Wednesday, March 1, 2006
Readers may recall the meeting that took place amongst British architects to explore an anti-Israel boycott. See: Another British Group for a Boycott -- The Architects:
Architects and Planners for Justice in Palestine, whose members include Richard Rogers and the architectural critic Charles Jenckes, met for the first time last week in secret at the London headquarters of Lord Rogers' practice. He introduced the meeting, and the 60 attendees went on to condemn the illegal annexation of Palestinian land and the construction of the vast fence and concrete separation barrier running through the West Bank and Jerusalem...
...The meeting discussed a boycott of Israel - targeting Israeli-made construction materials and Israeli architects and construction companies - as well as possibly calling for the expulsion of Israeli architects from the International Union of Architects...
According to the New York Sun, Richard Rogers is set to be the lead architect in the $1.7 billion redesign of the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center: Boycott of Israel Is Being Mulled By Javits Architect
On February 2, Richard Rogers gave his office space for the inaugural meeting of Architects and Planners for Justice in Palestine in his London headquarters...
A spokeswoman for Lord Rogers's firm said yesterday that he has not yet lent his personal support to the boycott. However, she said he may endorse the idea at a future date.
"It's something he could not rule out in the future, but it's very early days for the organization," Jennifer Stephens said. In a later e-mail, she said Lord Rogers's association with the group was his personal business and did not reflect the opinions of his architectural firm.
The fact that Lord Rogers will be redesigning a building named for the late Republican Senator Jacob Javits has caused some concern among the American pro-Israel community.
Javits was one of the Jewish state's staunchest defenders in the Senate, where he served from 1956 to 1981. In particular, he was one of the toughest voices to oppose the Arab boycott of Israel in the 1970s. In 1986 President Reagan singled out the Jewish lawmaker's support for Israel in a statement marking his death.
In an interview yesterday, the executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, Malcolm Hoenlein, said: "Senator Javits was known for his adamant opposition to the boycott. He would have been no doubt distressed to know that an architect engaged to redesign a building bearing his name would be associated with such an anti-Israel effort. Not only does this appear to violate anti-boycott laws, it certainly violates the legacy of Senator Javits."...
Obviously, it would be hypocritical to micro-manage the personal beliefs of others, but I would make the exception for those who put themselves outside this protection by themselves calling for boycotts of others. This person has no business benefitting from the largesse of the taxpayers of New York and should get as good as he's willing to give. Something MUST be done, perhaps something akin to the grass-roots efforts of Take Back the Memorial.
Some good may come out of this "boycott Israel" crap. Already, the currently thwarted academic boycott has brought out some very cogent intellectuals to put the boots to the Sue Blackwells and Jaqueline Roses of the world. The "divestment" movement is also doing likewise in the various Protestant denominations that have taken over by the moonbat faction. Similarly, elements of the Green Party are up in arms over the way its agenda is being hijacked by the Palestinianized. And now, the architects may end up getting sent back to their drafting tables.