Statement from the Israeli Consulate General regarding the Mavi Marmara incident:

From: Consulate General of Israel

To: info@octaskforce.org

Sent: Monday, May 31, 2010 2:55 PM

Subject: The Gaza Flotilla and the Maritime Blockade of Gaza

The Gaza Flotilla and the Maritime Blockade of Gaza

Israel regrets all loss of human life and injuries which came as result of the unfortunate events aboard the vessel Mavi Marmara on Monday, May 31.

Update: Over 900 UCI students have thus far applied for refund of Student Fees for funding Hate speakers

The following procedure for obtaining refunds was initiated by a  U C Irvine Student:

* 1. UCI campus policy 83.20 reads: “Chancellors…shall establish procedures to allow a student to seek a refund of that portion of his or her fee which he or she believes continues to support political, ideological, or religious organizations or activities.”

“Dozens” of Palm Springs High School students played game on Facebook called beat the Jew”

(Note: The Facebook page has been taken down)

Anti-Semitic student game spurs outrage

Michelle Mitchell • The Desert Sun • May 27, 2010

A game with anti-Semitic elements played by dozens of La Quinta High School students has offended many but isn’t illegal, officials said Wednesday. The game, called “Beat the Jew,” has caused “extreme disappointment,” but the 40 students involved can’t be punished because it happened off school property, Principal Donna Salazar said Wednesday. More

UCI spokeswoman: “the chancellor’s original message was sufficient.”

Groups denounce anti-Jewish speech at UC-Irvine

May 26, 2010

SAN FRANCISCO (JTA) — Two Jewish groups are demanding that the chancellor at the University of California, Irvine denounce an anti-Israel, anti-Semitic speaker hosted by a campus Muslim group.

The Zionist Organization of America and the Orange County, Calif., chapter of the Anti-Defamation League have asked Michael Drake to condemn the May 13 speech by Amir Abdel Malik Ali and revoke the charter of the Muslim Student Union that hosted him.

OC Jewish Federation now “asks” the University to “do the right thing”

Statement, via email from Shalom Elcott CEO of the Jewish Federation of Orange County”

“Jewish Federation Orange County remains hopeful concerning the current campus Judicial process. We ask the University to do the right thing regarding the 11 Muslim students arrested during the Oren even and  ” close the door on hate speech!”  We will continue supporting the University during this process and fully understand the significance of this investigation before rushing to judge”

By contrast  a press release issued by the Jewish Federation on  April 7, 2010:

Are the OC Jewish Federation and Hillel “part of the problem.”?

A concerned community member organized this grass roots, peaceful demonstration against anti-Israel/ anti-Jewish hate at U C Irvine

Essay by Gary Fouse

This month’s Israel Apartheid Week at UC-Irvine proved one thing to me beyond all doubt. It cannot be left up to the university or the students (Jewish or non-Jewish) to counter the invective that flies around the campus during the anti-Israel events put on by Muslim Student Associations. Nor can one rely on the major national Jewish advocacy groups. It must come from the local community, both Jewish and non-Jewish to stand up and take a stand.

Let me explain why.

“Nobody should pretend to be surprised. What is happening across North American campuses is happening with the consent and even collusion of university administrators.”

The inexcusable situation into which Jewish students are placed by their universities

Written by themiddle

Jewlicious  Blog

We’ve all seen the video of the Muslim Student Association student at UC San Diego, who, during their anti-Israel week’s events attended a David Horowitz lecture and said she was “for” Nasrallah’s statement that all the Jews should gather in Israel so as to make their extermination a simpler task.

“University administrators would do well to read the writing on their campuses’ bathroom walls”

The following commentary is from the Jewlicious blog:

The Toilet as a Sign of the Times in the University of California

Written by themiddle

Over the years, we have brought our readers numerous posts about the anti-Israel movement at UC Irvine, UC Berkeley and recently UC San Diego. These movements are typically led by those schools’ Muslim Student Association or branch. The students at these organizations are organized, well funded and appear to have a network that not only provides them with necessary materials and programs, but also has a circuit of professional anti-Israel speakers.  Here’s one:

Is Hillel’s new mission to (finally) fight anti-Semitism at UC Irvine?

According to the O C register “article”,  “Hillel has another important role: combating the anti-Jewish/anti-Israel hate”.

