A Philadelphia-based think tank has launched a Web site called Campus Watch on which plans to list and discuss instances of anti-Israeli sentiment around the country with a focus on activity at several universities, including three from the San Francisco Bay area.
The site is managed by Middle East Forum, according to an introduction on the homepage, and will monitor reaction to the Palestinian/Israeli conflict and profile individuals who teach the subject throughout the United States. It focuses, however, on 14 schools which have had experienced intense campus unrest related to the conflict, including the University of California, Berkeley, San Francisco State University and Stanford University.
Harvard University, Colorado College and the University of North Carolina also are included on the list.
The new site comes to the Internet just days after Harvard University president Lawrence Summers denounced as anti-Semitic a campaign, which began at Berkeley, that condemns Israel for human rights abuses and urges universities to divest in companies there.
“It’s important people know what’s going on in the Bay Area, especially at the University of California at Berkeley,” said Chris Silver, who co-chairs the student-sponsored Israel Action Committee at UC Berkeley.
Pro-Palestinian students and faculty say the Web site does little to ease their anger.
“I think it’s intellectually dishonest in terms of the dispossession and displacement that’s been going on for 48 years - to turn that around and say that’s anti-Semitic, is extremely damaging and dangerous,” said Maryam Gharavi, a UC Berkeley senior and member of Students for Justice in Palestine, which initiated the divestment campaign.
“It does a disservice to things that are actually anti-Jewish or anti-Semitic propaganda or hate crimes,” Gharavi said.