There are so many problems with Geoffrey Wildanger’s guest opinion that I don’t know where to begin.
The most alarming is referring to a diplomat as a “propagandist” and a “professional shill” just because he happens to be Israeli. If a Consul General from Palestine or Libya were to talk at UC Davis, would anyone use such terms? Wildanger’s letter is part of a widespread strategy by anti-Israel hate activists to de-legitimize anyone who disagrees with them. Any comment or news article that is pro-Israel, including statements of facts, is called “propaganda” and, thus, should be disregarded, or worse, blindly disbelieved.
Wildanger claims that his group is willing to engage in and have an honest conversation, but if not with Tor or Oren then with whom? If all speakers who are pro-Israel are considered “propagandists” before they even open their mouths, then who are you going to have dialogue with?
Then there is the outright lie that Palestinians have made “tremendous sacrifices” toward coexistence. Please, name one! Coming to Camp David to sign a peace agreement is not a sacrifice, especially if, as Arafat did, one is simultaneously purchasing weapons from Iran and Syria. No sacrifice could be bigger than Israel’s withdrawal from Sinai in 1976, in which Israel gave up two-thirds of its land, the only oil fields in the region – and the energy independence that came with them – and the homes of 7,000 Israelis in order to achieve peace with Egypt. So let no one say Israel does not make sacrifices for peace.
Israel also gave up the Gaza Strip unilaterally in the hopes of making peace and giving the Palestinians a state, making tens of thousands of Jews homeless overnight. The Palestinian response, alas, was a surge in rocket attacks at civilians, most recently being a heat-seeking missile strike against an Israeli school bus carrying children. Hamas still refuses to accept Israel’s right to exist. If the Palestinians actually want peace and co-existence, that should be the first step.
Lastly, there’s the issue of an academic and cultural boycott of Israel. That makes as much sense as boycotting UC Berkeley and The Woodstock Festival to show opposition to the U.S. military. In Israel, as in the U.S., academics and artists are far more likely to be liberal than the average person. The anti-Israel groups on campus here are effectively trying to boycott their Israeli counterparts,including the many Muslim students in Israeli universities. Any boycott of Israel would affect its nearly 20 percent Muslim population as harshly as it would the 75 percent of it that’s Jewish.
For this reason, Al-Quds University in the Gaza Strip does not boycott Israel. Its President, Suri Nusseibeh, himself has come out in very strong opposition to an academic and cultural boycott for the aforementioned reasons. If a Palestinian university in Gaza does not boycott Israel, then how on earth could you justify enacting such a boycott in the U.S.?
Or is Suri Nusseibeh just a propagandist, too?
Matan Shelomi
Entomology graduate student
Honestly, wow. I just reread straighttalks post, and really Mash. You must not be so stupid to truly believe that claiming what straighttalk says to be false is an argument! I’m sure you are not. So please, prove him wrong. This is the non-dialogue we are talking about. The proof in Palestine being remotely interested in peace is in their acceptance of UN resolution that everyone but Israel and US accepted, and US vetoed. Also, last I checked, the oppressed needn’t prove their peacefulness. The oppressors are the ones who initiate violence. They need to stop. I don’t think that will happen. But it is very possible that Americans will educate themselves and we will force our government to stop sending 3 billion dollars every year (more than the sum of all humanitarian aid we give elsewhere) to Israel’s military. This number should be reduced by 100% and it is my absolute number one dream to see that happen before I die.. that is if the government doesn’t knowingly and willingly sacrifice me to another terrorist attack in the near future caused by our unwillingness to fulfill my dream.
Mash, prove they are false. The rest of the world condemns Israel. Israel and Iran are rated at the very bottom of countries around the world in approval. As straighttalk says- Israel has been rejecting UN resolutions. Not the other way around. Do you really expect Palestinians to sit back in peace while Israel only speaks in the language of murder??? Is that what you would do?? Israel continues to illegally annex occupied Palestinian land. That is fact. Look it up. And prove it’s falsehood if you want to claim it. Are Palestinians supposed to sit around twiddling their thumbs??? Of course they are fighting back. Beyond all of this, it is *fact* that our funding of Israel is our biggest national security risk and that that is the direct cause of 9/11. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1bm2GPoFfg&annotation_id=annotation_267715&feature=iv
You really cannot claim something to be fictional without proving it if you want to be taken seriously.
