Georgetown hosting anti-Israel conference

[husaria1683]

Georgetown alumni need to be aware of a very controversial activity that will be taking place on the campus in February. The Palestine Solidarity Movement (also known as the International Solidarity Movement) has announced that it will hold its Fifth Annual Divestment [from Israel] Conference at Georgetown University. This can be verified from the group's own Web site.

It is quite likely that ISM/PSM lied to Georgetown University about its agenda and its history in order to gain access to GU facilities. It has an extensive track record of lying to churches and other nonprofit organizations to gain use of their facilities and the respectability that use of such facilities implies.

Although PSM/ISM does not commit violent acts, it advocates and facilitates terroristic violence. Here is some information about the organization that has gained access to Georgetown University:

ADVOCACY OF TERRORISTIC VIOLENCE
Note that freepalestinecampaign.org is a site friendly to ISM/PSM and it is reporting the ISM leaders' remarks.

www.freepalestinecampaign.org/attacks_on_ISM.htm

Two of the ISM's well-known leaders, Adam Shapiro and his wife, Huwaida Arraf, defended the use of violence against Israelis in a January 2002 article in the Palestine Chronicle:

"The Palestinian resistance must take on a variety of characteristics -- both nonviolent and violent. But most importantly it must develop a strategy involving both aspects... [W]e accept that Palestinians have a right to resist with arms, as they are an occupied people upon whom force and violence is being used. The Geneva Conventions accept that armed resistance is legitimate for an occupied people, and there is no doubt that this right cannot be denied."

www.thejewishpress.com/news_article.asp?article=2709
Charlotte Kates, the organizer of the New Jersey Solidarity Movement -- an offshoot of the International Solidarity Movement -- has refused to condemn homicide bombings and other means of “armed resistance.”

FACILITATION OF TERRORISM
home.comcast.net/~jat.action/ISM_info.htm

Susan Barclay, the ISM organizer deported by Israel after she hid Islamic Jihad terrorist Shadi Sukiya in the ISM office in Jenin, told the Seattle Post Intelligencer that, "she knowingly worked with representatives from Hamas and Islamic Jihad -- terrorist groups that sponsor suicide bombings and exist, according to their charters, to demolish the Jewish state entirely." (Seattle Post Intelligencer, Thursday March 20, 2003, Activist's death focuses spotlight on Mideast struggle, By Sam Skolnik, Seattle Post-Intelligencer reporter

israelbehindthenews.com/Archives/Jul-04-03.htm#agitate
Days before a British suicide bomber detonated an explosives belt in Mike's Place, a bar in suburban Tel Aviv, the bomber and an associate took tea with members of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), a pro-Palestinian group that promotes non-violent resistance to Israeli occupation.


ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
The International Solidarity Movement has openly stated its intention to get American citizens killed in the Middle East for the purpose of making propaganda, and maybe this is what happened to peace activist Rachel Corrie:
www.standwithus.com/news_post.asp?NPI=85
"Recently, the Director of the Solidarity Movement, George Rishmawi, explained to the San Francisco Chronicle that the recruitment of American student volunteers is useful to the Palestinian Movement because if some of these foreign volunteers get shot or even killed, then the international media will sit up and take notice."""

Is this something that Georgetown University ought to be hosting?

[Adrian Sarkanyi]

As a Catholic and offspring of a family with with a longstanding Jesuit affiliation I am extremely concerned that a Jesuit-founded and affiliated institution is hosting such an event, as the PSM is simply the US face of the ISM
(International Solidarity Movement), which has a long history of viciously anti-Israel and anti-Semitic activities and openly supports suicide bombings against Israeli civilians and advocates the disappearance of Israel.

According to Lee Kaplan, who has studied the PSM's activities in detail:

The Palestine Solidarity Movement has held national conferences on major university campuses  four out of the last five years, first at UC Berkeley, then U Michigan, Ohio State and Duke University. At the last conference held at Duke University in 2004, Huwaida Arraf, one of the PSM's main organizers, admitted that the Palestine Solidarity Movement works with Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, all illegal terrorist groups per the US state department. That particular event was also found to be an anti-Semitic hate fest which also produced articles in the campus newspaper later attacking Jews in America as a "privileged class."  At the earlier event at U Michigan, chants of "Kill the Jews" were heard among the attendees. Divestment from Israel is a major theme, an attempt to hurt the Israeli population and force it to capitulate to PLO demands; in other words, an extension of the Arab boycott against Jews in the Middle East for having their own country. Public reaction to the 2004 Duke event no doubt made finding a venue for another conference difficult which might explain why there was no such conference held at a major university in 2005.