“ADL calls on UCI to denounce anti-Semitic speaker and Pull the Muslim Student Union Charter”

“How long must we hear Malik Ali support terrorism, express hatred of Jews and call for the destruction of the State of Israel before the University is willing to denounce him and those who invite him and sponsor his speech at Irvine?”  ADL Regional Director Kevin O’Grady

For the press release  by the Orange County Anti Defamation League Regional Director click  here

ZOA Letter to Michael Drake:”Once again you have failed to excercise your First Amendment right and moral duty…”

The following letter copied to the OCITF,  was sent today by the Zionist Organization of America  to Chancellor Drake.  To read the letter click here

See Also (Click)  Comments From the Petition; Drake Remains Silent

UCSD Jewish Student: “Why are we suffering in this pain alone?”

UCSD Hasn’t Learned From ‘Compton Cookout’

UCSD Daily Guardian

Dear Editor,

I am writing to express my disappointment in the university’s leadership for its failure to respond to a recent act of hatred on this campus.

UC Berkeley President Will Smelko explains why he vetoed the anti-Israel divestment bill.

Another bland statement from Chancellor Drake

Immediately after  admitting support for three terrorist organizations,   Malik Ali   referred directly to  “Jews”  in  the audience, which included at least one Holocaust Survivor,  as “the new Nazis”.  Through-out hate week the MSU displayed  offensive and vile anti-Semitic posters , right outside of the UCI administration building which houses Drakes offices.  Yet, again Chancellor Drake issues a nameless and generic statement of condemnation:

According to UC Irvine professor Mark LeVine, the UC San Diego woman “was obviously not thinking cogently or coherently…”?

With what expertise, does the  U C Irvine Professor of Middle East Studies qualify to render an opinion as to the mental state of the U C San Diego MSA member?

Note:  Along with the Department of History, Middle East Studies Student Initiative (MESSI), LeVine was involved  in bringing a member of the Cairo Based Muslim Brotherhood to UCI in October 2008. http://www.socsci.uci.edu/newsevents/event.php?eid=952

‘

See Also:

(Click Here): Is the Middle East Studies Student Initiative (MESSI)at UC Irvine endorsing “A Call To Boycott, Divest, and Sanction Israel”?

See Also:

(Click Here): UC Irvine Professor Mark LeVine: Ambassador Oren’s appearance at UCI “propaganda” campaign

Malik Ali: “You Jews…y’all the new Nazis!!”

(Thanks Rabbi Drew)

Notice he said Jews, not Zionist Jews.

More video:

UC Irvine students, community members: MSU “don’t bring hatred to our community”

A concerned community member organized this grass roots, peaceful protest against Malik Ali’s message of hate:

Malik Ali  a supporter of Hamas,  Hezbollah, and Islamic Jihad,  is shown here exercising his First Amendment rights while hypocritically declaring that Ambassador Oren has “forfeited his First Amendment rights….”

Hate Week Headliner: Malik Ali

In this 2006 video, courtesy Southern Poverty Law Center ,  Malik Ali blames  “Zionist Jews” for the infamous Dutch cartoons.  Anti-Semite?

Finkelstein: Ambassador Oren “played a key role in aparatus of death in Gaza”

(In his typically boring style.)  Click “more” for Norms May 11 evening presentation.   (Thanks Rabbi Drew)

Is this UCSD student calling for the genocide of the Jewish people?

Listen very carefully to this disturbing video. (courtesy of Reut Cohen)

Mayor of San Fransisco tells UCSD Israel divestment group to remove his name

Courtesy of Tammi Rossman Benjamin

At the urging of Tammi Rossman Benjamin and Rabbi Abraham Cooper of  the Simon Wiesenthal Center, Gavin Newsom, mayor of San Francisco and  Democratic front-runner for the office of California Lieutenant Governor, has written an outstanding letter opposing the anti-Israel divestment campaign at the  University of California and dissociating himself from the UCSD  “Students for Gavin Newsom,” a group that had endorsed the divestment  resolution being considered by the UC San Diego student senate.

MSU”Apartheid Week” anti-Semitic? You be the Judge

The following disgraceful display of  posters and cartoons were displayed hanging from tables lining Ring Road adjacent to the UCI administration building, during today’s  MSU “Israel apartheid week. Note  what appears to be a  Tallit (or prayer shall)  and Torah Scroll on the helmet the American G I:

UCI FACULTY LETTER UPDATE: “Some community members, students, and faculty indeed feel intimidated, and at times even unsafe.”

