افتخر بنقابى
عـــــــ مراقب ــــــــــــام للأقسام
 الديانة : الحمد لله على نعمة الاسلام
 الجنسية : ارض الانبياء والاتقياء والشرفاء الانقياء
عدد المساهمات : 1083
 العمر : 35
 المهنة : ليس بعد
 الابراج : 
 الأبراج الصينية : 
نقاط : 19401
السمعة : 73
تاريخ الميلاد : 29/08/1988
تاريخ التسجيل : 11/01/2011
الموقع : http://baghdadsniper.net/ar/index.htm
 العمل/الترفيه : القراءة والاطلاع
 المزاج : بخير والحمد لله
 |  موضوع: Israel lobby empowers Palestinian solidarity The ADL report targets pro-Palestinian student groups and warns college presidents they could lose funding for protests 2011-10-16, 5:22 pm | |
|   | Police have cracked down on pro-Palestinian students on US campuses such as UC Irvine [GALLO/GETTY]
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The Anti-Defamation League is at it again.
On Wednesday,
October 13, the ADL issued its latest report on student activism, trying
this time to reframe all work in support of Palestinian human rights as
being "anti-Israel".
The report, "Emerging Anti-Israel Trends
and Tactics on Campus", targets Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP)
and the American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), a national, grmindroots
nonprofit based near Chicago. Released a few days before the first
national SJP conference at Columbia University in New York was set to
take place, it accuses SJP chapters of fomenting "anti-Israel"
programming on their respective campuses, while charging AMP facilitates
the growth and development of these students' groups. All of this
combines to create an atmosphere in which Jewish students feel "insecure
and unsafe", the ADL claims.
It is important to note that SJPs
are autonomous units and completely independent of AMP. Though our
chairman, Berkeley professor Dr lovem Bazian co-founded the first
chapter in 1992, the student groups are not part of AMP. We offer SJPs
the same help we offer others planning events about Palestine: Free
materials, speakers and training."The ADL ... equates working for Palestinian rights with delegitimising Israel."
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The ADL's 12-page report and subsequent 57-page book "Fighting Back: A
Handbook for Responding to Anti-Israel Campaigns on College and
University Campuses" equates working for Palestinian rights with
"delegitimising Israel".The ADL is trying to put activists on the defensive by shifting the
argument away from Israel's violation of international law and human
rights to whether we do or do not support the state of Israel.
As
media director for AMP, I conducted months-long research for an
educational booklet on the ADL. What I found belies the organisation's
claim that it works to protect civil rights for all.ADL and US securityIt is true that some ADL work is positive and directly benefits
society. But over the years, the organisation that was formed to fight
anti-Semitism has morphed into an agency that advocates first and
foremost for Israel by lobbying Congress and the media and by using
intimidation and smear tactics to stifle any meaningful discourse
critical of Israeli policies.It also has a huge influence on security in this country and how law
enforcement officials potentially view Arabs and Muslims by training
hundreds of US police officers ever year. At least 44,000 law
enforcement officers receive regular bulletins and newsletters from the
ADL.
Probably most stigmatising, the ADL was caught spying on
nearly 2,000 US citizens and organisations in 1993 when federal agents
raided its West Coast offices and found hundreds of confidential files -
many of them obtained illegally.The ADL's history of domestic espionage dates back to the 1930s and
is still ongoing. As recently as its 2009 annual report, the ADL lauds
itself on its "vast data collection" on groups and individuals with whom
it does not agree.
According to its 2010 990 IRS tax form, the
ADL spent nearly half a million dollars on direct lobbying in 2009. And
with an annual salary and benefits package of nearly $700,000, ADL
Director Abraham Foxman may have a vested interest in finding
anti-Semitism where none exists, namely in student activism that
advocates for Palestinian human rights.
The ADL's report comes
amid the larger context of increasing incidents of Zionist attacks on
academic freedom on America's campuses and the criminalisation of
pro-Palestinian activism."An
Israeli organisation ... sent letters to hundreds of university
presidents warning them they could lose federal funding if they allow
pro-Palestinian events on campus."
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Earlier this year, the US Department of Education's Office of Civil
Rights began investigating charges of anti-Semitism at two or more
universities, charges made possible by the October 2010 reinterpretation
of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. The ADL and other Zionist
organisations had lobbied for this reinterpretation for seven years. If
found in violation, the universities could lose their federal funding, a
precedent that would have a chilling impact on Palestinian human rights
advocacy on campuses across the country.
At the start of the
academic year, an Israeli organisation, Shurat HaDin, sent letters to
hundreds of university presidents warning them they could lose federal
funding if they allow pro-Palestinian events on campus.
In
September, ten California students were found guilty on misdemeanour
charges of disrupting a public meeting for their role in protesting a
speech by Israeli Ambmindador Michael Oren; and several pro-Palestinian
activists were subpoenaed by the US Justice Department last year. They
have refused to appear before a grand jury that is secretly
investigating such activism.
Finally, the Jewish Federation of
North America will be discussing its campus outreach initiative - named
the Israel Action Network - in a special session with Israeli Prime
Minister Benyamin Netanyahu during its annual conference in November.
The Israel Action Network is an off-shoot of the Israeli Advocacy
Initiative, a program by the Federation and the Jewish Council for
Public Affairs that seeks to garner support for maintaining the
occupation by establishing relationships in the US government and also
with other faith communalities through "interfaith cooperation".
These are just a few examples that illustrate how difficult it has become to work in Palestinian advocacy in the United States.But instead of demoralising us, attacks such as the ADL's deepen our
commitment for peace and strengthen our resolve for justice in Palestine
- because it lets us know we're making a difference. The movement for
justice in Palestine is growing louder every day and that's why Zionists
who want to maintain the occupation are trying everything to silence
it.
The ADL was once a highly respected organisation. But, sadly,
today it has lost most of its credibility. The organisation can no
longer be taken seriously as a protector of rights when, in its quest to
support the occupation, it turns a blind eye to Israel's rampant
violations of international law and its human rights abuses of
Palestinians and then vilifies anyone working to right those injustices.
Kristin Szremski is an award-winning journalist,
with more than 20 years as an investigative newspaper reporter and
editor. Currently, she is the director of media and communications for
the American Muslims for Palestine. | |
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