Another hallmark of the PSM/ISM is to downplay the persecution of Christians by the Muslim majority in the Palestinian Territories and blame the Jews for the precarious state of the Christian community there:

Muslim persecution that exists in the Middle East against Christians is to be twisted at Georgetown to portray Arab Muslims as friends of Christians, and the Jews of Israel as their persecutors. The goal is to dupe American audiences that the PSM is holding this event at a predominantly Christian private college in order to work with anti-Israel Christian groups around the country that have joined in on urging divestment from Israel. The simple fact is that Christian Arabs are persecuted by the Muslim majority in the Middle East and the conference will serve as a propaganda tool to negate the truth. This complete reversal of facts, sanctioned and promoted at Georgetown, a college founded by Jesuits, is a disgrace. (for more detail see Human Rights of Christians in Palestinian Society", Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs (JCPA), Special Report, 2005, www.jcpa.org/christian-persecution.htm). Also see the very disturbing recent dispatch from Bethlehem:
Palestinians to reinstitute dhimmi tax on Christians www.chiesa.espressonline.it/dettaglio.jsp?id=44202&eng=y

I am enclosing an eyewitness account from the 2004 PSM conference at Duke, which illustrates vividly the comments above.

www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=15714

Please note that the hosting of this conference is made in the context of the close links between the Georgetown administration and the Saudi kingdom (including the recent acceptance by the university of a USD20 million donation from Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, a key donor to Hamas and to suicide bomber families). The Wahhabi Saudi kingdom is a key propagator of the worldwide jihad against Kufr (infidels), has a large and nefarious influnce over Islam in the US and has forbidden any manifestation of Christianity on its own soil. See below an overview of the excellent Freedom House report on Saudi hate propaganda in the US:

www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2005/02/06/religious_hatred_saudi_style/

I believe that it is a corruption of the principles that guide us, as Catholics, to allow an orgnization such as the PSM to propagate their hatred and pro-terrorist activities at Georgetown, and hope that after becoming familiar with the background and aims of PSM/ISM, you will, as myself, do everything possible to not allow such a disgraceful event to go unchallanged.

[Nevada Hoya]

I hope Georgetown is not getting seduced by the $20M gift. I am all in favor of Georgetown's good relations with the Muslim world, but not at the expense of other religions. We have had a full time rabbi on campus for about 30 or 35 years; I fully applaud that, and I hope we are not jeopardizing our relations with our Jewish brethren over this issue.

[TrueHoyaBlue]

I don't think that is necessarily the case, Nevada, as Georgetown just recently established a Program in Jewish Civilization, and last fall, began a chapter of Hillel on campus.

[Friends of the PSM]

This Week's Palestinian Authority Sermon: We (Muslims) Will Rule America; Israel is a Cancer; Jews are a Virus Resembling AIDS; Muslims Will Finish Them Off

The following are excerpts from this week's official Friday sermon on Palestinian Authority (PA) TV. [1] The preacher is Sheik Ibrahim Mudeiris, a paid employee of the PA. To view the sermon visit memritv.org/search.asp?ACT=S9&P1=669.


"Allah has tormented us with 'the people most hostile to the believers' – the Jews. 'Thou shalt find that the people most hostile to the believers to be the Jews and the polytheists.' Allah warned His beloved Prophet Muhammad about the Jews, who had killed their prophets, forged their Torah, and sowed corruption throughout their history.

"With the establishment of the state of Israel, the entire Islamic nation was lost, because Israel is a cancer spreading through the body of the Islamic nation, and because the Jews are a virus resembling AIDS, from which the entire world suffers.

"You will find that the Jews were behind all the civil strife in this world. The Jews are behind the suffering of the nations.

"Ask Britain what it did to the Jews in the early sixth century. What did they do to the Jews? They expelled them, tortured them, and prevented them from entering Britain for more than 300 years. All this was because of what the Jews did in Britain. Ask France what it did to the Jews. They tortured them, expelled them, and burned their Talmud, because of the civil strife the Jews wanted to spark in France, in the days of Louis XIX. Ask Portugal what it did to the Jews. Ask Czarist Russia, which welcomed the Jews, who plotted to kill the Czar - so he massacred them. But don't ask Germany what it did to the Jews. It was the Jews who provoked Nazism to wage war against the entire world, when the Jews, using the Zionist movement, got other countries to wage an economic war on Germany and to boycott German merchandise. They provoked Russia, Britain, France, and Italy. This enraged the Germans toward the Jews, leading to the events of those days, which the Jews commemorat today.

