Thursday, March 26, 2009
This, by Arab-Israeli journalist Khaled Abu-Toameh, is a must read. It confirms what many of us who have followed what's been going on on the campuses for any length of time already know implicitly -- that the activists on American college campuses are as bad, if not worse, than many on the West Bank and Gaza: On Campus: The Pro-Palestinians' Real Agenda
During a recent visit to several university campuses in the U.S., I discovered that there is more sympathy for Hamas there than there is in Ramallah.
Listening to some students and professors on these campuses, for a moment I thought I was sitting opposite a Hamas spokesman or a would-be-suicide bomber.
I was told, for instance, that Israel has no right to exist, that Israel's "apartheid system" is worse than the one that existed in South Africa and that Operation Cast Lead was launched only because Hamas was beginning to show signs that it was interested in making peace and not because of the rockets that the Islamic movement was launching at Israeli communities.
I was also told that top Fatah operative Marwan Barghouti, who is serving five life terms in prison for masterminding terror attacks against Israeli civilians, was thrown behind bars simply because he was trying to promote peace between Israelis and Palestinians.
Furthermore, I was told that all the talk about financial corruption in the Palestinian Authority was "Zionist propaganda" and that Yasser Arafat had done wonderful things for his people, including the establishment of schools, hospitals and universities...
Bravo, the good news I guess is that Khaled Abu Toameh reports these ugly people are a minority - but they are doing immense damage not only on campuses but via the internet. Open antisemitism now finds a platform on major news outlets.
Interestingly this piece finds an echo in the Lebanese Daily Star - Michael Young writes that "the Palestinian cause is being hijacked" by radicals - this in the wake of the murder of Fatah leader Kamal Medhat in Southern Lebanon:
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=5&article_id=100376
It's as if we're looking through a reverse telescope at the 1930's - I hope this time the majority of us don't succumb to the violent and ugly minority.