

Excuse me? How exactly did we pressure the USCCR? The ZOA and others presented the relevant material to the commissioners in November 2005 (some of which provided by me), they discussed it, and in April 2006 they issued findings and recommendations. It's that simple - there was no "pressure".

Indeed, the above occurrences are undeniable, as are the vile expressions of Jewish bigotry at a select number of institutions of higher learning.

Couldn't have put it better myself.

However, rather than focus on the catastrophic response, which is traditionally Jewish, it behooves us to observe that Jews are actually experiencing a Golden Age at American universities and that the general atmosphere at the most prestigious schools is positive and supportive of Jewish interests.

This is the same line that Jeff Rips of OC Hillel dishes. Sorry, I can't hold hands and sing koom-by-ya or bury my head in the sand when my safety is being threatened on a near-weekly basis due to my ethnic background and religion. There are 6 million gone - and many, many people from the US, the UK, France, and other countries - because of the same sensibilities almost 70 years ago.

BTW, Rabbi, if they're so supportive of Jewish interests, why isn't Israel advertised heavily as a place to study abroad in the UC's? Where's the Jewish studies programs?

--

Note: The USCCR has not published the transcript of the November 2005 meeting. As soon as they do, I will put up the link in this entry.

OC Register: Muslims leery of FBI activity

Hat Tip: LGF

Marya Bangee doesn't know what to believe. The UC Irvine sophomore thinks the fact that she's Muslim is the reason she's been singled out for searches at airports and been scrutinized by police at anti-war demonstrations.

She's also distrustful of the FBI, uncertain whether the agency is telling the complete story of whether its employees are monitoring Orange County's Muslim community.

Her doubts loom a week after Muslim leaders and an FBI senior agent shook hands and patted each other on the back, concluding a meeting that addressed conflicting reports as to whether the community is being watched.

(Read the whole OC Register article here)

My perspective: The MSU and its invited speakers have supported and continue to support terrorist groups (HAMAS, Hezb'allah, etc.) and terrorist means (suicide bombing, rockets on civilian areas). Some of the speeches have bordered - and possibly crossed over - the line of incitement.

So guess what? The FBI notices.

There is a difference between:
a) discussing the Israeli political process (which is done all the time by Jews and non-Jews, even in the Knesset)

b) using false "facts" and fabricated quotes to demonize, delegitimize, and use double standards regarding Israel versus any other country in the world. Read my previous post on this subject here

Marya and any other UCI Muslim student, if you happen to be reading this, I have a few suggestions for you:
If you are realistically interested in fixing the situation on campus (and, G-d forbid, coming to a peaceful solution in the Middle East), take a cold, hard look at how the MSU and SAS have done things in the past. Even CAIR chided their actions (see that here)!

End the attacks on Zionism and Zionists. You attack Zionism and Zionists, and you attack nearly every Jew in this world. It's not civil speech and it has no place at UCI or anywhere else.

End the MSU no-dialogue policy.

Get the MSU to stop inviting Malik Ali, Musa, and al-Asi. Malik Ali especially is a great speaker - if only he would do it for peace instead of hatred, who knows what he might accomplish!

If you're not in charge of the MSU and SAS, take charge. Read the organization's constitution. If idiots are running the MSU and SAS, then figure out how to throw the bums out. Usually all it takes some convincing of the membership, then a 2/3 or 3/4 vote.

I know there's more that can be done - as I think of more, I'll post more.

Looking for a volunteer transcriptionist with good hearing

Two people have now accurately mentioned that Yossi Olmert's voice isn't coming out very clearly on the video. Here is a direct link to the Google Video page

Anyone willing to volunteer to transcribe the video (you'll need to have good hearing)?

If so, please transcribe it into Notepad (or another text editor) or Microsoft Word.

Then, to get it to me so I can put it on the blog, please upload it via www.QuickSharing.com and post a comment on my blog with the full "http://" URL that they'll give to you.

If you have an FTP server, web server, or blog of your own, feel free to post it there and just post a comment with the link.

Many thanks in advance to the volunteer(s).

Is the FBI investigating the UC Irvine MSU, or not?