REVISED LIST: 63  faculty members  speak out against the “hatred against Jews and Israelis on campus:

(Revised list, May 17, 2010 500pm)

We, faculty at the University of California–Irvine, are deeply disturbed about activities on campus that foment hatred against Jews and Israelis. The troubling events over the past few years include the painting of swastikas in university buildings, the Star of David depicted as akin to a swastika, a statement (by a speaker repeatedly invited by the Muslim Student Union) that the Zionist Jew is a party of satan, a statement by another MSU speaker that the Holocaust was God’s will, the tearing down of posters placed by the student group Anteaters for Israel, and the hacking of their web site. Some community members, students, and faculty indeed feel intimidated, and at times even unsafe.

UC Regents Statement on Divestment

University of California

Statement on Divestment

Russell Gould, Chairman, Board of Regents

Sherry L. Lansing, Vice Chair, Board of Regents

Mark G. Yudof, President of the University

Recently, there have been two bills put forward for a vote before student organizations within the University of California that call on the University to divest from companies doing business with Israel.  Understandably, these bills have received considerable attention from the public and the media.

Is the Middle East Studies Student Initiative (MESSI)at UC Irvine endorsing “A Call To Boycott, Divest, and Sanction Israel”?

According to the MSU web site Israel Apartheid week: A Call to Boycott, Divest, and Sanction Israel is co-sponsored By:

Asian Pacific Students Association (APSA), Indian Subcontinental Club (ISC), Kababayan, Middle East Studies Student Initiative (MESSI), Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán (MEChA), Pakistani Student Association (PSA), the Radical Student Union (RSU), Society of Arab Students (SAS), Worker-Student Alliance (WSA).r

According to a statement by Jewish Federation President and CEO Shalom C. Elcott:

“In contrast to the behavior of the Muslim Student Union, it is important to note that members of MESSI (Middle East Studies Student Initiative, which includes Muslim and Arab students) participated in co-sponsoring the Ambassador’s appearance.  Several Muslim and Arab members of MESSI have also participated, along with Christian and Jewish students, in the Olive Tree Initiative, a Rose Project-supported program that sends a diverse group of UCI students to the Middle East for encounters with Israelis and Palestinians.” See Outrage at UCI: Federation Response

According to MESSI’s  web site, Hillels current Executive Director served on the  “community advisory committee” from at least 2008-2009. On January 31, 2009,  MESSI co-sponsored  an  all day anti-Israel event entitled  “Wither the Levant “. See Also: Improper and Unauthorized Use of Official University of California Seal

If MESSI is supporting this boycott and divestment movement, then a strong public message  of  condemnation  from these “leaders” is   appropriate.

UC Berkeley student: “I don’t feel safe”

U.C. Berkeley students protest ‘hidden hate’ on their campus

by amanda pazornik

U.C. Berkeley freshman Bryan Rahmanan is on edge.

Anti-Semitic Facebook page

Anti-Semitic Facebook page gains over 10,000 fans

Profile displays graphic images, profanity against Jews, Israel and the United States.

Holocaust denier to speak at Cal State Fullerton today “A university is a marketplace of ideas”

Contact: Office of Milton A. Gordon,  President:

(657)278-3456

(657)278-3456

(UPDATE:  ”   Holocaust deniers speech covered live by the CSF Daily Titan.)

Holocaust to be questioned on campus

By Christine Amarantus and Michael Arellano
Published: May 05, 2010

The founder of the Committee for Open Debate on the Holocaust is scheduled to speak in the Titan Student Union’s Alvarado AB at 2 p.m. on Thursday, May 6.

Bradley Smith, whose organization contends that the Holocaust did not occur, will talk about what he calls forbidden topics within student journalism.

“Again and again, the official Jewish community’s and pro-Israel students’ response to anti-Israel campaigns and often violent onslaughts is to mumble out a protest against their infringement on the freedom of expression.”

May 6, 2010

Convenient Moral Blindness

By Caroline Glick

Moral blindness in the face of evil is depravity. But in the upside-down moral universe of our world, moral blindness has become a badge of honor. If you refuse to call evil by its name, then you are a moderate. And if you stand up to evil, you are an extremist.