"But they are committing worse deeds than those done to them in the Nazi war. Yes, perhaps some of them were killed and some burned, but they are inflating this in order to win over the of the media and gain the world's sympathy. The worst crimes in history were committed against the Jews, yet these crimes are no worse than what the Jews are doing in Palestine. What was done to the Jews was a crime, but isn't what the Jews are doing today in the land of Palestine not a crime?!

"Look at modern history. Where has Great Britain gone? Where has Czarist Russia gone? Where has France gone - France, which almost ruled the entire world? Where is Nazi Germany, which massacred millions and ruled the world? Where did all these superpowers go? He who made them disappear will make America disappear too, God willing. He who made Russia disappear overnight is capable of making America disappear and fall, Allah willing.

"We have ruled the world before, and by Allah, the day will come when we will rule the entire world again. The day will come when we will rule America. The day will come when we will rule Britain and the entire world – except for the Jews. The Jews will not enjoy a life of tranquility under our rule, because they are treacherous by nature, as they have been throughout history. The day will come when everything will be relived of the Jews - even the stones and trees which were harmed by them. Listen to the Prophet Muhammad, who tells you about the evil end that awaits Jews. The stones and trees will want the Muslims to finish off every Jew."



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[1] Palestinian Authority TV, May 13, 2005.

[georgetowngrad05]

Does anyone know if the University has issued any statements regarding the event?

I'm wondering if the administration wasn't bullied into accepting this by vocal PSM supporters who would have turned this into a type "racial bias" type of event if they hadn't accepted the event.

[georgetowngrad05]

Does anyone know if the University has issued any statements regarding the event?

I'm wondering if the administration wasn't bullied into accepting this by vocal PSM supporters who would have turned this into a "racial bias" type of event if they hadn't accepted the event.

[SaxaCalHoya]

georgetowngrad05 said:

Does anyone know if the University has issued any statements regarding the event?

I'm wondering if the administration wasn't bullied into accepting this by vocal PSM supporters who would have turned this into a "racial bias" type of event if they hadn't accepted the event.

Keep the wondering to yourself and visit the Georgetown website, they've clearly commented on this:

explore.georgetown.edu/news/?ID=12183

[georgetowngrad05]

The press release mentions no University support, only that the Speech and Expression policy enables this group to have access to campus through the GUSJP student group.

"Georgetown prizes its commitment to allowing for the free and open exchange of ideas, even ideas that may be difficult or objectionable to some. As a Catholic and Jesuit institution, Georgetown University has a long-standing Speech and Expression policy that governs the University's response to controversial speech. The University's Speech and Expression Committee allows students, faculty and staff to discuss difficult questions that may emerge from any particular campus event. The ability of members of the University community to invite speakers or host events does not imply University endorsement of the speakers or their views"

I agree that this group does not deserve a spot on campus but I believe the University has little choice in this matter.

[georgetowngrad05]

It would seem to me that the GUSJP should be taking more heat in this matter for bringing a group like this to campus. Without their sponsorship, there would be no conference at Georgetown.

[SaxaCalHoya]

georgetowngrad05 said:

It would seem to me that the GUSJP should be taking more heat in this matter for bringing a group like this to campus. Without their sponsorship, there would be no conference at Georgetown.

A group like what? GUSJP, like every other recognized student group, has the right to host speakers and conferences that our community may not agree with. So why do you think that this group doesn't deserve a spot on this campus? Because outsiders don't agree with their point of view? Because they post 2000 word commentaries on this board claiming "facts" about the conference?

Being a '05 graduate you should be fully aware that there are routinely speakers invited to campus that are controversial. Unlike other universities that capitulate to the bullying tactics of outsiders, Georgetown realizes that it is through dialogue that we confront the major issues of the day. Not through censorship.

Universities are a forum for the free exchange of ideas in which you address the tensions that confront us and sometimes the views presented are offensive, that's why you welcome even more dialogue. I may not agree with the perspectives presented at the PSM, but I do support the right for GUSJP to host this conference and thus initiate this dialogue.

I'm also all for people exercising their right to free speech in criticizing our university, but I draw the line when they use lies and suggestions in trying to justify their views. It is at these moments that I think all Hoyas should come together and voice their support for Georgetown's commitment to free speech and expression.