(Hat tip: LGF)

In May, the Orange County Register reported the FBI was investigating the UC Irvine Muslim Student Union:

http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/news/local/article_1171489.php

Were this a straight news story, I might lead with, "The FBI appears to be actively studying Muslim student groups at UCI as part of an intense surveillance program to detect potential terrorists."

But I'm not as surprised that the FBI is doing this - as well as other aggressive anti-terrorist activities in Orange County - as I am that the FBI would tell us.

Now, the FBI says "nope, not us...":

http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/news/local/article_1171489.php

The FBI and Muslim community leaders met again Monday night, one in a series of gatherings since 9/11 intended to promote a better understanding of each other.

The latest meeting was needed, Muslim leaders said, because of a report by Register columnist Frank Mickadeit last month in which Pat Rose, head of the FBI's Orange County al-Qaida squad, was quoted as saying her agency was looking for potential terrorists here through a variety of electronic eavesdropping techniques.

What a mess. You think the stuff the MSU is saying is just TALK? What planet are you from?

More videos from Holocaust in the Holy Land Week

Got these via the Emily Shaaya, Anteaters for Israel Co-President

May 17, 2006
Yossi Olmert event
The last question asked by the MSU, their subsequent rant, and en masse exit



May 17 or 18, 2006 (I'm assuming)
The MSU, Neturei Karta, and Amir Abdel Malik Ali walking in campus
Either before or after the Zionism Hijacking Judaism (May 17) or Israel the 4th Reich (May 18) speech



Unknown date between May 15 and May 18, 2006
More video of the MSU campus "wall"

Stand Back: The UC Irvine NewU Editor-In-Chief has Blown a Gasket!

Today (June 5, 2006), I picked up the dead-tree edition of the UC Irvine campus newspaper, New University, and thumbed through to see if there were any final developments regarding the hateful environment on campus. Today's issue is the last for the entire school year; the next time the NewU is printed, it will be the beginning of the Fall 2006 quarter.

Page 13 offered a weird glimpse into the mind of Allan Taing, the outgoing Editor-In-Chief, in an op-ed titled "EIC to UCI: So Long, Suckers!":

The addresses given by the guest speaker and student speaker are meant to inspire those in attendance. In my opinion, however, these speeches give a misleading impression to listeners.

I graduate with a bitter taste in my mouth. I’ve been fortunate enough to have been involved with the New University over the last three years and as such, I can say I know quite a lot about this campus. I will use my last opportunity as editor-in-chief of the paper to tell you what UC Irvine is really all about, what I hate and love. And this rant won’t be sugar-coated like the speeches you’ll hear next week.

I hate how Jewish and Muslim students hate each other at UCI.

Both groups abuse the free-speech policies at UCI to throw insults at each other, and then play victim when the other side does the same. If smart, educated young Jews and Muslims in a random small suburban university can’t get along, how can we expect those living in the Middle East to ever do so?

Read more at:
http://www.newuniversity.org/article.php?id=4832

JTA Publishes Article Comparing Level of Incitement at UCLA and at UCI

The Jewish Telegraph Agency recently published an article by Tom Tugend comparing and contrasting the week-long anti-Zionism events at UCLA and UC Irvine.

The summary is this: UCLA's quiet compared to UCI. Some who were at UCLA for their anti-Zionism week (held at the same time as UCI's) say this isn't true, but this quote from Jeff Rips, Executive Director of Orange County Hillel, is just unbelievable:

To balance the dour campus picture, Rips said that except during Palestine Week, there was little tension between Muslim and Jewish students.

Excuse me? Did I somehow dream up the monthly (sometimes more often) MSU events?

Ignoring Holocaust in the Holy Land week, there's been at least twelve events over the 2005-2006 school year where the MSU invited at least one speaker to come visit. (see the end of this post for the full list, including cut-and-paste descriptions from the MSU newsletter) I bet you dollars to donuts that all of these events included attacks on Zionists and Zionism using all of the old and new anti-Semitic canards.

This also doesn't count the off-campus retreats run by the MSU and the off-campus events advertised in the MSU's email newsletter where Malik Ali and other anti-Semites have been the featured guests. G-d only knows what goes on during those MSU road trips.