Letter from six Nobel Laureates on anti Israel resolution at UCSD. UPDATE: Vote on resolution tabled again

(Yet another attempt to debate and consider this this resolution to take place this evening 6:00 PM)

Nobel Laureate letters on UCSD anti-Israel resolution

By ,  SDNN
Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Dear Members of the University of California San Diego Student Senate:

Montreal Rabbi: There is a gang atmosphere, with tough individuals walking the streets. It is uncomfortable and unsafe out there.”

Montreal Jews fear ‘gang atmosphere’ amid rise in anti-Semitic incidents

Quebec is the latest region to fall prey to Canada’s growing anti-Semitism, registering the largest rise in incidents in a city over the course of the year – 373 incidents in 2009, compared to 245 in 2008.

Anti-Semitic graffiti scrawled on Jewish memorial in Ottawa, Canada, October 2009 Photo by CBC Television

By James Martin

Haaretz

Many in Montreal’s Orthodox Jewish community say they are afraid to leave their homes, due to the “gang atmosphere” that has taken over their neighborhood amid renewed anti-Semitic activity.

The Chabad community in the city’s Côte des Neiges district has experienced a number of violent incidences against it over the past few weeks, including the mugging of a visibly pregnant woman.

Hate Week Preview: The Norman Finkelstein University of California Campus Tour stops at UC Irvine Tuesday May 11

Courtesy of youtube:

UC Berkeley Professor reportedly heckles multi-cultural “Anti-Semitism is hate rally”

Courtesy of Gary Fouse:

Comments and video are from:

SFVoice4Israel — May 02, 2010 — A rash of swastikas recently appeared at UC Berkeley. A multi-cultural group of students and community members decided to mobilize in solidarity against hate speech on campus and organized the “Anti-Semitism is Hate” rally. Prof. Andrew Gutierrez (CASAS) repeatedly heckled the rally and insulted the participants. Why would anyone protest a rally against hate speech? We can only wonder….

Jewish student injured at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Israel Independence day celebrarion. One arrest made.

Jewish, Muslim students clash at UWM

By Annysa Johnson of the Journal Sentinel

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee officials said Friday that they will investigate whether student conduct rules were violated when Muslim and Jewish students clashed during a protest of a Jewish-sponsored event on campus Thursday.

Jewish man in his 80’s attacked while waiting to attended synagogue services in southern France

Elderly Jewish man attacked outside synagogue

Three men have attacked an elderly Jewish man outside a synagogue in southern France, spraying tear gas in his face and leaving an anti-Semitic slogan.

Telegraph.co.uk

The man, aged in his 80s, has filed a police complaint following the assault on Sunday in Nimes as he was waiting to attend services, said Paul Benguigui, president of the Jewish association in Nimes.

UC Berkeley Professor: “All anyone has to do is go into one of the bathrooms in Berkeley,” he said. “There are swastikas everywhere

Demonstrators on Upper Sproul Protest Drawings of Swastikas

By Katrina Escudero

Contributing Writer  Daily Cal.  Monday, May 3, 2010

In a response to the three swastikas recently drawn at the Clark Kerr Campus, approximately 45 protesters demonstrated on Upper Sproul Plaza Friday afternoon, addressing issues of anti-Semitism and calling for the end of “hidden hatred” at UC Berkeley.

UCSD resolution condemning Israel for “war crimes” “is a shameful, blatant expression of anti-Jewish rhetoric disguised as some kind of virtuous belief in human rights”

Sutton: Another UCSD flare-up demands official response

By Marsha Sutton,  SDNN

^[1]UCSD is embroiled in another cultural controversy. (Photo by Alex Hansen / Wikipedia Commons)

Recent news that organized groups of students at the University of California, San Diego have criticized the nation of Israel and called upon the university to divest itself of economic ties to corporations and groups that do business with the Jewish state is proof positive that the culture of intolerance exposed several months ago, then against African-Americans, has far from abated.

If UCSD is to repair its damaged reputation and be considered a campus that respects the humanity, dignity and rights of all people, UCSD Chancellor Marye Anne Fox will refuse to overlook bigotry of any kind and will speak out forcefully against this reckless display of anti-Semitism at her school.

Back again: “Hate week” brought to the UC Irvine campus compliments of the MSU

Note: To View the European Union Fundamental Rights Agency’s (FRA) working definition of anti-Semitism Click Here

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Shades of 1930’s Germany:

Israeli Apartheid Week: A Call to Boycott, Divest, and Sanction Israel – May 10th – May 13st, 2010