...How did this ‘cultural exchange' ever get to Connecticut? The answer can be laid at the feet of Rev. David W. Good, senior minister of First Church Congregationalist (UCC) in neighboring Old Lyme, Connecticut. Good had brought the Palestinian dance troupe to perform the prior weekend at the Third Annual Tree of Life conference -- an interfaith gathering of those allegedly committed to Palestinian Israeli ‘peacemaking'.

One of those ‘peace makers' attending the Music and Dance performance by Al-Ghad was Palestinian nationalist extremist Mazin Qumsiyeh. He was formerly associated with the Palestinian ‘rights of return' advocacy group Al Awda , and was a former Yale Medical School genetics lab director. Qumsiyeh was denied tenure, in part, because of his misuse of university auspices for patently political and, some contend, antisemi tic purposes. Qumsiyeh, a naturalized American citizen, hailed originally from the Beit Sahour district near Bethlehem and is a Lutheran. I have written about his energetic exploits in fostering hate of Israel and Antisemitism at another liberal Protestant church in Connecticut and helped to cancel his appearance at an elite private school in New York City...