In all of the campuses I've been to on both the East and West coasts, I've never seen anything like this. My grades continue to suffer because I have to listen to - and respond to - the canards these anti-Semites pull out while the UC Irvine administration throws up its hands and says "can't we all get along?"

Jeff, bubbeleh, I love you to pieces. Do me a favor: for once, get your head out of the sand.

Suprise us all for once by accurately acknowledging the level of hatred and intimidation I and every other student of Jewish heritage at UC Irvine have had to deal with for the past few years.

Students of Jewish heritage like myself shouldn't have to pay $10,000 a year for the privilege of going to one of the top 10 public universities in the nation with a BULLSEYE on our backs.

Jeff, you and your organizations (Hillel, the B'nai B'rith Federation, and the ADL) should be supporting the Title VI complaint to the US Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights. The ZOA's filing of the complaint did more to change the way the UCI administration acted than anything Hillel, the Federation, and the ADL ever did these past few years.

Instead of trying to prevent the showing of the StandWithUs documentary "Tolerating Intolerance" - or, as I'm hearing you're doing, trying to hijack the event - you and your organizations should be standing behind StandWithUs, the AJCongress, and the ZOA and the Orange County Community-Campus Coalition and letting them run the show.

They've got the track record - you and your organizations don't.

For once, Jeff, instead of holding hands and singing koom-by-ya (or worse - fighting the people who are really attacking the problem), do something concrete and significant that'll make me feel safe enough so I can feel safe enough to just focus on my studies.

Read the whole JTA article here: http://www.jta.org/page_view_story.asp?intarticleid=16664&intcategoryid=4

UPDATE
The Jewish Journal of Los Angeles also ran the story:
http://www.jewishjournal.com/home/preview.php?id=15941

The 2005-2006 List of MSU Events with Malik Ali, Musa, Wahaj, and al-Asi, not including the Holocaust in the Holy Land events, or off-campus retreats:

Fall 2005 Quarter
Week 1 Malik Ali
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/msu-uci/message/1158
Posted Tue Sep 27, 2005 4:19 pm
How Katrina Exposed the True Essence of US domestic policy.

Thursday 9-29
12- 2 pm
Cross Cultural Center
Amir Abdul Malik Ali & Dennis Lopez

Sponsored by the MSU and SPJ at UCI.

Week 5 Malik Ali
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/msu-uci/message/1177
Posted Mon Oct 24, 2005 11:55 pm
What: Racism- the American Creed
When: Thursday October 27th
Who: Amir Abdul Malik Ali
Where: Anteater Plaza(in front of Library)
Why:
Basically... the reason why YOU should show up to this program is
because this is our first outdoor program of the year and we need to
make our presence known on campus from the beginning of the year.
This is also our chance to show that the Muslims on campus are down
for social-justice programs that do not only involve Muslims.

Winter 2006 Quarter
Week 2 Malik Ali
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/msu-uci/message/1237
Posted Tue Jan 17, 2006 12:14 am
THURSDAY:

**Discussion with Amir Abdel Malik: The Bombings in Pakistan: Standing together as One Ummah Against Injustice and Oppression**

1:45pm at the Cross Cultural Center and then head over to Aldrich Park inshAllah.


Week 3 Malik Ali
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/msu-uci/message/1240
Posted Mon Jan 23, 2006 1:01 am
THURSDAY:

***Constitution Under Fire with Amir Abdel Malik and
Fernando Chirino***

12 to 1pm at Anteater Plaza

***Latinos, Muslims, and the Movement with Amir Abdel
Malik and Denis Lopez***

1:30 to 3pm at the Cross Cultural Center


Week 5 Siraj Wahaj
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/msu-uci/message/1252
Posted Wed Feb 8, 2006 12:03 am
Topic: "Africans in the Americas"
Speaker: Imam Siraj Wahaj
When: Wed Feb 8th at 330
Where: SST220B

Please join us for a program about African Muslim influence in the Americas with one of our beloved scholars Siraj Wahaj from New York. It isn't everyday that we are able to have a world renound scholar on our campus. Don't miss out!! See you there insha'Allah...

