THE Ave Committee on Academic Awards* has awarded its first Knowsitall Award to the American Studies Association for their position paper in support of the boycott of Israel’s Universities.
The document is worthy of Goebbels, Wahabi-ist propaganda from Saudi extremists, or the Iranians. I’ve marked the damned thing up and stored it here ASA_Boycott_FAQs mU
A few facts:
The document treats all Arabs in Israel as “Palestinians.” This is bullshit. Israel’s Arabs have full rights. The all too real limits on Arabs living in the West Bank are horrid but they have nothing to do with ethnic discrimination. For the record, ALL the Arabs living in Jerusalem were offered full Israeli citizenship after the reconquest of the city in the 76 war.
The document reeks of its own racism. The ASA refers to Israel’s policies toward all Arabs in Israel as “Palestinians” as racist. Arabs and Jews are racially alike, no matter how you define the term “racist.” As a 50% Sephardic Jew, my “race” is as indistinguishable from that of my Arab brothers and sisters as it is from my Yemeni (Jewish) brothers and sisters. The “Jewish” genome amongst Ashkenazim, for that matter, is also largely Semitic.
The document claims “Palestinian” students do not have equal rights. The most striking claim made by the ASA is that “Palestinians” are barred from holding student office in Israel’s universities. I was so upset by this that I went to the example they cite. The example is Sefad College, a small school serving the needs of the ultra orthodox community of Sefad … well within the historic borders form 1948. Frankly, I doubt very much any non Israeli Arabs would choose to attend this small local school. I also suggest the Jews in Sefad have as much right to run a school as the American religious groups have to run Seattle Pacific or Skagit Community Bible College. I saw no evidence that any Palestinians or even any Israeli Arab had enrolled or, if so, wanted to run for office.
The document faults Israeli Universities for being militarized. It is nice for us to live in the security of Seattle, Washington where only a few students choose ROTC and DARPA grants are a small part of the UW. The ASA members … what we used to call lace curtain liberals … lead a lot easier lives than our Israeli colleagues. Imagine a campus in a small country at war, imagine ALL of your students having compulsory service, imagine walking by car bombings and missile hits.