It is also sad that this talk was allowed to appear as a polemic rather then in a forum where Salaita could be better challenged.
This AM I awoke to receive a message that Salaita has been posting an ad hominem attack on Twitter about me. Instead of identifying me by name he uses an epithet ..calling me a “Zionist professor.” He is correct, I am a Jew and a Zionist. I believe Jews AND Palestinians both have a right to their own homelands and detest people like Salaita who only see war and hate as an answer to conflict.
Salaita claims that my challenge after his talk was uncivil. If I were interested in Twitter, I suppose I could respond. I could refer to him as a “Hamasnik,” “Terrorist” or more simply as an anti-Semitic racist!
Salita’s tweets were in response to my comment after his talk. During his talk at UW Steve Salaita quoted Gandhi as being antagonistic to the creation of Israel. As a devotee of Gandhi, I objected that the quote was out of context. Salaita was certainly free to defend his comment. Anyone who wishes to see the talk, can watch it on THE-Ave.US.
I have posted a defense of Professor Salaita’s right to be tenured at UI.
Now I wonder if this sort of behavior was why UI decided to withdraw the tenure offer? Is this how he promotes his professorial ideas? The abuse of Gandhi during the talk was one of many things he said that were untrue. That sort of behavior, if “civil,” would raise my concern that the award of tenure at UI was an award for demagoguery rather than academic rigor.
Now I wonder if this sort of behavior was why UI decided to withdraw the tenure offer? Is this how he promotes his professorial ideas? The abuse of Gandhi during the talk was one of many things he said that were untrue. That sort of behavior, if “civil,” would raise my concern that the award of tenure at UI was an award for demagoguery rather than academic rigor.Salaita is totally free to use THE-Ave.US to debate with me over who Gandhi was, about Gandhi’s own problems with indigenous peoples in South Africa, and what the Mahatma had to say about Jews and Israel.
Hell we can debate the meaning of the words “civility” and “academic free speech.”