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/msu-uci/message/1253
[There is an image announcing a fundraiser for "Building the Future". Special guest speaker is Siraj Wahaj.]

Week 6 Musa
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/msu-uci/message/1254
Posted Mon Feb 13, 2006 1:05 am
WEDNESDAY:

***The War on Black America with Iman Musa***

12 to 1pm at Anteater Plaza

Week 7 Malik Ali
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/msu-uci/message/1258
Posted Mon Feb 20, 2006 11:25 pm
WEDNESDAY:

***One Message. One God: Abraham, Moses, and Mohammed (pbuh)***

12 to 1 pm at Anteater Plaza with Amir Abdel Malik.

***Dr. King Wants the Same Thing I Do; Freedom: The Legacy of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. ***

3:30 to 5 pm at SST 220A

Week 9 al-Asi
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/msu-uci/message/1267
Posted Mon Mar 6, 2006 1:42 am

WEDNESDAY:

***Who is Behind the Cartoons?***

12 to 1 pm outside of Cornerstone on Ring Road

***Domestic Organizations in Support of Racism***

6:30 to 8pm in HIB 110
A panel of speakers with Imam Muhammed al Asi, Toshio
Whelchel and more.

Spring 2006 Quarter
Week 5
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/msu-uci/message/1316
Posted May 3, 2006 10:26 pm
Thursday Planner
3:30: A talk with...Amir Abd Al-Malek @ the CCC

This Just In: Chancellor Drake's Latest Email to the UCI Community

The UCI Chancellor's latest message is below but here's a quick summary: Chancellor Michael V. Drake, MD condemns "hate speech".

Little problem: what exactly is "hate speech"? I'm kind of lost and Drake doesn't give any specific examples.

So "hate speech" could be the anti-Semitic attacks that UC Irvine Jewish students, faculty, and staff have had to put up year after year...or perhaps not, as sentences like "Zionists, your days are numbered" and claiming (falsely) that there is a Holocaust in the Holy Land always fall inside "the bounds of civility." /sarcasm off

On the other hand, the MSU and SAS consider any Israeli Independence Day celebrations "hate speech". The MSU considers Bus 19 "hate speech" because in their dangerously extremist view bringing it to campus "ignited hate" - read their February 21, 2005 condemnation of the event in the New University paper: http://www.newu.uci.edu/article.php?id=3402

Obviously the MSU is full of bunk, but Drake's definition jives perfectly with the MSU's continuous, crazy, and obnoxiously loud speeches, news articles, and public displays that there's this massive Jewish conspiracy to take over the world, that Jews are the new Nazis and they're committing genocide against the Palestinians, and the use of suicide bombers that target for murder innocent men, women, and children because they are Jewish is a perfectly moral and legal way of waging war.

Chancellor, every time I step on campus, I walk around with a bullseye on my back because you and your administration aren't doing your jobs - you're supposed to protect my Title VI civil right to be able to go to school here without fear of intimidation against my religious, ethnic, and racial group. You're going to have to do better. I want specifics of recent events on this campus that fit the bill of "hate speech".

You've stepped closer to what you need to say, but your message still doesn't cut it. For once, show all of us you've got balls.

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Hate Speech
Date: Tue, 30 May 2006 19:58:11 -0700
From: Michael V. Drake, Chancellor
To: All Students: ;;All Students:@es.nacs.uci.edu;

Dear Students:

This is the third in a trilogy of messages sent to the campus community this month reiterating our core values of respect, appreciation and empathy, our refusal to tolerate illegal behavior, and our Constitutional obligation to respect and uphold First Amendment rights.

Today, I would like to address behavior that adheres to the strict definition of the law, but falls distinctly outside the bounds of civility. In a society of laws, we all must abide by a written code that draws the line between legal and illegal activities. The law sets a minimum standard of behavior. But there is a zone between illegal behavior and desirable behavior. In this zone we find disrespectful, deliberately offensive, but not specifically illegal acts. In the case of hate speech this behavior is protected by the Constitution.

