Deja Vu: The Lobby Takes Aim at Another University Professor

It's another Israel Lobby hit-job, just like the one that resulted in Norman Finkelstein being denied tenure at De Paul University, Chicago. This time it's William I. Robinson of the University of California, Santa Barbara, who like Finkelstein is a Jewish academic, and who, also like Finkelstein, has the overwhelming support of his students against the debate-stifling, free speech-suppressing tactics of the Zionist Lobby.

Leading the campaign against Robinson is the notorious ADL of B'nai B'rith and the Simon Weisenthal Center, who were alerted of Robinson's alleged "anti-Semitism" by two Jewish students attending one of his classes.

Two Jewish students dropped the class, saying they felt intimidated by the professor's message. They contacted the Simon Wiesenthal Center, which advised them to file formal complaints with the university.

In their letters, senior Rebecca Joseph and junior Tova Hausman accused Robinson of violating the campus' faculty code of conduct by disseminating personal, political material unrelated to his course.

"I was shocked," said Joseph, 22. "He overstepped his boundaries as a professor. He has his own freedom of speech, but he doesn't have the freedom to send his students his own opinion that is so strong."

Does that even make sense? Presumably, free speech is ok by Joseph as long as your opinions aren't too 'strong'. The message that poor little Rebecca is referring to is an email that Professor Robinson forwarded to his sociology students containing information, images and commentary regarding the recent Gaza massacre. What the Terror State did to Gaza is definitely "shocking", but check out the content of the original email and see how "intimidated" you feel. Even the slavishly pro-Israel Zionists at The New Republic are sick of all the fuss, exclaiming "Enough With the Campus Inquisitions!"

An Interview with William Robinson
Zionist Lobby Targets Another Tenured Professor

By DOUG HENWOOD

Doug Henwood: We're now joined by William Robinson, who is a Professor of Sociology at the University of California in Santa Barbara, someone I met about six or seven years ago at a conference and, although I've disagreed with him on some issues, I though he's a serious and thoughtful guy. I was very distressed to learn, reading Insider Higher Ed, the website, today that he's being persecuted by the Zionist lobby for an e-mail that he sent around to some of his students. Welcome William Robinson, tell us the story of what you sent and what's been happening.

William Robinson: Yes, good afternoon to everyone. I included some material which was highly critical of the Israeli invasion of Gaza as part of the reading material for a course on globalization and global affairs, and this was in January. And I am now facing charges, here at the university, of anti-semitism and violating the faculty code of conduct because two students in the course - there were eighty students - these two submitted a formal letter of complaint that they found offensive the material condemning the invasion of Gaza. The students immediately withdrew from the course, I don't even know them personally. And what is particularly egregious about this case is not that the students submitted a complaint - any student is allowed to do that - but rather that the university took the complaint seriously and is actually prosecuting me...

DH: You have tenure right?

WR: Yes, I am tenured, I am a full time professor...

DH: So in theory you're protected against persecution for your beliefs.

WR: No, in theory, I have total, I and even if I don't have tenure, have academic freedom, and this is in total violation of my academic freedom and of all of the principles of academic freedom, and of the university's own charter on academic freedom, and the American Association of University Professors principles and procedures on academic freedom, so there is absolutely no basis for any of this. What's going on, and I want to explain, behind the scenes we have been able to find out - students on campus and faculty have formed a Committee to Defend Academic Freedom which is taking up this issue, and by the way, there is a blog that they put up with all of this information, which at some point I would like to give your listeners - but we have found out that the Anti-Defamation League, which, as you know, and your listeners probably know, is an organization which, at one time, did very good and very important work in denouncing anti-Semitism, but since then has become a, basically, a mouthpiece for the Israeli government, a defender of the policies and practices of the Israeli state, and goes after and attacks anyone that criticizes those policies. So these students did not even accuse me of doing anything which we would consider anti-Semitism - discrimination against Jews, against the Jewish religion and so forth - they said openly and outright that the professor introduces material which criticized the state of Israel and that equals anti-semitism.

DH: Now, I think some people found offensive that you had likened Israeli behavior to the Nazis. Is that an issue?

WR: Well I didn't do that. What I did was I forwarded several items from the world media, from the internet media. One item was an article written by a Jewish journalist in a Jewish newspaper here in the United States, and it was criticizing the invasion of Gaza...

DH: So you didn't endorse this position?

WR: I didn't endorse it but I did include, I said, in presenting this material, I said that Gaza is Israel's Warsaw and I explained the context. That's because in Warsaw the Nazi's surrounded Warsaw, concentrated Jews in Warsaw, wouldn't let anyone in, wouldn't let anyone out, wouldn't let supplies in, wouldn't let supplies out; as a result there was famine and disease and so forth...

