A California pro-Israel group is warning that a liberal arts school in the state is promoting anti-Semitism on its campus.
Claremont McKenna College recently established a Middle East Studies Department that is headed by Professor Bassam Frangieh, an open supporter of terrorist groups like Hamas and Hezbollah. The department will be available to all Claremont College students, and it may include a study abroad program led by Frangieh’s wife, Altea Wenger, who has also voiced extremist and anti-Semitic views.
Dr. Roberta Seid of StandWithUs, an international education organization that works to ensure that Israel’s side of the story is told, explains that these departments are beginning to develop radical ideals.
“It’s of concern because Middle Eastern studies departments across the United States have in the last 15 to 20 years become increasingly radicalized and characterized by an ‘anti-Americanism’ and a profound ‘anti-Israelism’ that not infrequently crosses the line into what we call the ‘new anti-Semitism,’” she explains.
She points out that Frangieh praised Hezbollah when the terror group declared war on Israel in 2006, and the Arabic professor has also voiced support for Saddam Hussein and Arab violence. So Seid adds that the goal of radical Muslims is not only to gain converts, but also to implement a new system of government.
“They want to replace the secular American Constitution -- that’s a problem,” she warns. “Their goal is to impose sharia law.”
Seid is concerned that the college’s new department of study will encourage anti-Semitism and support for terrorism on university campuses.