Hate speech is difficult to define precisely. It is largely defined by the individual hearing it: what some or many may find hateful or offensive, others may not. Hate speech tends to be directed at individuals or groups. The provocateur chooses words specifically to offend and inflame. We can all think of examples of this behavior: words that are used to provoke outrage.

This winter and spring there have been incidents testing the bounds of the First Amendment at many campuses across the country, including ours. The controversies have revolved around a variety of issues, often not related to campus life per se, but rather reflecting larger international frictions.

Make no mistake: I find hate speech abhorrent, illogical and ultimately pitiful. Hate speech is inconsistent with advancing understanding or dialogue. It is also inconsistent with the great tradition of free speech at the University of California. I ask you to join me in renouncing hate speech as a form of expression, and to join with our larger university community in fostering open and candid dialogue.

I invite you to visit the web page of Student Affairs Vice Chancellor Manuel Gomez (http://www.vcsa.uci.edu), which includes important information related to the practice of free speech and events that UCI is sponsoring to encourage constructive dialogue on difficult issues currently being addressed on campuses across the country.

And, as always, I invite you to review our values, which can be found at http://www.chancellor.uci.edu/values.shtml. By upholding these values, we can ensure a healthy exchange of ideas in a civil, non-threatening environment.

Fiat Lux
Michael V. Drake, M.D.
Chancellor

http://www.chancellor.uci.edu

Jacob Bezier NewU Op-Ed: It's War, Not Genocide; also, three letters to the editor not on the NewU website

‘Genocide’ Does Not Describe Middle East
by: Jacob Beizer
May 30, 2006
New University

If the Mexican government were sending suicide bombers across the border to blow up buses and nightclubs, I would hope that the American government would build a wall to keep them out. In my opinion, that is not a racist policy. It is simple protection. It is not different from the bars that people put on their windows when they live in a crime-ridden neighborhood.

Israel is doing the same thing, and the Muslim world is accusing them of creating an apartheid state. This is not the case. The wall serves the purpose of protecting the Israeli people from terrorist attacks that the Palestinian government has no genuine intention of halting. The segregation in South Africa was established because of the ethnic prejudice inherent in the British imperial government. It would have been in place whether or not the black people in South Africa were dangerous.

Read more at: http://www.newuniversity.org/article.php?id=4803

--

There were also three letters to the editor not published on the NewU website. This is simply a small version of the image - you can see the full-size scan by clicking on the image (thank you to Ami for the scan):

RSS site feed in case anyone's interested

Copy and paste this address into your RSS feeder (Firefox has one built-in, Yahoo now accepts them):

http://concerneducistudent.blogspot.com/atom.xml

UPDATES: UCI New University FINALLY Posts Reut Cohen (including corrections) - also, photo links recreated

As I mentioned in a previous post, the UCI New University newspaper had published in their dead-tree edition an error-ridden article claiming that Yossi Olmert was Ariel Sharon's brother. From what I heard, the article's author, Reut Cohen, had submitted an accurate article, but somebody on the newspaper staff had changed it. These are our future journalists of America? G-d save us all...

Anyway, the article never made it to the NewUniversity.com website until just before the weekend. Here it is, with the corrections added:

Prime Minister’s Brother Speaks About Israeli Politics
http://www.newuniversity.org/article.php?id=4786

On another note, I've recreated the photo links that Flickr broke.

--

UPDATE:

The NewU published a formal correction in the May 30, 2006 dead-tree issue (it's not on their website):

In last week's issue of the New University, the article "Ariel Sharon's Brother Speaks About Israeli Politics" incorrectly stated that Yossi Olmert is the brother of former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. He is the brother of current Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. The mistake was made during the editing process and was not the fault of the article's author. In the article "MSU Provokes With 'Holocaust' Week," Imam Mohammad Al Asi was quoted as saying that "there are no differences between the rulers in Tel Aviv and the rulers of Israel." He actually said, "There are no differences between the rulers in Tel Aviv and the rulers in Riad." The Muslim Student Union did not allow any audio recordings of the event, so the article's author was unable to review quotes as per the usual practice.

