THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume VII, Issue # 116, May 20, 2005
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
THE JEWISH CANARY
By Asaf Romirowsky
THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, THE STATE OF ISRAEL, & THE BARBARIC FORCES OF ISLAMIC TERRORISM: THE U.S.A.
& ISRAEL LOCKED IN A LIFE-&-DEATH STRUGGLE WITH RADICAL ISLAM & ITS GLOBAL TERRORIST NETWORK -- THE ISLAMIST
FIFTH COLUMN IN ACADEMIA & ITS CORROSIVE IMPACT ON AMERICAN CULTURE & SOCIETY
FULL STORY:
September 11, 2001, strengthened the bond between the United States of America and the State of Israel. Ilan Berman, Vice President
for Policy at the American Foreign Policy Council, explained:
"Israel's stable, pro-Western and democratic character, its robust defense
infrastructure and modern military, and its strategic location in the volatile
Middle East have only grown in importance to the United States since
September 11."
Both nation-states are also engaged in a war against the same Islamic terrorism. But, unlike the United States of America, the legitimacy
of the Jewish state is still questioned on a daily basis.
September 11, 2001, has also put academia on the defensive. Many professors, under guises of democracy, constitutionalism, and
freedom of speech and under their interpretation and application of the ideological precepts of Leftwing Liberalism, defended the Islamist
forces that perpetrated the attacks against the U.S.A. Some professors argued that Osama bin Laden's motivation somehow included
concern about world poverty or that the U.S.A. itself precipitated the attacks — giving any reason other than bin Laden's medieval
Islamic fanaticism and extremism.
As George Orwell wrote, "some ideas are so stupid that only intellectuals could believe them." The stupidity that Orwell referred to has
shadowed the views of many academics, when it comes to how they portray the relationship between Jews and the Muslim world. The
victimizer has become the victim, and Liberal Leftist political correctness has become its smokescreen.
For example, Ward Churchill, Chairman of the Ethnic Studies Department at the University of Colorado, earlier this year depicted the
3,000 people massacred at the World Trade Center on 9/11 as "little Eichmanns." Nicholas De Genova, an assistant professor at
Columbia University, declared at an anti-war rally, in March, 2003, that "U.S. patriotism is inseparable from...white supremacy" and
then expressed the "wish for a million Mogadishus in Iraq," referring to the 1993 incident in Somalia, when eighteen U.S. troops were
killed.
At a rally in San Francisco organized by the Far Left group, International A.N.S.W.E.R., Hatem Bazian, a senior lecturer in Islamic
studies at Berkeley, declared:
"It's about time that we have an intifada in this country that would change
fundamentally the political dynamics in here."
These incidents, and the academic boycotts, divestment petitions and other discriminatory actions against Israel, are precursors to a
general reexamination of issues surrounding academic freedom, campus extremism (including incitement to violence), university
autonomy, and classroom politicization. The division between academia and the rest of society grows larger and larger.
University and college campuses have become podiums for those hostile to Israel, as different human rights, anti-globalization, and
anti-imperialism groups that have adopted the Palestinian cause as the single most important consideration confront academics. As
Phyllis Chesler, author of The New Anti-Semitism, states,
"American campuses have bred a new and diabolical McCarthyism. Academics
now have the right to teach brazen lies, which they expect to be protected in the
name of 'free speech.' Worse, when an academic tries to teach the truth -- the truth
-- about Israel or about America, or about Jews, [he or she] will be ostracized, bullied,
demonized, and accused (by the new McCarthyites) of leading a McCarthyite witch
hunt against Leftwing freedom of expression, which, in my view, is really the
censorship of any view that does not conform to a Leftwing and anti-American view."
In academic circles, individual scholars' views are often turned into a political litmus test. For example, Fouad Ajami, the articulate
interpreter of Arab culture and politics who teaches at Johns Hopkins University, has been subject to scathing attacks from Arab
critics, such as Asad Abu Khalil in a review of Ajami's book The Vanished Imam. And Daniel Pipes has noted that the
Nation asked a Jewish Leftist, Andrew N. Rubin, to critique Ajami's book for being too supportive of Israel.
What's worse, money from the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia is being pumped into academic departments vis-à-vis chairs,
grants, and fellowships. They determine what topics related to the Middle East are taught. The Liberal Left that dominates many
campuses is more than ready to accept these funds and to promote the implicitly anti-American agenda they bring. Only some of
these gifts are brought to the public's attention, as in the case of the Harvard School of Divinity, which returned a $2.5 million gift
from the President of the United Arab Emirates, who also funds vicious anti-Semitic and anti-American groups. If not for the efforts
of students such as Rachel Fish, who exposed the gift, I doubt that the administration would have returned this gift.
Academia has made Jews the canary in the coal mine in the sense that, if universities are indicators of social trends, and
anti-Semitism is becoming more acceptable there in the guise of anti-Zionism, then there is a problem society-wide. Our students
must recognize that there is never justice in terrorism. It is unacceptable that some should even speak of eliminating a living and
breathing state like Israel. But you'd be surprised how common such statements are on campus. These advocates are the ones that
should be on the defensive.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
The Israeli-Arab Conflict
The Middle East & the Arabs
Islamism & Jihadism:
The Threat of Radical Islam & Islamic Terrorism
Page Three
Page Two
Page One
War & Peace in the Real World
Page Two
Page One
Islamist Terrorist Attacks on the U.S.A.
Osama bin Laden & the Islamist Declaration of War
Against the U.S.A. & Western Civilization
Islamist International Terrorism &
U.S. Intelligence Agencies
U.S. National Security Strategy
Asaf Romirowsky is a Campus Watch Associate Fellow for the Middle East Forum and the Israel Affairs Associate for the Jewish
Federation of Greater Philadelphia.
The foregoing article by Asaf Romirowsky was originally published in The Claremont (Writings), May 13, 2005, and can be
found on the Internet website maintained by the Middle East Forum.
Republished with Permission of the Middle East Forum
Reprinted from the Middle East Forum News
mefnews@meforum.org (MEF NEWS)
May 14, 2005
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