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.