zaterdag 28 augustus 2010

The Jewish Lobby 7

Israeli and US Zionists mount ferocious attack on liberal academics in Israel


By Neve Gordon

28 August 2010

Neve Gordon highlights the growing persecution of liberal academics in Israel as Israeli fascists, supported by American Christian Zionists and other neo-conservatives, join forces to root out academic freedom and freedom of expression at Israel’s universities.

On 31 May, I joined some 50 students and faculty members who gathered outside Ben-Gurion University of the Negev to demonstrate against the Israeli military assault on the flotilla carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza. In response, the next day a few hundred students marched towards the social sciences building, Israeli flags in hand. Amid nationalist songs and pro-government chants, there were also shouts demanding my resignation from the university faculty.

One student even proceeded to create a Facebook group whose sole goal is to have me sacked. So far over 2,100 people (many of them non-students) have joined. In addition to death wishes and declarations that I should be exiled, the site includes a call on students to spy on me during class. "We believe," ends a message written to the group, "that if we conduct serious and profound work, we can, with the help of each and every one of you, gather enough material to influence ... Neve Gordon's status at the university, and maybe even bring about his dismissal."

Such personal attacks are part of a much broader assault on Israeli higher education and its professors. Two recent incidents exemplify the proto-fascist logic that is being deployed to undermine the pillars of academic freedom in Israel, while also revealing that the assault on Israeli academe is being backed by neo-conservative forces in the United States.

The first incident involves a report published by the Institute for Zionist Strategies, in Israel, which analysed course syllabi in Israeli sociology departments and accused professors of a "post-Zionist" bias. The institute defines post-Zionism as "the pretence to undermine the foundations of the Zionist ethos and an affinity with the radical leftist stream". In addition to the usual Israeli leftist suspects, intellectuals like Benedict Anderson and Eric Hobsbawm also figure in as post-Zionists in the report.

The institute sent the report to the Israel Council for Higher Education, which is the statutory body responsible for Israeli universities, and the council, in turn, sent it to all of the university presidents. Joseph Klafter, President of Tel-Aviv University, actually askedseveral professors to hand over their syllabi for his perusal, though he later asserted that he had no intention of policing faculty members and was appalled by the report.

A few days later, the top headline of the Israeli daily Ha’aretz revealed that another right-wing organization, Im Tirtzu (If You Will It), had threatened Ben-Gurion University, where I am a professor and a former chair of the government and politics department. Im Tirtzu told the university's president, Rivka Carmi, that it would persuade donors to place funds in escrow unless the university took steps "to put an end to the anti-Zionist tilt" in its politics and government department. The organization demanded a change "in the makeup of the department's faculty and the content of its syllabi", giving the president a month to meet its ultimatum. This time my head was not the only one it wanted.
“…the assault on the Israeli academe is actually part of a much wider offensive against liberal values. Numerous forces in Israel are mobilizing in order to press forward an extreme-right political agenda.”

President Carmi immediately asserted that Im Tirtzu's demands were a serious threat to academic freedom. However, Minister of Education Gideon Sa'ar, who is also chairman of the Council for Higher Education, restricted hisresponse to a cursory statement that any move aimed at harming donations to universities must be stopped. Mr Sa'ar's response was disturbingly predictable. Only a few months earlier, he had spoken at an Im Tirtzu gathering, following its publication of a report about the so-called leftist slant of syllabi in Israeli political-science departments. At the gathering, he asserted that even though he had not read the report, its conclusions would be taken very seriously.

Although the recent scuffle seems to be about academic freedom, the assault on the Israeli academe is actually part of a much wider offensive against liberal values. Numerous forces in Israel are mobilizing in order to press forward an extreme-right political agenda.

They have chosen the universities as their prime target for two main reasons. First, even though Israeli universities as institutions have never condemned any government policy – not least the restrictions on Palestinian universities' academic freedom – they are home to many vocal critics of Israel's rights-abusive policies. Those voices are considered traitorous and consequently in need of being stifled. Joining such attacks are Americans like Alan M. Dershowitz, who in a recent visit to Tel-Aviv University called for the resignations of professors who supported the Palestinian call for a boycott of Israeli goods and divestment from Israeli companies until the country abides by international human-rights law. He named Rachel Giora and Anat Matar, both tenured professors at Tel Aviv University, as part of that group.