DH: Which is exactly what's...

WR: ...exactly and precisely what the Israeli's are doing in Gaza. And that's been denounced by the Red Cross, the United Nations, the international human rights organizations, and moreover, academic freedom totally allows me to present such controversial material and that's part of what the university is all about. We academically debate these controversial issues. I want to explain though what happened. We got some inside information in the last week. The president of the Anti-Defamation League Abraham Fox-...

DH: Foxman

WR: Foxman, he arrived here in Santa Barbara and he called a meeting with a select group of faculty, and he called the meeting for no other reason than to say that we want Professor Robinson prosecuted, and this is explosive. We have just learned about this; we're going to go public with it. And so there is this outside Israel lobby which has come on to campus, and which is accusing me of anti- Semitism and of doing all of these terrible things in order to create an atmosphere of complete intimidation. You know that anyone who criticizes the policies of the state of Israel is silenced, and is given that label of anti-smitism; that's a way of creating this atmosphere of intimidation, that no one can speak out about what's going on in Israel-Palestine, and so forth. That's the larger context.

DH: Ok, I'm sorry to make this so rushed, but this is a last minute addition and the rest of the show is full, just let me conclude...What can people do?

WR: [Go to] sb4af.wordpress.com. That's the blog that the Committee to Defend Academic Freedom has set up, and a lot of this information is on there, a lot of the documents are on there.

DH: All right, well thank you William Robinson and best of luck in your fight and we'll be back to look at this in the future.

WR: Thank-you, thank-you very much.

DH: I've been speaking with William Robinson, who is a professor of sociology at the University of California at Santa Barbara, under persecution by the intellectual police at the Zionist lobby, the Anti-Defamation League.

After 3 months of anguish - 21yr old succumbs to wounds from Israeli Phosphorus Attack

Ghada Riad Rajab Abu Halima, 21

On 29 March, Ghada Abu Halima died in an Egyptian hospital from injuries she suffered when struck by white phosphorous on January 4. Phosporus cannot be put out. It must be dug out. It can burn for weeks in the human body. It penetrates deeply and can cause heart and liver damage.

On 29 March, ten weeks after giving her testimony to B'Tselem, Ghada Abu Halima died in an Egyptian hospital from injuries she suffered when struck by the white phosphorous.

Until last week, I lived with my husband, Muhammad, 24, and our two little daughters, Farah, 3, and Aya, 6 months, in the a-Sifa section of Beit Lahiya. We lived in the same house as Muhammad’s parents, Sa’dallah Abu Halima, 44, and Sabah Abu Halima, 44, and his brothers and sisters: ‘Omar, 18, Yusef, 16, ‘Abd a-Rahim, 13, Zeid, 11, Hamzah, 10, ‘Ali, 4, and baby Shahd, 1.

Our house had two floors. On the first floor were 250 square meters of storage rooms, and we lived on the second floor. We are farmers and have land next to the house.

On Saturday night [3 January], Israeli jets dropped leaflets calling on residents of the area to leave their homes. The army did the same thing in previous incursions and we didn't leave the house, so this time, too, we decided not to leave.

Around 4 P.M. the next day [4 January], when all the family was in the house, the army started to shell our area. A few minutes later, shells landed on our house. Fire broke out in the house and several members of the family burned to death: my father-in-law, his baby daughter Shahd, and three of his sons – ‘Abd a-Rahim, Zeid and Hamzah.

My mother-in-law and her sons Yusef, ‘Omar and ‘Ali suffered burns. The fire spread throughout the house. I was holding my daughter Farah and we were both burned too. My clothes went up in flames, and some of my skin and Farah’s skin was scorched. Luckily, my baby daughter Aya wasn’t hurt. I ripped the clothes off my body and cried out that I was burning. I was naked in front of everybody in the house. My body was burning and the pain was excruciating. I could smell my flesh burning. I was in a horrible condition. I looked for something to cover me and shouted non-stop. My husband’s brother took off his pants and gave them to me to wear. The top part of my body remained naked until my husband came and covered me with his jacket.

Then he ran to the road to get an ambulance or find some people to help us get the killed and injured people out of the house. He couldn’t find any ambulance or firefighting vehicle. His cousins, who live nearby us, Matar and Muhammad-Hikmat Abu Halima, came to help. My husband lifted me up, and Nabilah, his aunt, picked up Farah. Another aunt, who also came to help, took Aya.

Muhammad, Farah, Nabilah, her son ‘Ali, ‘Omar, Matar and I all got onto a wagon hitched to a tractor. Muhammad Hahmat drove it, heading to Kamal ‘Adwan Hospital. We also took the body of the baby Shahed. We left all the others in the house.

