One of the posters shows Hamas as puppet master for left-wing groups. the other poster shows Rasmea Odeh and says "Murderer: Hero to SJP and JVP"
The David Horowitz Freedom Center distributed these posters on 10 college campuses earlier this year, including San Francisco State University.

I am a member of Jewish Voice for Peace and a San Francisco State University neighbor who staffed a table at the Know Your Rights Fair, a February campus event from which the Jewish student organization San Francisco Hillel claims to have been excluded. My colleagues and I are troubled that concerns about the comfort level of Jewish students are being misused to create fear and to restrict the rights of Arab, Palestinian and Muslim students and faculty.

In October 2016 and again in May 2017, the ironically named David Horowitz Freedom Center plastered the campus with vicious posters attacking professor Rabab Abdulhadi and the General Union of Palestine Students. Abdulhadi, a professor in the Arab and Muslim Ethnicities and Diasporas program, was called a terrorist collaborator. JVP and Students for Justice in Palestine were labeled as supporting murderers.

Seven Arab students at SFSU were also named in these posters. I have spoken with three of the students, who say they feel unsafe on campus. They say they have been accosted and followed and have received death threats and rape threats on social media and by phone. Their employers have been called; they frequently have been subjects of university investigations.

Yet, the institutional Jewish community has begun a loud campaign attacking SFSU and its president, Les Wong, as anti-Jewish and as fostering a “toxic culture” for Jewish students. J. the Jewish News recently published a series of news articles, as well as several opinion pieces with titles like “SFSU excommunicates Jewish students” and “S.F. State marginalizes Jews.”

Hillel has made complaints against organizers, alleging they did not allow its participation in the Know Your Rights Fair. Yet, I know that many Hillel students attended the fair because JVP had a table there, and I talked with several of them. Hillel students regularly hold celebrations of Israel at Malcolm X Plaza without incident.

As a neighbor, I am on campus nearly every day and have never heard anti-Jewish slogans or seen anti-Semitic graffiti. Those who strongly identify with Israel may be made uncomfortable by anti-Zionist attitudes held by many students, but that is different from being surveilled by strangers, receiving death threats or having their academic careers endangered as Palestinian students say they have been.

We believe this conflict stems from the institutional Jewish community’s desire to stop criticism of Israel, not to protect Jewish students. These groups repeatedly conflate anti-Zionism, or criticism of the State of Israel, with anti-Semitism, hatred and discrimination against Jews.

Last year, students led by GUPS shouted long and loud at Nir Barkat, the mayor of Jerusalem. This is the incident most cited by Jewish institutions alleging anti-Semitism on campus. However, the incident was investigated by an outside law firm, which concluded: “The record demonstrates that the protest was directed at the mayor of Jerusalem based on his politics, and not at any of the audience.”

During Mayor Barkat’s tenure in office, since 2008, scores of Palestinians have been forced from their Jerusalem homes in violation of international law. Is it reasonable to expect people whose families were driven from Palestine in similar ways not to shout at the mayor who carried out that policy?

In spite of J. headlines, SFSU has been welcoming and supportive of Jewish scholarship. There is a thriving Jewish studies department that includes Israel studies classes. Partially funded by the university and sponsored by endowments from the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Foundation, the department has five professors.

A strong Jewish studies department is a good thing. But we note that the Arab and Muslim Ethnicities and Diasporas program runs on a shoestring, with one professor and no paid support staff. When Professor Abdulhadi was hired in 2008, two additional faculty lines and additional administrative support were promised. Those lines have never been filled.

My colleagues and I share other Jews’ vigilance about the threat of anti-Semitism. Anti-Jewish prejudice has led to terrible things and could again. But we do not fear political opposition to Israel. We fear the anti-Semitism of racist forces like those President Donald Trump is inspiring, and which Jewish extremists who attack Palestinians and Muslims empower.

We ask the Jewish community to support Arab students’ three demands:

1. End the hostile work and study environment against Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims and all marginalized communities and guarantee their safety on campus.
2. Build AMED studies as a stable and viable program with tenure-track faculty and full-time staff.
3. Conduct an independent, transparent and public investigation of the attacks on Arab and Muslim students and on Professor Abdulhadi.

Jewish support for Arab students and AMED would go a long way to healing relationships in the SFSU community and would help all students to pursue their research in peace.

J. covers our community better than any other source and provides news you can't find elsewhere. Support local Jewish journalism and give to J. today. Your donation will help J. survive and thrive!

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David Spero is a nurse, writer and peace activist living a block from SFSU. He was raised in a Reform family in Buffalo, New York.

180 replies on “Despite claims, it’s Arab students under attack at SFSU”

  1. “Jewish” Voice for Peace staffers sent this out on social media, shortly after the news of the lawsuit came out. How nice that they were willing to “help” write letters.

    **Urgent- Students, plz help write Letters to the Editor today and tomorrow!**
    Pro-Israel lawfare groups are suing San Francisco State U, falsely alleging that Palestine organizing on campus is hostile and discriminatory towards Jewish students. This frivolous lawsuit is aimed to defame Palestinian professors and stifle organizing for Palestinian rights at SFSU and across the country.
    We *need* Jewish and non-Jewish students (and SFSU alum- and anyone else really!) to help change the media narrative, by writing letters to the editor today and tomorrow! JVP has talking points to share with you, and can help you write it. If you want to raise your voice for justice, please let me know. Thanks!
    Awful article below. This is how the media is spinning the story- we need your help to counter it!

    **********

    Yep. Jewish Voice for Peace is part of the problem. Aren’t they “supposed” to be opposed to anti-Semitism, anyway? Why are they enabling it? Why were they silent when Palestinian Student president Mohammed Hammad posed with knives, threatening Jewish/Israeli and pro-Israel students? Why were they silent when Palestinians students spread blood libel on campus? Why were they silent when Jewish student events were targeted on campus? Why were they silent when Palestinian Students threatened genocide? And why does David Spero whose relationship to the university is “living one block” from it, think he can speak for anyone on campus ?

  2. There is something inexcusably arrogant about Spero’s straw man argument – Hillel, a student organization- wasn’t permitted to table at the SFSU event, but he, as an outside user, was. He dismisses that with a “so, i spoke to Hillel attendees who attended the event”. They weren’t allowed to table as a group, David. The fact that some came to observe as individuals doesn’t negate that. Outside groups such as yours should have been allowed ONLY AFTER student groups were accomodated, and yes, that is an institutional failing of SFSU.

    1. SamXie, I was not told why we were invited to table and Hillel was not. But Know Your Rights was specifically targeted to marginalized populations like immigrants, Muslims, and LGBTQ people who are threatened by the Trump administration. Most of the tables were people like ACLU, Planned Parenthood and the National Lawyers’ Guild. It was not a general student event. The Chess Club and the Gospel Chorus did not have tables, because they are not human rights organizations. Is Hillel a rights organization or a legal organization that could help defend people’s rights? If they’re not, that may be why they weren’t invited. It’s worth noting that Hillel’s national bylaws prohibit their participating in events that include supporters of BDS. So they wouldn’t have been able to table at this event anyway.

      1. Since many of Trump’s supporters are neo-Nazis, it was vitally important that the Jewish community be represented, and the main organization on campus that represents the Jewish students was not represented. They should have been there. Not outside groups.

      2. You are making up your own rules as you go along.

        Hillel was told that they were excluded for an administrative reason; that they missed a deadline.

        You are piling nonsense on this.

      3. Jews have rights – including the right to a state in their ancestral home. They also have the right – at SFSU – to free speech and free assembly. Hillel ‘s mission includes supporting, defending and exercising those rights. By the way, Jews like you have been around for centuries – what you and your ilk are doing is not new.

          1. Folks – like you – are why there is no peace in the Middle East. Jews are descended from the Hebrew people (not a European people). By the way, Muslims seem to want to take over Europe – as far as I am concerned, go right ahead. Just allow the Jews a tiny portion of their homeland. Finally, there are not enough Muslim countries in the world for you? .