Info on the Ahmadi Muslim movement

In the May 12, 2006 LA Times article that came out just before the 2006 MSU Anti-Zionism Week (click here for it), there was mention of a Muslim student organization that I had never heard of:

Ijaz Sayed, president of the Ahmadi Muslim Student Assn. at UCI, said, "You'll never find us holding an event like that…. We all have to live on this Earth together and somehow create peace here."

I looked them up on Wikipedia and here's what I found:

Ahmadi (Urdu: احمدیہ Ahmadiyya), are followers of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad. They comprise two subsects, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community (sometimes called the 'Qadiani' community, after Qadian, India, though this term is considered offensive by some) and the Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement (Ahmadiyya Anjuman Ishaat-i-Islam).

Ahmadi Muslims' beliefs are considered heretical and outside of Islam by most mainstream Muslims, though an exception may be made by some in the case of the smaller Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement.

Read here if you'd like to learn more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmadiyya

Apparently terrorists targeted them in the past:

Attack on mosque leaves eight dead

MONG, Pakistan - Armed assailants opened fire Friday inside a mosque belonging to a small sect that has been ostracized and banned from calling itself Muslim in Pakistan, killing eight people and wounding 19 others, police and a doctor said.

The attack occurred in Mong, a village of 18,000 people 150 miles southeast of Pakistan's capital, Islamabad. About 150 people in Mong belong to the Ahmadiyya sect, which differs with other Muslim groups over the definition of Islam's founder Mohammed as the "final" prophet.

The Ahmadiyya sect was founded in 1889 by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, a 19th century Indian religious leader who claimed to be a prophet seeking Islam's renewal.

(From http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/news/nationworld/article_706125.php )

LA Times takes a look at UC Irvine after the latest anti-Zionism Week - CAIR chides MSU!

The LA Times posted another article on the problems at UCI (hat tip: LittleGreenFootballs's commenters):

Mideast Debate Takes Root at UC Irvine
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-me-muslim27may27,0,4161084.story?coll=la-headlines-politics

What boggles the mind is CAIR even comments that THEY wouldn't have chosen the titles the MSU chose:

"If you haven't been through a bit of radicalism in college, you've missed out," said Hussam Ayloush, of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. "They're very harmless, nonviolent kids, but they're very vocal."

Still, some local Muslim leaders quietly acknowledged that they were no fans of [Amir Abdel Malik] Ali or his growing influence on local campuses. Ayloush questioned the wisdom of the Muslim Student Union deliberately provoking Jewish students by using "holocaust" or Nazi references.

"I wouldn't have chosen those titles. But would I describe them as anti-Semitic? No," Ayloush said. "That wouldn't work out in real life. It would backfire. You wouldn't even get Muslim attendance."

Here's my discussion of the LA Times article put out before the week got started:
http://concerneducistudent.blogspot.com/2006/05/la-times-article-on-next-weeks-zionist.html

And in case you're interested, the LA Times also ran a column from Dana Parson on May 14, 2006 bringing the controversy well into focus:

Baiting is a Poor Form of Free Speech
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-parsons14may14,1,908381.column

Apparently Flickr's computers didn't like their latest upgrade...

Flickr goofed massively and thus some of the photos and slideshows need to be recreated. I'll recreate the missing images sometime by the end of the coming weekend.

Congregation Eilat's Rabbi Altshuler Goes to Bat Against an Apologist

http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/opinion/atoz/article_1148825.php

Fabricating the history of Israel and Hamas

Margaret Zaknoen's column, "Our double standard toward Hamas" [Opinion, May 18], attempts to justify Hamas' violence by fabricating facts and distorting history.

Zaknoen forgets to tell readers that in 1948, just a few months after the United Nations passed a resolution that would have recognized a Jewish state and an Arab state a resolution Israel accepted and the Arab world rejected in toto Israel, a state of less than 700,000 people, was attacked by seven Arab armies.

Israel won that war for independence and it has had to fight continually since then against neighbors that have tried to destroy the only Jewish state in the world.

The description of an oppressive Israel is ludicrous: Israel, the size of New Jersey with a population of 7 million (1 million of whom are Arabs with full citizenship), is surrounded by 23 Arab nations whose land mass is the size of North America and a half, with a population of over 300 million.