On the way, we saw soldiers about 300 meters from al-‘Atatrah Square. Muhammad stopped the tractor and suddenly, the soldiers opened fire at us. They killed Matar and Muhammad-Hikmat. ‘Ali was wounded and managed to run away with Nabilah and ‘Omar.

The soldiers told my husband to undress, which he did. Then he put his clothes back on and the soldiers told us to continue by foot. We left the three bodies in the wagon. My husband, Farah, and I walked toward the square, where we got into a car that happened to be passing by. He took us to a-Shifaa Hospital. It was about 6 P.M. when we got to the hospital.

I am still hospitalized. My whole body was burned, and so was my face.

Farah has third-degree burns.

We were referred to further treatment in Egypt and they tried to take us to Rafah by ambulance, but the army fired at us on the way. The driver was slightly wounded in the face and he drove back to the hospital. Now we are waiting for authorization to leave for Egypt.

Ghada Riad Rajab Abu Halima, 21, married with two children, resident of Beit Lahiya, Gaza Strip. Testimony was given to Muhammad Sabah at a-Shifaa Hospital on 9 January 2009.

B'Tselem
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Canada admits wanted War Criminal GW Bush, bans humanitarian Galloway

AMY GOODMAN: Why did you go to Gaza?

GEORGE GALLOWAY: Because after twenty-two days, the Palestinian people there were in a desperate situation. We took twenty-four ambulances, a fire engine, trucks full of wheelchairs and medicine and children’s clothes and blankets for the 61,000 Palestinian families whose homes have been destroyed. And, of course, when we got there, we have to give them to the authorities there.

As it happens, I’m not a supporter of Hamas. I never have been. But I am a supporter of democracy. And if the Palestinian people elect a government, we have to respect that.

AMY GOODMAN: Explain why they’re saying you provide material aid to a terrorist organization.

GEORGE GALLOWAY: Well, is material aid ambulances and medicine and wheelchairs and nappies for children and biscuits for hungry people and tents for homeless people and blankets for them to huddle up in the wintertime under? If that’s terrorism, then terrorism no longer has any meaning as a word.

AMY GOODMAN: You almost didn’t get into Gaza. You were stopped. Our reporter, producer Anjali Kamat was there in Gaza. They got through, CODEPINK, the delegation. You ultimately did, but you were stopped at the border.

GEORGE GALLOWAY: Yes, because we were a convoy of 350 British people, 110 British vehicles. And, of course, the Israelis put tremendous pressure on the Egyptian government as to what can go through the gate at Rafah and what must go through the Israeli-controlled gates.

That’s why we’re in the bizarre situation. You can take aspirin to the Palestinians through the Egyptian gate, but you can’t take food. So you can’t feed them, but you can give them an aspirin for the headache that they’ll get as a result of being hungry. This is crazy.

This siege has to end. Gaza is like an earthquake has hit it, the difference being, if it had been an earthquake, all the governments of the world would be airlifting the means of life to the victims of that earthquake and beginning to reconstruct it. And that simply isn’t happening.

AMY GOODMAN: Finally, George Galloway, President Bush did get into Canada, despite a Canadian group, the Lawyers Against the War, calling for his arrest or deportation. The Canadian government ignored their request, though they did deny you entry.

GEORGE GALLOWAY: Yes, and on the grounds that I was a national security risk, which will have come as a surprise to the Homeland Security Department here and to the Speaker of the House of Commons, with whom I’ve sat with for twenty-three years. Yes, I mean—

AMY GOODMAN: We have twenty seconds.

GEORGE GALLOWAY: George Bush, dangerous killer, here’s a million-dollar fee, come and speak. George Galloway, antiwar leader, don’t bother turning up.

Neil Young ~ When God Made Me

(embed) d/l file: (1) or (2)

Ismael Hania is the Prime Minister of Palestine

Gaza woke up this morning not to the sounds of F16s and the awful smells and white smoke of phosphorous bombs, but to the amazing sights of those ‘angels’ who have defied the odds to be with them in this time of great need.

Today Gaza is in celebration, you can see for the first time in a long while a smile on the faces of traumatised young children who cannot fathom what is going on around them.

It was a day also for George Galloway, the leader of Viva Palestina who addressed a rally in the centre of Gaza City. He reiterated that Ismael Hania is the only and legitimate elected leader of the Palestinian people.

George also said that there is a crisis in the Arab regimes, because their people and some of their officials, their officers at border controls all despise the siege on the people of Palestine.

He added that he would like to thank the Palestinians for the reception Viva Palestina received and for the opportunity to kiss this sacred land on the anniversary of the birth of the Prophet (PBUH).