          2. This is what Harry Katz had to say regarding his DNA results.
            . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
            I know you will find it distressing. But I see no genetic evidence for our (Askenazic) roots in the Middle East, and I disagree with you that there are major similarities between the DNA of the Ashkenazim and Sepharadim , unless intermarried. The origin of the Ashkenazim is not resolved at all. All I know is that it is a very isolated, restricted gene pool with little evidence of DNA infusions from other Europeans, as a whole. The Ashkenazim are not a hybrid group, but the purest white European group outside of Scandinavia, perhaps.
            . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
            To me there is simply no way that this population could have arisen out of the Jewish exiles following the fall of Jerusalem. The Ashkenazim , are, indeed, a very peculiar people, whose roots- in my opinion- are Russian, but whose religion is Middle eastern.
            . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
            I would submit that the apostles- and Jesus- have more DNA in common with today’s Palestinians than today’s Ashkenazim!
            . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
            Hold it… I don’t understand. I am an Ashkenazi Jew, and my DNA results which just came back indicate that I have NO Middle Eastern DNA, and this is supposed to be representative of Ashkenazi in general. Where, then, does the Middle eastern DNA show up in a profile that is 99 European, of which 93% is Jewish European, with no Middle eastern DNA?
            . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
            Regardless of your connections to Israel, it is generally becoming known to researchers and lay people alike that we Ashkenazim Jews are not Middle Eastern, genetically. Look, I had my DNA tested and not a trace of ME DNA, I don’t know of one Jewish buddy of mine who has a trace of ME- other things show up, but not Middle Eastern. I am a European man: 93% European Jewish, 7% non-Jewish European. So, what’s the crime in being part of an inbred European Jewish ethnic group? I have never, in all likelihood had a relative in Israel.”
            . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
            https://www.ancestry.com/dna/ethnicity/E59C79DB-8EFC-4051-9878-5E78B6DFE86D/share/e3f7a96f-3e0f-4aa2-8b42-6a50874ce6f8/9cc5e907-5c6c-4572-95f2-1992625918dc

          3. Oh, you are Jewish, too? I wish I could say I was surprised. Instead, I am just sad and nauseated.

  3. You complain that “JVP and Students for Justice in Palestine were labeled as supporting murderers,” but supporting murderers is in fact exactly what they do. Did JVP not host convicted murderer Rasmeah Odeh at its last conference? Did SJP chapters around the country not participate in the “salt water challenge” in support of convicted murderer Marwan Barghouti?

    If you can’t take the heat ….

    1. I don’t think Rasmeah Odeh murdered anyone. Not sure about Marwan Barghouti. I know many Israelis murdered lots of people in verified attacks beyond any doubt, and some of them became heads of state. If they did kill as part of their struggle, well, I certainly don’t see Israel renounce violence against civilians. I see it defended constantly. The salt water challenge was in support of basic prisoners rights regardless of who initiated it. And back at SFSU, I don’t understand how such offensive posters can’t remind you of somewhere else in the 1930s. Where is the mirror, my God? Fear on campus? Imagine being a student named on a poster like that! It offends me as a Jew to my core.

      1. Rasmea Odeh confessed to the murder of Edward Joffe and Leon Kanner after one day in custody (Bomb making equipment was found in her home.) He co-conspirators bragged about their role in the bombing in an Arabic language documentary that lives on in youtube.

        Here’s the money quote from Aisha Odeh “Rasmea Odeh was more involved than I was [in the grocery store bombing] … I only got involved during the preparation of explosives. We wanted to place two bombs to blow up consecutively. I suggested to have the second bomb go off five or six minutes after the first bomb so that those who get killed in it would be members of the army and secret service, but it did not explode. They diffused it 20 seconds before it exploded.”

        Since Rasmea Odeh and her co-conspirators admitted to this crime, are you calling them a liar?

        1. I remain more trusting of Odeh than of you or a governmental judicial system that is clearly not interested in truth or justice. And my question remains: We all presumably decry the targeting of civilians as non-combatants and therefore not to be attacked like perhaps a soldier could be in war. Well, shouldn’t their fighters who have killed also be welcomed as future state leaders and even peacemakers? Families can grieve forever, but the official period of mourning is finite. And to reiterate, I only put this last bit in to try to relate to where you are coming from. I believe her story as I understand it from her.

          1. And more to the issue at hand, aren’t those posters really beyond the pale and offensive? Let’s keep focused on SFSU. Palestinian students and faculty need to be able to speak up on their behalf without being called antisemitic. They are being dispossessed at an accelerating rate by Israel. To see that is heartbreaking. To speak of it or organize against it isn’t antisemitic, Palestinian students and advocates shouldn’t be threatened by things like those Horowitz produced posters.

          2. Why would Aisha Odeh brag about the murders in Arabic? She didn’t claim innocence- she didn’t claim she was tortured into confessing. She proudly proclaimed her and Rasmea’s heroic involvement. After all, it was an Arabic documentary. It wasn’t meant for Western consumption.

            Palestinian students and faculty need to be able to speak up on their behalf without being called antisemitic,but thats not what they are doing- they are physically preventing others from speaking. They are terrorizing students and community members. They are spreading lies on campus. Why are they so insecure of their narrative that they can’t allow others to speak?

          5. Palwatch is just another part of Zionist con game, which has been ongoing since the Zionists organized.

            So you think that Odeh had the temerity to fight back against the far greater terror of the European Zionist Ashkenazi country stealers like Menachem Begin, that the Zionists not only forgave his crimes against humanity but also made him another prime minister of their terror state?

            Eyewitness Accounts[Deir Yassin]

            The eyewitness accounts of these events foreshadowed the fate of the Palestinian people.

            It was noon when the battle ended and the shooting stopped. Things had become quiet, but the village had not surrendered. The IZL (Irgun) and Lehi (Stern Gang) irregulars left the places in which they had been hiding and started carrying out clean-up operations in the houses. They fired with all the arms they had, and threw explosives into the buildings. They also shot everyone they saw in the houses, including women and children – indeed the commanders made no attempt to check the disgraceful acts of slaughter. I myself and a number of inhabitants begged the commanders to give orders to their men to stop shooting, but our efforts were unsuccessful. In the meantime, some twenty-five men had been brought out of the houses: they were loaded into a freight truck and led in a ‘victory parade,’ like a Roman triumph, through to Mahaneh Yehudah and Zikhron Yosef quarters [of Jerusalem]. At the end of the parade they were taken to a stone quarry between Giv’at Shaul and Deir Yasin and shot in cold blood. The fighters then put the women and children who were still alive on a truck and took them to the Mandelbaum Gate. [54]

            The director of the International Red Cross in Palestine, Jacques de Reynier, attempted to intervene as word of the slaughter spread. His personal testimony is as follows:

            … The Commander of the Irgun detachment did not seem willing to receive me. At last he arrived, young, distinguished, and perfectly correct, but there was a peculiar glitter in his eyes, cold and cruel. According to him the Irgun had arrived twenty-four hours earlier and ordered the inhabitants by loudspeaker to evacuate all houses and surrender: the time given to obey the order was a quarter of an hour. Some of these miserable people had come forward and were taken prisoner, to be released later in the direction of the Arab lines. The rest, not having obeyed the order, had met the fate they deserved. But there was no point in exaggerating things, there were only a few dead, and they would be buried as soon as the “clean-up” of the village was over. If I found any bodies, I could take them, but there were certainly no wounded.

            This account made my blood run cold. I went back to the Jerusalem road and got an ambulance and a truck that I had alerted through the Red Shield … I reached the village with my convoy, and the firing stopped. The gang (Irgun) was wearing uniforms with helmets. All of them were young, some even adolescents, men and women, armed to the teeth: revolvers, machine-guns, hand grenades, and also cutlasses in their hands, most of them still blood-stained. A beautiful young girl with criminal eyes showed me hers, still dripping with blood; she displayed it like a trophy. This was the “clean-up” team, that was obviously performing its task very conscientiously.

            I tried to go into a house. A dozen soldiers surrounded me, their machine-guns aimed at my body, and their officer forbade me to move. The dead, if any, would be brought to me, he said. I then flew into one of the most towering rages of my life, telling these criminals what I thought of their conduct, threatening them with everything I could think of, and then pushed them aside and went into the house.

            The first room was dark, everything was in disorder, but there was no one. In the second, amid disembowelled furniture and all sorts of debris, I found some bodies, cold. Here the “clean-up” had been done with machine guns, then hand grenades. It had been finished off with knives, anyone could see that. The same thing in the next room, but as I was about to leave, I heard something like a sigh. I looked everywhere, turned over all the bodies, and eventually found a little foot, still warm. It was a little girl of ten, mutilated by a hand grenade, but still alive … everywhere it was the same horrible sight … there had been four hundred people in this village; about fifty of them had escaped and were still alive. All the rest had been deliberately massacred in cold blood for, as I observed for myself, this gang was admirably disciplined and only acted under orders.

            After another visit to Deir Yasin I went back to my office where I was visited by two gentlemen, well-dressed in civilian clothes, who had been waiting for me for more than an hour. They were the commander of the Irgun detachment and his aide. They had prepared a paper which they wanted me to sign. It was a statement to the effect that I had been very courteously received by them, and obtained all the facilities I had requested, in the accomplishment of my mission, and thanking them for the help I had received. As I showed signs of hesitation and even started to argue with them, they said that if I valued my life, I had better sign immediately. The only course open to me was to convince them that I did not value my life in the least. [55]

            https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/document/mideast/hidden/ch04.htm

        2. People admit to anything under torture, especially by experienced experts. They just want it to stop.

    2. Do you understand that what they call “Israel” is colonial settler
      state just like the French in Algeria and the British in Kenya?

