Now that the “training session” or activism 102 “course” has been held at Wesleyan Feb. 7th under the auspices of the Students for a Free Palestine, it is important and useful to reflect back on what actually transpired. Was it, as a number of protestors declared, a savage attack on Israel and the United States for supporting Israel, and a transparent promotion of anti Semitism and bigotry? Or a legitimate exercise by students and their invited guests of their right to criticize the Jewish State and what they see as the negative policies Israel (with the help of the U.S.) has implemented (as one of the students organizers stated) “in regard to the Occupied Palestinian Territories and Palestinian-Israelis”.
Certainly, the Argus editorial writers, and the official spokesperson of the University Justin Harmon, has stated unequivocally that the session was an exercise in free expression, handled with civility, and not at all anti Semitic or that it slandered Israel or the United States. President Doug Bennet has refused to add his name to a widely circulated statement by 300 of his Presidential colleagues condemning blatant on campus anti-Semitism. Bennet also refused to delay the conference as requested by a number of faculty and librarians because it was made without due investigation and from other such “training sessions” held on other campuses, it was feared that hate speech and advocating the deliberate murder of civilians, among many other slanders, would be the message of such a “session”.
One can argue forever whether hate speech occurred or not, or whether the training session was designed to support an activist approach against the policies of Israel. I for one, certainly believe the former from all of the materials and web sites that were evident, including those that glorify Palestinian suicide murderers or that compare Israel and its government to a Nazi state. Or as one of the main speakers Mazin Qumsiyeh has declared time and again, that “Jews conspire to run the world,” or that both the US and Israel caused or knew about 9/1l.
This last monstrous claim is what has persuaded me to urge the Argus to publish the “fake dollar bill” (which I can mail to those who wish to see it) that epitomizes the entire “training session”. The community can judge for itself whether the claims made by the protestors have validity. However, even if the Argus chooses not to publish it, it is more important to recoil with horror that such an item should be one of the foci of the “training” session.“ It not only trivializes one of the most heinous massacres ever to take place on American soil, (the slaughter by Muslim extremists of 3000 innocent people in the twin towers). But it also accuses the US administration, specifically President Bush, Vice President Cheney and Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld of being implicated in the horror itself as well as Israel’s foreign intelligence agency, Mossad. The corners on the back of the bill read ”9/11 Bush knew“, and ”9/11 Cheney did it.“ And finally, President Bush’s tie in the picture is covered with swastikas and he, Cheney, and Rumsfeld are labeled as ”International terrorists.“
I recognize that most of this campus does not favor Bush and the Republicans but this ”cartoon“ goes beyond any ”civility“ or decency. Such a conference, therefore in my opinion should be labeled for what it was, a hate-fest.
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