Wednesday, December 4, 2013

"Canned Palestinian Children Meat"

Michael L.

{Cross-posted at Jews Down Under and the Times of Israel.}


I arrived at San Francisco State University in the fall of 1996.

It is getting to be a rather long time, now, but in those days the school just bubbled with politics in a way that I thought was exceedingly positive.  The Caesar Chavez Student Center was always abuzz with students yammering at one another concerning issues of social justice and Malcolm X Plaza would often find students behind tables handing out flyers and discussing significant issues of the day.

Although I have not been on campus for awhile, I assume it is probably much the same today.

I will never forget the afternoon in which I was strolling across campus on a beautiful day, heading to a class, when I found myself confronted by a poster put up by a student organization and a bunch of those students milling around and yelling.  It showed a hand-painted American flag, but instead of fifty little five-pointed stars in the upper-left corner, it had fifty little Stars of David.

{Oh, joy.}

It was surreal to stand there looking at impassioned students "of color" screeching to the heavens that Zionists (i.e., "the Jews") are evil and are committing atrocities in "Palestine."  It was like some alternative universe from the Twilight Zone in which Nazis were replaced by urban students of Middle Eastern and African descent screeching to the heavens for Jewish blood and doing so for reasons of social justice and human rights.

It has to be understood that the Nazis were also idealists and that it is no coincidence that among Hitler's greatest fans were German college students who believed in their souls in the rightness of the cause.  When students of Arab descent go onto American campuses, today, and rally against the Jews of the Middle East they are continuing a tradition of blood libel and hate they goes not only to the history of Nazi Germany, but to Muhammad, himself, in the 7th century.

Apparently, however, I am not the only one who felt that way.  Shortly after I departed SFSU, Laurie Zoloth, Professor of Ethics and Director of Jewish Studies at San Francisco State at the time, had a similar experience.  As noted in a New York Post article by John Podhoretz, dated May 14, 2002:
"I cannot fully express what it feels like to have to walk across campus daily, past posters of cans of soup with labels on them of drops of blood and dead babies, labeled ‘canned Palestinian children meat, slaughtered according to Jewish rites.’ "

Canned Palestinian Children Meat, Slaughtered According to Jewish Rites Under American License.


If what I saw at SFSU was bad, what Professor Zoloth saw was considerably worse.

As Podhoretz writes:
In an account confirmed by other witnesses, Laurie Zoloth described the disgusting denouement following a “Peace in the Middle East” rally sponsored by the SFSU Hillel. 
A group of students, numbering around 50, had remained to chant afternoon prayers. At that moment, “Counter demonstrators poured into the plaza, screaming at the Jews to ‘Get out or we will kill you’ and ‘Hitler did not finish the job.’ I turned to the police and to every administrator I could find and asked them to remove the counter demonstrators from the plaza, to maintain the separation of 100 feet that we had been promised. The police told me that they had been told not to arrest anyone . . .    
“The police could do nothing more than surround the Jewish students and community members who were now trapped in a corner of the plaza, grouped under the flags of Israel, while an angry, out of control mob, literally chanting for our deaths, surrounded us. . . .  There was no safe way out of the Plaza. We had to be marched back to the Hillel House under armed S.F. police guard, and we had to have a police guard remain outside Hillel.”
The only real question at this moment, however, is what SFSU president Wong intends to do about the fact that the General Union of Palestine Students (GUPS) incited to violence against the Jewish people?

Here is his statement on the matter.  It does not amount to much other than that he is "disturbed," "dismayed," and has "concerns."  Well, I am a tad disturbed, dismayed, and have concerns, as well.

Thankfully, a variety of outlets have picked up this story.  The popular blog, Israellycool, has a piece entitled, San Francisco State University Student Openly Supports Terrorists, in which they point out that My heroes have always killed colonizers has its own Facebook page.

And, I have to say, I just love this:
Monday, October 14, 2013 Time5:30 pm in PDT 
Description Back by popular demand! 
It’s the Second Annual: “My HEROES Have Always Killed Colonizers: Stories of Global Indigenous REZistance” 
– a night of song, words, and resistance, a celebration of every global indigenous warrior who’s been labeled a terrorist, unpatriotic, and/or savage while defending the land, the people, and our traditional ways. Through storytelling, spoken word and performance we will collectively Re-Indigenize our heroes, such as Leila Khaled, Boukman, Lapu-Lapu, Lolita Lebron, Toy Purina and Geromino so that they may claim their true role in history. October 14, Indigenous Peoples Day, is reclaimed from the genocidal legacy of Colonizer Colombus. Join us this night, as we ask “Which colonizers have your heroes resisted?” Doors open at 5:30pm. Early arrival is suggested as last year’s event was sold out! Live Silkscreening! Native FOOD! Performances start at 6pm.
In solidarity with First Nations’ struggles against alcoholism, this event is Alcohol FREE.
I have to give considerable thanks to Dusty, at Pro-Israel Bay Bloggers, for initially fielding this story and to the Elder of Ziyon for running with it.