[husaria1683]

SaxaCalHoya said:

I'm also all for people exercising their right to free speech in criticizing our university, but I draw the line when they use lies and suggestions in trying to justify their views. It is at these moments that I think all Hoyas should come together and voice their support for Georgetown's commitment to free speech and expression.

I fully recognize the ISM/PSM's right to free speech but the First Amendment does not entitle them to the use of Georgetown's facilities.

If the Ku Klux Klan wanted to hold a rally on Georgetown property, do you think the university should allow its property to be used in this manner (as long as the Klan agreed not to lynch any Black people or burn crosses where fires are not permitted)?

Secondly, we do not have a case of "free speech" because the conference or whatever is not going to be open to opposing views. We were looking into whether some leaflets could be passed out on campus to educate the GU community about what this organization really stands for but apparently only GU students, faculty, and staff are allowed to post leaflets on campus. We are still trying to get authorized members of the GU community to post this material, which exposes the Palestinian Authority's oppression of Christians and its violent brutalization of women and gay people in the areas under its control, but the bottom line is that the conference is a closed event that excludes opposing viewpoints and prevents the PSM from being exposed as the fraud (or worse) that it is.

[SaxaCalHoya]

husaria1683 said:

I fully recognize the ISM/PSM's right to free speech but the First Amendment does not entitle them to the use of Georgetown's facilities.

No, but Georgetown policy does. As the university has clearly stated the student group, GUSJP, has the right to sponsor speakers and conferences on campus as long as it is in accordance with all university policies.

husaria1683 said:

Secondly, we do not have a case of "free speech" because the conference or whatever is not going to be open to opposing views.

Actually, there is counter-programming being organized by students on campus. And those programs and events will be providing views that are opposed to the PSM conference.

husaria1683 said:

We were looking into whether some leaflets could be passed out on campus to educate the GU community about what this organization really stands for but apparently only GU students, faculty, and staff are allowed to post leaflets on campus.

Exactly, this is the whole point ... that our campus welcomes vigourous debate on the issues among the members of our community based on our community standards and policies. At the end of the day, this is about Georgetown's right to ensure free speech and expression within its community.

[Adrian Sarkanyi]

Another gem from our Saudi friends:

memri.org/bin/latestnews.cgi?ID=SD106906

[husaria1683]

www.israpundit.com/archives/2006/01/internet_harass.php

for evidence that the Palestinian Solidarity Movement is harassing its opponents by signing them up for unwanted Internet newsletters. This is the organization that expects Georgetown to let it use its facilities.

[fkiblawi]

I'm a member of the PSM. The motive behind this thread is to drag the PSM's name through the mud and attempt to discredit it by any means necessary... and the most noticeable means here is lying. Al-Awda is not a member organization of the PSM and Mr. Chemayel has nothing to do with the PSM. The PSM is not the same as the ISM. The actions of Saudi Arabia have nothing to do with the PSM. And the actions of one Palestinian here or there does not represent the entire nation, which has been struggling against a violent, illegal occupation for decades. The PSM does not support terrorism, and only engages in non-violent actions in support of the Palestinians; i.e., showing films, hosting speakers, writing op-eds, and opening the circle of debate. I encourage readers of this board to ignore the posts of people on this board whose intentions are to stifle any discourse or debate on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

[husaria1683]

fkiblawi said:

I'm a member of the PSM.

Good, then perhaps you can explain the PSM's leader and spokesperson's reason for engaging in a petty act of Internet harassment worthy of a junior high school adolescent instead of a mature young adult who wants to engage in "discourse and debate."

fkiblawi said:

The motive behind this thread is to drag the PSM's name through the mud and attempt to discredit it by any means necessary... and the most noticeable means here is lying. Al-Awda is not a member organization of the PSM and Mr. Chemayel has nothing to do with the PSM. The PSM is not the same as the ISM.

So sorry but your statements are not consistent with the truth. As shown here, there is plenty of evidence that ISM and PSM are the same organization:

www.commondreams.org/cgi-bin/print.cgi?file=/headlines02/0519-02.htm
(Common Dreams is a "progressive" source)

"In the United States, the homegrown Palestinian solidarity movement has had limited political effect so far, acknowledged Adam Shapiro, a movement leader who joined Schurr at the news conference Saturday." But
Adam Shapiro is the ISM's leader, isn't he?