        1. Why is it not also the home of the Eskimos since the Eskimos and the Ashkenazi are at exactly the same level of Middle East ancestry which is 0% for both. If you dispute this comment, please provide the DNA results for any Ashkenazi who has even 1% Middle East ancestry. There are none – or else prove me wrong and post one. Can you?

  4. Mr. Spero has no shame. When Hillel complains about not being allowed to participate in a structured event on campus, he dismisses that complaint by noting, “I know that many Hillel students attended the fair because JVP had a table there, and I talked with several of them.” Are we really to believe that he does not understand the difference between those who ATTEND an event and those who are allowed to PARTICIPATE by having a booth or table? After all, he was at a JVP table at the event, despite his not seeming to be a student there. The fact remains that Hillel was not allowed to participate in the same way that Mr. Spero was, and that difference is discriminatory.

    Mr. Spero’s accusations that Israel is violating “international law” in evicting Arabs from homes in Jerusalem denies the long legal process which is conducted in such instances, during which the Arabs are able to confront the evidence against them and produce their own in response. In cases where the properties in question are found to have been owned by Jewish people, or where other factors (such as long refusal to pay rent) make continued tenancy an issue, the Arab residents have been evicted. In other cases they have been able to stay. But in either circumstance, the facts remain that this area is a disputed area, according to every treaty and agreement from the 1949 Armistice until now, and that “international law” has not declared it otherwise. Unfortunately this is just one more grandiose claim that organizations like JVP likes to make when talking about Israel.

    Mr. Spero’s organization, JVP, stridently calls Israel an “apartheid” nation. This is a shameless lie, as far from the truth as can be. One cannot demand that Israel remove all Jewish inhabitants from the “West Bank” while at the same time insisting that Israel is failing to give the Arabs there full rights. On the one hand, if the entire region is a single state, then there is no legal reason that Jews cannot live in the West Bank or Gaza, and indeed they should be allowed to return to communities such as the Old City of Jerusalem from which they were forcibly expelled in 1949 by Jordanian forces. On the other hand, if you want to call the Old City “East Jerusalem” and deem it as being part of the distinct national entity of the West Bank and Gaza, then you cannot demand that Israel give citizenship or civil rights to the Arab peoples living there. But that is exactly the sort of duplicitous argument that is being made against Israel.

    Just like the larger organization, Mr. Spero wears his duplicity on his shirt-sleeve. He knows the difference between participating in an event and attending it, but does not let that simple and easily understood distinction prevent him from lying about Hillel’s complaint. That is sad. If Mr. Spero is a witness to discrimination against the Arab students of SFSU, he is certainly welcome to help them file a complaint of their own. Unfortunately Mr. Spero is not really about advocating for the Arabs but more about advocating against Israel (and those who support it). That is sad.

    1. Arthur: Have you actually witnessed the “long legal process” during which “Arabs” confront the evidence against them? For I have seen summary arrest and imprisonment of Palestinians. More important, NO evidence is presented EVER to justify the home demolitions that Mr. Spero was saying violate international law. Indeed, that is why they violate international law.

      1. Can you show me where in “international law” it regulates a nations ability to demolish homes built on public land, homes built without a permit, or homes built without title to the land? i’m not an expert on international law like Mr. Leland, but my best guess is that international law doesn’t even address, much less regulate these issues.

        1. By 1851, there were 13,000 Jews in Palestine,
          all of them Yiddish-speaking recent migrants
          from Eastern Europe and no native Palestinians.
          Meaning that that land was inhabited 100% by
          Palestinian Muslims and Christians. How then
          did the Jews from all corners of the world get
          to own so much of Palestine? It was outright
          theft by a foreign people, was it not? The
          French left Algeria and the British left Kenya?
          How are the current European colonizers of
          Palestine different from the British and the French?

          1. The Arabs invaded in the 7th century. It doesn’t matter if their motivation was profit or “the Prophet” They are still the imperialist, colonial invaders. There was a thriving Jewish civilization in this land for a thousand years before the birth of Christianity or Islam. Why are you trying to distract from the topic- the anti-Semitism of SFSU?

          2. Why are you trying to shove in a lot of lies and irrelevancies? The Jews in Palestine had converted mostly to Christianity by the time the Arabs replaced the ruling class, then they largely converted to Islam.

            Moreover, there is no historical or archeological evidence of a Jewish presence until after 400 BCE. Of course, the Zionists try to phony all evidence of settlement over to the ancient Hebrews.

          3. Jerusalem has had a Jewish majority for a couple of hundred years. As for your question, we answered it – so many times – but you cannot assimilate the information.

          4. Jerusalem Population. There were only 3,000 Jews in 1840
            and all of them were Yiddish-speaking Ashkenazi Jews from
            Eastern Europe who had arrived in recent years to live on
            charities sent to them from abroad. There were no Jews living
            in Jerusalem or elsewhere in Palestine for many centuries
            prior to 1840.

            Jerusalem Population

            Year …… Muslims …. Christians ….. Jews ………. Total
            1840 …… 4,400 ………. 3,350 ………. 3,000 ………. 10,750
            1850 …… 5,350 ………. 3,650 ………. 6,000 ………. 15,000
            1860 …… 6,000 ………. 4,000 ………. 8,000 ………. 18,000
            1870 …… 6,500 ………. 4,500 ………. 11,000 ………. 22,000
            1876 …… 7,560 ………. 5,470 ………. 12,000 ………. 25,030
            1880 …… 8,000 ………. 6,000 ………. 17,000 ………. 31,000
            1890 …… 9,000 ………. 8,000 ………. 25,000 ………. 42,000
            1896 …… 8,560 ………. 8,748 ………. 28,112 ………. 45,420
            1900 …..10,000 ……… 10,000 ………. 35,000 ………. 55,000
            1910 …..12,000 ……… 13,000 ………. 45,000 ………. 70,000
            1922 …..13,500 ……… 14,700 ………. 34,400 ………. 62,600
            1931 …. 19,894 ……… 19,335 ………. 51,222 ………. 90,451
            1948 …. 40,000 ……… 25,000 ………. 100,000 …….. 165,000
            1967 …..54,963 ……… 12,646 ………. 195,700 …….. 263,309
            1987 … 121,000 ……… 14,000 ………. 340,000 …….. 475,000
            1990 ….131,800 ……… 14,400 ………. 378,200 …….. 524,400
            2000 … 204,100 ……… 14,700 ………. 530,400 …….. 758,300

        2. Do you have any idea how impossible it is for Arabs to get permits for update and maintenance on their homes?

        3. The international law being violated by mass evictions of Palestinian residents from their homes in Jerusalem is the prohibition against ethnic cleansing. The expulsion of the Palestinians to make way for Jewish settlers is to “Judaize” East Jerusalem, a term candidly used by Israeli government officials.

          1. The other international law violated by these mass evictions of Palestinian residents to replace them with Jewish settlers is the strict prohibition against an occupying power transferring its citizens to the occupied land. East Jerusalem, illegally annexed by Israel, is recognized by the international community to be occupied land.

            The number of Jewish settlers in the occupied
            West Bank (which includes East Jerusalem) has doubled since the Oslo Accords, reaching over 594,000 people (including an estimated 208,000 in East Jerusalem) by the end of 2015. The Israel government recently announced that they plan to build 15,000 new settler units in East Jerusalem.

          2. 248 of what Carol calls a “Settler units” is a nursing home. Yes, one building with 248 beds for its geriatric population counts as 248 “settler units”. Carol’s vague language was quite deliberate.

          3. The building of 15,000 new settler units in East Jerusalem was announced by the Israeli government in April, 2017,

            The 284 nursing units in the West Bank, Elkana, was announced the previous year, and is separate and distinct from the new units in East Jerusalem.

            Was SamXie’s misstatement “quite deliberate”?

  5. I applaud the J Weekly for printing this opinion piece – thank you for making it clear that there is another side of this story. More and more American Jews are realizing that equating criticism of Israel as a country and of Zionism as a political ideology with antisemitism is simply an attempt to shut down legitimate discourse in the Jewish community and the United States about Israel’s policies of occupation, apartheid and settler colonialism towards Palestinians. Open Hillel started, and is on campuses across the United States, because Hillel shuts down open discussion and shuns Jewish students who dare to criticize Israel. If you want to read more about problem of to conflating criticism of Israel with antisemitism, check out the new anthology “On AntiSemitism” available through Haymarket press.

    1. Look, you nincompoop, Israel is the only country in the region that DOES NOT practice apartheid. As for “occupation”, one cannot “occupy”: his/her own land. Also, why would Israel cede the land – for peace? Yeah, right. By the way, do you know that after Israel won the 67 war, it offered to cede West Bank and Gaza in return for a real peace? Then, of course, there were the offers made by Barak and Olmert. As for Hillel, anti-Zionist, Israel defamers should not be allowed in – instead, they can form their own little groups – like the fraudulent Jewish Voices for Peace. Finally, you ought to be ashamed.