Also, it should be noted that the president of GUPS, Mohammad Hammad, may have some issues.

According to the Jewish Press:
It appears the president of a university-funded student group at San Francisco State boasted how much he loved his knife and that it made him want to stab an Israeli soldier. 


The Simon Wiesenthal Center sent a warning to officials at San Francisco State University on Monday, Dec. 2, advising them of a potential threat to Jewish students there.  
The basis for the warning was the posting on the social media forum Tumblr which appears to be by the president of San Francisco State’s General Union of Palestine Students, Mohammad Hammad.  
The photo shows Hammad with a knife, beneath which is the caption, “I seriously can not get over how much I love this blade. It is the sharpest thing I own and cuts through everything like butter and just holding it makes me want to stab an Israeli soldier.”  
This is developing into a serious story and one that I have a clear interest in pursuing.

But I have to wonder, what kind of idiot is this kid, anyway?

I mean, really, it's not hard to understand why a child of Arab descent might despise the Jewish State of Israel, given the fact that Jewish sovereignty on historically Jewish land is entirely anathema to the umma for religious reasons.  But to be the president of the General Union of Palestine Students at San Francisco State University and to hold up a knife on your Tumblr page while threatening violence against Jews might be a tad too much for even San Francisco State University.

We shall see.

5 comments:

  1. Wong says:

    "San Francisco State University is recognized worldwide for making social justice a strategic priority; it is an integral part of our DNA."

    Then:

    "We are a university community committed to furthering civil dialogue."

    I suggest that the latter does not jibe with the DNA of the institution because too many proponents of "social justice" seek to restrict such dialogue unless it meets their approval.

    At other institutions, when sensibilities are "offended," the culprits are often forced to take diversity education. Here, I believe that this student leader be required to learn about Israel and Zionism from a Jewish perspective.

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    Replies
    1. I have to tell you, man, I am finding this story to be very interesting.

      It gets right to the nut of what we have been talking about for a number of years now.

      "I suggest that the latter does not jibe with the DNA of the institution because too many proponents of "social justice" seek to restrict such dialogue unless it meets their approval.'

      That much is certain.

      What I want to know, though, is from an institutional standpoint what the university intends to do about this.

      My guess is that president Wong is simply concerned with other things and wants this small matter to go away.

      What I want is to hold it up to his face to the extent that I am able.

      I do have some friends and allies on that campus and we will see if we cannot make for the SFSU leadership to understand that perhaps calling for the murder of Jews on Jewish land is perhaps not such a good thing.

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    2. This made me think of what happened to the "offenders" at Kenyon, who engaged in innocent behavior of wearing ghost costumes, and then prostrated themselves to the community.

      http://thekenyonthrill.com/2013/11/21/college-will-investigate-sheet-incident-from-last-night/

      In this case, the conduct merits disciplinary action by the university, even a suspension. An apology would be a good start.

      § 41301. Standards for Student Conduct says that "The University is committed to maintaining a safe and healthy living and learning environment for students, faculty, and staff. Each member of the campus community should choose behaviors that contribute toward this end. Students are expected to be good citizens and to engage in responsible behaviors that reflect well upon their university, to be civil to one another and to others in the campus community, and contribute positively to student and university life."

      Grounds upon which student discipline can be based include:

      "Participating in an activity that substantially and materially disrupts the normal operations of the University, or infringes on the rights of members of the University community."

      "Conduct that threatens or endangers the health or safety of any person within or related to the University community, including physical abuse, threats, intimidation, harassment, or sexual misconduct."

      "Encouraging, permitting, or assisting another to do any act that could subject him or her to discipline."

      http://conduct.sfsu.edu/standards

      I think that SFSU should conduct a day of diversity day that emphasizes antisemitism and permits pro-Israel and Jewish voices a platform, to present information that I suspect most on the campus do not know and probably never heard.

      This is what I would demand as a Jewish student at SFSU, an opportunity to be heard as a matter of social justice in a "community committed to furthering civil dialogue."

      Who knows, it could result in changing hearts and minds, like what happened to Kasim Kaz Hafeez, now a Muslim Zionist.

      http://www.jewishlifetv.com/videos.php?id=28&play=1561

      http://www.jewishlifetv.com/videos.php?id=28&play=1563

      http://unitedwithisrael.org/muslim-zionist-speaks-out-against-antisemitism/

      Failure to agree to a reasonable demand to promote diversity, which is no less than what is granted to others and reasonable under the circumstances, shows that the DNA rules, and words of tolerance and diversity are empty.

      If you are not already involved, the AMCHA Initialtive seems the best able to leverage, and you may wish to team with it.

      Delete
  2. It's a lame response for Jews to complain that their attackers aren't being fair. They don't care about fair. The Arab students need to be provoked into doing something the university can't bury or hide from.

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    1. How can they bury or hide this?

      We have a student grinning before the cameras calling for the murder of Jews.

      How much more obvious does it need to be?

      Do we need to actually film the guy shooting a Jew in the head before we can reasonably say something about it?

      Or should we simply remain like silent little squirrels until that happens.

      Delete