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Editor's Letter
Isolation, Incitement
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n his way to class at the Wayne State University Law the Detroit Council for World Affairs, an arm of the WSU
School, Jonathan Schwartz was taken aback when he College of Liberal Arts and Sciences' Center for Peace &
spotted a chalk-scrawled sidewalk message, "Stop
Conflict Studies. Khalidi, the Edward Said professor of Arab
the Israeli Apartheid," promoting an anti-Israel rally. The third- Studies at Columbia University in New York City, spoke on his
year law student from Farmington Hills also spotted racist and new book, The Iron Cage: The Story of the Palestinian
anti-Israel flyers posted around the building and elsewhere.
Struggle for Statehood. Philosophically, he blames Israel's
The same day that Schwartz encountered the propaganda, a
occupation and settlements for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
Columbia University scholar known
while being an apologist for Palestinian terror and its chief
for anti-Zionist ardor appeared on
architect, the late Yasser Arafat. It would have been more
Wayne State's Detroit campus.
palpable had the Center for Peace & Conflict Studies invited
"I and others have decided that
Khalidi and a respected pro-Israel advocate to debate. That
enough is enough," Schwartz, 23, told
could have advanced dialogue through varied perspectives.
me on Oct. 11. So he and other Jewish
students arranged a counter rally for
A Factual Component
the same time as the "Divest from
The Anti-Racist Action group also organized the Oct. 12 rally
Israel!" rally at noon on Oct. 12.
urging WSU to stop investing in companies that do business"
The divestment rally culminated a
with Israel. The ARA brands Israel an ethnocracy, a colonial
buildup of hostilities toward pro-Israel settler state and the frontline of the U.S. Empire in the Middle
students stretching back to the start
East. Shocking to me but evidently not out of character, an
of the school year. "The campaign
ARA flyer defamed Wayne State President Irvin Reid and the
to delegitimize Israel is notable for its early and organized
board of governors as first defenders of white supremacy and
intensity, the likes of which have not been seen on the cam-
the Empire. What nonsense.
pus for years," Students for Israel President
When StandWithUs fears that the anti-Israel move-
Ari Drissman of West Bloomfield told
ment on campus is just revving up, Detroit Jewry can't
StandWithUs/Michigan, a pro-Israel advo-
sit idly. We must lean harder on watchdog groups like the
cacy and educational group.
Jewish Community Council, Anti-Defamation League
Students for Israel members report
and American Jewish Committee to keep us informed
intimidation and feeling isolated among
and equipped to negate the inane rhetoric.
the Muslim and Arab students and
Dr. Reid is a friend of Israel and the local Jewish com-
Palestinian sympathizers who demonize
munity. He champions the cultural diversity at WSU. In
Israel. That campus administrators don't
an Oct. 12 letter hand-delivered to the JN, he affirmed
sense this disconnect underscores the need
Wayne State's opposition to divestiture, saying the uni-
for the Detroit Jewish community to better
versity "has no intention of divesting itself of stocks in
support the 500-plus Jewish students there.
companies doing business with Israel or any other legiti-
Jonathan Schwar tz
Flyers greeting students arriving in
mate state?'
September proclaimed,"Israel=White
Supremacy" and "Why Christians Should
Pray and Struggle for the Liberation of
Palestine." The flyers were published and
posted by the Anti-Racist Action group,
a coalition not recognized as an official
WSU student organization, according to a
Web listing of the Dean of Students office,
StandWithUs reported.
Wayne State policy, however, appar-
ently allows non-registered groups to hold rallies on campus
Reid added, "Accusations, acrimony and demands such as
though not use university buildings.
divestiture are counter to the traditions of intelligent dialogue
StandWithUs describes the campus climate as untenable
and free discourse for which this university stands?'
for Jewish students. I'm torn by the anti-Semitic overtones on
I applaud Reid's continued support against divestment. He
a campus built and sustained in no small measure by Jewish
didn't address ARA-inciting agitation on a publicly funded
leadership and support and by the right of others to take
campus other than to say: "We encourage our students to use
Israel to task under the cherished freedom of expression.
their right to free speech, their right of peaceable assembly
I didn't object when the student newspaper, the South End, and their right to petition for the redress of grievances?'
published dueling commentaries: one backing divestment
We, as a community, must heed the April call by the
and one opposed to it. Such unfettered debate has value.
U.S. Commission on Civil Rights for universities to protect
students from campus anti-Semitism. Because the ARA is
Beneath The Surface
allowed to spew its invective under the veil of free speech, the
The problem runs deeper. What disturbs me most is when
Jewish community must seize the opportunity to challenge
the university itself is linked to the ugly hyperbole within
the group and be primed to set the record straight.
range of the administration and board. For example, Rashid
Such counterbalance is essential to productive political ten-
Khalidi, who once called for a memorial to the Palestinian
sion on any university campus. Li
"catastrophe" of 1948 modeled after the U.S. Holocaust
Memorial Museum, spoke on Oct. 11 under the auspices of
President Reid's letter: page 21. JCCouncil Israel advocacy: page 30.
That campus administrators don't sense
this disconnect underscores the need for the
Detroit Jewish community to better support
the 500-plus Jewish students there.
ALESSANDRO DELL'ACQUA
271 WEST MAPLE
DOWNTOWN BIRMINGHAM
248.258.0212
SUNDAY 12-5
MONDAY—SATURDAY 10-6
THURSDAY EVENINGS 'TIL 9
October 19 a 2006
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