      1. Israel gave birth control to Ethiopian Jews without their consent

        Alistair Dawber – 27 January 2013 – The Independent

        Israel has admitted for the first time that it has been giving Ethiopian Jewish immigrants birth-control injections, often without their knowledge or consent.

        The government had previously denied the practice but the Israeli Health Ministry’s director-general has now ordered gynaecologists to stop administering the drugs. According a report in Haaretz, suspicions were first raised by an investigative journalist, Gal Gabbay, who interviewed more than 30 women from Ethiopia in an attempt to discover why birth rates in the community had fallen dramatically.

        One of the Ethiopian women who was interviewed is quoted as saying: “They [medical staff] told us they are inoculations. We took it every three months. We said we didn’t want to.” It is alleged that some of the women were forced or coerced to take the drug while in transit camps in Ethiopia.

        The drug in question is thought to be Depo-Provera, which is injected every three months and is considered to be a highly effective, long-lasting contraceptive.

        Nearly 100,000 Ethiopian Jews have moved to Israel under the Law of Return since the 1980s, but their Jewishness has been questioned by some rabbis. Last year, the Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who also holds the health portfolio, warned that illegal immigrants from Africa “threaten our existence as a Jewish and democratic state”.

        Haaretz published an extract from a letter sent by the Ministry of Health to units administering the drug. Doctors were told “not to renew prescriptions for Depo Provera for women of Ethiopian origin if for any reason there is concern that they might not understand the ramifications of the treatment”.

        Sharona Eliahu Chai, a lawyer for the Association of Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), said: “Findings from investigations into the use of Depo Provera are extremely worrisome, raising concerns of harmful health policies with racist implications in violation of medical ethics. The Ministry of Health’s director-general was right to act quickly and put forth new guidelines.”

          1. It is the most Nazi-like vile “state” that hates its black population and attempted a genocide via injecting the females with birth control to stop them having black babies. In just one decade, the birthrate among black Jews fell by 50%. Black babies stopped being born. Suddenly, the Ethiopian Jews started raising the alarm and they stopped the practice. Even the Nazis did not resort to this type of EUGENICS.

            1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWHA6pO3ANg

            2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1W5J25MvSp0

            3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdaZNfDB8Qs

            4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3dbPtgdAKw

            5 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tQ1jeJtzrI

            6 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tQ1jeJtzrI

            7 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZFTvvFpKUQ

            8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZFTvvFpKUQ

          2. As the educational and economic opportunities increase for women, the fertility rate decreases. Its this way all over the world. Women realize they future lies in their own hands- they are responsible for their own fate- and they do not have to have huge families in hopes children will survive into adulthood to care for them. You are a racist Helen, and have deviated from the topic of this article. I will report your spam and racism, and I encourage others to do so as well.

          3. Now you changed your story from “it did not happen” to it happened for the benefit of the victims. And who are you to make the reproductive decisions for black people? They did not inject the Orthodox Jewish women, did they? They simply tried to control the number of black Jews they despise via sterilization.

          4. There was no “forced sterilization”. Woman were offered birth control, and many chose the only type they could use without their husbands knowledge. It costs millions to bring African Jews to Israel- once they are there they get a $200,000 allowance to buy a house. If they weren’t wanted and welcomed, why go through the considerable time trouble and expense to bring them over?

          5. It took 32 years for the European Jews to bring in Ethiopian Jews, right? Don’t you think that 32 years is a long time for the Ethiopian Jews to wait whereas any white Jew was not only admitted quickly but was highly sought? Lest we forget, the Ethiopian Jews were brought only to avoid embarrassment when they demonstrated in huge numbers in Ethiopia and invited the int’l media to shed light to their dilemma that they were refused entry into Palestine. It did not take long for Ashkenazis to bring in a few of them at a time to avoid world condemnation about their repulsive racism. Otherwise, there would have been no Ethiopian Jews or any other African Jews admitted. NONE!

            Year _______ Ethiopian _______ Total arrivals
            1948 -1951 _______ 10 _______ 687,624
            1952 -1960 _______ 59 _______ 297,138
            1961 -1971 _______ 198 _______ 427,828
            1972 -1979 _______ 306 _______ 267,580
            1980 -1989 _______ 16,965 _______ 153,833
            1990 -1999 _______ 39,651 _______ 956,319
            2000 – 2004 _______ 14,859 _______ 181,505
            2005 – 2009 _______ 12,586 _______ 86,855
            2010 – 2013 _______ 7,200 _______ 67,050

          6. Jeff Blankfort : “They wanted white Jews in Israel. They did not care whether they were Jews or not. They are so hypocritical, so cynical, about a third of the Russian Jews who came there were not Jews at all. They said they were Jews, they wanted a white population, because the European Ashkenazi are essentially racist against people of dark skin.”

          7. Aha! You have no way to refute the stories I posted and now you are looking for a different avenue to shut me up. Shame on you!

          8. And the Ethiopian-Israeli is an expert on the matter?
            I wonder how much he netted for making this video?

            He is hyphenated Ethiopian-Israeli?
            Are there also Lithuanian-Israeli, Hungarian-Israeli, German-Israeli or Yemeni-Israeli, Iraqi-Israeli

      2. “one cannot “occupy”: his/her own land”

        By the time the stampede had begun by snow-white European Jewry to Palestine in 1882, Jewish land ownership was less than 0.1% of Palestine. By 1947, all that the Europeans managed to buy was 6.6% of Palestine and the rest they stole.

        Jewish land ownership in Palestine of total area of 26,323,000 dunums

        1882 ………..22,500 …… 0.1%
        1900 ……. .218,000 …… 0.8%
        1914 ………418,000 …… 1.6%
        1927 …….. 865,000 …… 3.2%
        1936 ….. 1,231,000 ….. 4.7%
        1945 ….. 1,588,365 …….6.0%
        1947 ….. 1,734,000 …… 6.6%

        1. “Snow-white” European Jewry?

          Are we judging people by the color of their skin,Helen? Thats so (urgh) 1940’s.

          1. Did the Ashkenazi fake his way to Palestine claiming to be “retuning”? That is the only of “snow white” to indicate that no Europeans can be “returning” to Palestine just as no Eskimos or Hutus or Zulus can “return” to Palestine.

            Is the German Jew a blood relative of the Yemeni Jew?

            Is the German Jew a blood relative of the Ethiopian Jew?

        2. Let me help you with that Helen:
          This is the actual break-down of land ownership during that period. the vast majority of the land was state owned or public land.

          7.4% Jewish ownership (direct or through Jewish land funds).

          11.6% Arab-Palestinian owner-residents.

          6.9% Foreign owners, mostly Arab or prior Ottoman owners.

          44.1% State-owned Public land.

          26.5% State-owned/feudal-system leased land (Miri)

          3.5% Religious trusts (Islamic Waqf, Greek Orthodox Church)

          You confuse the concepts of residency, ownership and sovereignty. You can live somewhere and not own it (as anyone whose been subject to an Ellis act eviction can tell you). You can own a place and not be sovereign. The Palestinians, then known as the Arabs never had an independent sovereign nation in this land.

          1. “11.6% Arab-Palestinian owner-residents”

            Why do you call them “Arab Palestinian”? Why are you so petrified to cal them simply PALESTINIANS? Arab-Palestinian is redundant! We do not say Yemeni-Arabs or Egyptians-Arabs, do we?

          2. There is no historic population reports that calls them “Palestinian”. That term did not come into widespread use for Arabs until the 1970’s.

          3. Jabotinsky – The Iron Wall – 1923: “If it were possible (and I doubt this) to discuss Palestine with the Arabs of Baghdad and Mecca as if it were some kind of small, immaterial borderland, then Palestine would still remain for the Palestinians not a borderland, but their birthplace, the center and basis of their own national existence. Therefore it would be necessary to carry on colonization against the will of the Palestinian Arabs, which is the same condition that exists now.”

          6. Are you saying that the Lithuanian, Hungarian, Russian Jews suddenly became “Palestinians” just for the simple reason that they arrived as predatory colonial settlers on Arab land. The word “Palestinian” is not referring to the snow-white Europeans roaming around stolen Palestine, is it? It is referring to the goods produced in Palestine, is it not?
            ………………….
            Arabs to boycott Palestinian goods

            New York Times, Dec , 1945

            Vote action against Jewish industry, charging tie with with Zionism and political aims. Cairo, Egypt, Dec 3 – the Arab League announced today that its seven member states would boycott all Jewish-produced goods from Palestine beginning Jan 1. The league’s secretary-general, Abdul Rahman Azzam Bey, said the boycott was ordered because Jewish industry in Palestine was based on Zionist funds, collected in foreign countries, to serve a political purpose: the establishment of a Jewish national home and State in Palestine.” “This purpose is not realizable except by the exploitation of markets in Arab countries,” he added. Without indicating their nature, Azzam Bey said the league was prepared to take additional steps, if necessary, to combat Zionist aims. Egypt, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Yemen, Trans-Jordan and Syria are members of the league. Arab groups in Palestine are represented in its councils. Azzam Bey called on non-league Arab States to join the boycott. He specifically exempted the products of Jewish industries in Arab States other than Palestine. Asked whether the League had acted to protect the welfare of the estimated 70,000 Arabs working for Jewish industry in Palestine, Azzam Bey said he believed the Zionists will be most pleased when 70,000 Arabs are forced to leave Palestine.”

