8 February 7 • 2019
jn
E
very year, extremism takes a
deadly toll around the world.
No region is immune — not the
Middle East, not Europe and not the
United States. In 2018, there were at least
50 Americans killed by
extremists from different
movements.
Many of the victims
were Jews. Eleven
members of the Tree
of Life synagogue in
Pittsburgh lost their
lives in October at the
hands of a vicious white
supremacist convinced that Jews were
engineering mass immigration of non-
whites into the U.S. Blaze Bernstein, a
young gay Jewish man, was murdered in
California last January by a former class-
mate who allegedly was a member of a
violent neo-Nazi group. And five of the
17 victims of Parkland school shooter
Nikolas Cruz, a budding white suprema-
cist, were Jewish.
But Jews were hardly the only victims
of deadly extremist violence in 2018.
A white supremacist at a Veterans
Affairs home in Tennessee allegedly set
his African-American roommate on fire,
then boasted about it to a white suprem-
acist group.
Just months before the Tree of Life
shooting, another Pittsburgh white
supremacist was charged with stabbing
an African-American man to death
while on a quest to visit bars and repeat
the “n-word” until being kicked out. In
November, Scott Beierle opened fire at
a Florida yoga studio, killing two and
wounding four others in an apparent
spree of misogynistic violence.
In 17 different incidents across the
country last year, people lost their lives
to extremists. Some attacks were ideo-
logical in nature, others personal; for
a few, the motivation remains murky.
The 50 deaths topped the 37 individuals
killed by extremists in 2017 and made
2018 the fourth-deadliest year on record
for domestic extremist-related killings
since 1970.
Largely absent from this list of killers
were extremists motivated by radical
interpretations of Islam. Only one of
the 50 murders had any connection
A
t the University of Michigan,
there has been a series of
“Blue Ribbon Panels” to
discuss “the intersection between
faculty responsibility and political
thought.” The panels came about in
the wake of the con-
troversy surrounding
U-M Professor John
Cheney-Lippold’
s
refusal to write a letter
of recommendation
for a Jewish student to
study in Israel because
it would have conflict-
ed with his anti-Israel
bias.
The panel’
s Jan. 11 meeting was
hijacked by members of a group
calling themselves Direct Action for
Palestine (DAP). According to an
article in the Jan. 13 Michigan Daily,
“Before the panel commenced the
meeting, the DAP leader, who asked
to be referred to by the pseudonym
Rami Abdullah, took the microphone
and turned his back on the panel,
announcing to the audience that DAP
was taking over the event.”
DAP members listed their
demands, such as dissolution of the
panel, no consequences for Cheney-
Lippold, public apologies from uni-
versity leaders, divestment from com-
panies doing business with Israel and
the end of partnerships with Israeli
academic institutions. They were also
upset that two panel members were
engaged with Israeli academic institu-
tions. They seemed to have a serious
problem with Israel.
One DAP speaker said, “It is difficult
to imagine this panel building room for
dissenting views…
” This was said while
bullying dissenting views and trying to
censor university officials in their offi-
cial capacity.
Another complained that,
“Palestinian students feel alienated in
an academic system that stubbornly
resists integration” while demanding
the academic alienation of Jewish
pro-Israel students.
While some non-DAP members
were allowed to speak, the overwhelm-
ing majority of voices were for allowing
Cheney-Lippold to shirk his academic
responsibilities because — Israel.
A Hillel member spoke for Jewish
students on campus, saying he felt
“hurt and angered” by Cheney-
Lippold’
s actions.
One telling comment came from
Samer Madhy Ali, director of the
Center for Middle Eastern and North
African Studies, who said, “I think
many of us realize that we would not
be in the situation if it was a protest
of Saudi Arabia, if it was a protest of
China …”
Both Saudi Arabia and China engage
in real, documented, outrageous
human rights abuses, yet there are no
campus protests against either regime.
The reason is obvious as to why.
During this two-hour protest, ques-
tions from member of the Blue Ribbon
Panel and president emeritus James
Duderstadt were ignored. In fact, “…
the panel member listened without
comment as DAP speakers presented
their views and led the discussion,
” the
Daily reports.
Duderstadt was finally allowed to
speak at the discussion’
s end. He was
very appreciative. “Thank you very
much,” he said, “because I think by
taking over our meeting you actually
triggered a dialogue which has taught
us a great deal … This is an institu-
tion based on academic freedom and
the freedom of speech.”
Duderstadt seems to have missed a
couple of relevant issues. There is no
freedom of speech when a group like
DAP is allowed to decide who is free
to speak and who isn’
t.
It has been clear for years that voic-
es raised in support of Jews and Israel
are not welcome at U-M, and now
Duderstadt and the rest of this panel
have given DAP members even more
power to silence Jews.
Duderstadt and the rest of the
panel abdicated their professional
responsibilities when they failed to
retain control of their panel and be
the “adults in the room.” Instead, they
cowered to the mob. Now that DAP
members have learned that they’
re
in charge, we can expect things to
get worse for Jewish students, espe-
cially if they support Israel. Lies will
continue to be spread and the truth
will continue to be shouted down.
Our children’
s access to a university
education will continue to be based
on the political whims of university
professors.
And remember, today’
s Israel-hating
campus mob is made up of tomorrow’
s
leaders. Our children will be facing
their hatred, lies and discrimination. ■
Harry Onickel is a retired teacher and freelance
writer from Ferndale.
commentary
Blue Ribbon Panel Takeover
commentary
Numbers
Don’t Lie
views
continued from page 6
continued on page 10
Harry Onickel
vote to shut down his school’
s study-
abroad program in Israel, Pitzer
College President Melvin Oliver
forthrightly stated: “To deny Pitzer
students who want to study at Haifa
University the opportunity to study
abroad and to enter into dialogue and
promote intercultural understanding
at the altar of political considerations
is anathema to Pitzer’
s core values.”
• Last month, all 10 University of
California chancellors issued a state-
ment declaring that the academic
boycott of Israel “poses a direct and
serious threat to the academic free-
dom of our students and faculty, as
well as the unfettered exchange of
ideas and perspectives on our cam-
puses, including debate and discourse
regarding conflicts in the Middle
East.”
University leaders across the coun-
try must follow suit by loudly con-
demning faculty at their own schools
who would implement an academic
boycott of Israel that deprives stu-
dents of educational opportunities
and academic rights in the name of
personal politics. State and feder-
al legislators should also consider
withholding taxpayer monies from
schools that allow faculty to imple-
ment a boycott that directly hurts
students, undermines their school’
s
academic mission and erodes public
trust in our nation’
s institutions of
higher education. ■
Tammi Rossman-Benjamin is the founder and
director of AMCHA Initiative, a nonpartisan,
nonprofit organization dedicated to combating
anti-Semitism at colleges and universities in
the United States. She was a faculty member
at the University of California for 20 years.
This was originally published by JNS.org.
commentary
Jonathan A.
Greenblatt