These nations, except for Egypt and Jordan, have not exactly attempted to make peace with the Jewish state. Which side yearns for the other's destruction?

Israel has risked its survival since 1993 and the Oslo Accords, trying to negotiate with a Palestinian entity that refuses to recognize a Jewish state.

Arafat's refusal to gain virtually every inch of land for a Palestinian state in 2000, in exchange for an end to the state of war, is something that no one who wishes to see Israel live in peace with a Palestinian state will ever comprehend.

The tragedy of the Palestinian people is enormous. But it derives from the Palestinians' internecine violence, from Hamas and other assorted terrorist bands that still wish to see the annihilation of Israel, from bands of Hamas murderers who have been consistent in their support of the most extreme anti-American and anti-Semitic elements in the Middle East.

Stuart Altshuler
Mission Viejo
rabbi, Congregation Eilat

UCI New University articles from this week - some are MISSING from the website

Articles from the UC Irvine New University May 22, 2006 issue:

News: MSU Provokes With ‘Holocaust’ Week
By Ben Ritter
"Less than three months after UC Irvine’s Muslim Student Union found themselves in the national spotlight as a result of a decision by the College Republicans to show controversial Danish cartoons of the prophet Muhammad, the group is again at the center of a debate about free speech and religious expression. Only this time, they are the ones being accused of intolerance."
Read on at: http://www.newuniversity.org/article.php?id=4761

Commentary: Yossi Olmert’s Statements Invite Terrorism
By Aida Ashouri
"Yossi Olmert made his extremist views against the Palestinian people and the nation of Iran clear on May 17 during a talk entitled 'Israel: A Discussion of Recent Events'. Even though he is only the younger brother of the president of Israel, his influence in the political sphere is recognized. His statements revealed Israel as a rogue nation, unconcerned with international law and principles, and only concerned with its own economic interests."
Read on at: http://www.newuniversity.org/article.php?id=4778

However, the website is missing MULTIPLE items from the dead-tree version of this week's issue:
1) Campus Police Log
Location: Engineering Parking Structure
Description: Report of an unknown subject having drawn a swastika on caller's vehicle window
Date & Time: 04-30-06 at 22:56

2) News: [sic] Ariel Sharon's Brother Speaks About Israeli Politics
By Reut Cohen
It begins: "Yossi Olmert, a top Middle East scholar and brother of current Israeli Prime Minister [sic] Ariel Sharon, discussed the implications of Israel's new government, the [sic] Hamas leadership in Palestinian territories, the Iranian threat and the Middle East on May 17."
A note: From what I've gathered, Reut Cohen had submitted an article stating that the current Israeli Prime Minister was Ehud Olmert and somebody on the NewU staff CHANGED it to the erroneous statement in the article.

3) Letter to the Editor: The First Amendment at Work
By Manuel N. Gomez, Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs
It begins: "Last week the Muslim Student Union sponsored a week of events called 'Holocaust in the Holy Land.' Our campus received requests to cancel or condemn the program."

4) Letter to the Editor: MSU's Reasoning Offensive
By Paul R. Freedman, Falls Church, Va.
It begins: "Yeah, opinions-well, we all have them. This sermon needs no systematic rebuttal as it is incapable of rebuttal, being a string of by-now hoary anti-Zionist fictional cliches. That's fine, New U., Old U., it's the same old, same old."

5) Letter to the Editor: MSU's Reasoning Offensive
By Reut Cohen, second-year English major
It begins: "According to the May 15 edition of the New University, Huda Shaka' argues that anti-Zionism is not anti-Semitism and Zionism promotes genocide. It's important to address some of the hurt that many Jewish and Pro-Israel students feel when they hear these statements."
A note: if you want to read Huda Shaka's commentary, here's the link: http://www.newu.uci.edu/article.php?id=4753

I've emailed the NewU a request to publish these items - we'll see if they follow through...

Guess who won a FULBRIGHT Scholarship?