          7. Are you saying the world changed the word they use to mean “Jew” and replaced it with “Palestinian” after Palestine was colonized?

            How they say “Jew” in different languages:

            Dutch — Joodse
            French — Juif
            Hungarian — Zsidó
            Irish — Giúdach
            Italian — Ebraico
            Lithuanian — Žydų
            Polish — Żydowski
            Portuguese — Judaico
            Russian — Еврейский
            Turkish — Yahudi
            Indonesian — Yahudi
            Arab world — Yahudi

          9. THERE WERE NO JEWS at all in Palestine when the Ashkenazi arrived to colonize the land in 1881 (except for Yiddish speaking Europeans who were also recent migrants. How do foreign Europeans wind up owning Arab land. The Ashkenazi is as foreign to the region as the Eskimos, both at 0% Middle East ancestry.

            And where is the source for your fake data?

          13. The Jews were not only there, they were the majority population in Jerusalem, as they had been for a couple of centuries.

          14. But none of them were European Ashkenazis fraudulently claiming to be “returning”.

          15. They didn’t need “an independent sovereign nation”. They were the people living there, unlike the European Ashkenazi Jewish converts who had never lived there.

          16. That not how international law works. The Ottoman had sovereignty- when they were defeated, it passed to the British. Yes, there were people from 60 different countries speaking dozens of different languages living there- they did not have sovereignty.

          17. Unless you’re a psychopath looking to steal their homes and lands, it’s the PEOPLE that are important. People are people, no matter what attributes you arbitrarily require to avoid getting their land and homes stolen from them, no matter what fraud you perpetrate upon their with you plastic joke of “International Law”, something beloved by international thugs.

          18. Laws are made by people,and thats now how international law works. Can you name the 4 criteria for statehood, as articulated by the 1933 Montevideo convention? (REAL international law)

            No, i didn’t think you could.

          19. I think the Jews spoke 60 different languages -scattered as they were – from Africa to Europe, Asia, the Middle East. But you must be out of your mind to think that there were 60-languages speaking people in Palestine. Can you name those 60 languages?

          20. No, by agreement the Arabs were supposed to get their right self-determination, but the British had surreptitiously agreed to steal the Arabs’ country for the Zionist thugs in return for them sucking the Americans into the way. You call this villainy “International Law”, right?

          21. Ever hear of Jordan? That would be the Arab country created by the British on 78% of the land designated for the Jewish nation. You probably also don’t know about the British attempt to then give the Arabs half of the remaining 22%. The Arabs, running true to form, refused the offer.

          22. Why should any of the Arabs, all deserving of self-determination, have to give up their homes to the utterly foreign European Zionist Ashkenazi thugs of no ancestry in Palestine? Britain had no right to let these genocidal country stealers out of Europe into Palestine to assault the genuinely Semite indigenous people.

        3. Land ownership has nothing to do with sovereignty. It is Israel’s land by virtue of international law.

          1. Nope, it was stolen by the invader European Zionist thugs by a vast flood of atrocities.

            Over 750,000 people (~80%) driven off their ancestral lands

            Over 500 Arab villages and towns BULLDOZED and buried under pine forests

  6. Thank you for this opinion peace which at last presents the reality of what is going on at SF State, especially that Palestinian activists, not Jews, are being threatened with violence. Hillel complains about being excluded from an event, not about fear or intimidation. Of course, HIllel would exclude the author of the op-ed from any event it sponsors, as he is a member of Jewish Voice for Peace and Hillel won’t let JVP participate even in debates; the difference is that JVP realizes that is not antisemitism, it’s a political disagreement. Similarly, those who have a political disagreement with the Mayor of Jerusalem expressed their disagreement; they addressed him as an official of a corrupt and brutal government, not as a Jew. Hillel would silence any criticism of Israel, and such silencing of ideas should not be tolerated on a college campus.

    2. Are you a child?

      Hillel has no obligation to sponsor those who are deemed unfriendly to its charter.

      However, the University does not have the ability to exclude Hillel

      And JVp does not have the moral authority to define antisemitism

    3. Hillel not inviting JVP, and the treatment of Nir Barkat, are two very different things. It’s the difference between not getting invited to someone’s dinner party, and preventing someone from holding a dinner party at all.

      1. You would have to ask the organizers, but I’m pretty sure Hillel was not invited to Know Your Rights because they are not a human rights organization.

        1. Hillel had no business participating in a “human rights” event that featured terrorist auxiliaries such as SJP, or outright terrorist groups such as BLM.

          Jewish leftists are slow learners, but getting disinvited from events like this one, or like the “Chicago Dyke March”, might move the learning process forward a bit. It’s like a rolling Molotov-Ribbentrop pact that, in the end, will leave only the most craven characters on board.

    4. Nope. David Spero is a “Jewish” version of an Uncle Tom fighting against his own people. He and Jewish Voice for Peace might as well be Nazi collaborators. The can go to hell.

  7. Thank you, David, for expressing your concern about Islamophobia. The hateful posters from the David Horowitz Freedom Center are disgusting and unworthy of a presence at SFSU. I support the demands for an end to the racist hostilities on campus, a strong AMED program, and a public, independent, and transparent investigation into the attacks on Arab and Muslim students and Professor Abdulhadi.

    1. The Horowitz Center does not have a presence at SFSU, and the posters were denounced by the student organizations.

    2. The “hateful posters” tell the truth. Thankfully, someone is refusing to stay silent. Hip, hip hooray for Horowiz. Three jeers for the sickos who call themselves Jewish Voices for Peace.

      1. Zionists are known for hating decent Jews. They assassinated them in Palestine and fed them by the millions to Hitler by blocking change in laws that blocked their emigration.

        Sacrificing Europe’s Jews

        The correlative to the acts of collaboration with the Nazis throughout the 1930’s was that when attempts to change the immigration laws of the United States and Western Europe were contemplated in order to provide token refuge for persecuted Jews of Europe, it was the Zionists who actively organized to stop these efforts.

        Ben Gurion informed a meeting of Labor Zionists in Great Britain in 1938: “If I knew that it would be possible to save all the children in Germany by bringing them over to England and only half of them by transporting them to Eretz Israel, then I opt for the second alternative.” [84] This obsession with colonizing Palestine and overwhelming the Arabs led the Zionist movement to oppose any rescue of the Jews facing extermination, because the ability to deflect select manpower to Palestine would be impeded. From 1933 to 1935, the WZO turned down two-thirds of all the German Jews who applied for immigration certificates.

        Berel Katznelson, editor of the Labor Zionist Davar, described the “cruel criteria of Zionism”: German Jews were too old to bear children in Palestine, lacked trades for building a Zionist colony, didn’t speak Hebrew and weren’t Zionists. In place of these Jews facing extermination the WZO brought to Palestine 6,000 trained young Zionists from the United States, Britain and other safe countries. Worse than this, the WZO not merely failed to seek any alternative for the Jews facing the Holocaust, the Zionist leadership opposed belligerently all efforts to find refuge for fleeing Jews.

        As late as 1943, while the Jews of Europe were being exterminated in their millions, the US Congress proposed to set up a commission to “study” the problem. Rabbi Stephen Wise, who was the principal American spokesperson for Zionism, came to Washington to testify against the rescue bill because it would divert attention from the colonization of Palestine.

        This is the same Rabbi Wise who, in 1938, in his capacity as leader of the American Jewish Congress, wrote a letter in which he opposed any change in US immigration laws which would enable Jews to find refuge. He stated:

        It may interest you to know that some weeks ago the representatives of all the leading Jewish organizations met in conference … It was decided that no Jewish organization would, at this time, sponsor a bill which would in any way alter the immigration laws.[85].

        https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/document/mideast/hidden/ch06.htm

        1. Heh heh, looks like the we’ve been graced here with the presence of a Holocaust denier. Attracted, I guess, by the smell of JVP in the air.

      2. ‘sickos’ ? ‘three jeers’? You sound just like the (apparently Zionist) woman who shouted at me without stopping as I stood on a London street with my bag made of a Palestinian flag.
        I haven’t a clue what she was saying as I switch off when people shout. But she made enough noise for a policeman to cross the street and ask if I needed assistance. (I thanked him and said I was more than equal to her hatred)

        But people like you – and her – are actually very helpful to the Palestinian cause. As a result of her screeching I had useful conversations with several Jewish people who were both ashamed at her behavior and impressed by my calm. They left with a new idea of the difference between Zionism and Judaism – one they hadn’t previously considered.