And this one is even better: www.palsolidarity.org/main/ (ISM's Web site)
Support groups include
Florida Palestine Solidarity Network
New Orleans Palestine Solidarity
Palestine Soldarity Committee/ISM-Seattle

www.palestineinformation.org/ism_seattle.htm
"Seattle Palestine Solidarity Committee is the local representative of the International Solidarity Movement to End the Occupation (ISM), a Palestinian-led movement which asks internationals to come to the Occupied Territories and join in nonviolent resistance to the military
occupation."

fkiblawi said:

The actions of Saudi Arabia have nothing to do with the PSM. And the actions of one Palestinian here or there does not represent the entire nation, which has been struggling against a violent, illegal occupation for decades. The PSM does not support terrorism,

So sorry but your statements are again at variance with well-documented facts. ISM/PSM Founder Adam Shapiro openly supports suicide bombings. (Shapiro may be a speaker at this conference. What is GU's policy on advocacy of terroristic violence on its campus?)
home.comcast.net/~jat.action/ISM_essay_ref12.htm

"Nevertheless, he justifies the Palestinian armed resistance against Israel as long as it is targeting Israeli soldiers and Jewish settlers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Otherwise, he is not in favor of suicide bombings." (Note, however, that settlers are civilians!)

palestinechronicle.com/article.php?story=20020129050221695
"In actuality, nonviolence is not enough. Rather, what is needed is nonviolent direct action against the occupation."

"The Palestinian resistance must take on a variety of characteristics-- both nonviolent and violent. But most importantly it must develop a strategy involving both aspects. No other successful nonviolent movement was able to achieve what it did without a concurrent violent movement ? in India militants attacked British outposts and interests while Gandhi conducted his campaign, while the Black Panther Movement and its earlier incarnations existed side-by-side with the Civil Rights Movement in the United States."


www.discoverthenetwork.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=944
Charlotte Kates a leader of the Palestine Solidarity Movement (note "PALESTINE SOLIDARITY MOVEMENT" as opposed to International Solidarity Movement, even though the two organizations are the same thing) has said that Israeli CHILDREN are "legitimate" targets for Palestinian suicide bombers.

fkiblawi said:

and only engages in non-violent actions in support of the Palestinians; i.e., showing films, hosting speakers, writing op-eds, and opening the circle of debate. I encourage readers of this board to ignore the posts of people on this board whose intentions are to stifle any discourse or debate on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

I encourage interested Georgetown alumni and students to investigate the facts for themselves and form their own conclusions. All of the above information has, incidentally, been provided to President DeGioia and other administrators, including the proof of Internet harassment by the PSM. I am confident that GU's Internet security department will come to the same conclusion when it sees the evidence.

[fkiblawi]

Wow you're smart. The "Palestine Solidarity Movement" is not the same as the description of the ISM, "Palestinian solidarity movement." Nor is it the same as the "Palestine Solidarity Committee." I mean, this is very simple english.

In regards to your quotes of Shapiro, who is the founder of the ISM, not the PSM, I encourage people to read them. So, apparently Shapiro's statement, "In actuality, non-violence is not enough. Rather, what is needed is nonviolent direct action against the occupation" translates into an endorsement of terrorism? Thank you for discrediting yourself. I encourage people to visit the PSM's website, www.palestinesolidaritymovement.org for information on the organization.

[husaria1683]

fkiblawi said:

In regards to your quotes of Shapiro, who is the founder of the ISM, not the PSM, I encourage people to read them. So, apparently Shapiro's statement, "In actuality, non-violence is not enough. Rather, what is needed is nonviolent direct action against the occupation" translates into an endorsement of terrorism? Thank you for discrediting yourself.

I also encourage people to read Shapiro's entire quote.

palestinechronicle.com/article.php?story=20020129050221695
"In actuality, nonviolence is not enough. Rather, what is needed is nonviolent direct action against the occupation."

"The Palestinian resistance must take on a variety of characteristics-- both nonviolent and violent. But most importantly it must develop a strategy involving both aspects. No other successful nonviolent movement was able to achieve what it did without a concurrent violent movement ? in India militants attacked British outposts and interests while Gandhi conducted his campaign, while the Black Panther Movement and its earlier incarnations existed side-by-side with the Civil Rights Movement in the United States."

That is a clear and unequivocal endorsement of violence. ISM provides the nonviolent aspects while the terrorists with whom it works provides the violence.

[Admin]

To avoid the cross-posting which is now across three different threads, this topic is closed. Please see the "PSM Conference Thread" and post only to it if you are discussing this topic.--Admin