Campus Watch reports the following from August 12-18, 2019:
We Couldn’t Have Said it Better
“One of the most enjoyable aspects of this engaging book is observing how Kelly uses his literary talents to take on his shallow and capricious peers in the field of Middle Eastern studies. His disdain for ‘political panderers’ and ‘guilt-ridden ex-diplomatists’ is only matched by his abhorrence of the ‘bogus scholar’ and the ‘type of journalist who drifts occasionally into the Public Record Office to see whether any newsworthy items have been brought to light lately’ (p.67). As a prolific reviewer of books himself, he has a particular issue with fellow reviewers on Middle East works whose ‘sole acquaintance with the subject under discussion derives from the books they are reviewing’ (p.77). The ignorant and uninformed may frustrate him but he is positively enraged by those who know the truth but instead choose, in the interest of ideology or professional advancement, to pander to the received doctrines of the day.”
Rory Miller, Professor of Government at Georgetown University in Qatar, on the second volume of J.B. Kelly’s The Oil Cringe of the West; “Middle Eastern Studies,” January 2016.
Howler of the Month
“Israel & Netanyahu’s banning @Ilhan and @RepRashida from entering Palestine represents the Palestinian Nakba; thus the insistence on the right of return for the 1948 refugees is a key demand for the BDS movement.”
Hatem Bazian, director of the Islamophobia Research & Documentation Project at the University of California, Berkeley, comparing Israel’s Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu barring BDS activists and US Reps. Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar from a planned trip to Israel to the Palestinian “Nakba,” or catastrophe, the Arabic term for Israel’s founding in 1948; Twitter, August 15, 2019.
Link: https://twitter.com/HatemBazian/status/1162058164776448001
Campus Watch Blog
California Scraps Proposed Ethnic Studies Curriculum After Widespread Opposition: https://www.meforum.org/campus-watch/59166/california-scraps-proposed-ethnic-studies
Campus Watch in the Media
Daily Caller on Qatar Foundation International’s K-12 funding (references CW’s 2017 Georgetown U. report): https://www.meforum.org/campus-watch/59189/qatar-foundation-international-funds-arabic
Middle East Studies in the News
Haym Salomon Center’s Paul Miller on the Zachor Legal Institute filing a complaint with the North Carolina Attorney General’s Office, asking for an investigation into possible terror recruitment activities at Duke U: https://www.meforum.org/campus-watch/59162/are-terror-groups-recruiting-on-college-campuses
Clarion Project’s Shireen Qudosi on the feud between Ilhan Omar and Sarah Idan (incl. Southern Methodist U’s Omar Suleiman, San Diego State U’s Khaleel Mohammed, Rhodes College’s Yasir Qadhi, Zaytuna College’s Hamza Yusuf): https://www.meforum.org/campus-watch/59182/ilhan-omar-vs-miss-iraq-the-feud-incl-omar
Gary Fouse on U. of Michigan prof Juan Cole’s blog on wind power: https://www.meforum.org/campus-watch/59190/juan-cole-and-wind
Open Democracy interview with Dartmouth U. Chair of Middle Eastern Studies Tarek El-Ariss on his new book, Leaks, Hacks, and Scandals: Arab Culture in the Digital Age: https://www.meforum.org/campus-watch/59183/leaks-hacks-and-scandals-a-conversation-with
ASU Now (Arizona State University) interview with ASU prof Souad T. Ali about her new book, Perspectives of Five Kuwaiti Women in Leadership Roles: Feminism, Islam, and Politics: https://www.meforum.org/campus-watch/59174/asu-prof-explores-feminism-islam-and-politics-in
Judge denies PA Main Line Quaker school’s request to toss out a lawsuit by two teachers, who claim they were fired for inviting Swarthmore prof Sa’ed Atshan to speak: https://www.meforum.org/campus-watch/59163/judge-denies-friends-central-request-to-have
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on locals’ lack of knowledge on the war in Afghanistan (incl. U. of Pittsburgh prof Luke Peterson): https://www.meforum.org/campus-watch/59192/afghanistan-is-an-afterthought-in-pittsburgh-incl
Zaytuna Institute’s Zaid Shakir and Southern Methodist U. adjunct Omar Suleiman lead a “Muslims for Migrants” campaign to raise money to bail out detained migrant parents: https://www.meforum.org/campus-watch/59193/muslim-initiative-raises-thousands-to-release
On a new ethnic studies high school curriculum under proposal by the California Department of Education that—due to outcry over anti-Israel bias—has now been scrapped (articles appear in reverse chronological order):
Pro-Israel Bay Bloggers (on JVP’s backing): https://www.meforum.org/campus-watch/59196/jvp-ellen-brotsky-is-just-fine-with-model
Pro-Israel Bay Bloggers (on curriculum drafter Samia Shoman and the nature of her “World History” class when at Hillsdale High School in San Mateo): https://www.meforum.org/campus-watch/59197/samia-shoman-the-anti-israel-drafter-of
Forbes (Evan Gerstmann): https://www.meforum.org/campus-watch/59195/political-correctness-and-anti-jewish-bias-mar
J: The Jewish News of Northern California: https://www.meforum.org/campus-watch/59198/jews-must-be-included-in-ethnic-studies-says
The Washington Free Beacon (CA GOP demands investigation): https://www.meforum.org/campus-watch/59181/gop-leader-demands-investigation-into-anti
JNS: https://www.meforum.org/campus-watch/59177/california-board-of-education-scraps-anti-israel
Clarion Project: https://www.meforum.org/campus-watch/59175/anti-semites-writing-california-high-school
The Algemeiner: https://www.meforum.org/campus-watch/59168/california-praised-for-scrapping-controversial
Orange County Register: https://www.meforum.org/campus-watch/59173/ethnic-studies-proposal-for-high-schoolers-called
Fox News (Brooke Goldstein): https://www.meforum.org/campus-watch/59171/anti-jewish-and-anti-israel-school-curriculum-on
The Chronicle of Higher Education: https://www.meforum.org/campus-watch/59169/ethnic-studies-scholars-hoped-their-curriculum
Jewish Journal: https://www.meforum.org/campus-watch/59165/ca-state-board-of-education-says-proposed-ethnic
The Washington Free Beacon: https://www.meforum.org/campus-watch/59178/california-introduces-radical-anti-semitic-high
JNS (on Israeli-American reaction): https://www.meforum.org/campus-watch/59172/israeli-americans-mobilizing-against-biased
The Washington Times: https://www.meforum.org/campus-watch/59157/california-proposed-ethnic-studies-curriculum
Moonlighters
Jihad Watch’s Hugh Fitzgerald on Rutgers prof Jasbir Puar: https://www.meforum.org/campus-watch/59194/israel-charged-with-deliberately-sparing