        So thank you for your hate speech. You encourage many more people to see exactly what the Palestinians put up with on a daily basis. And you do it far more effectively than we ever could, on our own.

        1. LMAO,. I have to hand it to you – you have an incredible amount of gall. When Jews call out those who want them dead, you and others like you call it “hate speech.”

        2. Was it the Palestinian flag, or the flag of the short-lived Arab Federation of Jordan and Iraq? Both, because it was the same flag. You don’t care for Palestinian rights, you care about denying Jewish rights.

      3. “The “hateful posters” tell the truth.”

        They explain that Hamas is the direct result of efforts by Mossad in the first place>? Or that they were instrumental in its rise to power? No, it doesnt. People have a right to defend themselves. What the Palestinians are going through today, is a variation on the same racist hateful and intolerant theme the Nazis subjected Jews to in the 1930s & 40s. The greatest enemy of Israel and the Jewish people are these radical Zionists. Im sure you know Israel is in Palestine. If one cannot live side by side as equals, then they have no business being in Israel/Palestine.

        1. Says the one the declares “But I do know calling someone a Holocaust Denier is not an insult.”
          Those are the Palestinians apologist…… Holocaust deniers.

          1. Im not a Holocaust denier.. I have a photo gallery with links to primary sources detailing Nazi atrocities. That does not change the demonstrable historical truth. Or the reality of ever-evolving and diminishing history of the Holocaust claims. Remember, we only call a thing true bc there is enough evidence to support it. Truth is always the first casualty of war and the winners get to write the history books. If the victims of the war deserve anything it is that the truth be known and their suffering not be exploited for the financial and/or political gain of others. Im sure we can all agree on this.

          3. You need to be specific to make any sense. Generalizing and being dismissive are hallmarks of a simple mind or propagandists. The reality is, that in the US we used hydrocyanic gas (aka Zyklon B) in our gas chambers for decades. We know very well what was involved in killing one person this way [read: “The Execution Protocol: Inside America’s Capital Punishment Industry” by Trombley],, this is what makes the claims untenable. That doesnt mean the Holocaust didnt happen. It was first claimed there were 22 death camps. But after the war, western historians investigated those claims and found them to be false. The only ones that remained were behind the iron curtain.

            It is not just coincidence that shortly following the collapse of the Berlin Wall the Auschwitz State Museum lowered the figure of those said to have been murdered at the camp from 4 millions to 1.1 million! A staggering decrease, overnight.

            We only call a thing true bc it is demonstrably so bc there is enough evidence to support it. The fact is, that even a cursory investigation reveals one problem after the other and makes these c;aims completely untenable. One would think people would think this was good news. I have a friend who lose his whole extended family in the Nazi slave labor camps. If the victims of the Nazis and allies deserve anything, it is that the truth be known and their suffering not exploited.

    3. David Spero and Jewish Voice for Peace = “Jewish” Uncle Toms and Nazi Collaborators, to hell with them.

    4. By calling a poster condemning those who glorify killing Jews “hateful” and “Islamophobia,” you classify all Muslims as hateful and murderous anti-Semitic bigots. This is a lie. There are over a billion decent Muslims who do not support terrorism or the murder of Jewish children, yet you throw them in the basket with the truly vile. You are the Muslim-hater, not those willing to call out supporters of terrorism.

  8. Well said, bravo David.

    This really matches the climate around the country. Major outlets like the New York Times repeatedly accuse left-wing students of attacking free speech while right-wing bigots are sending professors death threats and forcing campuses to shut down. Similarly, we hear the same tired accusations against that Palestine activism is somehow threatening Jewish students by demanding equality and human rights, while students advocating for Palestine are actually targeted, have their future careers threatened and are put on blacklists.

      1. Never mind that he’s correct, lol.
        Ad hominen is the refuge of the intellectually vanquished. Its says nothing about anyone but the person resorting to it. And what it says ain’t good.

  9. Interesting how the author doesn’t address the 20 year old history of anti-Semitic attacks on Jewish students at SFSU. From this very same paper

    In 1994, a ten-foot mural was erected on SFSU’s student union building that portrayed yellow Stars of David intertwined with dollar signs, skulls and crossbones, and the words “African Blood.”

    In 1997, a banner depicting an Israeli flag with a swastika next to an American flag with a dollar sign was hung over the same wall where the 1994 mural had been painted.

    In April of 2002, posters appeared around campus advertising an event called “Genocide in the 21st Century,” featuring a dead baby on the label of a soup can, surrounded on either side by Israeli flags.

    In May of 2002, following a Peace rally, a small group of Jewish students were targeted by a large group of students who shouted bigoted and offensive remarks, including “Hitler didn’t finish the job,” “Get out or we’ll kill you,” and “Go back to Russia.”

    In 2009, SFSU hosted on-campus events that advocated for the elimination of the Jewish state of Israel.

    In 2016, President Wong complained that in all his years, he had never seen a university donor withhold a pledge because of a “political issue.” A Jewish Studies faculty member told him, “the physical safety of Jewish students is never a political issue.” President Wong replied, “on this, we will have to agree to disagree.”

    In 2017, when specifically asked whether Zionists are welcome at SFSU, President Wong refused to provide the only proper answer: “Yes.” Instead, President Wong demurred, stating “That’s one of those categorical statements I can’t get close to. . . . Am I comfortable opening up the gates to everyone? Gosh, of course not.”

  10. Thank you Mr Spero for this article and I appreciate the J for running it. I think it is high time to get some balance on the way this story has been reported. I have spoken with members of my synagogue whose only source of information on the situation at SFSU has been through the mainstream Jewish press (and some reporting in local papers) who are extremely concerned about the situation. I am happy to now have this source of information to pass on.

    The campus Hillel has a long history of attacks on many progressive organizations, including the Black Students Union (over the Malcolm X mural) and many other student groups that do not tow Hillel’s line on Zionism. In my 20+ years of association with SFSU, as both an alum (BA and MA degrees) and employee, I have never felt unwelcome or any hostility towards me as a Jew. Somewhat ironically, I have often felt hostility from Hillel and my belief that the core of Judaism is the pursuit of Justice EVERYWHERE; at home in the US as well as in Israel/Palestine. After several tense exchanges with Hillel members at campus events, I just gave up on them and felt that there was no place for my practice of Judaism on campus.

    Furthermore, I have heard Professor Abdulhadi speak on many occasions, in arenas other than those strictly relating to Palestine (such as forums on Black Lives Matter and anti-racist organizing) as well as at events sponsored by AMED. She provides a strong, consistent, and well-reasoned voice for an inclusive movement that empowers all citizens. I have personally discussed these issues with her and she states clearly that in taking a human rights perspective, there is no problem with Judaism or Jews; however, there is a problem with a particular pursuit of Zionism (one that has taken over the political space here and in Israel) that seeks to displace and erase an entire population. I couldn’t agree more.

    1. Mr. Helman, did you find the proposed mural depicting an Israeli flag with a swastika next to an American flag with a dollar sign acceptable? I didn’t. And I’ve also heard Professor Abdulhadi speak- she announced proudly that the onset of female suicide bombers was a sign of feminist equality among the Palestinians. I’ve also heard her wave off honor killings among the Palestinians. I wouldn’t call that strong, consistent or well reasoned.

      2. It was the Zionists that introduced terror by female children into Palestine.

        Terrorism: How the Israeli state was won
        Middle East – Tom Suarez on January 1, 2017

        Britain’s wake-up call regarding the Zionists’ indoctrination of children came on the 8th of July, 1938. That day, the Irgun blew up a bus filled with Palestinian villagers. Now, this was not the first time the Irgun had done something of this sort, but this time the British caught the bomber. She was a twelve year old schoolgirl.

        Teenagers, both boys and girls, were commonly used to plant bombs in Palestinian markets and conduct other terror attacks. Teachers were threatened or removed if they tried to intervene in the indoctrination of their students, and the students themselves were blocked from advancement if they resisted, even being taught to betray their own parents if those parents tried to instill some moderation. Jews who opposed and tried to warn of the emerging fascism were assassinated, and indeed most victims of Zionist assassinations—that is, targeted, rather than indiscriminate—were Jews.

        ->http://mondoweiss.NET/2017/01/terrorism-israeli-state/

          1. Did the Arabs travel to Lithuania, Russia, Hungary looking for Jews to kill – or did the Lithuanians, Hungarian, Russians travel thousands of miles to arrive on Arab land?

          2. Well, we know the Arabs traveled to the Munich Olympics to kill Jews. They also killed Jews on airlines, in airports and cruise ships, so yes, the Arabs traveled all over the world killing Jews.