Second, all Israeli universities depend on public funds for about 90 per cent of their budget. This has been identified as an Achilles heel. The idea is to exploit the firm alliance those right-wing organizations have with government members and provide the ammunition necessary to make financial support for universities conditional on the dissemination of nationalist thought and the suppression of "subversive ideas". Thus, in the eyes of those right-wing Israeli organizations, the universities are merely arms of the government.
“…Im Tirtzu and other such organizations would not have been effective on their own; they depend on financial support from backers in the United States.”

And, yet, Im Tirtzu and other such organizations would not have been effective on their own; they depend on financial support from backers in the United States. As it turns out, some of their ideological allies are willing to dig deep into their pockets to support the cause.

The Rev. John C. Hagee, the leader of Christians United for Israel, has been Im Tirtzu's sugar daddy, and his ministries have provided the organization with at least 100,000 dollars. After Im Tirtzu's most recent attack, however, even Mr Hagee concluded that it had gone overboard and decided to stop giving funds. The Hudson Institute, a neo-conservative think tank that helped shape the Bush administration's Middle East policies, has funnelled hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Institute for Zionist Strategies over the past few years, and was practically its only donor. For Christians United and the Hudson Institute, the attack on academic freedom is clearly also a way of advancing much broader objectives.

The Hudson Institute, for example, has neo-imperialist objectives in the Middle East, and a member of its Board of Trustees is in favour of attacking Iran. Christian United's eschatological position (whereby the “Second Coming” is dependent on the gathering of all Jews in Israel), includes support for such an attack. The scary partnership between such Israeli and American organizations helps reveal the true aims of this current assault on academic freedom: to influence Israeli policy and eliminate the few liberal forces that are still active in the country. The atmosphere within Israel is conducive to such intervention.

Nonetheless, Im Tirtzu's latest threat backfired, as did that of the Institute for Zionist Strategies' report; the assaults have been foiled for now. The presidents of all the universities in Israel condemned the reports and promised never to bow down to this version of McCarthyism.

Despite those declarations, the rightist organizations have actually made considerable headway. Judging from comments on numerous online news sites, the populist claim that the public's tax money is being used to criticize Israel has convinced many readers that the universities should be more closely monitored by the government and that "dissident" professors must be fired. Moreover, the fact that the structure of Israeli universities has changed significantly over the past five years, and that now most of the power lies in the hands of presidents rather than the faculty, will no doubt be exploited to continue the assault on academic freedom. Top university administrators are already stating that if the Israeli Knesset approves a law against the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Movementfor Palestine, the law will be used to fire faculty members who support the movement.
“…there is now the sense among many faculty members that a thought police has been formed – and that many of its officers are actually members of the academic community.”

More importantly, there is now the sense among many faculty members that a thought police has been formed – and that many of its officers are actually members of the academic community. The fact that students are turning themselves into spies and that syllabi are being collected sends a chilling message to faculty members across the country. I, for one, have decided to include in my syllabi a notice restricting the use of recording devices during class without my prior consent. And many of my friends are now using Gmail instead of the university email accounts for fear that their correspondence will in some way upset administrators.

Israeli academe, which was once considered a bastion of free speech, has become the testing ground for the success of the assault on liberal values. And although it is still extremely difficult to hurt those who have managed to enter the academic gates, those who have not yet passed the threshold are clearly being monitored.

I know of one case in which a young academic was not hired due to his membership inCourage to Refuse, an organization of reserve soldiers who refuse to do military duty in the West Bank. In the age of Google and Facebook, the thought police can easily disqualify a candidate based on petitions signed and even online "friends" one has. Israeli graduate students are following such developments, and for them the message is clear.

While in politics nothing is predetermined, Israel is heading down a slippery slope. Israeli academe is now an arena where some of the most fundamental struggles of a society are being played out. The problem is that instead of struggling over basic human rights, we are now struggling over the right to struggle.