*Libyans.
@straighttalk: You have only proved my point: all you did in the above paragraphs was make mostly fictional, all hyper-aggressive and very negative criticisms of Israel. You said nothing positive whatsoever about the Palestinians, Syrians, Lebanese, Lybians, or other anti-Israel Arab nations.
I repeat my request from the letter to editor: Please name one thing the Palestinians have done that suggests they are remotely interested in a real, 2-state peace. Name one legit sacrifice. And try doing it without descending into a hateful rant. So far, it seems you cannot.
Shelomi, you clearly have many problems with your argument. First, majority of the time, criticizing Israel is labeled as “anti-semitic” and Israel is clearly not ready to hear any criticisms or are they willing to have a “dialogue”, they just pretend to be the “democrats” by using the justification of “self-defense” and killing thousands of civilians. Israel can easily get away with horrendous crimes, and please how is Israel trying to make sacrifices for peace! Israel is paranoid, they believe that every Arab is against them therefore they make their policies for the worst case scenerio thinking that everyone hates them! Israel outright rejected every UN resolution, UN resolution 194, right of return for palestinian refugees! and you say Israel is wiling to negotiate (of course not!), it is clearly not wiling to accept its inhumane crimes but is definatley ready to criticize Hamas! There is an obvious imbalance of power, justice and truth here.
And speaking of having a conversation with Tor and Oren, they are NOT willing to have an honest dialogue! At the law school event, Tor coudn’t even answer the question of one audience member. I was there, the audience member who asked the question regarding Israeli settlements was in fact taken out for “uncivil behavior” when he was absolutely respectful. He was not able to finish his question and he was taken out! How is that willing to have a dialogue. And when the protestors stood outside, the speaker nor the host never came to speak directly with the protestors. Instead, the speaker was taken out from the back door with his special guards. Therefore, speakers like Tor and Oren are not only propagandists, they are NOT willing to have an honest dialogue, they cut you off when you ask about ISraeli crimes and violations. the truth is the truth, you can’t try and change it.
And speaking of giving up Gaza, Israel gave up Gaza so that it could protect itself. Sharon unilaterally withdrew from Gaza because he had a demographic fear of too many palestinians living around Jews, so he felt these minority Jews needed “extra” security and Sharon was not willing to give that extra security so he just moved those JEws out. Again, Israel is paranoid! And pleaseee, they were not thousands of jews left homeless! what about the thousands of Palestinians kicked out of their homes, made refugees and not even allowed back in because Israel does not recognize the right of return! So don’t tell me Israel is making sacrifices, that is a lie! In fact, Sharon wanted to control West Bank, he did not even find Gaza significant.
so If Israelis want peace, they need to actually STOP building settlments, accept their crimes, be prosecuted in International criminal court! One side cannot be given this much freedom to do whatever they please without any conditions. Israel was not willing to accept the Goldstone report! In fact, Goldstone took back his words just because after two years, Israel is suddenly willing to cooperate, oh really! they rejected the report when it first came out and now they have the right to justify their crimes! THey easily justify their killings against civilians stating that it was a mistake and make the usual excuse of Hamas was using civilians as “human shields” oh really! do you think Israel really cares about civilians, Netanyahu put a blockade on Gaza, where not even medical supplies were allowed! hospitals, and schools were bombed! and all this was justified as Hamas using “human shieds”! Imagine if Hamas used that justification, they would straight out be called “terrorists” oh right, they already are!
IF Israel really wanted dialogue and peaace, they would stop settlements, accept the right of return, take out checkpoints and treat Palestinians as real humans! but of course they will not, because Israel’s security is more important than any human life which is quite ironic!
“I can’t refute your arguments with actual substantive claims. Therefore I will call you a liar and move in with my self-righteous day and have self-righteous toast for breakfast.”
DITTO’D
*move on
Lol, you’re funny Justice. “I can’t refute your arguments with actual substantive claims. Therefore I will call you a liar and move in with my self-righteous day and have self-righteous toast for breakfast.”
You’re the real propagandist. And the sad truth is that the uninformed believe the lies you and Israel feed them. You’re just a liar.
K