          3. Did snow-white Lithuanians, Hungarians, Russian travel thousands of miles to steal Arab land?

          4. While MOSSAD has traveled all over the world killing Arabs and everybody else, with much less excuse. They didn’t suffer their homeland stolen by murderous thieves out of Europe. The Zionists were those murderous thieves.

          5. Of course, some Arabs fought back against the Z!onist onslaught out of Europe. (Please stop defaming all Jews as Zionists.)

            The General’s Son: From Privileged Zionist to Activist for Palestinian Rights – RAI (1/3)

            On Reality Asserts Itself, Miko Peled tells Paul Jay that his father, a famous Israeli General, was ostracized for saying it was necessary to negotiate with the PLO and respect Palestinian self-determination; but he never gave up his belief that the expulsion of 1948 and creation of a Jewish state was justified

            Ilan Pappé in one of his books, he mentioned how when the very early settlers came, the very early Jewish settlers came to Palestine in the late 19th century, they couldn’t plant lettuce. They couldn’t plant food. They were dying of malaria. They were sick and the Palestinians, the farmers would come and help them because they were starving and they were sick. In their diaries, those same Jewish settlers were talking about how these aliens, we have to rid our country of these foreign aliens which are the Arabs.

            So I mean the ideology that the Arabs are the aliens and this land is ours runs very deep.

            ->http://therealnews.COM/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=17898#pop1

          1. Obviously all you can do is defame that site, since you can’t refute it. Get familiar with it. If you work at it, I’m sure you can find a mistake someplace that you can sneer aout.

    2. David Spero and Jewish Vice for Peace = “Jewish” Uncle Toms and Nazi collaborators. Just vile and disgusting creatures.

  11. Selected quotes from Mohammad Hammad, former president of SFSU’s General Union of Palestinian students, on his social media account:

    “There are children shouting outside and I want to set them on fire.”

    “I think about killing a lot/and some of you are usually the targets of my daydreams.”

    Caption underneath photo of long sword: “I want it. Imagine me cutting off the heads of those in the IDF with this.”

    “Oh/And, tomorrow is (hopefully) the day that I find out if I will be the President of the General Union of Palestine at my school/…Hopefully I’ll be able to radicalize half of our population and bring them back with me as fighters.”

    On the Jewish student group, Hillel: “I hope they all trip down the stairs and break their necks.”

    Speaking of the State Department-designated terrorist group, Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP): “I’ve stayed at the home of a branch commander and had dinner with his family. I’ve also participated in marches and gone to lunch with armed fighters. Guess that makes me a huge terrorist and you should be afraid, because I know where you live.”

    Mohammad Hammad was allowed to graduate from SFSU with a degree (you can’t make this stuff up) in International relations

    Imagine if Hammad had targeted African American students or LGBT students. Imagine the outcry if he had spoken this way about any other group.

    Incidentally, the General Union of Palestinian students at SFSU and Prof Abdulhadi said nothing- yes nothing, to distance themselves from the genocidal rantings of Hammad. Nor did they apologize or try and comfort the students who were desperately afraid of becoming a crime statistic at the hands of Mohammad Hammad.

    1. Where did you discover those quotes? Any references on the Internet that can be checked?

      1. They were on Mohammad Hammad’s Tumblr account, and very easy to find if you google his name. The quotes were often accompanied by him posing with large knives. He has since made his account private, but the posts have been screen shot in a variety of places, including the mainstream media.

          4. Seriously, all you’re doing is accusing him of wanting to act like a Zionist.

            The Butchery Begins: Deir Yasin

            The process was one of sustained slaughter as village after village was wiped out. The killing was intended to cause people to flee for their lives.

            The commander of the Haganah, Zvi Ankori, described what happened: “I saw cut off genitalia and women’s crushed stomachs … It was direct murder.” [52]

            Menachem Begin gloated over the impact throughout Palestine of the Nazi-like operations he commanded at Deir Yasin. Lehi and IZL Commandos stormed the village of Deir Yasin on April 9, 1948, slaughtering 254 men, women and children.

            A legend of terror spread amongst Arabs who were seized with panic at the mention of our Irgun soldiers. It was worth half a dozen battalions to the forces of Israel. Arabs throughout the country … were seized with limitless panic and started to flee for their lives. This mass flight soon developed into a maddened, uncontrollable stampede. Of the 800,000 Arabs who lived on the present territory of the state of Israel, only some 165,000 are still there. The political and economic significance of this development can hardly be overestimated. [53]

            The implementation of this program was carried out in part by Menachem Begin and in part by his future successor as Prime Minister, Yitzhak Shamir, as military commanders of the Irgun and the Lohamei Herut Israel (Lehi), i.e., Fighters for the Freedom of Israel. Inhabitants were force marched in blood-soaked clothing through the streets of Jerusalem to jeering on-lookers, before disappearing.

            ->https://www.marxists.ORG/history/etol/document/mideast/hidden/ch04.htm

  13. The JVP is a hate group – a collection of miserable Jewish self-haters and defamers of Israel and Israel’s supporters. Its credibility? Nada, bupkus, and didily squat. Jews like these jackasses have been around for centuries.

    1. They should be for settler colonialists out of Europe that invade and steal other people’s countries, like Hillel, eh?

      1. Yeah, right. You cannot “steal” or “occupy” your own land. Too hard for you to understand?

        1. No, not at all. It’s also not difficult to understand that the European Zionist invaders have a history of being saturated with lies. In fact, that is so well established that everyone knows if you want to know the truth, all you have to do is ask a Zionist and believe the opposite.

          1. You need to be consistent – make sure that you never take medicine that those terrible Zionists developed.It will not make you feel better or save your pathetic life – it will do just the opposite. Instead, rely on what your heroes – Hamas, Hezbollah, Fatah, the Muslim Brotherhood, and the Iranian National Guard produce.

  14. The anti-Semites have really come out of the closet for this article. All the classic hateful canards are expressed in the comments section..

    1. You need to update your slurs. People see them as reflecting on your own character.

      Amy Goodman of Democracy Now:

      Often, when there is dissent expressed in the United States against the policies of the Israeli government, people here are called “anti-Semitic.” What is your response to that as an Israeli Jew?

      Shulamit Aloni, former Israeli minister:

      Well it’s a trick, we always use it. When from Europe somebody is criticizing Israel then we bring up the holocaust . When in this country people are criticizing Israel then they are anti-Semitic. And the organization is strong and has a lot of money. And the ties between Israel and the American – Jewish establishment are very strong and they are strong in this country, as you know. And they have power, which is ok. They are talented people and they have power and money, and the media and other things, and their attitude is ‘Israel my country right or wrong’, identification. And they are not ready to hear criticism. And it’s very easy to blame people who criticize certain acts of the Israeli govt as anti-semitic and to bring up the holocaust and the suffering of the Jewish people and that – that is justify everything we do to the Palestinians.
      +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
      Is Zionism Antisemitic?
      By Leon Rosselson
      The collaboration in the 1930s between Zionist leaders and Nazi apparatchiks, like Eichmann, is a historical fact. – http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/46924.htm

      1. I propose that anti-Zionism IS anti-Semitic. If you believe that all people are entitled to basic human and civil rights EXCEPT for the Jewish people, how is that not anti-Semitic?

        From the former Chief rabbi of Britain, Rabbi Jonathan Sacks The Mutating Virus: Understanding Antisemitism http://rabbisacks.org/mutating-virus-understanding-antisemitism/

        So I end where I began. The hate that begins with Jews never ends with Jews. Antisemitism is only secondarily about Jews. Primarily it is about the failure of groups to accept responsibility for their own failures, and to build their own future by their own endeavours. No society that has fostered antisemitism has ever sustained liberty or human rights or religious freedom. Every society driven by hate begins by seeking to destroy its enemies, but ends by destroying itself.

    1. You Zionists are playing a very bad game for all concerned.

      The European Anti-Semitism Hoax
      September 26, 2014 By Richard Silverstein

      It is simply unreasonable for Israel or world Jewry to expect that there will be no blowback from Israel’s actions in the world. Israel may not kill with impunity without paying a price for it. Again, this is not to justify Arab retaliation against Israel. But to regard such acts as originating in some ancient Islam-inspired blood feud is ridiculous.

      There is only one way to end the stream of Euro-violence, to end Israel’s spilling of Arab blood in the region. As long as Israel continues its endless wars there, the counter-violent response will continue. Israel must settle the conflict. As long as it does not, it has no right to complain at the response. As the noted scholar of anti-Semitism, Steve Beller writes:

      If Israel continues its attitude of defiance of international legal norms and of the wishes of the international community as regards settlements, then this is almost inviting a real resurgence of a form of historical anti-Semitism, together with, ironically, a xenophobia exacerbated by Islamophobia.