Neve Gordon is the author of Israel's Occupation and can be contacted through his website www.israelsoccupation.info A version of this article was originally published in The Chronicle of Higher Education. The version here is published by permission of Neve Gordon.

http://www.redress.cc/palestine/ngordon20100828

6 opmerkingen:

Anoniem zei

www.ohel-hachidusch.org/archive.html

2 stappen naar de vrede. Stap 1: Hebreeuws leren

Between a stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom. The last of human freedoms is to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances.
- Viktor Frankl

NVC at work in Israel and Palestine
Roberta is available for talks and workshops in your community!
Read more on my blog:
http://robertaindia.wordpress.com/

From Roberta, after an NVC training in Bethlehem:

Toward the end of the 2 1/2 hour session, I was feeling uneasy, maybe hopeless, wondering if this will really make a contribution to peace. Can this training really contribute to the Palestinian women in the room, to Israelis, religious and secular, all of whom are deeply longing for freedom, choice, stability, a community where their children, families and cultures will thrive?

Just then, a Palestinian woman who had spoken several times during the class series about her needs for appreciation in her family and also about her suffering at the checkpoint, blurted out, "I want to learn Hebrew. I want to be able to speak directly to Israelis. Then we can make peace."One after the other, the women sitting around her said, "me too. I want to learn Hebrew."

My heart leaped with surprise and delight. After two hours of giving each other empathy in the room, empathy for our hopelessness, for the hardships, the longing for freedom and empowerment, without any pressure, a new solution! A new strategy arises. This is the miracle of listening and connecting, of empowering people, with the support of NVC ,to create solutions.

A friend in Jerusalem, a Rabbi, agreed to travel to Bethlehem weekly to give Hebrew classes. This hasn't worked out yet. We are looking for volunteer Hebrew teachers in Jerusalem and other support to get this going!

anzi

Anoniem zei

Jewish Renewal

ALEPH/Taglit-birthright israel Trip

June 16-July 27. 2008

Thirty-seven engaged and vibrant souls participated in ALEPH’s second Jewish Renewal Taglit-Birthright trip. The impressive group included several professional musicians, an aspiring cantor, two actresses, a soon to be pediatric oncology nurse, an aspiring NYC police officer, two professional anti-racism workers and four children of Jewish Renewal rabbis and rabbinic students. Read a full report.

www.aleph.org

anzi

Anoniem zei

Waar het progressieve jodendom zich kwaad over kan maken.

Published 01:33 07.03.10 Latest update 10:17 07.03.10 New bill would make conversion insufficient for Israeli citizenship
Proposed legislation would alter the Law of Return, distinguishing it from Citizenship Law.
By Yair Ettinger
Tags: Yisrael Beitenu Israel news

Proposed legislation that would broaden the authority of the Chief Rabbinate in Israel on matters of conversion would also alter the Law of Return, distinguishing between that law and the Citizenship Law.

The bill, put forth by MK David Rotem of Yisrael Beiteinu, is the result of negotiations he held with both Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar and the ultra-Orthodox Shas party. According to this legislation, conversion - even if done in Israel - will be insufficient basis for requesting Israeli citizenship.

www.haaretz.com/.../news/new-bill-would-make-conversion-insufficient-for-israeli-citizenship

anzi

Sonja zei

Dit interesseert de Nederlandse dames en heren van de journalistiek dus geen moer: De PVV wil dat Israël zeggenschap krijgt in het beleid van Defensie. Middels Kamervragen maakte de PVV duidelijk dat wanneer wij oud legermaterieel willen verkopen aan Jordanië, dat wij daarvoor eerst moeten overleggen met/toestemming vragen aan Israël. Dat in verband met de "verstoring" van de "regionale stabiliteit". De randdebielen zijn toevallig vergeten dat Israël de enige kernwapenmacht in het MO is. En 3 miljard dollar per jaar (8 miljoen per dag!) van de VS krijgt aan 'militaire hulp'. Ik schrijf er nog wel een logje over.

Anoniem zei

Goede video
No War for Israel in Iran - Keep Americans Safe

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qxzZY4JycY

Corrie van der Hart

Sonja zei

Ter attentie: PVV: Israël moet inspraak krijgen in besluitvorming Defensie

Peter Flik en Chuck Berry-Promised Land

mijn unieke collega Peter Flik, die de vrijzinnig protestantse radio omroep de VPRO maakte is niet meer. ik koester duizenden herinneringen ...