Israel Targeted

Divestment conference raises issues of anti-Semitism and support for terrorism.

DON COHEN
Special to the Jewish News

for freedom. We are concerned because at Berkeley, it
engendered a lot of anti-Semitism and hate speech."
The Michigan Student Zionists, a campus organiza-
tion headed by Adi Neuman, has circulated fliers on
campus to bring attention to the participation of Sami
al-Arian, Harem Bazian and Hussein Ibish. Al-Arian
has been accused of helping bring terrorists to the U.S.
and raising funds for Palestinian Islamic Jihad and al-
Qaeda terrorists. Bazian reportedly called for the
killing of Jews at a campus rally at Berkeley. Ibish, of
the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee
(ADC), reportedly considers the late Israeli Prime
Minister Yitzhak Rabin "a monster, war criminal, eth-
nic cleanser, mass murderer and terrorist."

national "Palestinian Solidarity" confer-
ence slated for the University of
Michigan Saturday-Monday, Oct. 12-14,
clearly has Israel, Zionists and, some
argue, Jews in its sights. But the effort to end all
diplomatic, political and financial aid to Israel by
branding it racist and illegitimate is meeting stiff
resistance from campus and community groups.
Meanwhile, U-M struggles to guard against hate
speech and anti-Semitism while upholding academic
freedom.
Sponsored by Students for Freedom and Equality
Divestment And Anti-Semitism
(SAFE), and endorsed by prominent as well as less
While
only part of the aim of the conference is
known American Arab and Muslim organizations,
divestment, it has come to characterize the mission
the "Second National Student Conference on the
of the conference as a whole. The strategy of promot-
Palestine Solidarity Movement" is a follow-up to a
ing university and corporate divestment from Israel is
conference held in February at the University of
based on successful campaigns launched against
California at Berkeley.
apartheid
South Africa in the 1970 and 1980s.
Both conferences support campaigns to urge uni-
Conference
organizers consider Israel an "apartheid
versity and corporate divestment from Israel, an end
state" and speakers will advance that perspective.
to all American aid to Israel and support for a
Palestinian "right of return" to land inside
Israel's pre-1967 borders. Organizers also link
their movement to "an end to the U.S. 'war
on terror' and U.S. imperialism."
"The conference goal is to launch a cam-
paign to undermine the very legitimacy of
Israel, and its predecessor [at Berkeley] was
drenched in hate speech directed at Israel,"
said David Gad-Harf, executive director of
the Jewish Community Council of
Metropolitan Detroit.
David
Regent Larry Deitch
A look at the rhetoric on the conference Web Regent Andrea
Gad-Half
Fischer
Newman
sites supports Gad-Harf's statement. Both the
Berkeley and upcoming U-M conferences con-
"The policy of divestment towards Israel is anti-
demn Israel for "occupation," "colonization" and
Semitic and the rhetoric leading up to the confer-
"apartheid," claims there is "racism and discrimination
ence is anti-Semitic," charged Betsy Kellman,
inherent in Zionism" and calls for the end to an Israeli
Michigan regional director of the Anti-Defamation.
presence on "all Arab lands."
League (ADL). "As one of the premier public insti-
But the mission statement of the U-M conference
tutions in the state, U of M has the obligation to
goes even further. "It is not our place to dictate the
denounce diveStment and terrorism as tactics."
strategies or tactics adopted by the Palestinian peo-
Rick Dorfman, a junior from West Bloomfield
ple in their struggle for liberation," it stated.
and co-chair of the Michigan Student Zionists, char-
"By saying it is not for them to determine the
acterizes the conference as "inherently anti-Semitic"
methods to be used, it obviously implies no disap-
because "the goal of divestment is to destroy the
proval of terrorist suicide bombings," said Rachel
Jewish
State of Israel.
Roth, 19, a sophomore from Boston and co-chair of
"If
the
world divests from Israel, it would cripple
the Israel-Michigan Public Affairs Committee
Israel's economy, government and hence military
(IMPAC). "People are appalled that they are making
strength," Dorfman reasoned. "The Israel Defense
a comparison to apartheid. Israel is the one who is
Forces is the only reason Israel is still in existence,
supporting human rights and is for democracy and
and Israel will surely be annihilated by its enemies
should it have no means of defense."
Related editorial: page 29

10/4

2002

14

While also strongly opposing divestment as
unwarranted, inflammatory and non-productive,
other groups and activists are more wary about
labeling the tactic as anti-Semitic.
Eric Bukstein — a senior originally from Pittsburgh,
former co-chair of IMPAC and vice chair of the Hillel
governing board at U-M — is involved in promoting
positive, pro-Israel alternatives to the conference. "I'm
all for open and honest discussion, but I don't see [the
conference] advancing that goal. They use hate rhetoric
to set up their side of the story."
Bukstein notes that he doesn't plan to attend the
conference because he's "trying to talk about peace
and co-existence and [conference organizers] want to
talk about why Israel should not exist."

The University Weighs In

Student and community groups have been discussing
approaches to the conference for months, but e-mails
seeking faculty and student support for the conference
that allegedly came from U-M senior Fadi Kiblawi, head
of SAFE, made it a campus issue no one could ignore.
The e-mails, sent to more than 1,000 faculty and
staff members on Sept. 25 and to student leaders on
Sept. 26, are under investigation by the uni-
versity and local authorities. Kiblawi strongly
denies any knowledge of the e-mail and dis-
claims any responsibility. He claims his
account was "spoofed," calling it a "crime"
.directed at his organization.
The e-mail in question refers to "Israeli S.S.
Nazis," says "what others call 'terrorism' ... we
call 'justified resistance, — and appeals for help
to "speak out against the Israeli Apartheid
(sic)" and "bring down the Zionist country"
(Kiblawi denies harboring such senti-
ments, though they are similar to those
expressed in an article he wrote in a campus
paper in June 2001.)
On Sept. 26, U-M President Mary Sue Coleman
sent a campus-wide e-mail regarding the conference,
the issue of divestment and the e-mail that appeared
to be authored by Kiblawi.
Noting that the organizers followed proper proce-
dures to hold an event at U-M, Coleman reminded
them about "university rules concerning appropriate
conduct on campus." After making it clear that "the
agenda of the conference represents the views of the
organizers and not the University of Michigan," she
weighed in on the divestment issue saying, "I do not
support this divestment."
Referring to the e-mail that was sent in support of
the conference, she wrote it "contained language .
that was deeply offensive and hurtful to me and to
many others in our community, and I condemn it"
and committed the university to "to rake a strong .