      Though this is a chilling statement, it reveals just how much is at stake for world Jewry. Continue down the path of absolute pro-Israelism and you risk an attack on not just Israel, but all of us.

      https://www.richardsilverstein.com/2014/09/26/the-anti-semitism-fraud/

    2. I am a Semite and I resent the theft of my identity by

      non-Semite Europeans. Can you please stop identity

      theft and simply say, “anti-Jew” instead of ‘anti-Semite’?

    1. Makes sense, thanks for pointing this out.

      A real lot of goofy people complementing this inane article

  17. Thank you, David, for a close observer’s take on the actual situation. The conflation of criticism of Israel’s policies with anti-semitism distorts the actual threats to free speech and the freedom to protest.

  18. Thanks to David Spero for shedding light on the true motivation for the SFSU lawsuit, which is to unconstitutionally silence and stigmatize advocacy for Palestinian rights. Thanks also to J Weekly which, although in its reporting cleaves to a pro-Israel narrative, sometime lets in a dissenting perspective in its Letters and Op Eds.

    Comments to Spero’s op ed suggest there is energy for open
    debate about Israel within our community. Perhaps J will open up its reportage to reflect, without automatically discrediting, views that diverge from the institutional heterodoxy about what Jews are allowed to think about Israel.

  19. Thanks to David Spero for shedding light on the true motivation for the SFSU lawsuit, which is to unconstitutionally silence and stigmatize advocacy for Palestinian rights. Thanks also to JWeekly which, although in its reporting cleaves to a pro-Israel narrative, sometime lets in a dissenting perspective in its Letters and Op Eds.

    Comments to Spero’s op ed suggest there is energy for open debate about Israel within our community. Perhaps J will open up its reportage to reflect views that diverge from the institutional heterodoxy about what Jews
    are allowed to think about Israel.

    1. I’d prefer not to open the J to anti-Semites and Holocaust deniers, Carol, although I understand that you and others might feel differently.

      And really, Carol, the fact that this “I live NEAR SFSU so I know what the students are gong through” bit of dribble was published, shows just how wide open and loose the J’s standards already are

      1. Rebecca, “anti-Semites and Holocaust deniers” are the usual epithets used to slander and try to silence those critical of Israel’s policies. Supposing that there were a more open and inquisitive environment for the Jewish community to talk about Israel-Palestine. Could you make your case based on facts and democratic values, rather than casually hurling those stock insults?.

          1. Yes, Rebecca, agreed that this is an anti-Semitic image. But what has that to do with the issue at
            hand: a pro-Israel organization not being invited to a Know Your Rights student event, because its undisputed hostility to advocacy for Palestinians was politically incompatible with the
            objectives of the event?

            Racist acts and imagery arise across political spectrums. For example, during and after a massacre of Gazan civilians by the Israeli military, T-shirts designed and worn by IDF
            soldiers from the Givati Brigade’s Shaked battalion showed a pregnant
            Palestinian woman with a bull’s-eye superimposed on her belly, with the slogan,
            in English, “1 shot, 2 kills.” More
            recently, rallies of thousands of Israeli Jews called for “Death to Arabs.”

            Equating political resistance to Israel’s policies with hatred of the Jewish people stirs the emotional pot, for sure, but dangerously eviscerates the meaning and intent of actual anti-Semitism.

          2. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8e1f26b4c39d828464b153d77440bf56ab2eee2aa27f101b030cd338fbbecd27.jpg Because you said this: “anti-Semites and Holocaust deniers” are the usual epithets used to slander and try to silence those critical of Israel’s policies, and you are wrong. Anti-Zionism is often used as a mask and a cover and yes, a pretext for anti-Semitism. What we see in the comments section here has very little to do with “legitimate criticism of Israel” .

            Hillel is a Jewish organization- Tikkun olam – “repairing the world” is a Jewish value. In the Bay area, Jewish organizations are at the forefront of movements to protect individual rights. Hillel should have been invited.

            JVP is anti-Zionist- it opposes Zionism, the civil rights movement of the Jewish people, and is therefore incompatible with the objectives of the event. Yet they participated.

            Racism, glorification of violence and anti-Semitism are endemic in the Arab/ Palestinian world. Until this is addressed peace will remain illusive. These images are callls for the genocide of the Jewish people- not legitimate criticism of Israeli policies.

      2. David Spero and Jewish Voice for Peace = “Jewish” Uncle Toms and Nazi collaborators. Just vile creatures.

  20. The best way of shutting up the morons below is simply to share this and other articles widely so people can decide the truth for themselves without – zuckerman would need another 20 years at SFSU to reach the level of half wit ! 🙂

  21. Anti-Zionism is not criticism of Israel. Criticism of a thing is not the denial of a things right to exist. For example, I am critical of you. This article you wrote intentionally conflates concepts in order to sanitize hatred of Jews at large. However, I support your right to hold your opinion and speak about it. See? I am criticizing you but not opposing your existence.

    I fear this went over your head…

  22. After 20 years of abuse, threats, and intimidation, Jewish students are finally saying Enough!I applaud them and their courage to speak out against the administration of SFSU and only wish it didn’t take a lawsuit to ensure their protection. I wish them luck.

  23. David Spero is anything but credible.

    His claims are laughable and his grasp of the situation is childish

    His agenda shines through loud and clear however.

  24. Verbally and physically threatening Jewish students, shouting down a foreign dignitary since You don’t want to hear what he has to say, etc, will have consequences. Fortunately, Lawfare took up the call and will either convince Les Wong to do the right thing at long last or convince the BOT to find someone to replace him. This racist “professor” who consorts with terrorists, who calls for a “third intifada” should not be teaching Anywhere. Hopefully, there is enough interest in combating racism at SFS that her days on campus will be numbered.

  26. How TRULY Ironic that David raised in a Reform family in Buffalo would be claiming that the David Horowitz Freedom Center is ironically named when it really is Jewish Voices For Peace which is the Organization that is not only ironically named but almost something a Goebbels propagandist would have come up with. It is neither Jewish nor a Voice for Peace. It is a far left wing organization that calls for the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions of Israel while consistently defending, supporting and giving comfort and aid to the murderers, bombers, and terrorists of young Jewish children, jewish mothers,fathers and grandparents. SFSU is a safe harbor for this type Propaganda perpetuated by left wing academics throughout the United States who find common cause against Western Governments with Radical Islam and Terrorists. By calling out their vile hatred, anti-semitism and support of violence against Israel and Jews throughout the world- they need to crawl into their Safe Spaces like the slugs they are.

  27. Well, David, not only does Hillel claim to have been excluded, your very organization, Jew-ish Voice for Peace confirms it. I received this email from them- you must have also. Maybe time to write a “Mea culpa”?

    From JVP:

    A group of students and faculty at San Francisco State University put on a Know Your Rights Fair for those made most vulnerable under the Trump administration, especially Arab and Muslim, undocumented, and queer people. Among dozens of community and student organizations, they invited JVP.

    They didn’t invite Hillel at SF State, because the center (which is supposed to be a home for all Jewish life on college campuses) has a long and nasty record of harassing and excluding students who don’t see eye-to-eye with them on Israel.

    So what did Hillel do? They filed a religious discrimination complaint, claiming they were excluded as a Jewish organization.

    __________________

    Just more evidence that JVP betrays Jewish Communal interests off campus and on. And, yeah, good for Hillel.

  28. Throughout history there have been “Jews” that applaud attacks own their and take the side of people murdering Jews. It’s how they feel they can gain the approval goyish friends as the pet jew. You know the good Jew unlike those ithers.

    The actual story of channakuah wasn’t Jewish culture against Greek culture it was assimilationist traitors who sided with Greeks helping the Greeks to try and dismantle jewish culture. In the end the hellenized Jews that survived faded into nothing as today’s assimilationist Israel hating Jews will.

    The sad thing is that people like Mr spiero think they are social. What he doesn’t know us that his terrorist friends friend have even less use for him than they do Jews that stand up for their people and Israel. They laugh at him when he leaves the room cause they want to kill him too. Nobody a likes or trusts a coward and a traitor.

  29. I see that the Racist troll Helen4yemen who supports the Houthi Killers in her country Yemen that slaughter those days thousands of innocent civilians and her comrade TecumsehUnfaced, the Holocaust Denier spew their Jew Hate Propaganda all over.
    Those are the Palestinians Apologists !

  30. JVP “proudly” hosted Rasmea Odeh, architect of a 1969 terrorist bombing that killed two Jews. She was deported from the US for having concealed her terrorist activities when she applied for a Visa, and JVP honored her anyway. JVP honors “resistance,” defined as “killing civilians,” which is unacceptable in any true occupation around the world, from Ireland to Tibet to Chechnya to the Western Sahara, because in those cases the victims are not Jews.

    If JVP doesn’t want to be accused of supporting murderers, perhaps instead of desperately pointing fingers at Horowitz and those who call them out, it should instead stop supporting murderers.

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