Then he addressed the members of the convoy saying that, “You have now become heroes and legends. No one will ever forget you in Palestine. Your children and brothers will value your actions and will be proud of you.”

”My son Zein Eddine who is two, can see me now on TV from London and he is saying ‘LONG LIVE PALESTINE' When he is a grown man, he will remember that his father decided to get to Palestine and that one day he will, with his own son, come back to Palestine and its capital Jerusalem.”

The convoy has been split into groups to allow them to move around war torn Gaza. They have seen at first hand the destruction of hospitals, schools, ministries and official buildings. They visited El salam neighbourhood, El Wafa hospital, the Islamic University and various sites.

They will tour the strip and assess what is urgently needed so that plans to follow on with further aid work can be considered on their return.

Last night, some members benefited from the hospitality of the Foreign minister. Everyone is overwhelmed by the welcome and generosity of the Palestinians considering they have been left with so little.

I am told that a large number of the Convoy will start leaving Gaza tomorrow. Apparently, the Egyptians have told them that the border may close and that therefore they may be stuck in Gaza for days.

Will keep you posted.

Increasing Radical Nationalism in Israel

Some Israeli human rights organisations are expressing their worries about increasing Israeli racism towards the indigenous Palestinian "Israelis" of 1948. In their various reports, these organisations have confirmed that the trend in Israeli society is increasingly calling for the "emigration", the "ousting", or the "transfer" of these Palestinians.

Heading the list of the Israeli extreme right-wing parties stands the Yisrael Beiteinu Party led by the racist Avigdor Lieberman, who believes that Israel's "special" national security must be given first priority.

Lieberman's party adopts the extreme policy of forcing Palestinian Israelis, if they want to preserve Israeli citizenship, of declaring their allegiance to Israel as a Jewish state. In almost the same vein follows Shas the religious party of Oriental Jews.

This party is strongly against withdrawal from the 1967 Occupied Territories that the party terms as biblical lands.

The extremist stance of the party's spiritual leader, Ovedia Yousuf, is well known. He urged the Israeli Defence Forces, during the recent war on Gaza, to pour more "cast lead" over schools and hospitals.

"O God," he prayed, "may you pour your wrath over the goyim [gentile]; take revenge from the Arabs, annihilate their offspring, pulverise them, oppress them and erase them from above the earth!"

Another part, Ya'hdut Ha Torah, which represents the extreme religious ashkenazis (Western Jews), is even more extreme than Shas, especially in calling for ousting of the Palestinians of the 1948 areas. However, The New Mafdal party is considered the most extremist of all Israeli parties.

Entire article at:

http://archive.gulfnews.com/opinion/columns/region/10292300.html

V I V A ∞ P A L E S T I N A

60 vehicles have joined the convoy in Libya so far, bringing the total to 170, and possibly 300 before it enters Egypt, and joins with Egyptians and another Scottish medical aid convoy that is growing as it is travels across Europe right now, all to meet in Gaza.

The International Committee of the Red Cross has declared the humanitarian crisis in Gaza to be worse than Darfur.

The convoy is in Misrata. The hospitality of the Libyan people, government and the Gaddafi Foundation has left the convoy members in tears.

After the the public rally in Tripoli today, they set off with an additional 60 Libyan vehicles loaded with humanitarean aid and medecine towards the coastal town of Misrata. They were met with jubilant ordinary Libyans who hold Palestine and Gaza close to their hearts.

The organisers and the Gaddafi Foundation are ensuring the smooth and safe passage of the convoy through Libya by providing everything the convoy needs - from free fuel to accomodation and repairs, etc.

This evening, our drivers and their passengers were being driven in coaches to the newly built and inaugurated GAZA VILLAGE on the outskirt of Misrata. It is a tribute to the memory of the fallen martyrs of Gaza and a message to the children of Palestine from a long standing staunch ally of their just cause.

According to Libyan TV News this evening, the convoy could reach 300 vehicles by the time it reaches the border. I have just seen the size of some of the HGV's going to Gaza lined up with ours. It is an awsome sight, a mammoth task only made possible by some legendary men and women.

In one of the speeches today in Tripoli, one of the convoy leaders said to the crowd that this convoy was not just a Viva Palestina British, Islamic, Christian, Arab and European but it was first and foremost humanitarian, where all humanity in all its diverse cultures, languages and religions contributed to it.

One of our convoy members said to the Arabic newspaper Libya Elyoum today "This is the best welcome we received. What is different this time is that the authorities did not try to stop the people mingling and getting close to us, nothing was orchestrated, it was natural and spontaneous.."

Tomorrow is a big day as Libya celebrates the creation of the Republic (Jamahiria). The convoy will head for SIRT where they will savour Libyan hospitality once again.