Middle East Studies Profs Usurp New Roles to Censure Israel over Gaza Flotilla

The latest Campus Watch Research, by Brendan Goldman, appeared yesterday at American Thinker. In “Middle East Studies Profs Usurp New Roles to Censure Israel over Gaza Flotilla,” Goldman examines the lack of objectivity and willingness to ignore the facts about the incident by leading members of the Middle East studies establishment:

“The martyrs of the [Gaza flotilla] ships are heroes,” writes Mark LeVine, professor of history at the University of California, Irvine. “They are warriors every bit as deserving of our tears and support as the soldiers of American wars past and present.”

In the aftermath of the death of nine mercenaries on the deck of the Gaza-bound Turkish vessel, the Mavi Marmara, professors of Middle East studies lined up to denounce the Jewish State. Ignoring overwhelming video and documentary evidence of the activists’ radical agenda and affinity for violence, these professors asserted that the “Freedom Flotilla” of the six Gaza-bound vessels were on a purely “humanitarian” mission.

“Those ships were just bringing aid to the impoverished Palestinians,” said New York University professor of modern Middle Eastern History Zachary Lockman. “It’s not [the Palestinians’] fault they are under Hamas rule.” Has Lockman already forgotten that Hamas was democratically elected by the Palestinians in January 2006?

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Winfield Myers is managing editor of the Middle East Forum and director of its Campus Watch project, which reviews and critiques Middle East studies in North American universities. He has taught world history and other topics at the University of Michigan, the University of Georgia, Tulane, and Xavier University of Louisiana. He was previously managing editor of The American Enterprise magazine and CEO of Democracy Project, Inc., which he co-founded. Mr. Myers has served as senior editor and communications director at the Intercollegiate Studies Institute and is principal author and editor of a college guide, Choosing the Right College (1998, 2001). He was educated at the University of Georgia, Tulane, and the University of Michigan.
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