Columbia University students, along with others on the campus, will be able to get a good look at “stealth jihad” in action as the “Students for Justice in Palestine” (SJP) hold a three-day training program next weekend on campus.
The attraction being used to seduce the students to this event is a rapper named “Immortal Technique,” who, according to claims made by the National Conference on Jewish Affairs (NCJA), is an entertainer “who extols and incites violence and criminality, spews brutal anti-American vitriol, and is a condemner of Israel ... and a fan of the Nation of Islam, among other repellent views.”
The event is to take place on October 14-16. Organizers hope to raise $30,000 in preparation for the upcoming 2012 national campus event called “Israel Apartheid Week” that has been held the past seven years in February or March. When one enters their website, the most prominent message that appears alongside the face of Hatem Bazian, Professor at UC Berkeley and Chair of American Muslims for Palestine National, is “America’s college students are at the cutting edge of the global free Palestine movement in the US and across the globe and they are making a difference.”
Scrolling the site, one finds quotes from individuals and organizations that proudly attest to the success of the SPJ. The list includes several professors from highly acclaimed universities, lecturers, authors and journalists, founders and organizers of anti-Israeli movements like BDS, and a human rights attorney. Most striking is the endorsement by the Free Gaza Movement that reads: “Organizations such as the student movement, SJP, are an integral part of the non-violent revolution now sweeping the world.”
Folks, it couldn’t be any clearer as to what is happening on our college campuses.
Under the guise of Israel-bashing, it is really our country that has become the target of attacks at universities across the U.S., but most students don’t realize that. The creation of the SJP organization at UC Berkeley in the early ‘90s has now grown to a national movement where anti-Israeli supporters argue that “Israeli Apartheid” is analogous to the anti-Apartheid student mobilizations some decades ago directed at South Africa.
Their claim can’t be farther from the truth, but that is another subject. However, it must be said that the delegitimization of Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state (where Arabs are also permitted to be citizens) must be contrasted against the SJP’s demand for a state for Palestinians (where 45% of its Palestinian residents will be denied citizenship), where no Jews can live. It seems like SJP should be looking in a mirror to see what apartheid really looks like.
In an effort to stop Columbia from allowing this event, the NCJA is asking in its recently released “Action Alert” why “President Bollinger and the Board are turning Columbia, a university once known for its rigor and academic excellence, into one that instead is gaining the reputation of sell-out to ugly hatred and flaccid standards.” Furthermore, the NCJA believes that the SJP event “violates Columbia University’s own code of ‘Civil Behavior and Community Standards’ as written[.]”
It is expected that in and out of the classroom, on and off campus, each student in the School of General Studies will act in an honest way and will respect the rights of others. Freedom of expression is an essential part of University life, but it does not include intimidation, threats of violence, or the inducement of others to engage in violence or in conduct which harasses others. Conduct which threatens or harasses others because of their race, sex, religion, disability, sexual orientation, or for any other reason is unacceptable and will be dealt with very severely. For all to benefit from the diversity to be found at Columbia, all must live up to these standards.
Of course we will not be surprised to hear from President Bollinger and the Board that this is just a “student group” and the university is “not involved” and that this is “the free expression of ideas,” intellectual freedom” or even “art.” But we can no longer accept these excuses for what appears to be pure hatred and efforts to intimidate pro-Israel Jewish students and others who do not agree with SPJ’s views. We need to know if Columbia University is providing any financial or other support to SJP and this event, including providing the building in which Immortal Technique is performing.
The Muslim Brotherhood’s three-stage blueprint for covert jihad, written in the early 1920s, still has the power to inspire many Muslims to continue their required participation in a “non-violent jihad.” The first stage of this plan calls for the spread of the Islamic message through propaganda, media, confrontation, and character assassination of opponents, and the training of messengers of Islam in the form of professors and lecturers to reach schools, mosques, and public facilities. Keeping this in mind helps to put a clear perspective on this “training event’ at Columbia University, as well as appreciating the true mission of Islamists.
The NCJA also questions Hillel, the organization for Jewish campus life, as to why “they are failing to stand up against hatred and the incitement of violence against Israel and Israel supporters.” Considering the lack of interest or courage in the Columbia University’s community towards this event, the NCJA is reaching out for public support.
First, they are asking for individuals to contact the Office of the President Lee Bollinger in NYC by calling (212) 854-9970, by sending a fax to (212) 854-9973, or by sending an e-mail to officeofthepresident@columbia.edu. You can also call the university’s chapter of Hillel at (202) 449-6500 and voice your anger that they are not protecting Columbia’s Jewish and non-Muslim students. If people make their disapproval known, they will have the power to change the situation.
In recognition that both the SJP and the SMA are making formidable strides to further an Islamic radical agenda on our American youth, the NCJA is also forming an “Education and Campus Life Task Force” to address these concerns on campuses around the country.
Readers, now is the time to take action to prevent the “stealth jihad” disguised as “freedom-fighting” from continuing to reach our children through the hate-filled rhetoric promoted by these Muslim student associations and the professors and lecturers that carry their message of hate.