Vanessa Zuabi, former Vice President of the Society of Arab Students and one of the main players in MESSI (the UC Irvine Middle East Studies Student Initiative), won a Fulbright scholarship:

http://today.uci.edu/Features/profile_detail.asp?key=218

According to the profile, she will also be Student Speaker for Commencement Ceremony 1 of the School of Social Sciences at 1 p.m. Saturday, June 17 - I'm taking bets on what the topic of her commencement speech will be...

UPDATE

In case anybody's wondering, here's some info on our Fullbright winner. She's got three problems I can immediately point out:

First problem: SAS's involvement with the 2004 Anti-Zionism Week

"Despite these U.N. resolutions, Israel has illegally occupied the Palestinian territory," said Vanessa Zuabi, a second-year international studies and political science major and vice-president of SAS. "It has implanted checkpoints that prevent Palestinians from going to school, to work and from basic necessities such as food and water. Also against the U.N. resolution, there are illegal Israeli settlers that confiscate more and more Palestinian land. These actions are against the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as well as the fourth Geneva Convention and numerous other conventions issued by the U.N. Palestinians are on a daily basis dehumanized, brutalized and denied their human rights. As human beings we should not tolerate this."
http://horus.vcsa.uci.edu/article.php?id=2240

At the SAS event on the Monday night of the 2004 Anti-Zionism Week (i.e. while she was in power), the speaker used false facts in order to put Israel in a bad light (I have my own notes from the event and will publish them shortly).

Then there's the question: why has neither she nor the SAS (while she was in power) ever denounced the level of hatred espoused by at the Anti-Zionism Weeks and in general at MSU events? At one event in 2004, for instance, one student in the audience noted that the speaker stated that audience members should "ask the American Jews in the audience" why America is at war in Iraq.


Second problem: the anti-hate rally
When interviewed by the LA Times, Zuabi stated that all groups were invited to the 2004 "anti-hate rally".
http://www.unitedjerusalem.org/index2.asp?id=444075

Yet in a May 31, 2004 New University article by Ben Ritter, she is paraphrased as stating that the SAS "didn’t want AFI at the rally because they did not want to turn the rally into a political issue."
http://www.newuniversity.org/article.php?id=2530

Hillel and the Jewish Greek organizations were also told "don't come", and they are not political organizations. What gives?


Third problem, as shown in the SCCUR 2003 Conference Program where Mark Levine was her advisor

Israel’s Slave Trade: The Situation of Foreign Migrant Workers in Israel
Vanessa Zuabi
Mentor: Mark LeVine
University of California, Irvine

The Israeli government introduced non-Palestinian migrant workers to the labor market more than a decade ago when Yitzak Rabin closed off the de facto Occupied Territories in 1993. In recent years, there has been a drastic increase in instances of enslavement and trafficking of these foreign workers. Its primary manifestations include debt bondage, restrictions and violations of basic human freedoms, and renting and selling of workers. The government has not only failed to enforce laws protecting workers, they have created fertile ground for the development of conditions of slavery and trafficking in human beings in Israel. In addition, several officials within the government are owners or partial owners of the very companies that engage in these illegal practices. Many officials also receive millions of dollars from them in political monetary aid. The government’s economic ties with this three billion-dollar business of trafficking and enslaving workers have allowed them to condone these illegal actions and pass laws to further facilitate them. These practices have not only led to dehumanization and mass deportation of foreign workers in Israel, it has also had a tragic effect on the Palestinians living in Israel and in the Occupied Territories. My purpose in researching this project was to understand how the foreign worker phenomenon has affected the "Arab" labor sector in Israel and in the Occupied Territories. In addition I sought to better understand the discriminatory practices of the Israeli government and how this has affected not only the Palestinian minority, but all non-Jews living under Israeli occupation. My desire to understand this concept led me to delve further into the treatment of foreign workers in Israel. Much of my research was conducted in the Renaissance Prison in Nazareth, Israel. There are more than 500 "illegal" foreign workers being held there at this time. I was able to gather first hand accounts of the situation of foreign workers through interviews, as well as articles from Israeli magazines and newspapers, and human rights organizations focusing in this issue.

http://www.sccur.uci.edu/program_abstracts_o-z.html

How can the US State Department (sponsor of the Fulbright scholarship program) and UC Irvine reward anti-Semitism like this?